Chernigov. Pyatnitskaya Church. Ukraine. City of Chernigov. Pyatnitskaya Church Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the Temple

For more than seven centuries, this stone flower has been decorating the central part of ancient Chernigov - a small church in honor of Paraskeva-Friday. What historical vicissitudes have these mighty walls of this architectural landmark of the pre-Mongol period seen! By the way, there are more such attractions in Chernigov than in any other city in Ukraine and Europe. RISU correspondent Lyubov POTAPENKO has already told our readers about some of them, in particular and.

This temple was built as the refectory church of the Pyatnitsky Monastery at the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th century in the Chernigov settlement, near the market, and was named in honor of the holy great martyr Paraskeva-Pyatnitsa (a woman who preached Christianity to pagan peoples in the first centuries of our era) - the patroness of trade , agriculture, family.

The church looks like a slender tower with an almost square base. Its size is 11x13 m. It is a small, single-domed, four-pillar, three-apse temple with thick walls, built using ancient Russian technique “in a box.” In this technique, there are rows of bricks on the outside and inside, and the spaces between them are filled with lime concrete. On the second tier in the walls, at the level of the windows and choirs, there are galleries connected with loophole windows that could have been used during defense.

The main feature of the structure is the arches that support the bathhouse and are located above the adjacent vaults. This made it possible to create a second tier, and a decorative third tier of kokoshniks.

In ancient times, the interior of the church was decorated with frescoes; a fragment of the ornament in the slope of the window opening in the central apse has survived to this day. Then the church had two entrances: men entered through one, women entered through the second.

In fact it was a fortress. An ancient legend tells that when the Mongol-Tatars had already captured the city of Chernigov, only Pyatnitskaya Church remained standing, in which monks, women and children locked themselves and defended themselves. Despite all the attacks, the invaders could not take it, and most of the conquerors went to Kyiv. And when the last supplies of bread and water ran out, the defenders-monks climbed to the upper part of the temple and threw themselves onto the spears of the nomads.

This religious building has a slender, elongated composition - a temple, located on a low elevation, dynamically “flying up” and “growing.” Especially when looking at it from afar or while driving in a vehicle. Inside, the rectangular walls flow smoothly into a drum, which is supported by arches that rise one above the other like waves. The building is perceived equally organically from all sides, demonstrating a rare balance and harmony of forms. The architecture of the temple gives scientists reason to assume that it was built by the architect Pyotr Miloneg, known from the chronicles (Kiev architect of the late 12th - early 13th centuries). He built (1199-1200) on the banks of the Dnieper under the Vydubychsky Monastery a stone retaining wall, which was admired by contemporaries, considering it a miracle of architecture. There is evidence that Miloneg also built the Church of St. Basil in Ovruch.

There is an interesting, although unproven, assumption that the Pyatnitskaya Church was built at the will and at the expense of Prince Igor, the same prince - the main character and possible author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”. Researchers explain the artistic perfection of the “Lay” not by chance or by the exceptional talent of its author, but by the high general culture of the Chernigov-Seversk land of that time, which is clearly evidenced by Paraskeva-Pyatnitsa (with its visually light, but so massive red walls, refined beam pilasters, small apses, narrow windows, zakomari arches, ornamental hemlines). It seems likely to Chernigov residents that it was Prince Igor who built the Pyatnitsky Church in memory of his lucky escape from Polovtsian captivity. And the fact that it was built on a market may indicate the prince’s gratitude to the local merchants, who helped him financially.

It is worth paying attention to the fact that the Pyatnitskaya Church, built only two centuries after the Baptism of Rus, is in no way architecturally a copy of the churches of Byzantium, which were generally monotonous and mundane, while there are quite a lot of Christian churches of Kievan Rus, created by local and Greek masters, their architecture and mosaic, they speak in a new and wise language, symbolizes separation from the earth, life, darkness. This is exactly what the Pyatnitskaya Church is like. By the way, at that time Western Europe had not yet experienced a “boom” in the construction of churches. So, for example, in Paris there were only two stone churches, restored after a long-standing Norman raid - Saint Germain de Prete and Saint Germain l'Auxerrois, and also the unfinished Notre Dame Cathedral towered.

The fate of the Pyatnitskaya Church is very complex and dramatic. It first suffered from the Mongol-Tatar invasion in 1239. Later, the temple experienced quite a lot of destruction and reconstruction.

