Belarusian Gothic

St. Michael, Synkavichy, 16th c.

The term Belarusian Gothic, Belarusian беларуская готыка (belaruskaya hotyka), Russian белорусская готика (belorusskaya gotika), describes the architectural style of buildings erected in the 15th and 16th centuries, being mainly in the first half of the 16th century. The style was used in the regions of modern-day Belarus, Lithuania and eastern Poland.

The buildings have elements of typical Gothic design, while also featuring elements that would not typically be considered Gothic in central and western Europe.

Conditions of building

Lithuania and Poland in 1526

With the baptism of the grand prince Vladimir the Great and the Christianization of the Kievan Rus', Russian architecture became heavily influenced by Byzantine architecture.

During the 13th century and the first decades of the 14th century, the Russian principalities in present-day Belarus were eventually subjugated by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a pagan state that was expressing resistance against the Catholic Teutonic Order. The Grand Duchy became a major power in the 14th century. This featured a developed nobility and rural populations descended from Rus'. The official language was Ruthenian.

With the union of Poland and Lithuania, which occurred after Władysław II Jagiełło was crowned Poland's king in 1386, western and southern Europe experienced increased communication, especially after the definitive victory of the union against the Teutonic Order in 1466 (Second Peace of Thorn)

The Gothic style came to the Slavic regions during this period. In Central and Southern Europe it was already being displaced by Renaissance architecture.

The southern areas of present-day Lithuania had a Lithuanian majority and was never a polity of the Rus'. Southern Lithuania and Belarus share many of the same arcitectural features. The Orthodox Cathedral of the Theotokos in Vilnius, was constructed. This was before the Renaissance style had arrived in central Europe, and it was when the Lithuanian state had not yet become Catholic.

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  Cathedral of Ss. Boris and Gleb, Navahrudak, southern façade

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  Cathedral of Ss. Boris and Gleb, 1519–1630, interior

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  Church of Saint Michael, Hnesna (de), 1524–1527

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  Mir Castle, 16th century

The Belarusian Gothic is a merging of Byzantine, Gothic, and Renaissance architectures.

• Material: Some buildings bear resemblance to the Brick Gothic of northern German design, and some of the other structures are completely plastered.
• Arches: The church windows mainly have pointed arches, but blind arcades and Lombard bands mainly have round arches.
• Vaults: Most of the churches have rib vaults, but there are also simplistic heavy vaults, such as those found in Romanesque and in Byzantine architecture.
• Entire shapes: Most of the churches are fortified. In some of them, this character is emphasized. They have a short nave and four small towers in each corner. Other churches have an ordinary high western bell tower.

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  Church of the Holy Ghost, 1530, Kodeń, Poland, near the bank of Bug River

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  Cathedral of the Dormition of the Theotokos, Vilnius

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  St. Gertrude, Kaunas, Lithuania

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  St. John Baptist in Zapyškis, Lithuania

Sources

• Nigel Roberts, Belarus, p. 185 (google books)
• Rainer Lindner, Historiker und Herrschaft: Nationsbildung und Geschichtspolitik in Weißrußland im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, Verlag Oldenbourg 1999, ISBN 3-486-56455-2, S. 256, II. Nation und Geschichte im Stalinismus → 3. Rivalität der Mythen (Nation-building and policy of history in Belarus in the 19th & 20 centuries) – in German
• Archives of Belarus, Church Architecture
• Беларуская готыка ў пабудове культавых будынкаў XV-XVI стст. – Belarusian Gothic in religious buildings of the 15th and 16th centuries (in Belarusian, very much illustrated)