Wooden architecture

The activities of the peasants were everywhere connected with the tree. Carts, sleighs, boats were made of wood, dishes, furniture were made, and, of course, houses were built. Since wood was the most affordable and widespread material, a special type of architecture developed over time — wooden architecture. Wooden architecture covers a large layer of traditional culture — the construction of houses, outbuildings, baths; carpentry and wood carving. The roots of wooden architecture go back to ancient Slavic times. It reached its highest development in the Russian North. It was from there that the first Russian settlers were who brought these traditions beyond the Urals. It is noteworthy that all the first Russian cities of Siberia began with fortresses — prisons. Wooden churches, mansions of voivodes and boyars, barns and houses were located under the protection of the walls.

The basis of a Russian wooden house is a log cabin. For such a structure, no nails are needed — the log cabin is held by its weight. Houses were decorated with carvings, and not only shutters were decorated with carvings, but also gates, cornices, crevices, smokies and so on. And now in Russia they continue to build from wood. The oldest surviving residential buildings date back to the XVIII century. At the beginning of the XXI century, it is very difficult to preserve monuments of wooden architecture.

Wooden churches

In pre-revolutionary times, settlements where there was a church were called countrysides. In villages, cemeteries, and highways, chapels were erected, not churches. It was a small religious building with icons, without a throne and an altar. Here it was possible to pray and conduct some types of services, except for the main one — the liturgy. The chapel was distinguished from the church not by its size, not by the number of icons, not by the place where it stands, but only by the presence of an altar. Most often the village chapels were small. Their door was not locked so that they could always go in to pray and light a candle.

The first wooden churches in Siberia, according to the description, were very simple. A log cabin was erected, an altar was arranged, and a cross was placed above the roof for the sign (it could even be without a dome). Such churches are often referred to as "kletskiye" churches. A belfry was set up next to the church (often it was just a tent with bells in it). The most important church in Siberia, St. Sophia Cathedral in Tobolsk, was also very simple. In the twenties of the seventeenth century, it was small, with a height of 40 crowns (about 12 meters). Next to the temple there was a tall bell tower under a tent roof with seven bells.

Gradually the churches became bigger and more beautiful. They put up not one, but two or three log cabins connected to each other. One log cabin was an altar, another was a prayer room, and the third was a refectory. A gable roof was erected above the log cabin (log cabins), above which a poppy with a cross was placed. The church was painted inside, and the iconostasis was often decorated with carvings (then it took skilled wood carvers in Siberia). Icons were imported to Siberia for a long time, but already in the XVII century their own icon painting workshops appeared. The bell towers of wooden churches are becoming taller and more reliable (these were no longer pillars under the roof, but real towers cut down from wood).

At the end of the XVII century, stone churches began to appear in rural areas. However, it was very expensive to build such a temple, and they built such beauty for ten to fifteen years. Therefore, in most villages the churches remained wooden. Merchants and industrialists built them to leave a good memory of themselves. For example, Maria Dmitrievna Mendeleeva built a wooden St. Nicholas Church in the village of Aremzyansk in 1844.

Unfortunately, most of the wooden churches have not survived to our time (burned down or were dismantled), but the preserved ones arouse interest and admiration.

Wooden carving

The peasants loved and appreciated beauty — there was not much of it in their simple life. Houses, gates, and smokies were decorated with carvings. Carved platbands are often found.

There are two storylines in the carving of peasant houses in Western Siberia — three-dimensional carving and flat. The three-dimensional carving brings us back to well-known styles, for example, to the ornate Baroque. Three-dimensional carving is beautiful, complex — therefore it was expensive, only rich owners could afford to decorate her house. One of the favorite motifs is flowers and vines hung with ripe bunches. There are very special patterns inspired by nature paintings: images of cedar and pine cones.

Another thread line is a flat-relief thread. This is one of the most ancient types of carving. Indentations were hollowed out or cut out on a thick board, which form a background, protrusions rising one or two centimeters above the background, add up to a relief pattern. The edges of the protrusions remained sharp or rounded to give the carving juiciness.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, sawn carving became widespread. It was different — wealthy people decorated houses with real patterns of their flowers and herbs, the peasants preferred simple elements: triangles, rhombuses, "ducks" and "chickens".