After the national liberation war of 1648-1654, the monastery was rebuilt at the expense of Chernigov Colonel V.A. Dunin-Borkowski. At the end of the 18th century, the complex consisted of a stone Pyatnitskaya Church in the Ukrainian Baroque style: it already had seven domes, multi-tiered elements appeared, towers and rapids were completed. The monastery was surrounded by a wooden fence, and on its territory cells with the Church of Ivan the Baptist and a bell tower with the Church of Prokofy were built.

This landmark also suffered from a fire in 1750, after which it was rebuilt again, and the facades were decorated with stucco. In 1786, by order of Empress Catherine II, the monastery was liquidated, and the cells, refectory and abbess's house were dismantled in 1805.

From 1789 to 1805, the main public school operated on the territory of the monastery. In 1806, the church was repaired, and in 1820 an interesting rotunda-bell tower was built, which complemented the overall Baroque composition. The fire of 1862 and subsequent restoration changed the appearance of the attraction.

In 1916, the church had land with a graveyard of 633 square fathoms. On the territory there were two wooden houses for clergy, brick shops built in the church fence, which were rented out. At the expense of the church, repairs of houses and benches were carried out. There was also a church library, which contained 200 volumes of books for reading.

There were two educational institutions at the church. There were 91 households in the parish - 963 souls of both sexes and different social status: of them 195 nobles, 36 clergy, 542 souls of peasants, 43 souls of military officials and Cossacks.

Therefore, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Pyatnitskaya Church was one of the spiritual and educational centers of Chernigov.

But the greatest damage was caused to the church during the Second World War: as a result of an aerial bomb explosion, it was half destroyed. Only through the many years of efforts of the then authoritative restorer P.D. Baranovsky was the church restored and restored to its original form. The lost parts were restored, special bricks of six varieties were made for the work according to the samples and sizes of the ancient plinth, and the blocks found during the dismantling of the ruins were built into new walls, which were laid according to templates, imitating the construction technique of the 12th-13th centuries.

During 1943-45, conservation work was carried out, and restoration work lasted for 17 long years. And only in 1962 the restoration of the church in a form close to the original was completed. At the same time, the originally built side porches, as well as the extensions of the 17th-19th centuries and the rotunda, were not restored. Unfortunately, during the work, not only various church outbuildings and fencing were destroyed, but also the bell tower of the 19th century, which had artistic and historical value. From 1972 to 1989, the building hosted the exhibition “Pyatnitskaya Church - a landmark of ancient Russian architecture and art of the 12th century.”

Since 1991, Pyatnitskaya Church has been an active temple of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate and a favorite place of prayer for many residents of Chernigov. And it’s not surprising, because in a small, cozy church that has been prayed for centuries, the grace and presence of God is felt in a special way. Services take place in the church every day, the sacraments of baptism and weddings are performed, and hundreds of believers satisfy their spiritual needs. The temple is also visited by a large number of pilgrims and tourists from Ukraine and abroad.

Recently, in the early 2000s, an interesting detail was discovered on the wall of the church: a cross made of brick, dating from the end of the 12th century, which had still been carefully plastered by restorers during the Soviet era. This part of the church was not destroyed either during the Mongol-Tatar invasion in the 13th century, or during the fascist one, which is why the image was preserved. Local historians say that when the outstanding architect and archaeologist Pyotr Baranovsky was restoring the temple after World War II, a scientist came to him from the Historical Museum and said: “Somewhere here there must be a cross, which is in the ancient drawings of the church, although it is not visible " And this cross, laid out during the construction of the church, was found, but it was plastered over. Just in case...

There is no information in written sources about the time of construction of the Pyatnitskaya Church. The earliest mentions of it date back to the 17th century, when a convent was founded here. At the end of the 17th century. The temple was rebuilt in the Ukrainian Baroque style. Since 1786, the monastery was closed and the church became a parish. In 1820, a bell tower was added to it, and in 1850, chapels were added. Until the Great Patriotic War, the monument was not examined in detail. In 1943, it was badly damaged by aerial bombardment. Only the northern and eastern parts of the building were preserved to their full height, while the western and southern walls were destroyed by three quarters. The stepped vaults of the temple survived on the northern and eastern sides, and on the eastern side even the kokoshnik located at the base of the drum. A fragment of the drum was found during the dismantling of the ruins. In 1945-1949 work was carried out to survey the monument and strengthen it (P. D. Baranovsky). Dismantling of the ruins and further investigation in preparation for restoration were carried out in 1953-1959. (N.V. Kholostenko). Since 1959, restoration of the monument has been carried out, returning it to its original forms (P. D. Baranovsky).

