{"id":145670,"date":"2021-07-23T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/?p=145670"},"modified":"2021-07-29T12:15:56","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T09:15:56","slug":"ukraineexplained-discovering-ukrainian-architecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/ukraineexplained-discovering-ukrainian-architecture","title":{"rendered":"#UkraineExplained: Discovering Ukrainian Architecture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Night view of the Opera Theatre in Odesa. Photo: simbiothy\/Depositphotos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Breathing with eclecticism and collective memory, Ukrainian architecture, to some extent, turns Ukrainian cities into intricate palimpsests. In the city labyrinth, every block remembers different historical eras \u2014 from the middle ages to modernity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With all its polyethnic intertextuality, rich history, imperial heritage, and colonial traumas, Ukrainian architecture remains unique and full of surprises \u2014 and this turns it into a marvelous journey through time and space. Ukrainian architectural landscape is sometimes an invitation to get lost in its labyrinths and unsolved mysteries so we prepared a brief overview of some of the most flamboyant tendencies that will help to hear the beating of the urban heart of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Architecture of Kyivan Rus\u2019. Byzantium Style<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After the Christianization of Rus\u2019 in 988, Kyivan princes started building churches that were heavily influenced by Byzantine architectural tradition<\/strong> with its monumental style, Greek cross schemes, and domed towers, combining the best antique approaches with oriental tendencies. The flourishing of Byzantine architecture peaked in the reign of Prince Yaroslav in the XI century when Rus\u2019 became an important political and economical center on the map of Europe. Such influence is especially evident in Saint Sophia’s Cathedral <\/strong>(Kyiv, 1037\u20131054), which appeared both as a symbolic answer to its prototype \u2014 Hagia Sophia in Constantinople \u2014 and as a sacral building that could turn Kyiv into the new center of orthodoxy<\/strong>. The cathedral was built in the age of Prince Yaroslav the Wise and represents the features of Byzantine architecture such as rectangular forms, apses, and domes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n