Архитектурное наследство

Scholarly journal

Founded in 1951

ISSN 0320-0841

New materials regarding research in the fields of architecture and urban construction are being presented. The authors also focus on the history of the creation of little-known buildings of interest, on the development of local architectural traditions, on new attributions, and introduce recently discovered archive materials. A number of papers are dedicated to the issues of architectural and urban planning development of historical towns and cities or study the formation of architectural ensembles. The edition also includes papers that are devoted to theoretical historical-architectural problems, to biographies of architects, or analyze artistic approaches and concepts.

Issue 60 (2014)

Bondarenko I. A.

The Stove and the Holy Corner: Regarding the Origin of the Tradition of their Mutual Positioning

The paper proposes a hypothesis that the traditional position of the stove and the holy corner (krasny ugol) with regard to one another in a Russian izba (peasant house) was rooted in astral imagery as it had been depicted in a whole series of ancient constellations, situated, primarily, in the Milky Way and around it. The author holds the opinion that the stove was associated with the Altar Constellation while the holy corner — with the constellations of the Taurus, Gemini, Orion, Canis Major, under which the Stern of the Argo Ship or of Noah’s Ark was believed to be located. A geometrical analysis is conducted, based on the division of the celestial sphere by the Milky Way and a circle, symmetrical to it, as well as on the inclined ecliptic plane, which allows us to perceive the image of the izba as a boat and a starry terem (tower-house).

Keywords

Izba, stove, holy corner, archaic map of the stellar sky, Milky Way, ecliptic, astral symbolism.

Bondarenko Igor Andreevich

Doctor of Architecture, Professor, RAASN Corresponding Member, director of NIITIAG RAASN.

E-mail: niitag@yandex.ru

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