Pyatnitskaya Church is a four-pillar, three-apse temple (Table 7). Its total length is 16 m, width 11.5-12 m, azimuth 33rd. The height of the building is about 24 m. The pillars are square in plan (with sides 1.52-1.54 m) with beveled corners. Above the pillars at the heels of the girth arches lie slate cornice slabs. There are no internal blades in the church, but the external ones have the form of complexly profiled pilasters ending in thin floor columns. The width of the pilasters is 1.03 m, and their extension from the wall is up to 37 cm. The western corner blades are wider and flatter, with beveled corners. The middle divisions of the facades end with semicircular lancet-shaped zakomaras, and the side ones - with quarter-circle zakomaras. The supporting arches are located above the adjacent vaults and form a second tier of zakomari on the outside of the temple. At the base of the drum there is a third tier of zakomars, or rather kokoshniks,
purely decorative and not corresponding to the design of the vaults. The space under the dome is slightly elongated along the temple, and the drum therefore has an oval outline in plan.

In the western division of the temple there were choirs. Their middle part rested on a cylindrical vault with its axis directed along the N-S line, and the corner parts rested on vaults with its axis directed along the 3-E line. The staircase for ascending to the choir was located in the western wall and covered with a stepped box vault. In the northern and southern walls there are internal passages covered with vaults, located at the choir level and having access to the choir.

Along the facades of the temple there is a ribbon of brick meander, above which there are windows, and even higher, in the middle divisions of the facades, there is a strip of decorative niches. Remains of plaster remain in the niches. In the middle bays of the northern and southern facades there are triple windows, and in the middle bay of the western facade there is a single window with an edge. The side gables of the western façade are decorated with brick latticework. The portals have a profiled frame (in the northern one it is simpler, stepped); the eyebrows are located above them. There are vertical rods on the apses, and at the top of the apses there is a decorative lattice belt and a strip of niches. There are three windows in the central apse, and one in the side ones. The 12-window drum is decorated with thin vertical rods and completed with an arcature with terracotta tiles inserted into the niches. The floor of the temple was covered with glazed ceramic tiles laid in mortar on top of a 20 cm sand bedding. Remains of fresco painting were noted in the interior of the church and in niches on the facades.

The building is made of bricks using the equal-layer technique. The masonry was carried out in the form of two brick walls filled with broken bricks and small stones in mortar. After 5-7 rows of such masonry, 2-3 rows of masonry were placed, passing through the entire wall. The pillars and vaults are lined with solid brickwork. The size of the bricks is 4.5-5X16-20 (mostly 19)X27-28 cm. There are various types of patterned bricks. The solution is pink due to the admixture of cemyonium. Bricks are very diverse in dough, firing and molding. Many of them have signs on the ends. Several tiers of wooden ties are noted in the walls. Amphorae were placed in the vaults (especially in the sails).

The foundation had the character of a continuous pit, selected under the entire building to a depth of 40-45 cm. Below were foundation ditches that reached the mainland soil. The foundations are made of broken bricks and mortar with cement. The depth of the foundations from the level of the ancient surface is 1.4 m. A cultural layer of the 11th-13th centuries was discovered next to the church and under it.

According to G.M. Shtender, who took part in the restoration of the church in 1957, some details, for example the edge above the portal, were not documented on the monument itself, but were recreated in analogies with the church in Ovruch; patterned bricks were also found, indicating the presence of pilasters with a “trefoil” - the type found in the Novgorod-Seversky temple.

Judging by the architectural forms and technology, the monument dates back to the end of the 12th - first third of the 13th century. Based on a comparison of these data with the events of political history, P. D. Baranovsky proposed a narrower date - the first years of the 13th century.

Baranovsky P. D. Cathedral of the Pyatnitsky Monastery in Chernigov. - In the book: Monuments of art destroyed by the German invaders in the USSR. M.; L., 1948, p. 13-34; Kholostenko N.V. Architectural and archaeological research of the Pyatnitskaya Church in Chernigov. - SA, 1956, vol. 26, p. 271-292; Shulyak V.V. Pyatnitska Church in Chernigov. - Archaeology, 1975, vol. 16, p. 118-121; PІtender G. M. Marking of architectural forms by ancient architects. - In the book: Cultural monuments. M., 1959, vol. 1, p. 70-71.

