BOHDAN CHERKES*, ANDRIY BORYS** Byzantine symbolism in sacred architecture in Eastern Galicia at the turn of the XIX-early XX century

Abstract Sacral architecture in Western Ukraine, first of all in Galicia, since the beginning of the twentieth century defined by the obvi- ous search and articulation of local identity, arose in terms of the general process of political nations in Eastern Europe. The long break both in the continuity of generations and in the practice of sacred buildings design between periods at the turn of XIX–XX and at the turn of XX–XXI centuries, led to significant losses in the theoretical and practical use of the experience of the galaxy of Galician architects of the Austrian and Inter-War periods, which formed morphological basis of the architectural definition of a church in Ukrainian-Byzantine tradition.

Keywords: byzantine symbolism, sacred architecture, Eausten Galicia

Treatment of the main material. this tradition he saw not only the necessary Although the first attempts of social groups in Galicia to ex- set of semantic features required for position- plore the ideology of the modern Ukrainian nation had oc- ing of the “Russian art” in terms of political curred since 1870s [1], almost up to the beginning of the and financial dominance of the Latin Catholic, twentieth century it was in a close synergy with the compre- but functional benefits of the liturgical charac- hension of the cultural and political significance of the native ter, which to him, in some cases, were more peasant population of Galicia, identity of which was weak and important than structures of the national gen- blurred among newly appeared nations. [2] Long existence esis [ 4]. of the ethnonym “Rusyn” within the Ukrainian national dis- However, his attraction to Byzantinism faced course in Galicia can be considered as an evidence of its iso- the existing ideas about the sacred building lation from the context of the Russian Empire and its focus on among his customers – Greek-Catholic rural its own source material. communities. Despite significant attraction to In this point of view should be considered first artistic efforts historical styles in early projects of the archi- with regards to promote the national identity, made by galaxy tect, the heritage of folk architecture created of Galician artists at the turn of XIX – XX centuries, the union the main basis for the shaping of churches by of which first was called the “Society for Prosperity of the Rus- Vasil Nagirnyi. sian art” [“Ɍɨɜɚɪɢɫɬɜɨɞɥɹɪɨɡɜɨɸɪɭɫɶɤɨʀɲɬɭɤɢ”] and then Limited financial capacities of communities “Society of Supporters of Ukrainian science, literature and – customers of his projects – mostly forced art” [“Ɍɨɜɚɪɢɫɬɜɨɩɪɢɯɢɥɶɧɢɤɿɜɭɤɪɚʀɧɫɶɤɨʀɧɚɭɤɢɥɿɬɟɪɚɬɭɪɢ the architect to focus more on the search for ɿɲɬɭɤɢ”] headed by architect Vasil Nagirnyi [3]. Leaving aside archetypal tectonics and general geometry from the article more detailed overview of the artistic con- of Ukrainian church. As a result, the laconic, text and searches for the national character of the Ukrainian mainly neo-Romanesque, decor received mi- (Russian) identity, it should be focused on the works of Vasil nor symbolic role, giving way to experiments Nagirnyi that become the determining factor and a kind of with the traditional combination of rectangular starting point for the development of vision of the semantic and octagonal volumes, as well as to adapta- characteristics of sacred buildings in Ukrainian-Byzantine tra- tion of folk wooden traditional methods to the dition in Galicia. stone building. Vasil Nagirnyi was educated in Lviv and Zurich, and gained At the same time, in the design of the church- experience in project work in Switzerland. From the very be- es by Vasil Nagirnyi, Ukrainian national iden- ginning of his practice in Galicia he has positioned himself as tity is shown in parallel with confessional an adherer of the Eastern Christian (Byzantine) tradition. In and pure Galician regional components. In

