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Fun fact: Russian 'main' Orthodox church of Christ the Saviour looks like a cheap Taj Mahal imitation. [1] [1]: https://img.likeness.ru/41/35/4135/1388229357.j

• Mikeb85 5y ago
  Russian Orthodox churches actually draw the same inspiration as most mosques. Roman church architecture started with this as inspiration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheon,_Rome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheon,_Rome A famous example of the development is the Hagia Sophia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia There's many examples of Byzantine era architecture which were the inspiration for Islamic mosques (many actually being converted into mosques): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_architecture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_architecture Now, if you know the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, or rather how Slavs became Orthodox in the first place, you'd know it's because the first Rus kingdom made contact with Byzantine Greeks and converted to Orthodoxy, hence the Greek influence in Russian (indeed all Slavic) churches. Anyhow, the specific architectural style of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour dates back to the 11th century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_church_architecture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_church_architecture The inspiration of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was also said to be the Hagia Sophia, although IMO it looks more like early Russian cathedrals. Also, not sure about the angle you chose, but Christ the Saviour looks quite different from the Taj Mahal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Christ_the_Saviour#/media/File:Moscow_July_2011-34a.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Christ_the_Saviou... Both do draw from the same architectural tradition, but the Taj Mahal's inspiration goes like this: Pantheon/Roman Architecture -> Hagia Sophia/Byzantine architecture -> Islamic invasions -> Persian Architecture -> Mughal Architecture Whereas Russian Church designs came from the same initial source but diverged in the 11th century: Pantheon/Roman Architecture -> Hagia Sophia/Byzantine architecture -> Rus Empire conversion -> Russian Church architecture. If anything, Russian churches do draw a bit of inspiration from western church architecture of the Renaissance (there's a well-know period of time where the Tsars attempted to westernise Russia), see St. Peter's Basilica: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Basilica#/media/File:Petersdom_von_Engelsburg_gesehen.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Basilica#/media/...
  • Andrew_nenakhov 5y ago
    Mike, thanks for the lengthy excursion into history, but for me it is not new information (and actually being from Russia I'm used to seeing russian churches all the time). And the thing is, traditional stock russian churches are rather different from Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the latter being a rebuilt copy of a late 19th century design. And being such a late design (by the standards of our churches), it is hard to unsee that all major details of it are borrowed from Taj Majal: the dome, the ancillary domes, the proportions of major details. Famous Russian painter Vereshchagin (of the Apotheosis of War [1] fame) openly criticized the project for being a 'direct recreation of a Taj Mahal church from Acra' [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apotheosis_of_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apotheosis_of_War
    • Mikeb85 5y ago
      > the dome, the ancillary domes, the proportions of major details. I mean, 5 domed churches are pretty common. Domed buildings with a similar proportion are pretty common. Here's an example that pre-dates the Taj Mahal by 100 years: https://www.advantour.com/russia/rostov/assumption-cathedral-rostov.htm https://www.advantour.com/russia/rostov/assumption-cathedral... Similar proportions albeit slightly smaller and taller main dome (and slightly larger ancillary domes), but the curvature of the main dome is slightly more similar to the Taj Mahal's main dome. Christ the Saviour Cathedral is probably somewhere between this and the Taj Mahal for proportions. > Famous Russian painter Vereshchagin (of the Apotheosis of War [1] fame) openly criticized the project for being a 'direct recreation of a Taj Mahal church from Acra' Self-hating Russians (Slavs in general actually) has always been a thing. Self-hating Russian artists and writers in the 19th century was definitely a thing. IMO, Slavs' self-hating nature and distrust of, well, everyone, is a mostly good trait but sometimes prevents them from seeing the positive side of things (my family is Ukrainian but I grew up in the west).