On November 10, according to the new style, the Orthodox venerate the Great Martyr Paraskeva Pyatnitsa. In a time of difficult trials for Russian Orthodoxy on the territory of Ukraine, when self-sanctified schismatics, Uniates, relying on Nazi militants, seize churches of the canonical UOC-MP in many regions, beat priests and parishioners, we will remind you of one of the greatest temple pearls of Ancient Rus', a Russian masterpiece and world temple architecture - Pyatnitskaya Church in Chernigov.

On the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Ukrainian SSR from the Nazi invaders, we will begin to remember the fate of this cathedral in 1943, because its revival in modern life began precisely then - literally in the first days after the invaders were driven out of Chernigov.

Chernigov, one of the oldest cities in Rus', once the capital of the Seversky principality, where a significant number of architectural monuments of antiquity have been preserved, was subjected to severe bombing by the Germans during the Great Patriotic War, with the goal of wiping the city off the face of the earth. At the same time, museums, historical and artistic values ​​and archives were destroyed, all architectural monuments were severely damaged by fire, among which the Cathedral of the Pyatnitsky Monastery was most damaged.

Pyatnitskaya Church before the Great Patriotic War

The destroyed temple of Friday Paraskeva

The act of the Extraordinary State Commission to establish and investigate the atrocities of the Nazi invaders and their accomplices and the damage they caused to citizens, collective farms, public organizations, state enterprises and institutions of the USSR dated December 15-21, 1943 described traces of terrible atrocities and destruction. In particular, it was noted: “The Pyatnitskaya Church of the late XII - early XIII centuries is one of the rarest and most remarkable monuments of ancient Russian art of the Grand Duke's era, burned by German incendiary shells in part of the roofs and inside the building during the bombing on August 23, 1941, and then destroyed by high-explosive bombs September 25, 1943: the chapter, most of the vaults, two western pylons and most of the western and southern walls collapsed.”

The evolution of the appearance of the temple since the 12th century. Rice. A.A. Karnabeda

As the architect-restorer A.L. Karnabed notes in the article “Revival of the Chernigov “Friday””, the act also indicated the destruction caused to other unique buildings in Chernigov, including Spassky (beginning of the 11th century), Borisoglebsky and Uspensky (XII century). c.) cathedrals. The act was signed by the expert of the Extraordinary Commission P. D. Baranovsky, the Ukrainian architect Yu. S. Aseev and the senior researcher at the Chernigov Historical Museum A. A. Popko.

P.D. Baranovsky

Pyotr Dmitrievich Baranovsky (1892 - 1984) - a Muscovite, a native of the Smolensk village, an ascetic of architectural restoration, who devoted a total of 70 years to the restoration, rescue and restoration of monuments of ancient Russian architecture - then quickly rushed to the aid of ancient Chernigov.

Baranovsky is responsible for the rescue of St. Basil's Cathedral, the founding of museums in the Kolomensky and Spaso-Andronikov monasteries, and the measurements of the demolished Kazan Cathedral on Red Square in 1936 (it was based on these that the temple was rebuilt in the early 1990s).

Baranovsky arrived in Chernigov on September 23, 1943, a day after the liberation of the city. And three days later, before his eyes, a German dive bomber targeted the ancient Pyatnitsky Cathedral. They say that a half-ton landmine split the temple, which was already pretty much burned out from the inside. The scientist was the first specialist to arrive at the ruins. And then - almost twenty years (!) - Baranovsky restored “Friday”, returning it to its original appearance. By the way, he insisted that it was not Rastrelli’s dome that should be restored, but the original, ancient Russian one.

An eyewitness said: “You should have seen Pyotr Dmitrievich at the moment of exploring “Friday”: the remains of the walls, ready to collapse, and the man climbing on them!”

P.D. Baranovsky with students at the restoration of the Pyatnitskaya Church

Work to restore the temple

Let us list the masterpieces of Kievan and Chernigov Rus' that Pyotr Baranovsky saved. According to his short list: “1943 Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra of the 11th century. Recording and design proposals for conservation of ruins and restoration; 1943, 1944 Kiev St. Sophia Cathedral 1037 (P. Baranovsky, who did not have ranks or titles, was then appointed chairman of the restoration commission from the Academy of Architecture of the Ukrainian SSR); 1945 Study of the ancient altar barrier of the St. Sophia Cathedral and the project for its restoration; 1943 Chernigov. Cathedral of the Boris and Gleb Monastery of the 12th century. Research, preliminary measurements and preliminary conservation design; 1943 Chernigov. Cathedral of the Yeletsky Monastery of the 12th century. Research, preliminary measurements and conservation design; 1943, 1945 1944 Kyiv. Temple of the Mother of God of Pirogoshchaya 1131 - 1136 Study and experience of a reconstruction project using partial fixation materials before dismantling 1936; 1944 Kyiv. Temple of Vasily on Perunov Hill 1184. Research and experience of a reconstruction project based on materials of partial fixation before dismantling in 1936 (does not exist).”