* Bohdan Cherkes – Prof.Dr.Sc.PhD.Ing.arch is Professor for Architecture and Urban Studies at National University Polytechnic of Lviv and Agricultural University of Cracow, e-mail: [email protected] 118 ** Andriy Borys – Master of Architecture is Assistant and Doctorant at National University Polytechnic of Lviv a highly competitive environment with a Polish project and Secondly it should be mentioned the use of still presented at that time exposures of clerical- Russophile helmet-shaped top, more corresponding with groups, an important task was to demonstrate a clear differ- the samples of Eastern-Christian tradition ence of Ukrainian Galician identity both from Latin semantic mainly of Byzantine origin. In the architecture archetypes and Russian ones. At that time, these two com- of churches by Vasyl Nagirnyi, we almost do peting trends existed in the form of reflection of ideological not see moving away from the helmet-shaped utopias about the medieval origins of the national spirit. On geometry, even when there are expressive the one hand the Austrian-Polish discourse was based on the baroque motifs, the elements of which are Latin pre-Protestant romanticism of the Middle Ages, it stood deeply intertwined with the practice of the like a historical ideal of humanity led by the church. On the national constructions. other hand, during the conservative reigns of Alexander III Another important sign of Churches by and Nicholai II in Russia was revived the aesthetics of pre- Vasyl Nagirnyi was laconism in decor and Peter Moscow empire, as the period of a perfect unity of the the development of abstract geometry with tsar and of the orthodox people, who voluntarily submits to a combination of simple forms, allowing de- and serves the regent [5]; Byzantine style transforms to the veloping the archetypal architectural mor- side of the ancient and Moscow-Russian exemplars of church phology qualitied with expressive semantic architecture, it uses bulbous cupolas, eastern ornaments and content. Such archetypical church looked as dome dominant system. a cross on a plan structure with a tent roof Analysis of Vasil Nagirnyi’s projects suggests that the unique crowned with an octagonal top with helmet- image of the “national” church in Western Ukraine (especial- shaped dome. This simple scheme was only ly in Galicia) was the result not so much of the author’s own relatively supplemented with simple band creative world view, as his close cooperation with churches of blind arcades that with equal probability congregate that contributed to meaningful of images of the can belong to both the Roman and the folk national architecture. In a number of projects, such as, for styles. The result was a universal archetype example, the St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Cathedral in Sokal building that expressed not only a particular town, St. Church of St. John the Evangelist in Sukhovolia vil- national identity, but the authentic nature lage, St. George’s Church in Verkhrata village, or the Church of the area, providing a huge advantage to of the Archistratigus Michael in Komarno town indicate the this approach over other ones. In addition, author’s natural orientation to an academic interpretation the geometric simplicity and clarity of such of sacred forms with Greco-Roman classics. Such projects a scheme opened the possibility of its imag- almost did not possess any specific national markers and ing both in the absence of sufficient funds reflected the cosmopolitan culture of the era of European (which was fairly typical for the time) and in Empire style. the absence of professional architects. As a result of the interaction with the communities, and the Fundamental studies of Vasyl Nagirny’s works study of folk architecture, there was gradually formed a dis- had not been carried out, so within this article tinctive set of techniques, reflecting new nation-forming con- we can not clearly define the nature of stylis- tents in sacred art. Actually, during the creative work of Vasyl tic searches, in which attempts were made to Nagirnyi it was difficult to even talk about the true Ukrainian use a purely Byzantine and classical motifs. identity associated with a national project of the modern na- We can assume that they are related to signifi- tion by Drahomanov and Hrushevskyi, however, it profes- cant closeness; in the prevailing conditions of sional work with folk material was very important, thus it be- the confessional and national positioning, as come liquid to the discourse of the Ukrainian nation. well as problems of traditional suspicions the It is worth noting that the very nature of a