CHAPEL

/Arch. N.B. Vasnetsov 2010/

/experience of the Orthodox tradition for the designer/

In ancient times, along with churches, chapels were common public buildings, the construction of which was established from the time of baptism. Small similar architectural forms, such as worship crosses, icon pillars, canopies and others, also spread. Their large number was determined by the needs of Christian existence. They ennobled travel directions, the natural landscape, and the centers of urban compositions.

The role of the chapel in the modern world.

As the patristic traditions of the Orthodox Church define, the fullness of a person’s life is determined by three components: physical, mental-conscious and spiritual. What kind of architectural heritage has developed in construction practice according to these definitions? Stadiums, gyms and swimming pools, canteens and restaurants, cozy housing, etc. are intended for the physical component of a person. For the spiritual component, theaters and music halls, exhibition pavilions and art galleries, clubs, libraries, etc. To strengthen the spiritual component, monasteries, churches and chapels were built. A chapel is a space for a person’s spiritual state, intended most of all for intense heartfelt concentration in prayer, especially if the temple is located at a distance from this place. The chapel is also needed for the common congregational efforts of Christians in prayer.
In the chapel, in addition to private prayers, the faithful prepare for the Divine Liturgy. Without a priest, the psalter, canons, akathists, hours and services of a given day are read. The priest in the chapel can perform the sacrament of baptism, confession, unction, prayers with blessing of water, perform funeral services and memorial services. On a special occasion, on the day of the holy dedication of the chapel or on another day, the priest on a portable antimension, as once in ancient times over the tombs of martyrs, can serve the liturgy; here the chapel is transformed into an altar. From the chapel religious processions can be held around settlements, where it plays the role of not only a spiritual, but also a spatially organizing center. Thus, the significance of the chapel in the modern world and in modern buildings is obvious.

From the history of the development of the chapel and its analogues

The history of the development of chapels and its analogues begins in the ancient era, when the first Christians erected monuments over the entrances to underground cemeteries and over underground churches. These funerary monuments became the first chapels; they designated places of prayer over the tombs of martyrs, i.e. at the thrones. From them such small forms as canopy-ciborium, cabbage roll and icon-post were developed.
When fully completed, they are characterized by a common design property - they have coverings - canopies.
The canopy (in Russian) or ciborium (in Greek) resembles an open mini-chapel, without walls; it is a canopy over the altar, where the liturgical rite is performed - the consecration of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The ciborium canopy, sometimes called the royal canopy, is installed in the altars of large churches. Structurally, it looks like a dome or canopy supported by columns installed on the throne. The first ciborium recorded in history is known in the city of Thessaloniki in the 4th century. in the church of St. George. From the descriptions of Paul Silenziats, the canopy in the Church of St. Sophia in Constantinople, built by Emperor Justinian in the 6th century, is known. In the 12th century. The Sen-Ciborium appears in Rus' in the Church of the Holy Mother of God in Vladimir. One of the last canopies of the 19th century was installed in the altar of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. The dome of the canopy-ciborium means the glory of God and grace over the earth, the sky above the crucifixion, the location of the body of Christ, therefore in early Christianity a dove hung inside the ciborium, in which the Holy Gifts were placed.
The ciborium-dome or canopy should not be confused with the ciborium, which is a vessel for storing St. Darov. In the Old Testament church, the ciborium was a cedar and gold ark where the Jews kept the tablets of the covenant.
Golubets is a covered timber frame with an aspen gable roof; the canopy over the grave is a small architectural form, like a mini-chapel, into which it is impossible to get inside. It also comes from the tradition of setting up chapels over the relics of the first Christian martyrs for liturgical services. This form of tombstones was common in the North in pre-revolutionary Russia. In the cabbage roll, the ridge covering log symbolizes the dove, which signifies the resting grace of the Holy Spirit over the burial. Hence the name.
Icon pillar or kivot is a supplier for holy icons. Sometimes, instead of a cross, it was placed in front of a populated area, at the entrance to Poklonnaya Hill, or in front of a cemetery. It could also be placed over the throne of the former temple, over which, according to Orthodox tradition, an angel stands in prayer until the Last Judgment. This is a structurally developed icon case on a pillar or pillars, with a niche for an icon and a lamp with a small canopy, in front of which traveling villagers or pilgrims read the readings necessary for spiritual needs. The construction of this structure is more affordable, requires less material costs, and in many cases replaces the installation of a chapel.
The chapel is mentioned in the rules of the acts of the Trullo Council of 691, known as the “fifth-sixth”, recognized on a par with the rules of the seven Ecumenical Councils of the Orthodox Church, and around 800 in the capitulary of the laws of Charlemagne. In the Byzantine Church in Greek, chapels are literally called houses of prayer.
The Orthodox faith, adopted from the Byzantines in 988, renewed the culture of the Eastern Slavs. Preachers of Christianity erected crosses and built chapels on the sites of pagan temples. It is known that in Veliky Novgorod, where the idol of Perun stood, and in Rostov the Great, on the site of the idol of Veles, chapels were erected.
During the period when the priesthood was small and churches were decorated mainly by princely residences, chapels were important organizing centers in the development of Christianity. Located in settlements far from the rare functioning temples, they were strongholds for missionary priests. From the church, the village priest alternately visited remote chapels to fulfill the needs of the flock burdened with daily labor.
Chapels were also built in deep forests by lonely hermits, and churches and monasteries were often built in their places. The chapel, cut down in the 14th century in the Radonezh forests by St. Sergius, laid the foundation for the famous Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
In Russia, the image of temples and chapels developed on the basis of Byzantine architecture in combination with the ancient building culture of the Slavs - wooden architecture. Its introduction greatly influenced the image of modern church architecture.
After the baptism of Rus', churches were built in the Byzantine style, stately, cross-domed in design, they decorated the epic country. As Christianity advanced, the newly baptized villagers could not immediately erect expensive stone temple buildings, which required not only special craft skills, but also long-term development. Therefore, for the cathedral prayer service, they built, as best they could, shelters - huts, wooden log houses of a rectangular cage type, with crosses or wooden domes with crosses installed on top. This is how the first houses of prayer appeared - wooden chapels, and the first wooden churches, which, with the advent of the “native”, permanent priesthood, began to multiply on the territory of the ancient country. In Rus', in the architecture of the pre-Christian period, from ancient times there was a skill in constructing various types of wooden tent-like, tiered forms used in civil and fortified buildings. With the establishment of Christian foundations in the hearts of the people, taking into account the motif of the Byzantine plasticity of brick and plinth temples, the Slavs began to build wooden religious buildings using the craftsmanship and carpentry techniques known to them. Technical solutions for wooden structures led to new church forms that influenced stone architecture. This explains the transition to the 16th century, in the stone-brick construction of churches, from the forms of the Byzantine source to the forms of traditional Russian architecture. The design defined a no-frills architectural-ecclesiastical image, treated with symbolic decor. This national-ecclesiastical period of the formation of church buildings lasted from the 10th century to the 17th century.
In subsequent centuries, under the influence of socio-political movements, fashionable and aesthetic culture, professed by a secular way of thinking, began to dominate in church building practice. Externally, like dresses, architectural styles changed, saturated with non-constructive decor, often devoid of church meaning: baroque, classicism, modern, etc., but the internal church mood or discipline of Orthodoxy did not allow changing the symbolic structure, the order of formation - basically the church canon of temple building was preserved.

