Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės architektūra: stilių raida

LTMonografija - sintetinamojo pobūdžio mokslo darbas, atskleidžiantis Lietuvos Didžiosios kunigaikštystės architektūros istoriją nuo valstybės susikūrimo XIII a. viduryje iki trečiojo ATR padalijimo 1795 m. Architektūros stilių raida aprėpia ne tik dabartinės Lietuvos, bet ir Gudijos, Ukrainos, Latvijos, Lenkijos žemes, priklaususias LDK kiekvienu stilistiniu laikotarpiu. Monografija paremta įvairių šalių mokslininkų ir paties autoriaus atliktais architektūrologiniais, istoriniais, ikonografiniais ir natūros tyrimais. Architektūros raidos savitumai, susieti su krašto politiniu, konfesiniu, kultūriniu gyvenimu, perteikti chronologiškai, pagal pastatų tipus. Atskleista romanikos, gotikos, renesanso, baroko ir klasicizmo architektūra. Knyga gausiai iliustruota architektūros paminklų planais, ikonografinių vaizdų reprodukcijomis, menininkų sukurtomis rekonstrukcijomis, iš natūros darytomis nuotraukomis. Leidinys skirtas architektams, istorikams ir visiems besidomintiems kultūros ir meno istorija. [Iš leidinio]

ENThe main aim of this work is to create a synthesis of the history of the architecture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL), covering the development from the establishment of the State in the mid-13lh century to the third partition of the Republic of the Two Nations in 1795. The monograph consists of an introduction, five chapters, closing part and annexes. Chapter 1 deals with the oldest masonry architecture. The political situation in the GDL, the State of pagans and Orthodox Christians that emerged in the 13th century, was extremely complicated due to the constant threat of the Orders of Teutonic Knights. This led to the construction of defensive objects rather than sacred ones. In the first centennial of the existence of the GDL (the second half of the 13th century - the first half of the 14th century), there were two types of defensive buildings: 1) single towers, or donjones and 2) motte-and-bailey castles (also known as castellated fortifications). The Kamenets donjon is a unique Romanesque building of the GDL, although its architecture also shows the signs of Gothic modernisation. Donjons were also built in other parts of the GDL, but they have not survived to this day. A tower of the same height as the Kamenets tower was built in Brest as well. There is a mentioning of a tower, i. e. a pillar at the gate of the Grodno Castle, in the Ipatian chronicle in 1277. It was also cylindrical in shape. In the 13th century, possibly during the reign of Mindaugas, a square tower (12 x 12 m) was built in Navagrudak, which was later integrated into the castle complex. There were donjons in Vitsebsk, Polack and Turav.Since in the first half of the 14th century the gunpowder weapons were not yet in use, the castles were adapted for frontal defence. Their walls were about 2 m thick and the towers did not flank them or were not erected at all. For example, the first construction of the Kaunas Castle was without towers - they were built only in the forecourt. The castle architecture was of functional and ascetic character, with few decorative elements. An important feature of the architecture of quadrangular enclosed castles is the 1.3-4.1 m wide brick strips on the outer side of the enclosing wall. The brickwork was made for aesthetic purposes - to avoid the extreme monotony of stonework and aiming for a more varied colour texture. Another feature of the Romanesque architecture is the arcatures of the continuous semicircular arches surrounding the wall below the gunports. Such arcatures still existed in the Lida Castle as early as the 19th century and were recorded in iconographic sources. Only a few Christian temples were constructed. They were closely linked to the defensive complexes and were therefore built inside the castle enclosure. One of the first Lithuanian Romanesque buildings, the Upper Chapel of the Grodno Castle, was built in the second half of the 13th century. It has a square shape (8.8 x 8.8 m on the outside), with chamfered external corners and one semicircular apse on the East side. Similar constructions are found in the Romanesque architectural tradition of Western and Central Europe. The chapel of the first castle of the Livonian Order was built in Riga at the beginning of the 13th century (later, after reconstructions, it was extended into the Church of St George). It was almost the same size as the Upper Chapel of the Grodno Castle. The chapel of the Navagrudak Castle, constructed at the beginning of the 14th century, was also square with a semicircular apse, but it was larger (13.5 x 13.5 m) and had a porch on the Western side.Considerably larger than the chapels in the castles mentioned above was the first building of the Vilnius Cathedral, which was also square in shape (22.7 x 22.4 m), with an elongated presbytery ending in a semicircular apse. The early buildings of the GDL are characterised by specific construction techniques. Firstly, the emplecton wall construction (Latin: Opus emplecton) should be mentioned. There is also the Baltic brick bonding (Monk bond), where one header and two stretchers in each line are repeatedly taking turns. In the earliest brickwork, the number of stretchers was greater, with two, three and sometimes even four stretchers replacing a single header. Chapter 2 is devoted to the Gothic architecture of the GDL, which spread from the second half of the 14th century to the first third of the 17th century. Due to the same denominational reasons, Gothic architecture reached the GDL belatedly. Compared to the appearance of the first Gothic cathedrals in France, the time difference is almost two centuries. Unlike in many countries, in the GDL, the building constructions were made of brick rather than hewn stone, which gave them their distinct characteristics. Churches. During the entire Gothic period, about 30 Catholic churches were built in the GDL. Here Gothic churches did not have a developed system of buttresses and archbutanes, which would have to be covered by towers on the main facade, so towers are not characteristic of such churches: they were constructed either without towers or with a single one on the front or side facade. Gothic churches have a rather simple volume, rectangular or almost square in shape, covered with a steeply pitched tiled roof, with a narrower and usually lower presbytery, ending in a three-bay apse, which, according to the canon, faces the East. The Lithuanian Gothic churches are not characterised by the Latin cross plan, which is common enough in Western European countries. [...]. [From the publication]