by James Millar
The cathedral’s architecture, bizarre to Western eyes, is often attributed to Ivan IV, known as Ivan the Terrible. In fact, the inspiration almost certainly came from the head of the church, Metropolitan Macarius (or Makary), who created a complex sacred landscape to celebrate Muscovy’s status as both a global and a Christian empire: New Rome and New Jerusalem. It was a memorial-monument, to be viewed from the outside, often a focal point for open-air rituals (e.g., the Palm Sunday procession from the Kremlin), but unsuitable for congregational worship. Always a site for popular devotion, it fell into disfavor among the elite in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries when Classical tastes branded its architecture “barbaric.” In 1812 Napoleon at first mistook it for a mosque and ordered its destruction. Its fortunes were reversed with the nineteenth-century taste for the Muscovite Revival or “Neo-Russian” style. It survived shelling in 1918, and in 1927 it opened as a museum. The story that Stalin planned to demolish it may be apocryphal. In the 1990s it was reopened for worship but continued to function chiefly as a museum, probably the best known of all Russian buildings. See also: ARCHITECTURE; IVAN IV; KREMLIN
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berton, Kathleen. (1977). Moscow. An Architectural History. London: Studio Vista. Brumfield, William. (1993). A History of Russian Architecture. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
LINDSEY HUGHES
CATHEDRAL OF ST. SOPHIA, KIEV
The Cathedral of St. Sophia, also known in the Orthodox tradition as “Divine Wisdom,” is one of the The Cathedral of St. Sophia’s in Kiev contains numerous ornate frescoes and mosaics. © DEAN CONGER/CORBIS
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CATHEDRAL OF ST. SOPHIA, NOVGOROD
great churches of Eastern Christendom. Despite debate about the beginning date of its construction, there is general consensus that the work began in 1037 on the order of grand prince Yaroslav of Kiev and was completed in the 1050s. Although the exterior of the cathedral has been modified by reconstruction in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (it had fallen into ruin after the Mongol invasion in 1240), excavations in the 1930s, as well as the study of possible designs, have furnished what is considered a definitive version of the original. In its basic parts, the plan of Kiev’s St. Sophia conforms to the cross-domed model. Each of its five aisles has an apse with an altar in the east. The central aisle, from the west entrance to the east, is twice the width of the flanking aisles. This proportion is repeated in the transept aisle that defines the cathedral’s main north-south axis.
The focal point of the exterior is the main cupola, elevated on a high cylinder (“drum”) over the central crossing and surrounded by twelve cupolas arranged in descending order. The thick opus mixtum walls (composed of narrow brick and a mortar of lime and crushed brick) are flanked by two arcaded galleries on the north, south, and west facades, and by choir galleries on the interior. Thus the elevated windows of the cylinders beneath the cupolas are the main source of natural light for the interior space. The interior walls of the main cupola and apse are richly decorated with mosaics. The rest of the interior walls contain frescoes that portray saints as well as members of Yaroslav’s family. See also: ARCHITECTURE; CATHEDRAL OF ST. SOPHIA, NOVGOROD; KIEVAN RUS; ORTHODOXY; YAROSLAV VLADIMIROVICH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brumfield, William Craft. (1993). A History of Russian Architecture. New York: Cambridge University Press. Rappoport, Alexander P. (1995). Building the Churches of Kievan Russia. Brookfield, VT: Variorum.
WILLIAM CRAFT BRUMFIELD
CATHEDRAL OF ST. SOPHIA, NOVGOROD
The oldest and most imposing surviving monument in Novgorod is the Cathedral of St. Sophia (also known in the Orthodox tradition as “Divine Wis Bronze doors at the church of St. Sophia at Novgorod. dom”), built between 1045 and 1050 and located in the detinets (citadel) on the west bank of the Volkhov River. The cathedral was commissioned by the prince of Novgorod, Vladimir Yaroslavich; by his father, Yaroslav the Wise (whose own Sophia Cathedral in Kiev was entering its final construction phase); and by Archbishop Luka of Novgorod. Because masonry construction was largely unknown in Novgorod before the middle of the eleventh century, a cathedral of such size and complexity could only have been constructed under the supervision of imported master builders, presumably from Kiev. The basic material for the construction of the walls and the piers, however, was obtained in the Novgorod: fieldstone and undressed blocks of limestone set in a mortar of crushed brick and lime.