About the symbolic and constructive volumetric expression of the chapel

Traditionally, the chapel, like the temple, during construction is oriented toward the sunrise, symbolizing the second coming of Christ. But in some cases, the orientation of the chapel is changed depending on the influence of the current situation. The chapel, unlike the temple, does not have an altar part, because the chapel is not created for the full circle of daily worship, and the liturgy, which in the temple, according to the patristic tradition, takes place every Sunday, is allowed in the chapel only in case of emergency, in the presence of a special offering. there is an antimind to this event. Here she herself becomes the altar of the sacred rite. You should pay attention to the concept of a temple-chapel. Essentially, these are churches with altars, but very small in size, comparable to a chapel, in which liturgical services occur extremely rarely, so they are more often used as chapels. Such can be called modern churches in Moscow at the Belorussky railway station, in the name of St. George, at the Kievsky and Kazansky railway stations with dedications to the Most Holy Theotokos. With the traditional orientation of the chapel, its eastern wall from the inside serves as the basis of the iconostasis. In some rare cases, this wall can be protruding - round or multifaceted, repeating the common shape of a church altar, and is also used for the construction of an iconostasis. It can be single-volume without a vestibule, or multi-volume, just as in a church without an altar it can contain a central cathedral part, a vestibule, and a belfry. The chapel is crowned either with a cross, or can be single-domed, double-domed or multi-domed.
A chapel in a volumetric design can be caged, domed, hipped, tiered, or fire. Like a temple, it reflects the spiritual structure of the church. Under the cross, the symbol of “invincible victory,” the chapel, apparently through the unity of design and symbol, expressed stepwise by tiers of architectural forms and sometimes supported by iconographic images from the inside and outside, gives an image of the historical and temporal path of the church and the rites in its structure: its head - Christ and its the body is the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Here, hierarchically, in steps, from top to bottom, the arrangement of the ranks of angelic powers is implied; ranks of the Old Testament church: forefathers, prophets; New Testament Church: Gospel holidays, apostles and saints of the Orthodox Church. The hierarchy of images ends with a row of militant, that is, opposing sin, living church: this is a “kneeling” space with the image of towels - symbols of purification for the praying parishioner. Thus, living modern man merges in the appropriate architectural environment with all the previous church fullness, becomes a member of a real triumphant unity.
In the planned design, chapels can be round - the circle is a symbol of eternity, square - denoting the heavenly city, rectangular - a symbol of the ship of salvation, cruciform - a symbol of spiritual victory, octagonal - the image of the future century and the accompanying Mother of God love, multifaceted - with the meaning of a circle.
The symbolism of sacred buildings, expressed by architectural plasticity, was created on the basis of patristic traditions, and there are many examples of this.
The building - the chapel, as the forerunner of the temple, from the beginning of its construction to the end of its operation - is a space for strengthening the spiritual state of a person, where, by giving them architectural mastery, the Divine image of the Church is embodied, here a synthesis of constructive and engineering solutions with church symbolism and tradition is carried out.
When creating a chapel, one must beware of forms inspired by “free” imaginations that have only originality, but lack a reasonable understanding of the connection between church and constructive foundations.