He authored the study “The Cathedral of the Pyatnitsky Monastery in Chernigov.” It was published in 1948 in the book “Monuments of Art Destroyed by the German Invaders,” edited by I. E. Grabar.

In it, P. Baranovsky noted: “The Cathedral of the Chernigov Monastery, better known as the Pyatnitskaya Church on Red Square (otherwise on the Old Bazaar, or on the Pyatnitsky Field), belongs to those monuments of ancient Russian architecture that, as a result of later major reconstructions, have so changed their appearance, that under the new appearance it is almost impossible to discern their true features, which determine the characteristic features of the era and style. The barbaric destruction of the Pyatnitsky Church by the Germans during their invasion and bombardment of Chernigov preceded the formulation of the scientific research problem of studying this monument, forever depriving the opportunity to see it in its appearance at the end of the 17th century, as well as the opportunity to scientifically reveal and restore it in all truly preserved parts of deeper antiquity. ... The surviving ruins of the monument, representing a sort of diagonal section from the northwestern corner to the southeastern one, made it possible to conduct a detailed analytical study of the building in relation to its structures, the nature of the materials and technology. The ruins were a complex conglomerate of brickwork of various times and types.”

First of all, the research attention and interest of the restorer was attracted by the fact that all the main structural elements of the building up to the very top, including the vaults and the base of the chapter, were folded, in refutation of all the above literary statements of the past, from the same material - plinths, characteristic only for pre-Mongol era. The stepped vaults, preserved after the collapse on the eastern and northern sides, so unusual for Russian architecture of the pre-Mongol era (according to the ideas that have developed in our science over 100 years), were made of the same ancient brick.

Experts believe that Baranovsky’s work on the research and restoration of the Pyatnitskaya Church in Chernigov opened a new chapter in the history of Russian architecture. This monument, as Pyotr Dmitrievich proved, is the same age as “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, one of the first unsurpassed examples of Russian architecture itself. Baranovsky was convinced that the monument, restored in all parts, in the words of the ancient chronicler, “wonderfully enriched decorations,” would be the same deeply national unfading light in the fine arts of our people as the “Word.”

The cathedral of the Pyatnitsky Monastery, argued Baranovsky, should henceforth occupy not only the chronologically earliest place, but also the highest - in the system of development of forms of Russian architecture of the early period of the 11th-13th centuries.

Standing on top of the great culture of Ancient Rus' destroyed by the Tatars, the temple represents, according to the researcher-restorer, a clearly defined starting point from which the development of the national creativity of Moscow Rus' began.

Baranovsky argued: Pyatnitsky Church, being new and completely original for us at the moment, in contradiction with the prevailing idea of ​​​​Russian architecture, amazes with its clear connection with the monuments of Serbia and Moscow of the 14th-15th centuries, and with such peaks of Russian architecture as The Ascension Church in Kolomenskoye, and especially with wooden Russian churches. In this diverse connection, the Pyatnitsky Church is the first great work of a new style, a clearly expressed creative genius of the Russian people.

Indeed, the emergence of such a monument as the Pyatnitsky Church is an organically logical event precisely in Southern Rus', where the interactions of different cultures were naturally created at the crossroads: from northeastern Zalesskaya Rus' to Western Europe through Galich and from northwestern Novgorod Rus' to Byzantium and to the Caucasus through the Polovtsians. Chernigov in the 12th century. was no less a cultural center than Kyiv.

Baranovsky was also concerned about the pan-Slavic context. The scientist asserted: “It is not without reason that the chronicler said on the first pages of the Tale of Bygone Years: “There is Illyricum, which the Apostle Paul reached; here at first there were Slavs... And the Slavic people and the Russians are one.”

Baranovsky made the assumption that the architect of the Pyatnitsky Church could have been a “friend” of Rurik Rostislavich - the “artist and difficult master” Miloneg-Peter. Which, according to the chronicler, with the construction of the Vydubitskaya wall of the St. Michael’s Church of the Vydubitsky Monastery, which became the princely tomb of the family of Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavovich,performed “a work like a miracle.”

