About the authors
| First name, Middle name, Last name, Scientific degree, Scientific rank, Current position. Full and brief name of the organization, The organization address. | Zeyfert Marina Germanovna candidate of architecture, associate professor E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering The organization address: 420043, Russia, Kazan, Zelenaya st., 1 |
| Title of the article | Features of formation and development of the Christian churches’ altar part |
| Abstract. | Problem statement. The purpose of the study is to reveal the peculiarities of formation and development of the architecture of the altar part of the Christian churches. The main results of the study are as follows. Results. 1. In the early Christian churches, the requirement of orientating the main altar to the east was not always fulfilled. The location of the buildings depended on many factors: the urban development situation, the use of surviving fragments of ancient buildings, local traditions in the construction. 2. The peculiarity of the Christian churches that influenced the formation of the structure of church buildings is the presence of the burial places of the originally revered martyrs, in memory of which the martyrs and churches were built, and later the people that are important for religion. The lower limits of the church for burial places appeared – crypts and confessions. The classification of the crypts and confession of the Roman churches according to their influence on the architectural composition of the altar part of the building was made. 3. It is established that changes in the requirements for church rituals have an effect on the altar part of the church and, accordingly, the volumetric and planning decision of the building as a whole. At the same time, the development of architecture and the improvement of the construction of religious buildings entail the transformation of the main sacred part of the church – the sanctuary (altar zone). 4. It is revealed that with time the boundaries between the altar part of the church and the space intended for the parishioners are being erased. In many churches there is no choir screen, ciborium over the throne, in some cases the entire church room is overlapped by a common dome combining «earthly and divine». Conclusions. The significance of the results obtained for the architecture consists in revealing the features of the influence of the functional process on the formation and development of buildings and architectural elements, on the example of the altar part of Christian churches. |
| Keywords. | history of architecture, Christian churches, altar part of the church, functional process, space-planning decisions of buildings, architectural elements. |
| For citations: | Zeyfert M.G. Features of formation and development of the Christian churches’ altar part // Izvestiya KGASU. 2018. №3(45) P.35-44. |