Volume-spatial and color variety of chapels

It is possible to discern in history and modern practice two main “typological” moments in the formation of chapels. In one case, chapels may appear in a spontaneously sheltered space where it is convenient for a person to stand in prayer. These are caves and natural shelters. Here the creator is nature. As an example, let us cite the 14th century life of St. Tikhon of Kaluga, the hollow of an old oak tree served him as both a cell and a chapel. In another case, this is an ordered space created by man himself according to the laws of construction technologies. An example here will be the oldest surviving wooden church in Russia - the 14th century chapel of the cage type of St. Lazarus from the Murom churchyard.
In its three-dimensional design, a chapel is a shelter or canopy for worshipers. Chapels can be divided into two types: open, like a canopy - a chapel, and closed, like a chapel with walls. With an open space, the chapel serves for cathedral prayers with a gathering of many people; there is an abundance of daylight. In a closed type, daylight is minimal, it contributes to a person’s detachment from the outside world. Here the designer, with the help of minimal daylight, can successfully express the plasticity of space with light-and-shadow relationships.
The purpose of the chapel while preserving its spiritual essence is varied. In our reality, the tradition of setting up chapels in city squares, in rural settlements, along roads, over springs, in villages and in cemeteries has been revived. The tradition of installing memorial chapels over the altars of former churches, as well as in honor of historical and church events, has been preserved. Personalized chapels are placed over the burial places of saints and people glorified by the church. There are also chapels in homes, hospitals, caves, transport and mobile chapels, ships, at educational institutions, in military units, in places of detention, etc. In some cases, temporary chapels are installed.
Chapels are small and large, reaching the size of large temples. This was the chapel of St. Panteleimon at the courtyard of the Russian Athos Monastery on Nikolskaya Street in Moscow in the second half of the 19th century. Large-volume chapels are known to have survived in the Russian North and Siberia. The generally accepted structural building materials for the construction of chapels in the traditions of Russian church architecture used wood, brick, stone, iron, copper, and lead. In ancient times, fabric-tent chapels were practiced during military campaigns and in field military camps. Less commonly, chapels were made of cast iron and bronze. For example, this is a chapel-monument to the heroes of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 in Moscow at the Ilyinsky Gate, as well as pillar-shaped chapel-monuments dedicated to the events of 1812; on the Borodino field, at the location of the Raevsky battery next to the burial of Prince Bagration, and in Smolensk.
The color of the chapel depends on the building material, or, in the case of its painting, on its symbolic dedication. The church charter and church tradition stipulate the colors used during the year in worship. These colors can be used to paint both chapels and temples. Yellow or gold color denotes Divine Glory, white color spiritual purity and Transfiguration, green is the color of eternal life, the Trinity and holy saints, red is the color of the victory of Easter and holy martyrs, blue and purple are the color of the Mother of God, silver is the color of purity and repentance , blue and purple are the colors of fasting and crucifixion holidays.
In the old days, chapels were painted with a few natural dyes. Gold and silver were used in painting and finishing of some parts. The color of the materials used was often used, for example copper or lead on roofs. Colored tiles were used. The chapel can be one-color or multi-color, symbolically painted with geometric, floral or zoomorphic patterns.

Construction of chapels in a modern city-forming space

The basis for creating the image of a new chapel can be based on regional architectural traditions, based on the centuries-old traditions of the Orthodox Church - Byzantine, Kyiv, Moscow, North Russian and others. The appearance of the chapel may depend on historical background; this applies to chapels that were once destroyed and restored.
In the 20th century in Russia, the concepts of the spiritual foundations of man were ignored. But society as a whole relied on the experience of spiritual and moral accumulations of past centuries, and in many ways positive material achievements were realized thanks to this factor. The loss of morality that is observed in the modern world impoverishes the spiritual qualities of a person, society becomes dead with the ensuing consequences. The chapel, its image, can help replenish lost grace, and its installation in the existing world is necessary. A traditional chapel, like a temple, placed in a difficult urban planning situation among fast highways and towering skyscrapers, ennobles the space. She is the banner and symbol of spiritual being, leading the mental and physical forces.
In the old days, the chapel was a link in the church space, which began with a roadside cross, an icon post, then a chapel, a temple, a monastery and the city ensemble unity. Today, the setting of the chapel is authoritarian and individual, but its meaning is as relevant as in the old days. It is increasingly the grain of modern city-forming space. In a changed, sometimes impersonal living environment, it serves as an enzyme for spiritual saturation and creates a space for a person’s high spiritual state. It is important for the designer to fit the chapel into the environment among the flows of the modern city. An example of this is the preserved church of Simeon the Stylite of the 17th century, of the fiery type, included in the impersonal urban landscape of Moscow, on the spit of New Arbat and Povarskaya Street. Successfully starting the rhythm of modern development, it is, in terms of housing, comparable in scale to a chapel.

Bibliography:

Complete Orthodox Theological
encyclopedic Dictionary.
Publishing house P.P. Soykin.
- Explanatory dictionary of the living
Great Russian language
Vladimir Dal.
- I. Snegirev, Chapel in the Russian world,
DC, 1862, 11; prot.k. Nikolsky, About chapels, St. Petersburg, 1889
- Modern Orthodox worship.
Publishing house Satis St. Petersburg 1996
Compiled by I.V. Gaslov.
- Vasnetsov N.B., Chapel and its analogues
Science, education and experimental design. Proceedings of MARCHI
Proceedings of the scientific and practical conference April 12-16, 2010.
Sat. articles in 2 vols. T.1. – Moscow: Architecture-S. 2010.

Orthodox chapel

The first simple chapels appeared among the Slavs with the spread of Christianity, and they were placed in the sacred groves of the pagans or in places where idols had previously been located. In addition, chapels were built above the early Christian catacomb (underground) church to mark the place of the altar, over the grave of a martyr, or to mark the entrance to an underground cemetery. Hermits built chapels in the wilds (“deserts”), from which churches and even monasteries later grew. Thus, a wretched chapel, cut down by St. Sergius in the thicket of the Radonezh forests, marked the beginning of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, famous in Russian history.