“He could have built the Vasilievskaya Church in Ovruch in the early years of Rurik’s activity,” Baranovsky believed, “and in Belgorod, which has not reached us, the unusually tall and surprisingly decorated Church of the Apostles, and the Vasilievskaya Church in Kyiv in the princely courtyard, and after 5 -10 years after the Vydubitsky wall, build a church in the Chernigov Pyatnitsky Monastery by the end of the life of Rurik and his princess-nun. ... Based on the high merits of the monument, which revealed itself before our eyes in the process of its study, we could turn to it the same words with which the chronicler expressed his praise of the Belgorod temple: “It is wonderfully enriched with height and majesty and other things, according to the Pritochnik who says: All good is my beloved and there is no vice in you."

Pyatnitskaya Church before 1917 (left) and after restoration (1962)

According to Baranovsky’s design, the Pyatnitsa Paraskeva Church was rebuilt by 1962. It was said that the post-war chief architect of Chernigov, P.F. Buklovsky, demanded not to restore the destroyed churches, but, on the contrary, to demolish the ruins so as not to spoil the view and interfere with the improvement of the territory. Thank God, goodwill specialists, enthusiasts and patriots did not allow this to happen. Baranovsky even ensured that at one of the Chernigov brick factories the production of plinths began according to ancient Russian models, and the temple was restored exactly in the forms in which it was built.

Alas, it was not possible, as many had hoped, to preserve the temple bell tower, erected at the beginning of the 19th century. Anton Kartashevsky and became an integral element of the Pyatnitskaya Church, its architectural and spatial ensemble.

A. L. Karnabed emphasized: “While not only Baranovsky, but also such famous scientists as M. K. Karger, G. N. Logvin, G. M. Shtender, Yu. A. Nelgovsky argued for the need to “preserve the bell tower as a structure that gives an idea of ​​the nature of the architecture of the complex before its reconstruction and promotes better conditions for the operation and exhibition of the main monument,” local herostrati - the head of the regional department for architecture Grebnitsky and the chief architect of the city Sergievsky did their job: the historical environment was destroyed. There is no bell tower, no church fence, no monument mound.”

The Pyatnitskaya Church was accepted into the balance sheet as “restored in accordance with the restoration project” on January 1, 1963.

But it remained closed until the beginning of 1967, when, together with other ten architectural monuments of Chernigov from the 11th to 19th centuries. By decree of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR, it was transferred to the Chernigov State Architectural and Historical Reserve, which until 1979 was a branch of the Kyiv Sophia Museum reserve.

In Chernigov, the reserve began to work on August 1, 1967. From the next year, preparation of sketches and then a working draft of the museum exhibition “Pyatnitskaya Church - an architectural monument of the late 12th - early 13th centuries” was carried out here.

The project of the museum exhibition in the Pyatnitskaya Church, for which P. Baranovsky donated a significant number of finds from 1943-1961 in 1968, was developed by him, taking into account the formation of the museum in three stages. Among the finds are plinths with signs (marks and stamps), fragments of fresco plasters, architectural, construction and pottery ceramics, items made of non-ferrous and ferrous metal, fragments of glass from ancient windows.

In 1947, in his autobiography, Baranovsky noted his Chernigov merits with his characteristic modesty: “Of the creative works of recent years, the work on the research, preservation and restoration of the Pyatnitsky Cathedral in Chernigov (XII century), carried out in the fall of 1944 -1945 from the main Directorate for the Protection of Monuments and provided new, very important data for the history of Russian art.”

Today, the Chernigov Church of Pyatitsa Paraskeva, unfortunately, is occupied by Ukrainian “autocephalians”. Do these proud and misguided sectarians remember that they owe the salvation of the masterpiece of ancient Russian church architecture to the Russian people, and first of all to the Smolensk Muscovite ascetic and protector Pyotr Dmitrievich Baranovsky?

Archival photos from the book “Peter Baranovsky. Works, memories of contemporaries." M., "Father's House". 1996.

Pyatnitskaya Church is an architectural monument of the late 12th century. A slender tower-like structure on the territory of the current park named after Bohdan Khmelnytsky. The church was erected by townsmen craftsmen outside the roundabout fortified city next to the ancient market place. This is a single-domed four-pillar temple with a staircase to the choir in the western wall (here, in the thickness of the walls, there are passage galleries, which may have had defensive significance). The central part, crowned with a slender chapter with twelve window openings, is open from bottom to top and, thanks to stepped arches resting on square pillars with cut corners, seems to float in the sun's rays. Pyatnitskaya Church is one of the most unique architectural monuments of the Kievan Rus period. Revived after the Great Patriotic War in its original form according to the design of P. D. Baranovsky.

