St. Andrew's Church
in Kyiv is a monument of history, architecture and painting of the 18th
century that gained the world significance. The church preserves not
only authentic architecture and painting of the Baroque epoch, but also
unique decorative stuccowork and woodcarving of the middle of the 18th
century. Besides, the painting compositions of the 19th century executed
in Classicism are also preserved in the interior of the church.
The church was constructed during
1747-1762 to the design of outstanding architect F.-B. Rastrelli. The
building was guided by Moscow architect I. Michurin and the best
Russian, Ukrainian and foreign masters were involved into the church's
construction.
St. Andrew's Church was built on the
Dnieper slope, which is connected with the annalistic legend about
Apostle Andrew's sermon of Christianity on the lands of future Kyivan
Rus. The building of the church blends harmoniously with the surrounding
landscape, being the focus in the panorama of city. The perfection of
lines, clear proportions, amazing harmony of forms and natural
surrounding gained public appreciation and fame for the church.
The church is 31,7m long, 20,4m wide
and 50m high (together with a cross on the dome) from a church-porch.
The five-domed church consists of a central dome and four decorative
turrets, which crowned supporting pylons-counterforts located on the
diagonal axes of the building.
The drum, which is 10m high and with a
diameter of 14m rises in the middle of the construction. Eight
semicircular windows were cut in it. The sphere-shaped dome rises above
the drum and takes a dominant place in the silhouette of the church. In
the middle of the western facade there is the only entrance with the
metal doors decorated with ornaments and crosses. In decoration of the
facades the columns of Corinthian and Ionic orders were used, paired
pilasters, intricately profiled cornices, cartouches with the monogram
of Empress Elizabeth, gilded cast-iron and copper ornamentations of the
Baroque style. Owing to a peculiar architectural composition the church
construction looks slender and light. Plastic figurative expressiveness
of the church is conditioned to a considerable extent by using white,
turquoise colors and gilding in coloring of the facades.
The main feature of Baroque is a
synthesis of arts that is vividly manifested inside the church:
architecture, stucco work, woodcarving and oil painting are inseparably
linked with each other here.
The iconostasis, the altar canopy and
the pulpit are the unsurpassed examples of woodcarving art in St.
Andrew's Church. They strike one by diversity of a combination of flat
relief, bas-relief and high relief woodcarving, gilded and polychrome
sculpture in the round. The iconostasis is a main decorative and
artistic component of the interior. It plays the primary role in the
arrangement of inner space of the church. The iconostasis attracts one's
attention with its striking combination of red background with the
gilded sculptures and wood carved details. The iconostasis of the church
consists of three tiers. The Holy Doors is a centre of the first tier.
The iconostasis and all wood carved details of its decoration were made
from lime wood according to Rastrelli's sketches by the following
masters as J. Domash, A. Karlovsky, M. Manturov, C. Oreydakh, D. Ustars
and I. Grott. The gilding work was executed by F. Leprens and I.
Yevstifeev.
The painting plays also an important
role in decorative arrangement of the interior. In St. Andrew's Church
there are 68 oil-painted canvases and the only one painting was executed
directly on a plaster on the western vault. During 1751-1752, the group
of Russian artists, the so-called (painting team) of the Petersburg
Chancellery of Building under the guidance of I. Vyshnyakov worked at
creation of the icons for the St. Andrew's Church iconostasis. The order
was performed by the following artists - 0. Antropov, A. Yeroshevsky,
P. Semenov, 0. Belsky, 0. Pospelov and I. Firsov. The most prominent
artist from this group was 0. Antropov, who painted the border scenes of
the pulpit, the icon The Repose of the Virgin from the iconostasis, the scene of The Annunciation from the Holy Gates, the image of St. Andrew on the western vault of the church and also the altar-piece The Last Supper. The icons from backside of the iconostasis were painted by Ukrainian artists I. Romensky and I. Chaikovsky.
In the transept of St. Andrew's Church there are two compositions of the 19th century St. Andrew Preaching a Sermon by Ukrainian artist P. Boryspolets and Prince Volodymyr Chooses the Faith
by Lettish artist J. Eggink. Both canvases are attributed to historical
genre and reflected the annalistic legend about sermon of Christianity,
the foundation of Kyiv and the spread of Orthodox Faith on the
territory of Kyivan Rus.