In ancient times, chapels were most often located in natural surroundings: in forests, fields, and at road intersections. The roadside chapels were a square-shaped gazebo, the four pillars of which carried a gable or hipped roof. These simplest forms of chapel plan, made in wood, were later preserved in stone chapels.

A chapel with a square plan is a structure that provides the lowest construction costs (for a small room, a tetrahedral frame is simpler and more natural than a multifaceted one). Wooden architecture researcher V.P. Orfinsky draws attention to the evolution of chapels. At first, if it was necessary to enlarge the room, its plan was made up of two or three squares, but overall it was a simple rectangular shape. The next stage of evolution can be called some complication of the square shape: cut corners turn the square plan into an octagonal one. Subsequently, the arrangement of the square on both sides with a covered gallery develops the square plan along the axis from its center, and sometimes a covered bypass is built on three sides of the square with a wide porch and a staircase opposite the entrance to the chapel (Fig. 1). Later, when the construction of chapels becomes almost widespread, their plans remain unchanged, that is, square or complicated.

Designing a chapel is much more difficult than designing a temple. This is due to the fact that the chapel differs significantly from the temple in certain categories, both of a theological nature and architectural and functional. Before you begin designing an Orthodox chapel, you need to understand what the main differences between a chapel and a temple are. Let's start with theological categories.

The definition in the liturgical books reads: “Chapels are houses of worship without an altar.” Liturgy is not celebrated in the chapel. The first significant difference between a chapel and a temple is the absence altar, separated from the rest of the internal space nostas.

It follows from this that there is no iconostasis in the interior of the chapel. But the apse as an architectural component of the structure can be present in the volumetric-spatial composition.

Also, the chapel sometimes has a vestibule. Thus, a chapel, like a temple, can have a three-part structure of a volumetric-spatial composition: an apse, the temple space itself, and a vestibule. But, since there is no altar function in the apse of the chapel, the apse quite often has very modest dimensions or does not exist at all. The same applies to the narthex: since the liturgy is not celebrated in the chapel, there is often no need for a narthex, or it (the narthex) is small in size. It follows that in the vast majority of chapels there is a centric scheme for constructing a volumetric-spatial composition, which is quite often found in churches.

Concerning architectural categories, Thatin volumetric spatial composition and stylistic design of the front The Dovish chapel is distinguished from the temple by its extreme brevity, even if non-ascetic construction of architectural forms, construction of buildings architectural image .

For example, a very common image of a chapel is in the form of a cubic volume, covered with a hipped roof with an onion top.

The second difference between a chapel and a temple is that cha The sovnya is relatively smaller in size compared to the temple.

If speak about functional categories chapels, then chapels initially arose as memorial church buildings, and therefore, to this day, the predominant function of chapels is to perform funeral services. Prayer services and akathists are also performed in the chapels, but liturgies, the sacraments of baptism and weddings are never performed, since there is no altar.

Volume-spatial composition of chapels

Features of the planning structure. Orthodox chapel plans show many variations on the "square" theme. 6 options for square plans have been identified:

simple square;

square with a terrace or veranda;

square developed to rectangle;

square with developed corners;

square as the core of the composition;

polygon;

a square complemented on one side by a semicircle

Let's look at each plan option in detail.

1. A chapel, square in plan, is the most common option. Its dimensions along the outer walls do not exceed 6.4 x 6.4 m (three fathoms), and the smallest dimensions are 3 * 3 m. Such chapels have one or two entrances with steps and a porch protruding outward. Window openings are usually placed along all walls, including the one in which the entrance is located. If the windows occupy two walls, then the wall remains blank

opposite the entrance. This technique is more often used in wooden chapels. In this case, the plasticity of the walls is solved only by door or window openings, as well as the porch (Fig. 2, 3).

The second option can be considered a variation of the first - an open terrace or covered veranda is attached to the square of the chapel. It surrounds the volume of the building on three sides (side and main facade) and expands the space for worshipers. The terrace, raised by several steps, gives the chapel harmony and completeness. As a result of this technique, the entrance portal turns out to be the center of the composition of the main facade (Fig. 4).

The option with a rectangular plan develops from a square by adding additional rooms to it on one or, symmetrically, on both sides of the square. The developed entrance part creates a vestibule; symmetrical extensions emphasize the main volume, square in plan; side extensions make it possible to create a complex completion with many drums and small heads (Fig. 5).

The square plan with profiled four corners differs from previous options in that it is this technique that gives the chapel the image of a monument. Chapels made in this way are dedicated to memorable events. Otherwise, the plan repeats the technique in which there is one doorway and two window or three doorways with stairs in the square. It should be noted that in all cases the wall opposite the main entrance remains blank (Fig. 6).

The main room of the entire structure remains the chapel. It is square in plan and stands out on the façade. A group of built-in rooms develops in different ways: on one of the sides, on both sides or diagonally. The chapel, as a rule, has two entrances, but there are also three (Fig. 7, 8).

The square plan with cut corners represents a polygon, sometimes turning into a circle. Beveled corners transform a square into an octagon. The octagonal plan defines the outer tent and inner dome of this type of structure (Fig. 9).

A square with an apse resembling an altar creates the image of a church. In this structure, the main facade is complemented by a square high porch located on the same axis with the apse (Fig. 10).

The considered plan options speak not so much about their evolution as about the stability of the plan form. All the introduced elements of novelty relate more to the decor of the facades of the chapels. It is safe to say that the square is the shape that, regardless of size, ensures the monumentality of the structure.

Open or closed chapels . A closed chapel has enclosing walls and an entrance area, one or more.

