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The basic element was "Srub," a
rectangular for-sided frame of round logs, and interlocked at the corners, and
made to fit to each other. Their exterior surfaces are round and interior
axe-hewed. In between the logs, oakum is used for caulking the seams and for
filling larger apertures. Four srubs assembled together make a square structure
called "Klet," a name that was already used by the first Russian
chroniclers. We see klet in the construction of izbas, churches, palaces or any
other wooden edifices. It all depended on the size of the logs and the number
of klet units; one, two, or several that were interconnected or placed one on
the top of the other to complete the building. This type of construction
received the name "Kletskie stroeniya," meaning klet constructions.
The cabin (izba) of a poor peasant usually consisted of two klet units was
sturdy but had no chimney or ceiling. The peasants called "Klet" the
second half in the back that remained unheated during the winter and served
primarily for storage. Each row of logs is called "Venets," meaning
wreath. Etymologically the word "Srub" comes from the verb
"Rubit," hew, and indeed Russian carpenters and thousands of simple
peasants showed an extraordinary skill in using their axes to cut and finish
all their logs, boards, planks, even the smallest piece of wood necessary to
build a house. Each one was so perfectly hewn that it was hard to believe that
they used nothing but axes or knives and occasionally a chisel or this fine
work.
I have seen several Russian wooden churches and I still admire the
astonishing smoothness and precision of their interior walls, though some logs
were more than a foot in diameter, and the fine detail of the entire church. No
saws or nails were used and yet the entire edifice and the tall belfries look
very solid and stable. Some were easily destroyed by fire, but others were able
to remain intact for centuries. Russian builders paid particular attention to
the roofs which gradually became the most important decorative element in
wooden architecture. They started with a simple gable roof or as Russians would
say, "Dvukhskatnaya krovlya," meaning two-sloped roof. Russian
peasants call "Kurinaya," the simple bridged roof that covers their
izbas. At first they filled, the pediments (of the two gables) with diminishing
in size logs, called "Sleghi," which carried the ridge-pole and
supported the boards that covered the roof. By using various sizes of logs
which interlocked without leaving an extension, Russian builders were able to
shape the pediment and change the profile of the gables to almost any form or
angle. With their ingenuity and sense for decor, they turned their primitive
wooden structures into highly complicated roofing systems and created several
original and fascinating combinations and variations that made the roofs
of their churches, the most interesting and the most expressive part of
the edifice. But before this was fully developed we see the expansion of
Byzantine masonry architectural forms in the northern Russian provinces, which
came together with the expansion of Christianity; all resulting in the
introduction of certain modifications to the wooden structures. A few centuries
later in the 16th, this trend was reversed first in Moscow and later in other
centers when the traditional forms of church architecture yielded to the forms
that until then existed only in complex wooden edifices. This lending of
various forms evolved into a very picturesque national Russian church
architecture.
Russian peasant-builders are sometimes unjustly denied originality in
their architectural achievements. Without ignoring the fact that ancient
Russian builders received their first lessons in brick and stone construction
from Byzantine, Armenian and Georgian masters and architects, the truth is that
in hewing their izbas and churches they were second to none. The technique they
applied to building wooden structures and the originality of the ornaments used
to decorate them was ignored by others..Byzantine masters knew much
about monumental architecture and very little about wooden construction. They
could not pass on knowledge that they did not themselves possess. The scarcity
of stone turned Russians towards wood, in which the country abounded
particularly in the northern sections. With very primitive tools they utilized
wood with extraordinary ease and imagination. They turned into exuberant folk
artists, who carved a real profusion of wooden ornamentation and built lovely
wooden churches throughout the country. They felt free to invent their own
forms and decorations, and when they evolved to more complicated constructions,
Russian builders undoubtedly asserted their own style. Their wooden churches
each one different from the next, kept inspiring generations of Russian
builders. It was in wood architecture that the Russian creative genius found
its most original expression.
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