The cathedral has five aisles for the main structure, with enclosed galleries attached to the north, west, and south facades. The Novgorod Sophia is smaller than its Kievan counterpart, yet the two
CATHEDRAL OF THE DORMITION
cathedrals are of approximately the same height. Therein lies an explanation for the much sharper sense of vertical development in the Novgorod cathedral.
Novgorod chronicles indicate that the interior was painted with frescoes over a period of several decades. Fragments of eleventh-century work have been uncovered, as well as early twelfth-century frescoes. Most of the original painting of the interior has long since vanished under centuries of renovations. Although small areas of the interior had mosaic decorations, there were no mosaics comparable to those in Kiev. The exterior facade above the west portal also displays frescoes, but the most distinctive element is the portal itself, with its magnificent bronze Sigtuna Doors, produced in Magdeburg in the 1050s and taken from the Varangian fortress of Sigtuna by Novgorod raiders in 1117. See also: ARCHITECTURE; CATHEDRAL OF ST. SOPHIA, KIEV; NOVGOROD THE GREAT; VLADIMIR YAROSLAVICH; YAROSLAV VLADIMIROVICH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brumfield, William Craft. (1993). A History of Russian Architecture. New York: Cambridge University Press. Rappoport, Alexander P. (1995). Building the Churches of Kievan Russia. Brookfield, VT: Variorum.
WILLIAM CRAFT BRUMFIELD
1682-1696), forty-six in all. In addition, shrines contain the relics of St. Dmitry (son of Ivan IV, died 1591) and St. Mikhail of Chernigov (d. 1246). Ivan IV (r. 1533-1584) is buried behind the iconostasis. The present bronze casings were added to the seventeenth-century sarcophagi in 1906. The frescoes on walls, ceilings, and pillars, mainly dating from the mid-seventeenth century, include iconic images of Russian princes and tsars and relate the military exploits of the warrior Archangel Mikhail, keeper of the gates of heaven. His icon was commissioned to celebrate the Russian victory at Ku-likovo Pole in 1380. The cycle celebrates Moscow’s rulers as successors to the kings of Israel, as God’s representatives fighting evil on earth, and as patrons of Russia’s ruling dynasty in heaven.
From the 1720s onward, Peter I’s Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg became the new imperial mausoleum. Of the later Romanovs, only Peter II (r. 1727-1730) was buried in the Cathedral of the Archangel. However, the imperial family continued to pay their respects at their ancestors’ tombs after coronations and on other major state occasions. See also: ARCHITECTURE; CATHEDRAL OF ST. BASIL; CATHEDRAL OF THE DORMITION; KREMLIN.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brumfield, William. (1993). A History of Russian Architecture. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
LINDSEY HUGHES
CATHEDRAL OF THE ARCHANGEL
The Cathedral of the Archangel Mikhail, in the Moscow Kremlin, served as the mausoleum of the Muscovite grand princes and tsars until the end of the seventeenth century. The present building (built 1505-1509) was commissioned by Tsar Ivan III (reigned 1462-1505) to replace a fourteenth-century church. The architect was Alvise Lamberti de Montagnano, an Italian sculptor from Venice, known in Russia as Alevizo the New. His design combined a traditional Russian Orthodox five-domed structure with Renaissance decorative features such as pilasters with Corinthian capitals and scallop-shell motifs, which influenced later Russian architects. The cathedral contains the tombs of most of the Muscovite grand princes and tsars from Ivan I (reigned 1325-1341) to Ivan V (reigned
CATHEDRAL OF THE DORMITION
The first Kremlin Dor
mition cathedral, a simple one-domed masonry structure, was built by Prince Ivan I Danilovich of Moscow in 1327 as the seat of the head of the Russian Orthodox church, Metropolitan Peter. In 1472 Metropolitan Filipp of Moscow decided to replace the old church, laying the foundation stone with Grand Prince Ivan III (r. 1462-1505), but in 1474 the new building was destroyed by an earth tremor before it was completed. Ivan then hired the Italian architect Aristotele Fioravanti, ordering him to model his church on the thirteenth-century Dormition cathedral in Vladimir, in the belief that the prototype was designed by Mary
CATHERINE I
herself. Fioravanti took the traditional five-domed structure, rounded bays, and decorative arcading, but added Renaissance proportions and engineering, “according to his own cunning skill,” as a chronicle related, “not in the manner of Muscovite builders.” The church became the model for a number of other important cathedral and monastery churches, for example in the Novodevichy convent and the Trin-ity-St. Sergius monastery.
