THE UNKNOWN PROJECTS OF PIETRO ANTONIO TREZZINI. ON THE TYPOLOGY OF CENTRALLY PLANNED CHURCHES IN RUSSIAN AND EUROPEAN BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE.

The article deals with two unknown projects made by the Swiss- Italian architect Pietro Antonio Trezzini, who was active in Russia between 1726 and 1751. According to the Commission of the Senate, in 1747 Trezzini designed a five-domed cathedral in Stavropol, for which he provided two design options. One of these projects, which was approved by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, was realized between 1750 and 1757. In both projects, Trezzini presented the cathedral as a monumental five-domed centrally planned church, which is an integral part of Trezzini's designs. All but one of the Orthodox churches designed by the architect had five domes (we know of 13 such designs, including all the alternative versions). Although Trezzini was not a initiator of this new type of five-domed centrally planned church, his work displays the most mature and diverse development of this approach in Russian Baroque architecture. The article describes the general features of Trezzini's churches and certain individual ones as well. Trezzini's projects for five-domed churches were directly related to the revival of a traditional type of Orthodox church proclaimed by the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. This idea was widely reflected in Russian church architecture of the time, but its concrete realisation was rather varied. An attempt is made in article to characterise this situation by briefly focusing on a comparison of Trezzini's designs and the five-domed centrally planned churches designed by other architects. The five-domed churches, which were revived in mid-18th century Russia and persistently promoted as a national and Orthodox solution, actually had nothing in common with local medieval tradition. Typologically, the five-domed Russian churches of the mid-18th century were rooted in European architecture, namely in Italian Renaissance and Central European Baroque architecture. The most important European sources of inspiration were probably St Peter's Cathedral in Rome (a project by Michelangelo), the Church of St Catherine in Stockholm and the Frauenkirche in Dresden, which the leading mid-18th century architects in Russia were undoubtedly familiar with European, primarily Italian, churches with two symmetrically placed towers on the western facade and a dome over the intersection, for example, Sant'Agnese in Agone in Rome, should also be taken into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]