nation in Eastern Greek-Catholic population belongs to non- Europe was a part of the German-Italian scheme, where such European provincial circle. ideas as the memory of the line length (“nation”), its rooted- It is also worth noting that the experience of ness on the land and unique symbolic attributes of the line the searches for sacred forms by Vasyl Nag- played a primary role. In this context a unique folk tradition irnyi also included wooden buildings. Here of Galicia was a crucial achievement, the mastery of which by the architect took almost completely made the Ukrainian project provided to it later a decisive advantage. up in the framework of folk architecture a set Thus in the works of Vasyl Nagirnyi it was formed a number of of tectonic techniques and decorative tools features that become the main attributes of Ukrainian identity without attempting to interpret them in the in the sacred architecture of Galicia. Byzantine or in the academic spirit. Obvi- First of all the noteworthy is the dominance of centric ap- ously, a significant factor of this approach proaches with the leading role of the central dome, which to wooden churches was an opinion of rural under the influence of folk architecture is mainly of octagonal communities that was closely related to cer- shape and repeats in stone the geometry of domes of folk tain semantic clichés, but, on the other hand, wooden churches. self-sufficient phenomenon of folk architec-

119 ture of wooden sacral buildings fully met the key require- tain exceptions can serve a couple of projects ments to the formation of new identity meanings. of a native of Chernigiv region Serhii Tymosh- Experience of Vasyl Nagirnyi became the initial impulse for enko in the style of Ukrainian Naddnipryanskyi the further search for Ukrainian national attributes in the de- modern style). There is no such direction in sign of sacred buildings. Gradually, a galaxy of architects Galician sacred architecture at the turn of XX appeared, who in their work involved the plenty of tools for – XXI centuries. reflection of national and religious identity, in particular, such people as L. Levynskyi, O. Lushpynskyi, S. Havryshkevych, In this regard, we can talk about several main I. Dolynskyi, T. Obminskyi, Ye. Nahirnyi, Y. Barvik, M. Koval- considerations. First of all, it should be noted chuk, M. Holeiko, O.Pezhanskyi. that in the conditions of formation of modern This relatively small group of authors (quantitative contribu- nations the key moment is the identity of the tion of which to the design of sacred buildings in the Western new political nation with indigenous (autoch- Ukraine is unequal) designed and built hundreds of churches, thonous) folk population. The masses acquir- and gained experience was the basis for the further continu- ing individual rights of liberty and equality are ation of the development of religious architecture in Ukraini- able to transit to the status of a political entity, an-Byzantine tradition in the diaspora and, starting from the but it is not enough for the right to occupy 1990s, in Ukraine. a certain territory. In this sense of the main im- To ways of reflection of the national religious identity worked portance is the status of autochthonous – the out by Vasyl Nagirnyi were added other ways resulting from eternal residence of ancestors of some new more trailblazing experiments with material and tectonics of political nation on a given territory. That is buildings. Some attempts of Vasul Nagirnyi to return to the why in the environment of fierce competition practice of building of stone churches Byzantine cross-domed between different national projects in Galicia schema with diagonally disposed tops, has been superseded the most important were identity markers as by a tectonic approaches that were closer the experience of a cultural form of autochthonous population. wooden folk architecture. Almost the same trend can be seen In this context, the development of wooden also in the gradual abandonment from the curved shape of folk architecture was more fundamental and a dome and walls. The total volume-spatial composition takes top-priority. (Especially considering that the the form of reflection in stone of geometry the folk wooden Ukrainian Cossack Baroque was, in turn, church only supplemented a bit with stylized (Romanesque, also the reflection of Naddnipryanska form less classical) decor. of wooden architecture in the stone material A striking example of such architecture and its close con- with addition of order decor). nection with the sacral building in western Ukraine after the In addition, it should be emphasized that on- 1990s years could be the St. Nicholas’ Church in Livshits tologically, Naddnipryanska tectonic was as- village, Horodotskyi district, Lviv region. The project of this sociated with Volyn and Galician archetypes church was developed by the architect Oleksandr Pezhanskyi of single-store and sometimes three-stores (in collaboration with the engineer Yu. Piasetskyi) in 1929, the churches, which were subsequently devel- construction began in 1938 and was terminated due to the oped in the lateral and vertical directions inclusion of the Western Ukraine to the USSR and, accord- connecting both morphological variations in ingly, the termination of any sacred building. At the beginning a single array in terms of national semantics. of the liberalization of the atheistic Soviet control in 1989 the To some extent, we can speak about a kind construction was completed, almost without any major de- of narodovska (narodovtsi – is a political viations from the original morphology [6]. The architecture of movement in Galicia closest to the concept the church is the representation in stone of tectonic geometry of modern Ukrainian nation) determination of traditions of folk wooden architecture with a few contour de- the nation formation in the Western Ukraine cor from simplified Greco-Roman classics. Besides parts of and the lack of a clear vision of the political the coating and the top, it is worth noting the completion end nature of its shaping. For the same reasons of the transept in the form of faceted log buildings typical for in the Galician we do not see direct encoun- wooden tectonics (this approach, for example, was not typi- ter reproductions or architectural samples of cal for projects of Vasyl and Yevhen Nagirnyi). time period of Rurik dynasty- Kievan Rus and In the context of this presentation, the regard should be paid Galician Rus, which on the one hand could to the morphology of the so-called Ukrainian Cossack Ba- be considered as Russophile signs, and on roque and its place in the search for national identity conduct- the other hand symbolized autochthony and ed by the galaxy of Galician architects in the early XX century. nationality – the two main priorities of the na- Unlike, for example, Volyn, where Russian authorities built tion. Analysis of the latter – the pre-war stage a memorial in honor of the Battle of Berestechko with the use of formation of national identity in the sacred of morphology of Cossack architecture of XVII–XVIII centu- architecture of the early twentieth century in ries, in Galicia there were no approaches as above. (As cer- Galicia, suggests the further strengthening of

120 the tectonics of folk wooden architecture as a leading identi- (especially in Galicia) was the result not so fier of forming Ukrainian nationality. In the works of Yevhen much of the author’s own creative world- Nagirnyi these motifs are just reflected (e.g. the St. Nicho- view, as of his close cooperation with the las’ Church in Busk town), or become the main base for the masses of parish of rural churches that three-dimensional schemas. Some exceptions, such as the contributed to understanding of images of Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin in Bircha village with massive folk architecture. Byzantine dome, can be attributed to a desire to strengthen 3. It was established that in the works of Vasyl religious identity in religious heterogeneous environment. Nagirnyi was formed a number of features Stylistic details and decor are reduced further, which also can that became the main attributes of Ukraini- be attributed to the influence of folk architecture. (Although an identity in sacral architecture in Galicia. it should be mentioned the ruling functional and rational dis- First of all it is worth noting the dominance course). Discovered in the works of Vasyl Nagirnyi archetype of centric approaches with the leading role of the church with an octagonal tower and the helmet roof of the central dome; use of helmet-shaped starts its way to repetition and