RUSSIAN ARCHITECTURE. Historically, Russian architecture may be divided into two principal periods : the first, from the loth to the end of the 17th century; the second, from about 1700 to the present. This chronological division is a con sequence of the revolutionary activities of Peter the Great (1689 1725), whose drastic political and social reforms, intended to bring Russia into close contact with western Europe and its civilization, broke with the traditional conservative tendencies of Russian life and in architecture caused a shift from a deeply national style to the forms of western Europe. The architecture of the pre-Christian period was almost exclusively wooden, and, mainly due to the unlimited supply of lumber, the majority of buildings remained of timber during the era immediately follow ing Russia's conversion to Christianity in 988. Typical peculiari ties of this early wooden architecture are a horizontal disposition of wall logs and steeply pitched roofs.
Christianity found a fertile soil among the tribes inhabiting the widespread territories of what was to become the Russian empire, and an intensive building of churches set in after the acceptance of the new faith. The rulers of the various feudal principalities into which Russia was divided became defenders and champions of the church, and the building of a church became the central event in the reign of each of the numerous princes who, apart from religious considerations, wished to demonstrate their power and wealth with splendour eclipsing that of prede cessors and neighbours. Russian life centred in these churches; there new leaders were installed; the most important public questions were decided there; the prince kept his treasury in the church; the church was the last haven of refuge from invaders. Until the I7th century religion dominated Russian architecture which, nevertheless, was also closely connected with the fates of rulers and the geographical locations of the centres of political power. During this first period the most important schools of architecture were those of Kiev, Novgorod-Pskov, Vladimir Suzdal and Moscow.
Pskoff (in north-western Russia), Byzantine influence is scarcely perceptible ; at others it flowered into exquisite forms representing a happy combination of the two cultures, as in the Vladimir district.
The oldest church in Kiev, still existing in part, is the Des siatinnaya church, begun in 991; it was the reproduction of a Byzantine church, rectangular in plan, with three altar-apsides. The cathedral of St. Sophia in Kiev (1017), with five apsides and crowned by 13 cupolas, is the next in age and the largest built during the first two centuries after conversion; the principal parts of this cathedral are still extant, but later additions have con siderably changed its exterior.
The erection of churches in the Novgorod-Pskov district, which was to play an important part in the development of a national Russian architecture, began only a few decades later. An inde pendent and distinctive school of architecture appeared there in the 12th century. Here Byzantine art lost its influence much quicker than in Kiev, where it was applied with only insignificant structural changes. The influence most responsible for the appear ance of this deeply national art was that of the thoroughly original local wooden architecture which affected both design and con struction. The two-storey cross-shaped church appeared with one-storey lateral additions. The church with only one apsis re placed the church with three apsides. In conformity with cli matic conditions, the arched roof became one that sloped. The spherical cupola gave way first to the helmet-shape; then it as sumed the characteristic bulb-shape, a form similar to that which had developed centuries before and spread over Asia with the influence of Buddhism. The entrance took the form of a kind of porch; the belfry appeared, first as only an opening for bells on top of the wall, but later as an independent, high tower in which bells were hung in several tiers. The Byzantine cubic form of the church was broken up into a picturesque group of buildings, reflecting, like most of the innovations, national tastes that had been educated on wooden architecture. The rich Byzantine orna mentation either disappeared completely from the austere and simple walls of Novgorod churches, or else gave way to a plainly modelled geometric pattern, accentuating here and there the pic turesque smoothness of the walls. The treatment of the stucco shows a characteristic feature. The lines and contours of the architectural forms were finished freehand, and are uneven, as is the surface of the walls, which lends the buildings a singular and effective charm.