The open chapel has at least three or four pillars that support the completion. An open chapel can also be designed in the form of a structure in which there is only one enclosing wall - the eastern one. Naturally, open chapels can only be unheated (Fig. 11).

Stylistics. The number of styles used in Orthodox chapel construction is limited. These are mainly Byzantine, Baroque, classicism, Russian and neo-Russian styles (Fig. 12-15).

3. Chapels in an urban environment

There are several types of chapel placement in a modern city:

on the territory of a monastery or temple;

in the memorial complex;

on the square;

on the highway (street);

at institutions and hospitals;

in a residential neighborhood;

in a green area.

Each of these urban planning situations leaves a certain imprint on the appearance, architectural design of the chapel, and sometimes on its purpose. Thus, chapels located on the territory of a monastery or temple, as a rule, have an auxiliary role. Among the temple buildings of the monastery, the chapel most often has a subordinate compositional significance. Chapels located in the memorial complex very often serve as a monument. In a cemetery, chapels usually do not have their own separate territory, but are located among the graves, at the entrance or adjacent to the temple. Chapels located in squares are mainly located in the central part of the city, where more and more modern buildings are appearing. Since the chapel in this case indicates the historical significance of a certain place, in architectural terms the chapel is always made dominant. Chapels in squares should have great architectural expressiveness, regardless of the size of the square.

Chapels are erected along the streets and highways in honor of famous religious and secular figures. Methods for placing a chapel in relation to streets and highways can be varied. Basically, chapels are built either on busy streets or in the most prominent areas. Chapels are also built on the territory of industrial and administrative institutions - both public and commercial (by private order). The chapels located in residential buildings were mostly built recently - in the 90s of the last century. They were erected in already established areas, sometimes located in difficult conditions of very cramped territory.

Green areas of the city are the best environment for a chapel, but this is not always achievable in a real situation.

With all the variety of architectural techniques and urban planning situations considered during the construction of chapels, it should be considered that the chapel should be one of the most expressive components of the urban environment. When carrying out a chapel educational project, it is necessary to balance the construction with the local natural conditions and the scale of the surrounding buildings and structures.

4. Functional types of chapels

In modern architectural and construction rules it is accepted that, according to functional features modern Orthodox chapels are divided into liturgical, water-blessing, memorial, and funeral chapels.

/. Liturgical chapels are most often built in the absence of a temple or to house revered icons. The capacity of liturgical chapels ranges from 5 to 50 people (i.e., area from 2.5 to 25 m2). The area of ​​the room when designing any temple structure is taken at the rate of 1 m2 per 2 people.

Liturgical chapels are divided into parish, monastery, baptismal and chapels at institutions (embassies, hospitals, hospices, educational institutions, shelters and nursing homes, prisons and correctional institutions, military units, industrial enterprises, etc.).

Water Saints (over-garden) chapels are arranged over wells, reservoirs, boreholes and other sources of water in the form of canopies, that is, in the form of open chapels or in the form of closed structures with an area of ​​4 to 30 m 2.

Memorial chapels mark places significant to the church and can also be open or closed. Memorial, or commemorative, chapels are built on memorable historical sites, in honor of any personalities or events. Due to their memorial significance, monument chapels, as a rule, have a highly developed basement (monuments always have a developed podium), which can even house auxiliary rooms.

Memorial chapels are divided into chapels guarding icons, chapels in memory of saints, chapels in memory of O significant date, a chapel in memory of the lost church.

4. Funeral chapels are located in cemeteries, over burial chambers and graves, also in the form of open or closed structures with an area of ​​​​2 to 10 m 2. Cemetery chapels may have a characteristic, developed vestibule, which serves as a place for the funeral of the dead and the performance of memorial services, including the most massive ones, performed several times a year, on days of special commemoration of the dead. On the porch

there must be enough space to accommodate several coffin lids, and the dimensions of the vestibule must allow for the simultaneous installation of several coffins. The minimum dimensions of one place with a coffin are 5.4 by 2.4 m.

Chapel and temple - how do they differ from each other; what a chapel actually is; why they are built and what types of chapels there are; what rules must be followed in chapels; what services are served in them. We'll tell you in detail!

What is a chapel and how does it differ from a temple?

A chapel differs from a temple in that it does not have a throne and, accordingly, an altar. This is a place where you can pray and conduct some types of services, except for the main and fundamental one - the Liturgy, for which the throne is necessary.

In other words, what distinguishes a chapel from a temple is not its size, not the number of icons, and not the place where it stands, but only the presence of an altar. If there is an altar, it is a temple; without it, it is a chapel.

The main task and essence of the chapel is to help a person, at a certain moment or in a certain place, break out of the usual bustle and connect thought with God. Therefore, chapels are often found at airports (to pray for a successful flight), in cemeteries (to pray for the departed), in hospitals, at the burial places of saints, and at spiritually or historically significant places.

Once upon a time, rich people organized them in their home or on their territory - to pray in the morning and evening. Sometimes they still do this now.

An example of a chapel that cannot be confused with a temple. The city of Oboyan, Kursk region photo (c) http://www.outdoors.ru/, Ilga Boldareva

Who can build a chapel and why not build a temple then?

In fact, anyone can build a chapel - a person or an organization. It's like buying an icon, only a thousand times larger.

There may be several reasons why the temple was not built:

1. understand that they will not be able to consecrate the altar according to all the rules
2. understand that they will not be able to guarantee regular services or that they will be inappropriate.
3. for this location the temple will be too large a structure.

What does it mean “they will not be able to consecrate the altar according to all the rules”? What are these rules that are so difficult to follow?

