The neo-Byzantine style in Russian architecture characterizes the era of the rule of Emperor Alexander II (1855-1881) and is directly connected with the, Eastern Issue", extremely important at that time. In mid 19(th) century the battle for, Byzantine heritage" (Christian sacred objects from the Middle East) and the destiny of Orthodox Slavic people became fierce. Russian architects showed interest in neo-Byzantine style simultaneously with the study of Byzantine architecture which was conducted at the Arts Academy in Vienna (T. Hansen), England (J. Raskin), France, Spain and other countries. Only Russia, however, developed neo-Byzantine style on a large scale. Several periods of intensive construction in that style can be singled out, all of which are connected to certain segments of history and foreign policy of Russia: The 1840' s -the beginning of the 1850' s: an attempt of more serious Russian patronage of Orthodox people in Turkey and attempts to free them from depending on Muslims (the Temple of St. Vladimir in Kiev, built after the preserved temples in Athens). The defeat in the Crimea War, which was led against European states, motivated Russia to turn to East and its own cultural, religious and state origins. The 1870' s: wars for the liberation of Balkan countries. That was the time when many temples were build in neo-Byzantine style in towns and monasteries. The beginning of the 20(th) century: in Russia the most important, replicas" of the Constantinople St. Sophia were built in the years when the idea of, Sophia -Wisdom of God" was particularly relevant. During the First World War Russian army was yet again at the gates of the ancient capital of Byzantine so the, Byzantine theme" gained new momentum in architecture, applied art, graphic appearance of books, etc., Byzantine style" as a dominant architectural style was cultivated in other Slavic countries and in Greece. It emerged in the period of historicism and became characteristic of church architecture in Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece. N. B. Sultanov, one of the most authoritative historians of architecture in the last third of the 19(th) century thought that Byzantine style was an excellent replacement for those architects who did not want to follow the models of Russian architecture of the 17(th) century. On the other hand, the study of Byzantine style helped discover insufficiently known particularities of Russian national style. It was the time when important research of the famous Byzantologist N. P. Kondakov was published. He claimed that the main feature of the temple of St. Sophia in Constantinople (532 -537) was the symbiosis of the eastern phenomenon - a dome (as a basilica element) and the rectangular foundation of the building (a spherical arch above a rectangular space). Truth be told, that kind of a combination was applied in Persia but in Byzantium it acquired a mystical connotation as, an idea of Resurrection, victory over death". The exhibition held in 1892 during the First Congress of Russian Architects showed around 50 projects inspired by Byzantine heritage. The construction of domes and the evolution of architectural procedures and technical advances in building created a new direction in the engineering practice - a precise calculation of domes. The main replicas of the Constantinople temple in Russian architecture in the historicism era appeared at the very beginning of the development of Byzantine style in the 1860' s and during its descent at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1865 Russian government opened a competition for the project of the temple of St. Alexander Nevsky in Tbilisi, the capital of Caucasia, which was supposed to be built resembling St. Sophia from Constantinople. The initiative originated in the government program for the construction of Orthodox temples in former provinces of the Byzantine Empire and in the historical centers of Orthodoxy - Palestine, Caucasia, Crimea and Kiev (the first capital of Orthodox Russia, follower of Byzantium). The temple in Tbilisi was conceived as a monument to mark the end of the Caucasian war and the reconciliation of all the people in the Caucasia region. The project of D. A. Grimm became a prototype for the projects of temples built all over Russia. At the turn of the centuries the priority in the development of neo-Byzantine style was passed onto Vassil Kosyakov, a student at the Institute of Construction Engineers in St. Petersburg and a student of Grimm's and Sultanov's. The government and Emperor's initiative to build grand Byzantine temples on the locations of the Baltic and Black Seas (Kronstadt, Poti, Feodosia, Vladivostok) was adopted. This was supposed to stress the imperial width of the Orthodox state - an heir to Byzantium. On the other hand, the current, Eastern issue" was tied to the construction of the powerful Russian military and naval fleet. The Synod temple of St. Nikolai in Kronstadt is the most significant work in neo-Byzantine style in Russia. After the bidding had been conducted three times, a design by V.A. Kosyakov was accepted. The exterior decoration contained the elements of romanticism (portal, ornaments), which made the edifice look eclectic. The temple was finished and consecrated in 1913 in the presence of the Imperial family and later it acquired the popular name of the, Naval Synod Temple". The monumental temples in Kronstadt, Poti and Sophia (Bulgaria) represent three directions of the evolution of neo-Byzantine style. The first reflects the most progressive tendencies of professors and students of the St. Petersburg Institute of Civil Engineering which shows the influence of secession. The authors of the temple in Poti perfected the technical and artistic side but they also chose to copy patterns of the Constantinople temple. The third direction, created after the model of the Church of S. Demetrius of Thessaloniki (built in 1866 on the Greek Square in St. Petersburg) is characterized by smaller dimensions and the placement of semicircular arches on all sides of the central part of the temple (the dome). The temples belonging to this widespread group were built through another government program - the decoration of towns along the Trans-Siberian Railway (Novosibirsk, Chita, Harbin). The composition of temples with one dome surrounded by three or four lateral arches can be considered the most important results of the development of neo-Byzantine style in Russia simultaneously with the construction of temples which represent the modifications of architectural designs of the temple of St. Sophia in Constantinople.