The first frescoes were painted in 1481 to 1515 and restored several times “in the old manner” in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. The complex cycles allude to the unity of the Russian land, the celebration of its saints and the history of the cathedral itself, as well as the life and veneration of Christ and the Mother of God. The icons on the lower tier of the iconostasis (altar screen), the most famous of which was the twelfth-century Byzantine “Vladimir” icon of the Mother of God, also referred to the gathering of the Russian lands and the transfer of sacred authority to Moscow from Jerusalem, Byzantium, and Kiev, as did the so-called Throne of Monomachus, made for Ivan IV in 1551, the carvings on which depict scenes of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachus presenting imperial regalia to Prince Vladimir of Kiev (1113-1125).
In February 1498 the cathedral saw Ivan III’s grandson Dmitry crowned as heir. From 1547, when Ivan IV was crowned there, it was the venue for the coronations of all the Russian tsars and, from the eighteenth century, the emperors and empresses. It also saw the investitures and most of the burials of the metropolitans and patriarchs, up to and including the last patriarch Adrian (died 1700). Major repair work followed damage caused by the Poles in 1612 and Napoleon’s men in 1812. The cathedral was particularly revered by Nicholas II, in preparation for whose coronation in 1896 a major restoration was carried out. Late tsarist official guides to the cathedral underlined the belief that the formation of the Russian Empire was sanctioned by God and symbolized in the cathedral’s history and its holy objects (e.g. a piece of the robe of Our Lord and a nail from the Cross). In Soviet times it became a museum, but since the 1990s it has been used intermittently for important services. See also: IVAN I; IVAN III; IVAN IV; NICHOLAS II
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berton, Kathleen. (1977). Moscow: An Architectural History. London: Studio Vista. Brumfield, William. (1993). A History of Russian Architecture. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
LINDSEY HUGHES
CATHERINE I
(c. 1686-1727) Yekaterina Akexeyevna, born Martha Skavronska(ya), the second wife of Peter I and empress of Russia from February 8, 1725 to May 17, 1727.
Martha Skavronskaya’s background, nationality, and original religious affiliation are still subject to debate. She encountered the Russian army in Livonia in the summer of 1702, when she was working as a servant, and apparently became the mistress first of a field marshal, then of Peter I’s favorite, Alexander Menshikov, then of Peter himself. By 1704 she was an established fixture in the royal entourage. There were unconfirmed rumors of a secret marriage in 1707, but only in 1711, prior to his departure for war against Turkey, did Peter make Catherine his consort. Their public wedding took place in February 1712 in St. Petersburg. The marriage was deplored by traditionalists, because Peter’s first wife was still alive and Catherine was a foreigner. It is unclear precisely when she converted to Orthodoxy and took the name Catherine.
Catherine established her own patronage networks at court, where she was closely allied with Menshikov, arranging the marriages of elite women, interceding with Peter on behalf of petitioners, and dispensing charity. Peter provided her with a western-style court and in 1714 introduced the Order of St. Catherine for distinguished women and made her the first recipient, in recognition of her courage at the Battle of Pruth in 1711. In May 1724, in a lavish ceremony in the Moscow Kremlin, he crowned her as his consort. In November, however, relations were soured by the arrest and execution of Catherine’s chamberlain Willem Mons on charges of corruption, who was also reputed to be her lover. Despite issuing a new Law on Succession (1722), Peter died in 1725 without naming a successor. It suited many leading men to assume that Catherine would have been his choice. Her supporters argued that not only would she rule in Peter’s spirit, but she had actually been “created” by him. She was the all-loving Mother, caring for orphaned Russia. Such rhetoric won the support of the guards.