The fact is that it is possible to hold a liturgy in a church only when a particle of the relics of some saint is present on the throne - moreover, consecrated by the bishop. That is, just building a temple and consecrating the walls is not enough. This is a thousand-year-old and strict tradition of the Church, which, apparently, has never been violated (there were probably exceptional cases, but they concerned such situations as the liturgy in a concentration camp, when it was conducted with the help of improvised means by a prisoner priest).

It is always possible to organize the consecration of the throne and invite the bishop, but the bishop and the owner of the temple must be sure that this temple will really “live” and not freeze, like an icon hidden in a closet. And this is not a question of rules or regulations, this is a question of responsibility before Eternity, and just fear of God and respect for traditions.

The presence of a temple implies that there should be at least weekly celebrations in it, and people should attend them, and this should generally be appropriate. For example, can you imagine a Liturgy with deep confession and communion at a train station or airport?

Entrance to the chapel at Domodedovo airport. As you can see, a chapel can be just a room. As, in fact, the temple.

Or let’s say you are the director of a park, building a chapel, but you understand that inviting a priest and keeping all the expenses associated with active parish life in the park will be too expensive. Or you realize that just a step away from you there is already a church in which liturgical and parish life is already perfectly organized.

It is in such cases that chapels are built.

Chapel of Saints Alexander Nevsky and John the Warrior in Catherine Park, Moscow

What are the rules in the chapel and for its creators?

For those who build a chapel, there are essentially two rules (and even then these are not rules in the worldly sense, but self-evident actions).

1. consecrate it in honor of some saint. For example, in the Catherine Park in Moscow there is a chapel in honor of Saints Alexander Nevsky and John the Warrior. Prayer services are served there weekly and on the days of remembrance of these saints.
2. a cross should be erected on the chapel. We are not talking about the presence of icons inside - this is obvious. Although, how many there should be - there are no rules for this - everything is decided by possibilities.

As for the rest, the chapel can be either from the point of view of architecture or from the point of view of decoration. Another thing is that until recently the architect designing the chapel tried to adhere to the spirit of national traditions. Church buildings are not places for self-expression. Any self-expression or “innovation” in the chapel can ultimately distract the parishioners and the creator of the building from the main purpose. Therefore, they try to make the chapel really, in one way or another, resemble a tiny temple externally, and internally too.

Project of a chapel on Station Square in Barnaul

Some chapels in pre-revolutionary times (and even now) were built according to standard designs. Page from the atlas “Atlas of plans and facades of churches and chapels during buildings in villages” of 1911

Orthodox chapel in Greece. A good example when architecture is completely in tune with the times, but does not destroy the Christian spirit.

It is difficult to talk about rules for parishioners, because they are all dictated either by traditions or by the person’s own attitude to spiritual life. People enter the chapel for one purpose - to pray, to be alone with the spiritual part of themselves. Everything else follows directly from this.

There are no strict rules regarding, say, headscarves for women or shorts for men in the chapel. Although, it would be inappropriate to participate in a prayer service or funeral service in “loose clothing” - for a number of reasons.

What services can be celebrated in the chapel?

Most often, only prayer services are held in chapels (small services for some reason - for example, in honor of a Church holiday or an event significant among the people: war, tragedy, death, or great joy).

Less commonly, there are other types of services for which there is no need for an altar: for example, a memorial service (memory of the dead) or the Hours (a monastic type of small services, during which the reader reads psalms in a certain sequence) - hence the name of the chapel.

The rest of the time, the chapel should, in theory, be open all the time so that anyone can enter. Most often, this is exactly what happens, and they are closed only at night.

The smallest chapels and chapel pillars

Sometimes chapels are so tiny that you can’t even go into them, but only pray next to them. For example, what kind of chapel stands in the village of Alekseevskoye, Kostroma region. It was built in memory of St. Innocent, the enlightener of Siberia and Alaska:

You don’t see such small chapels very often in Russia, but in Greece, for example, on the contrary, they are very popular: there they are called chapel pillars. They are usually placed along roads, and they are very small. In fact, anyone can erect their own chapel :) Very nice and very correct!

There are very simple ones: just an icon in a glassed-in space!

How many chapels are there in Moscow?

In the Moscow diocese there are now around 80–90 chapels. We do not write a specific number because their number is constantly changing.

There are chapels in almost all train stations and airports, in some hospitals, in cemeteries and in some squares.

The most famous Moscow chapels are probably the chapel-monument to the heroes of Plevna near the Kitai Gorod metro station (many people don’t even realize that this is a chapel), and the chapel in honor of the Iveron Mother of God - at the gate leading to Red Square.

Chapel in honor of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God on Red Square

And here is what was on this place in Soviet times.

Read this and other posts in our group at

A worthy monument of the era (chapel-tomb in the town of Mira)

Chapel-tomb of the prince. Svyatopolk-Mirskikh in the town of Mir is an original, metropolitan level, architectural monument of the 20th century. The creator of this architectural work is a remarkable Russian architect of the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. Robert Robertovich Marfeld (1852–19 Insignificant in its geometric parameters, somewhat elongated in plan, the chapel-tomb has an asymmetrical volumetric-spatial composition. Its planning structure provides for two independent levels. The upper one is a two-height chapel space, designed for a limited number of mourners. The lower one is the space of the tomb. The interior space of the interiors is designed laconically and a little dark, solemnly and spiritually, which makes those present think about the sublimely divine, far from everyday life.

