This article deals with several issues in the study of a specifi c architectural type of the Christian church that is usually termed triconch. Churches with a threepetal plan have been known in Christian architecture since its early period, but their subsequent occurrence in various regions does not usually demonstrate a systematic pattern. Groups of monuments with a triconch confi guration of the plan are only seen in certain regions and always generate discussions. The majority of the triconchs identifi ed concentrate in the territory of the Balkans. The article attempts to analyse the main features of the type in question that belong to the period of the 4th — 12th centuries and to study the origin, symbols and functions of several varieties of the discussed typology. In the early Christian period in the Balkans, the triconch form is inherited from Roman civil archtecture and is primarily employed in connection with burials. Small one-nave triconchs as a separate typology of the church building spreads in the 9th — 10th centuries in connection with the missionary activities and monastic movement. Another branch of the archtectural typology of the triconch developed in Athos since the late 10th century. The Athos type of the triconch is a variant of the cross-in-square church on four pillars with addition of side conchs. Both variants of the triconch church building are in demand in the architecture of the so-called Morava school in the latter half of the 14th — fi rst half of the 15th centuries.

triconch, medieval architecture, Byzantine architecture, Athonite type of church, the Balkans, typology

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Mal’tseva Svetlana
Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences* in Art Criticism;
Place of work: St. Petersburg State University; 7/9 Universitetskaia Naberezhnaia, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation;
Post: Senior Lecturer;
ORCID: 0000-0002-6172-8578;
Email: sm@resava.ru. *According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.

The Reported study was Funded by Government Program of the Russian Federation “Development of science and technology” (2017-2018) within Program of Fundamental Researchesof Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation and Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences, the Research Project 1.2.32. / 1.2.46