memorial approval (e.g. the top, more similar to the initial samples Church of St. George in Isaia village). of the Eastern-Christian tradition mainly In his projects of wooden churches Yevhen Nagirnyi, as well as of Byzantine origin; the development of his father Vasil Nagirnyi, repeats almost unchanged all found in “Galician archetype” endowed with a dis- the folk architecture techniques, without any stylistic or tecton- tinct semantic content. This archetypal ic additions or innovations. The only exception is an attempt to church looked like a cross on a building underscore the central cross via its overall increase, including plan with a tent roof topped with octago- in height (the church in Oryavchyk village). nal top and a helmet-shaped dome. Also, to Yevhen Nagirnyi’s individual features in his work 4. It was discovered that the galaxy of Gali- can be includes a revival of baroque dome motifs typical for cian architects (L. Levynskyi, O. Lush- Naddnipryanskyi Cossack Baroque, as well as the develop- pynskyi, S. Havryshkevych, I. Dolynskyi, ment of monumental properties of open masonry, not often T. Obminskyi, Ye. Nahirnyi, Y. Barvik, found in folk and more professional prototypes taken as a basis M. Kovalchuk, M. Holeiko, O.Pezhanskyi) for Ukrainian-Byzantine churches. As a result, we can say that based on the experience of Vasyl Nagirnyi on the territory of Galicia appeared its own archetype of the sa- were able to solve several key problems cred object of the national identity on the basis of wooden folk of national symbolism – namely differ- architecture, to which in each case, a variety of compositional ence from Latin traditions associated with and construction – technical modifications was applied without Poland; delimitation from the Russophile disrupting the overall awareness of construction identity. The cultural forms of parallelism to official galaxy of Galician architects on the basis of experience of Vasyl nationality of the Russian Empire (up to Nagrinyi was able to solve some of the key tasks of the national 1917); consolidation of the Ukrainian symbolization, namely – difference from the Latin traditions, churches building tradition of autoch- associated with Poland; delimitation of the Russian parallelism thonous (indigenous) population of the to the cultural forms of official nationality of the Russian em- region; development of the professional pire (actual up to 1917); consolidation of the Ukrainian Church synthesis of morphology of wooden ar- building tradition of autochthonous (indigenous) population of chitecture in the stone building. the region; professional development synthesis morphology of wooden architecture in the stone building. BIBLIOGRAPHY: [1] Hrushevskyi M.S. Halychyna i Ukraina [Galicia and Ukraine]/ M.S. ,ƌƵƐŚĞǀƐŬLJŝ ͬͬ EĂƚƐŝŽŶĂůŝnjŵ͘ ŶƚŽůŽŚŝŝĂ͘ ΀EĂƟŽŶĂůŝƐŵ͘ ŶƚŚŽůŽŐLJ΁ <͕͘ Conclusions: 2000. P.180-187. ΀Ϯ΁ <ĂŵŝŶƐŬLJŝ ͘ ,ĂůLJĐŚLJŶĂ ΀'ĂůŝĐŝĂ΁ ʹ WŝŝĞŵŽŶƚŽŵ ΀ĚŝŐŝƚĂů ƌĞƐŽƵƌĐĞ΁ͬ 1. It was outlined the scope of tasks set for the Galician archi- ͘<ĂŵŝŶƐŬLJŝ͘ ʹ ĐĐĞƐƐ ŵŽĚĞ͗ ŚƩƉ͗ͬͬǁǁǁ͘ƵŬƌƐƚŽƌ͘ĐŽŵͬƵŬƌƐƚŽƌͬ ŬĂŵŝŶ- tects at the turn of XIX – XX centuries in the context of the ƐŬŝͺƉŝĞŵŽŶƚ͘Śƚŵů ΀ϯ΁EŽŚĂK͕͘zĂƚƐŝǀZ͘DLJƐƚĞƚƐŬŝƚŽǀĂƌLJƐƚǀĂ͕ŽďŝĞĚŶĂŶŶŝĂ͕ƵŚƌƵƉƵǀĂŶŶŝĂ͕ƐƉŝů- local attributes of national identity, the main of which was ŬLJ>ǀŽǀĂ΀^ŽĐŝĞƟĞƐ͕ĂƐƐĞŵďůŝĞƐĂŶĚƵŶŝŽŶƐŽĨĂƌƚŝŶ>ǀŝǀ΁ϭϴϲϬʹϭϵϵϴ͘>ǀŝǀ͗ the need for simultaneous separation of Ukrainian Galician ͨhŬƌĂŝŶƐŬŝƚĞŬŚŶŽůŽŚŝŝ͟΀>ǀŝǀ͗hŬƌĂŝŶŝĂŶdĞĐŚŶŽůŽŐŝĞƐ΁͕ϭϵϵϴ͘W.ϮϱʹϮϴ͘ ΀ϰ΁EĂŚŝƌŶLJŝs͘<ŝůŬĂƐůŝǀǀƐƉƌĂǀŝďƵĚŝǀĞůƚƐĞƌŬŽǀŶLJŬŚͬͬŝůŽ͘΀^ŽŵĞtŽƌĚƐ identity both from archetypes of the Latin and Russian se- ĂďŽƵƚƵŝůĚŝŶŐŽĨŚƵƌĐŚĞƐ΁.>ǀŝǀ͕ϭϵϬϱ͘Ś͘ϮϮϱ͘W͘ϭ͘ mantic. At that time, these two competing trends existed ΀ϱ΁Z͘sŽƌƚŵĂŶ͘͞KĮƚƐŝĂůŶĂŝĂŶĂƌŽĚŶŽƐƚ͟ŝŶĂƚƐLJŽŶĂůŶLJŝŵŝĨƌŽƐƐLJŝƐŬŽŝŵŽ- ŶĂƌŬŚŝŝy/yǀĞŬĂͬͬZŽƐƐLJŝĂͬZƵƐƐŝĂ΀͞KĸĐŝĂůEĂƟŽŶ͟ĂŶĚƚŚĞEĂƟŽŶĂů in the form of reflection of philosophical utopias about the DLJƚŚŽĨZƵƐƐŝĂŶDŽŶĂƌĐŚLJ΁͘ĚŝƟŽŶϯ;ϭϭͿ͗<ƵůƚƵƌŶLJĞƉƌĂŬƟŬŝǀŝĚĞŽůŽŚLJ- medieval origins of national spirit. ĐŚĞƐŬŽŝƉĞƌƐƉĞŬƟǀĞ͘΀ƵůƚƵƌĂůWƌĂĐƟĐĞƐŝŶƚŚĞ/ĚĞŽůŽŐŝĐĂůWĞƌƐƉĞĐƟǀĞ΁Ͷ D͗͘K,z͕ϭϵϵϵ͕Ɖ͘ϮϯϯʹϮϰϰ 2. Analysis of Vasyl Nagirnyi’s projects suggests that the ΀ϲ΁ ^ůŽďŽĚŝĂŶ s͘ dƐĞƌŬǀLJ hŬƌĂŝŶLJ͘ WĞƌĞŵLJƐŬĂ LJĞƉĂƌŬŚŝŝĂ͘ ΀ŚƵƌĐŚĞƐ ŽĨ unique image of the “national” church in Western Ukraine hŬƌĂŝŶĞ͘WĞƌĞŵLJƐŬĂĂƌĐŚĚŝŽĐĞƐĞ΁ͬs͘^ůŽďŽĚŝĂŶ͘>ǀŝǀ͕ϭϵϵϴ͘ϴϲϰƉ.

121