On the Annunciation church in Snovitsy

Abstract

The study of the Church of the Annunciation in Snovitsy was conducted in order to clarify the dating of the monument, to clarify its structural and decorative features, as well as to determine the place and significance of this building for the church architecture of the Vladimir region in the XVII century. For this purpose, a study of available sources, including archival ones, was undertaken. The most valuable source is the materials of the monument survey conducted by specialists of the Vladimir Restoration Workshop before the start of its restoration. In addition to the work carried out by the workshop staff, plans of the temple and its sections were drawn up, which are published for the first time in this work. In addition to studying the sources, a detailed analysis of the structural and decorative features of the monument was carried out for the first time, during which the fact of participation in the construction of a mixed artel of masters – metropolitan and from the Volga region. The features of the Volga architecture were reflected mainly in the decoration of the building, became obvious. However, in general, Moscow features prevail. Some architectural features are extremely rare, for example, the orientation of the main volume along the west – east axis. Unique features were also used in the decoration of the monument, such as decorative inserts in the tops of the window frames, exact analogies to the combination of which have not been revealed at the moment. After the analysis, it became possible to clarify the dating of the temple. The most appropriate date should be considered the 1670s-1680s. The paper also raises the question of the original appearance and the customer of the building. It is necessary to agree with the opinion of the restorers about the reconstruction of the bell tower, the northern gallery, as well as the initial absence of the stone southern gallery. Regarding the identity of the customer, it should be noted that the village of Snovitsy has long been a metropolitan, and in the XVII century it was part of the patriarchal region, which suggests the likely participation of the patriarch in the construction of a stone monastery church. A possible customer could be Patriarch Pitirim (1672-1673), but the main period of construction fell on the time of his successor – Patriarch Joachim (1674-1690), which was reflected not only in the nature of the decor of the temple and its construction, but also in a considerable amount of church utensils of this period. The article also notes the importance of the Annunciation Church for the architecture of the Vladimir region, which is due to the presence of unique features of the monument, the mixed nature of the artel of masters, as well as the assumption of a possible patriarchal order.