The chapel-tomb, despite its small dimensions, is very solid and monumental, designed with an active creative principle characteristic of modernism, but has a fairly developed plastic richness. The verticality of the belfry gives “elevation” to this type of structure, “open on four sides” and topped with a helmet-shaped dome. The planes of the belfry walls are cut with narrow slits-openings, which is associated with the theme of Belarusian churches of defensive architecture of the 15th–16th centuries.2 It is possible that the architect was familiar with these architectural monuments of Belarus, however, he in no way copied them. Appeal to the historical heritage helped R. Marfeld understand the prototype of his purely individual artistic composition with an element of paradox, which was sharply different from the traditional, canonical solutions characteristic of this type of religious (Orthodox) buildings. With this relatively small structure, the architect showed himself to be a courageous artist-composer and stylist.

The unusual artistic appearance of the chapel-tomb in the town of Mir differs sharply from traditional solutions. For example, it can be compared with the chapel of Prince. Paskevich in the Gomel palace and park complex, which was built according to the design of Academician Chervinsky in 1889.3 It was executed in the “Russian style”, in the nature of the architecture of Moscow five-domed hipped churches of the 17th–18th centuries. The main attraction of the Gomel chapel is the bright richness of the decorative decoration, where majolica tiles with lush floral patterns add special color to the facades.

And yet, the chapel-tomb in the town of Mir, its architecture, in our opinion, is a breakthrough, an innovative breakthrough, a step forward towards freedom of thought and creativity in religious (Orthodox) architecture4. It must be assumed that the new artistic idea-concept for the interpretation of the chapel-tomb, proposed by R. Marfeld, was supported and approved by the customer himself. It is not difficult to imagine how the onion-like finishes would be dissonant with the strict silhouette of the Mir Castle itself.

The chapel-tomb in the town of Mir is executed in pleasant proportions, using a rich color scheme based on a combination of red brick and concrete inserts. From an artistic and aesthetic point of view, this was completely justified. The originality of the external appearance was achieved through the use of a synthesis of architecture and fine art, modern decorative and artistic means: a mosaic panel made in bright golden tones (the face of the Savior Not Made by Hands); ornamental and decorative belts, cornices, frames of an arched perspective portal; metal grill fencing with an interesting pattern; princely family cartouche (artistic metal forging), etc. And all this was done with high quality, with great love, tact, and good taste.

In the stylistic appearance of the tomb chapel one can discern the features of Romanesque architecture, created under the powerful influence of symbolism and Art Nouveau. There are also techniques of the “brick style” 5, which were widely used by R. Marfeld in his earlier works (the building of the archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the House of the Imperial Humane Society, the building of the Tomsk Institute of Technology), but here they were transformed into catchy, spectacular forms of early modernism. And yet, in this work, a trace of transition to a new architectural system is clearly visible, which made it possible to solve more complex artistic and aesthetic problems of spatial composition, rhythm of forms and lines, texture and color 6. At the same time, the master’s genetic handwriting has been preserved, it is easily recognizable by its amazing fidelity and stability to the laws of constructing an architectural-spatial organism.

The chapel-tomb of Svyatopolk-Mirsky is immersed in the greenery of a picturesque park, magnificently reflected in the mirror of a reservoir, evoking sadness, slight melancholy, and the poetry of the antiquity of a bygone romantic past. It leaves an indelible impression on visitors for a long time, complementing and enhancing the emotional uplift received from the entire historical and architectural complex of Mir Castle.

(1852–1921)

– academician of architecture (1887), professor at the Academy of Arts and the Institute of Civil Engineers in St. Petersburg. Architect-practitioner of the constructivist modernist movement.

In Ukraine:

– building of a secondary technical school in Aleksandrovsk;

– a temple complex at the site of the Imperial train crash near the station. Borki (1890–1894);

– obelisks: Alexander II and Alexander III in Chernigov; Alexander III in the village of Malinichi;

- a memorial sign in honor of the events of 1888 in the village. Omenyani in Volyn (1890).

Literature:

1. Petersburg of German architects (from baroque to avant-garde). Blank sheet. – St. Petersburg, 2002. – P. 275–282; Architects and builders of St. Petersburg-Petrograd at the beginning of the twentieth century. Exhibition catalog

(Iveron Icon of the Mother of God) in Moscow at the Resurrection (Neglinensky, Triumphal, Kuretny, Lion) gates of China Town; one of the especially revered shrines of Orthodox Moscow. From ser. XVII century it contained the miraculous Iveron Icon of the Mother of God.

Information about I. ch. as a wooden structure of the Nikolo-Perervinsky monastery appeared in sources in 1659-1660. in connection with the meeting in Moscow at the Neglinen Gate of China Town brought on October 13. 1648 from Mount Athos Iveron Icon. Through these gates the ceremonial entries of Russian tsars and foreign ambassadors into Red Square were made. The first I. h., where one of the copies of the image was located, was probably built at the meeting place of the icon and most likely burned down during a big fire in August. 1668 On May 19, 1669, a new copy of the icon was moved to the Neglinensky Gate (in the I. Ch. or under a separate canopy) (the previous one was sent to the Iveron Valdai Monastery). According to the “Index of Moscow Churches” by M. I. Alexandrovsky (M., 1919. Rkp.), the buildings were originally located on the inside of the wall of Kitai-Gorod.

