Sekacheva Nina

Architectural features of the Trinity church of Sheremetev’s hospital of the former count N. P. Sheremetev’s infirmary in Moscow

Abstract

This article studies for the fi rst time the features of architecture of the Trinity Church of the former Count N. P. Sheremetev’s Infi rmary (Russ. Странноприимный дом графа Н. П. Шереметева) in Moscow. Despite the fact that this complex of buildings is well-known and is a masterpiece of architecture of Classicism in Moscow, its home church has never been a topic of a scientifi c study. The distinctive features of the layout and the spacial decision of the church of the Infi rmary is discussed both in comparison with other buildings and projects of its authors (the architects E. Nazarov and G. Quarenghi) and in a broader context of topics of church architecture of the late 18th — early 19th centuries. Among its parallels the most prominent are not only home churches of hospitals of the period of Classicism but also large cathedral-like church buildings. The analysis of features of the layout and style of the monuments shows that in its scale, typology and stylistics, the Trinity church can be compared with the most significant examples of church architecture of its time, accomplished by commission of the state in the period os the so-called “Greek Project” of Catherine II, when church architecture was addressing the creative transformation of Byzantine and Old Russian architectural forms.

Keywords

Classicism, church architecture, 18 century, Nazarov, Quarenghi, Sheremetev, Infirmary

References

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Information about the author

Sekacheva Nina

Place of work: St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University for the Humanities; 6/1 Likhov Pereulok, Moscow, 127052, Russian Federation;
Post: Senior Lecturer, Department of History and Th eory of Christian Art;
ORCID: 0000-0003-1888-090X;
Email: niness@list.ru.