Pyatnitskaya Church in Chernigov is a unique work of masters of the last period of ancient Russian architecture. The church was built at the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th century. on the Chernigov suburb next to the market place and named in honor of Saint Paraskeva - Friday, patroness of trade, agriculture, and family.

The modern appearance of the church is its reconstruction in ancient forms. The plan is an almost square four-pillar cross-domed structure. The main feature of the temple's architecture is the original solution of the transition from a rectangular base to a drum using three-stage arches - zakomaras. The effect of movement is also achieved through the vertical division of the facades, multi-profile pilasters, thin semi-columns and wide blades in the corners. The windows and arches have a lancet shape.

Considerable attention was paid to decorating the external volume of the temple. Its facades are decorated with horizontal meander stripes and mesh patterns. The drum is decorated with an arcature belt with a strip of curb. The temple was given a festive feel by bright fresco ornaments in the niches and in the design of windows and portals.

An interesting technique for laying the walls of the Pyatnitskaya Church is the ancient Roman technique of building “in a box”. Using this economical technique, whole rows of bricks are laid outside and inside the walls - plinths, and the spaces between its rows are filled with cement concrete.

Dynamism and expressiveness are inherent in both the external and internal appearance of the temple. The stepped vaults correspond to external arches - zakomari. The steps to the choir are built into the thickness of the western wall. At the choir level there are narrow galleries, which are connected by loophole windows on the southern and northern walls.

The Pyatnitskaya Church is the highest achievement of the last stage of development of ancient Russian architecture of the pre-Mongol period.

Pyatnitskaya Church was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. It was first destroyed in 1239 during the Tatar-Mongol invasion. It was rebuilt in 1670. In 1690, baroque pediments were added to the western and eastern facades, and the dome was made multi-tiered. Fundamental changes occurred in the 18th century. (after the fire of 1750) and in the 19th century, when side borders were added to the temple, and in 1818-20. According to the design of the architect A. Kartashevsky, a rotunda-bell tower was added to the western facade. The church became seven-domed. It was destroyed during World War II.

In 1943-1962 restoration work was carried out according to the project of the famous restorer P. Baranovsky. At the same time, the side porches and extensions of the 18th-19th centuries were not restored, and the rotunda-bell tower was dismantled.

The church is located in a park next to the central square of the city, playing the role of an architectural accent in the development of the city.

Pyatnitskaya Church
A monument of ancient Russian architecture of the pre-Mongol period.

Pyatnitskaya Church. Story
The Pyatnitskaya Church was built at the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th century by posad Chernigov officials on the Pyatnitsky field, which since ancient times was a place of trading (marketplace).

Pyatnitskaya Church was named after the patroness of trade, Paraskeva Pyatnitsa. Until 1786, the church was the main building of the Pyatnitsky Monastery.

The Pyatnitskaya Church differed from other churches in Chernigov by the completed decoration of the facade with all types of architectural ornamentation and the composition of the vaults under the drum.

Throughout its existence, the church was repeatedly damaged and burned during enemy attacks on the city.

The Pyatnitskaya Church was first destroyed during the Tatar-Mongol invasion of Chernigov in 1239.

During restoration work at different times, it was significantly rebuilt and changed its appearance. Until 1941, from an architectural point of view, it looked like a 17th-century temple in the Ukrainian Baroque style of the 17th-18th centuries. The only unusual thing was its centrist stepped composition. Researchers claimed that forms of ancient Russian construction were hidden under the Baroque attire.

First Restoration. 1670

The first restoration work was carried out in 1670, carried out in the Ukrainian Baroque style and at the expense of the Chernigov colonel V. Dunin-Borkovsky. In the 90s of the 17th century, Baroque pediments were built on the eastern and western facades, and the bathhouse received a multi-tiered finish. On the eastern baroque pediment stood the coat of arms of Hetman Ivan Mazepa.

In the 17th-18th centuries. There was a convent attached to the church, which burned down in 1750. Significant were the reconstructions after the fire of 1750 and the 19th century, when the Pyatnitskaya Church turned into a seven-bay church. In 1818-20, according to the design of the architect A. Kartashevsky, a rotunda-bell tower was added (dismantled in 1963).

During World War II, the church was seriously damaged due to aerial bombing.