CATHERINE II
Catherine’s was a remarkable success story. Not only did she manage, with Peter’s help, to invent a new identity as empress-consort, but her short reign also illustrates how the autocracy could continue to operate successfully under an undistinguished female ruler. Her gender proved to be an advantage, for the last thing the men close to the throne wanted was another Peter. The new six-man Supreme Privy Council under Menshikov dismantled some of Peter’s unsuccessful experiments in provincial government, downsized the army and navy, and reduced the poll tax. In 1726 an alliance with Austria formed the cornerstone of Russian diplomacy for decades to come. Peter’s plans for an Academy of Sciences were implemented, and western culture remained central for the elite.
Catherine bore Peter probably ten children in all, but only two survived into adulthood, Anna (1708-1729) and Elizabeth (1709-1762). Catherine would have preferred to nominate one of them as her successor, but Menshikov persuaded her to name Peter’s grandson, who succeeded her as Peter II in May 1727. See also: MENSHIKOV, ALEXANDER DANILOVICH; PETER I; PETER II
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alexander, John. (2000). “Catherine I, Her Court and Courtiers.” In Peter the Great and the West: New Perspectives, ed. Lindsey Hughes. Basingstoke, UK: Pal-grave. Hughes, Lindsey. (1998). Russia in the Age of Peter the Great. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
LINDSEY HUGHES
CATHERINE II
(1729-1796) Yekaterina Alexeyevna or “Catherine the Great,” Empress of Russia from 1762-1796.
Recognized worldwide as a historical figure, Catherine the Great earned legendary status for three centuries. Her political ambition prompted the overthrow and subsequent murder of her husband, Emperor Peter III (1728-1762). Whatever her actual complicity, his death branded her an accessory after the fact. Thus she labored to build legitimacy as autocratrix (independent ruler) of the expansive Russian Empire. When her reign proved long, extravagant praise of her character and impact overshadowed accusation. An outsider adept at charming Russian society, she projects a powerful presence in history. Most associate her with all significant events and trends in Russia’s expanding world role. Though she always rejected the appellation “the Great,” it endured.
Catherine fostered positive concepts of her life by composing multiple autobiographical portrayals over five decades. None of the different drafts treated her reign directly, but all implicitly justified her fitness to rule. Various versions have been translated and often reissued to reach audiences worldwide. Ironically, the first published version was issued in 1859 by Russian radicals in London to embarrass the Romanov dynasty. Trilingual in German, French, and Russian, Catherine spelled badly but read, wrote, spoke, and dictated easily and voluminously. Keen intelligence, prodigious memory, broad knowledge, and wit enlivened her conversational skill.
Born on April 21, 1729, in Stettin, Prussia, of Germanic parentage, the first daughter of Prince Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst (1690-1747) and Princess Johanna Elizabeth of Holstein-Gottorp (1712-1760), Sophia Augusta Fredericka combined precocious physic
al, social, and intellectual traits with great energy and inquisitiveness. A home education through governesses and tutors enabled her by age ten to read voraciously and to converse incessantly with relatives and acquaintances at home and at other German courts that her assertive mother visited. At the court of Holstein-Gottorp in 1739 she met a second cousin, Prince Karl Peter Ul-rich, the orphaned grandson of Peter the Great who was brought to Russia in 1742 by his childless aunt, Empress Elizabeth; renamed Peter Fedorovich; and proclaimed heir apparent. Backed by Frederick the Great of Prussia, Sophia followed Peter to Russia in 1744, where she was converted to Orthodoxy and renamed Catherine. Their marriage in 1745 granted her access to the Russian throne. She was to supply a male heir-a daunting task in view of Peter’s unstable personality, weak health, probable sterility, and impotence. When five years brought no pregnancy, Catherine was advised to beget an heir with a married Russian courtier, Sergei Saltykov (1726-1785). After two miscarriages she gave birth to Paul Petrovich on October 1, 1754. Presumably fathered by Saltykov, the baby was raised by Empress Elizabeth. Thenceforth Catherine enjoyed greater freedom to engage in court politics and romantic intrigue. In 1757 she bore a daughter by Polish aristocrat Stanislaus