Apparently, in 1680, during the reconstruction of the Neglinen Gate, the I. Ch. was rebuilt to the north of it. The patrons of Moscow were depicted on the gate with a “good letter”: St. Sergius, Great Martyrs George the Victorious and Theodore Stratelates, Moscow Saints Peter and Alexy, above them is the image of the Resurrection of Christ. According to a 1722 source, the new chapel was made of stone. By synodal decree in 1723, the I. Ch. was closed, but in 1727 it opened again. Due to the construction of the new Resurrection Gate after the fire of 1737, I. Ch. again found itself in a new place. When imp. Elizaveta Petrovna I. ch., called a “wooden closet” in documents, was dismantled, and at the request of the abbot of the Nikolo-Perervinsky monastery, the icon was placed in a stone “annex”. In 1791, the I. Ch. was rebuilt (architect M. F. Kazakov), in 1801 it was “splendidly decorated” (design by P. Gonzago): the outside was covered with tin, decorated with gilded copper pilasters with capitals, garlands, The dome was crowned with 8-pointed stars and a gilded figure of an angel. After perestroika, the I. h. could accommodate up to 50 people. During the Patriotic War of 1812, the I. Ch. was damaged by fire and was restored; in memory of the expulsion of the emperor. Napoleon, an annual religious procession was carried out from the Kremlin to I. Ch. and from there with an image around the Kremlin walls. In 1929, the I. Ch. was dismantled.

The miraculous image from the church, which was not locked at night, was often taken into the houses of the townspeople, replacing it with a list. To transport the image, they used a special, closed carriage drawn by four horses. The procession, accompanied by a postilion with a torch, became a landmark of Moscow. I. Ch. was called “a joyful crossroads for all believers”: people came to her when leaving Moscow or coming to it. The townspeople, honoring I. ch., took off their hats in front of her and did not begin any important business without praying in her. It was thanks to I. Ch. that the custom of entering Red Square was strengthened. and to the Kremlin through the Resurrection Gate. He was followed by all the emperors, right down to the imp, when they came to Moscow for the coronation. Nicholas II; before returning to St. Petersburg, they always said goodbye to the Iveron Icon (Tsar Peter I, having returned from Western Europe in 1699, did not immediately go to I. Ch., which caused complaints from Muscovites; his ceremonial entry into Moscow in 1721, after the victory in Northern War, was carried out through the Resurrection Gate). In 1775, Emelyan Pugachev prayed here before his execution.

I. ch. was constantly mentioned in literary literature as a symbol of special Moscow piety: by I. A. Bunin (“Memoirs”, “Clean Monday”), B. K. Zaitsev (“Blue Star”), I. S. Shmelyov (“Pilgrim”), A. I. Solzhenitsyn (“The Red Wheel”). In L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace,” Pierre Bezukhov “saw - driving through the city - this Iveron Chapel with countless candle lights in front of golden vestments” and “felt at home, in a quiet refuge.” According to the testimony of I. D. Sytin, A. P. Chekhov, when coming to Moscow, always occupied a room at the Bolshaya Moskovskaya Hotel, which overlooked I. Ch., in order to see the night prayer service, to which many townspeople gathered.

The image of I. ch. is found in the poetry of the beginning. 20th century: by O. E. Mandelstam (“From the Sparrow Hills to a familiar church / We rode through huge Moscow”), M. I. Tsvetaeva (“My mouth is rich, / Even though it’s holy, the view. / Like a golden casket , / Iverskaya is burning”; “And behind that door, / Where the people are pouring, / There the Iverskaya heart, / Red, is burning”), V. F. Khodasevich (“She set a penny candle for a wonderful salvation / At Iverskaya”), in painting (A. Lentulov. “At Iverskaya”, 1916, Tretyakov Gallery).

In 1918 and 1922 I. Ch. was robbed, members of the community council were punished for careless storage of church valuables; the valuables remaining in the chapel - a golden chasuble weighing more than a pound, several. pounds of silver, 2 large emeralds, more than 100 diamonds, rubies and other stones were seized in 1922. In 1920, the English. writer G. Wells in the book. “Russia in the Darkness” noted that “the famous chapel of the miraculous Iveron Mother of God near the Spassky Gate is especially popular; many peasant women who were unable to get inside kiss its stone walls.” Before the I. Ch., the main action of the “Komsomol Christmas” unfolded on Christmas Eve 1923. After the closing and demolition of the I. Ch., an avant-garde sculpture of a worker was installed in its place, which disappeared after the destruction of the gate in 1931.

The remains of I. ch. - stone foundations rectangular in plan (5.5 × 6 m) - were discovered and studied during the reconstruction of the Istorichesky (Voskresensky) passage by the Moscow archaeological expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1988 and 1994.

4 Nov 1994 Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II consecrated the foundation stone of the I. Ch. In 1996, work was completed on recreating the I. Ch. and the gate (architect O. I. Zhurin). Nowadays the chapel is attached to the north. side of the Resurrection Gate, has a domed roof topped with a gilded figure of the arch. Michael with a cross. The oval-shaped windows (including false ones) are framed with wreaths and gilded valances in the form of drapery. Wide cast-iron steps lead to the only doorway on the main (northern) façade; it is flanked by gilded high relief figures of the apostles Peter and Paul. In front of the I. Ch., by decision of the Moscow government, a sign “Moscow Center” was installed.

Oct 25 1995, on the eve of the feast of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, a copy of the icon arrived in Moscow from the Iveron Monastery on Athos, where it was written by Fr. Luke, and the next day Patriarch Alexy II performed the rite of consecration of I. Ch. During the I. hour, prayer services are performed daily, which are served alternately by the priests of Moscow churches.

Arch.: Chernov S.Z. Report Moscow. archaeol. expeditions... 1988 // Archives of the Institute of Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences. T. 5. R-1. 6 No. 13158, 13159.

L. A. Belyaev