In 1941, the church was almost completely destroyed. Miraculously, the bell tower survived, but later (in 1963) it was dismantled - according to one version, it interfered with the construction of the regional drama theater named after. Shevchenko, on the other - for bricks to restore the temple. For a long time the church remained destroyed.

Restoration. 1943

Immediately after German troops were driven out of the city of Chernigov (in 1943), a thorough study of the remains of the Pyatnitskaya Church began with the aim of further restoration. The result of the research was sensational - archaeological researchers found a temple that embodied the highest achievements of ancient Russian architecture of the pre-Mongol era. Everything said that this was a monument to a new architectural style that was formed in Rus' at the end of the 12th century, during the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” It is known that at this time, ancient Russian cities entered the historical arena, handicraft and trade were rapidly developing, craft and trade corporations were formed, that is, the socio-economic process was taking place that determined the development of the Gothic architectural style in Europe. For a long time it was believed that Russian architecture proper began to develop only in the 14th century after the Mongol-Tatar invasion, when the architects of Kievan Rus moved away from Byzantine traditions. But the study of the Pyatnitskaya Church, the same age as “The Tale of Igor’s Host,” showed that the processes of formation of national architecture took place a century and a half earlier.

In 1943-45, urgent conservation and emergency work under the leadership of the architect-restorer P. D. Baranovsky saved the architectural monument from final destruction. The church was thus restored to its original form.

During the restoration, the side porches and extensions of the 18th-19th centuries were not restored, and the rotunda-bell tower was also dismantled.

Over the course of 10 years, P.D. Baranovsky restored the Pyatnitskaya Church, carefully stacking brick by brick. As a result, the researcher was able to reproduce with great reliability all the forms of the structure, one of the outstanding monuments of ancient Russian architecture. Subsequent research discovered many other structures of this architectural style.

In 1962, the restoration of the Pyatnitskaya Church was completed according to the design of the architect P. D. Baranovsky and M. V. Kholostenko. Revived in its original form, the building reproduces the highest stage of development of Kievan Rus architecture.

Architecture Thus, the modern appearance of the church is a reconstruction of the temple architecture from the times of Kievan Rus. Its plan is based on a four-pillar cross-domed temple. The constructive and compositional feature of the Pyatnitskaya Church is that the pillars, which support the high bathhouse with the help of girth arches, are spaced widely, and the side naves are narrow, so on the facade only the central zakomara has an arched finish, the side ones have quarter-circular coverings. Thus, the facades are completed with a trilobed curve. The transition from the main mass to the pillars is developed into a complex composition of three tiers of stepped vaults, thanks to which the temple is perceived as an amazing pillar-tower. This impression is enhanced by the beam pilasters and semi-columns of the pillar. The facades of the building are decorated with all types of architectural ornaments. Inside, the church resembles a tower. The artistic effect of the fresco painting is enhanced by the multi-colored floor of yellow, green and dark cherry glazed tiles. Unlike the Kyiv Sofia, where the compositional theme is developed into an entire symphony, in the Pyatnitskaya Church everything is built on one, so to speak, melody. This is a joyful song about beauty, where the engineering genius of the builder united with the poetry of folk art. The Pyatnitskaya Church in Chernigov is sometimes called the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign” in architecture. And indeed, the landmark of ancient Russian architecture is not only a contemporary of the brilliant poem, but also close to the “Word” in the nature of its poetics, in the perfection of form, in the folk spirit and ideological orientation. The architectural features that first appeared in the Pyatnitskaya Church were further developed in Russian , Ukrainian, Romanian temple construction. Pyatnitskaya Church was erected much earlier than all Moscow tent churches of the 16th century. The Moscow Church of the Ascension, built in 1532 in the village of Kolomenskoye, which is the first hipped stone structure in Muscovy, is very similar to it. In Russian architecture, zakomars turned into kokoshniks. Zakomara is a structural architectural element, an external arch of the vault. The kokoshnik is a purely decorative element; it is a flat plate, similar in shape to a flower petal or the headdress of Russian women (hence the name). And one more interesting and important detail. The decorative capabilities of brick were perfectly used in the construction of the structure; the ornamental masonry of the Pyatnitskaya Church is an early example of decor, which later developed in Novgorod and Pskov. A contemporary of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” the Pyatnitsky Church embodied high folk ideals, the consciousness of the strength and spiritual beauty of the people, their artistic and aesthetic views. In 1972, the Pyatnitskaya Church was opened as a museum.