Ilya Bondarenko
Encyclopedia
Ilya Yevgrafovich Bondarenko was a Russia
n-Soviet architect
, historian and preservationist
, notable for developing a particular style of Old Believers
architecture in 1905-1917, blending Northern Russian revival with Art Nouveau
.
in 1887-1891 (class of Alexander Kaminsky
), completing education at the Zurich Polytechnikum
in 1894 and Fyodor Schechtel
firm (1895–1896). He travelled within Russia throughout 1890s, studying traditional architecture of the North and Volga regions.
He was associated with Savva Mamontov
-sponsored group of artists and Abramtsevo Colony
; these connections helped him secure his first major project - Russian Crafts pavilions at the Exposition Universelle (1900)
in Paris, in partnership with Konstantin Korovin
. Later, Bondarenko would rely on Abramtsevo
ceramics
in most of his works. He was well skilled in Art Nouveau
interior design, taking part in Ivan Fomin
's 1902 Art Nouveau exhibition. His style, influenced by Victor Vasnetsov and contemporary work of Sergey Solovyov, is a direct development of Abramtsevo school, yet with unique touch of austere Old Believers traditions and a deep first-hand knowledge of Pskov
and Novgorod relics.
, the government lifted earlier bans off Old Believers
,
allowing them, at last, to build their own churches (before April, 1905, worship was limited to a few historical places like Rogozhskoye Cemetery
). Congregations responded with numerous new construction projects. Bondarenko, well-known to influential community leaders, became the foremost architect for Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy
. In 1907-1908 he built the first new Old Believers church in Moscow, in Tokmakov Lane (for the Pomorian Old-Orthodox Church
). This was followed by churches in Noginsk
, Riga
, Kashin, Orekhovo-Zuevo, three more churches in Moscow. He also worked for the State Church
, completing the Shuya
Cathedral in 1912.
, and was engaged in studies of this style since 1904. In particular, he discovered and published the original drawings of Domenico Giliardi
and Afanasy Grigoriev
(1913), and wrote the first biography of Matvey Kazakov
(1912).
After the Russian Revolution of 1917
Bondarenko, despite his affiliation with the church, found a place in Soviet system - first as the museum manager in Ufa
(1919–1921), where he set up the first theater and the first museum (present-day Mikhail Nesterov
Museum; Nesterov and Bondarenko were close friends). In 1921, Bondarenko returned to Moscow, and worked in various soviet institutions until his death in 1947.
In 1930s, he returned to architecture, working with historical buildings, notably his 1938 expansion of Bakhrushin Museum of Theatre and 1933 expansion of Moscow Conservatory
. He held title of chief architect of Vagankovo Cemetery
, chief architect of Mosenergo
, and was engaged in numerous consultancies regarding old buildings, including the 1938-1940 surveys of Saint Basil's Cathedral
. His last assignment has been the restoration of Matvey Kazakov
's Travel Palace in Tver
, damaged during World War II
.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n-Soviet architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
, historian and preservationist
Preservationist
Preservationist is generally understood to mean historic preservationist: one who advocates to preserve architecturally or historically significant buildings, structures, objects or sites from demolition or degradation...
, notable for developing a particular style of Old Believers
Old Believers
In the context of Russian Orthodox church history, the Old Believers separated after 1666 from the official Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon between 1652–66...
architecture in 1905-1917, blending Northern Russian revival with Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
.
Education and early works
Bondarenko trained at Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and ArchitectureMoscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture
The Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture was one of the largest educational institutions in Russia. The school was formed by the 1865 merger of a private art college, established in Moscow in 1832, and the Palace School of Architecture, established in 1749 by Dmitry Ukhtomsky. By...
in 1887-1891 (class of Alexander Kaminsky
Alexander Kaminsky
Alexander Stepanovich Kaminsky was a Russian architect working in Moscow and suburbs. One of the most successul and prolific architects of 1860s - 1880s, Kaminsky was a faithful eclecticist, equally skilled in Russian Revival, Neo-Gothic and Renaissance Revival architecture...
), completing education at the Zurich Polytechnikum
ETH Zurich
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich or ETH Zürich is an engineering, science, technology, mathematics and management university in the City of Zurich, Switzerland....
in 1894 and Fyodor Schechtel
Fyodor Schechtel
Fyodor Osipovich Schechtel was a Russian architect, graphic artist and stage designer, the most influential and prolific master of Russian Art Nouveau and late Russian Revival....
firm (1895–1896). He travelled within Russia throughout 1890s, studying traditional architecture of the North and Volga regions.
He was associated with Savva Mamontov
Savva Mamontov
Savva Ivanovich Mamontov was a famous Russian industrialist, merchant, entrepreneur, and patron of the arts.-Biography:He was a son of the wealthy merchant and industrialist Ivan Feodorovich Mamontov and Maria Tikhonovna . In 1841 the family moved to Moscow. From 1852 he studied in St...
-sponsored group of artists and Abramtsevo Colony
Abramtsevo Colony
Abramtsevo is an estate located north of Moscow, in the proximity of Khotkovo, that became a center for the Slavophile movement and artistic activity in the 19th century.-History:...
; these connections helped him secure his first major project - Russian Crafts pavilions at the Exposition Universelle (1900)
Exposition Universelle (1900)
The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from April 15 to November 12, 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next...
in Paris, in partnership with Konstantin Korovin
Konstantin Korovin
Konstantin Alekseyevich Korovin was a leading Russian Impressionist painter.-Biography:Konstantin was born in Moscow to a merchant family officially registered as "peasants of Vladimir Gubernia". His father, Aleksey Mikhailovich Korovin, earned a university degree and was more interested in arts...
. Later, Bondarenko would rely on Abramtsevo
Abramtsevo Colony
Abramtsevo is an estate located north of Moscow, in the proximity of Khotkovo, that became a center for the Slavophile movement and artistic activity in the 19th century.-History:...
ceramics
Ceramic art
In art history, ceramics and ceramic art mean art objects such as figures, tiles, and tableware made from clay and other raw materials by the process of pottery. Some ceramic products are regarded as fine art, while others are regarded as decorative, industrial or applied art objects, or as...
in most of his works. He was well skilled in Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
interior design, taking part in Ivan Fomin
Ivan Fomin
Ivan Aleksandrovich Fomin was a Russian architect and educator. He began his career in 1899 in Moscow, working in the Art Nouveau style. After relocating to Saint Petersburg in 1905, he became an established master of the Neoclassical Revival movement...
's 1902 Art Nouveau exhibition. His style, influenced by Victor Vasnetsov and contemporary work of Sergey Solovyov, is a direct development of Abramtsevo school, yet with unique touch of austere Old Believers traditions and a deep first-hand knowledge of Pskov
Pskov
Pskov is an ancient city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located in the northwest of Russia about east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: -Early history:...
and Novgorod relics.
Old Believers churches
During the Russian Revolution of 1905Russian Revolution of 1905
The 1905 Russian Revolution was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies...
, the government lifted earlier bans off Old Believers
Old Believers
In the context of Russian Orthodox church history, the Old Believers separated after 1666 from the official Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon between 1652–66...
,
allowing them, at last, to build their own churches (before April, 1905, worship was limited to a few historical places like Rogozhskoye Cemetery
Rogozhskoye Cemetery
Rogozhskoe cemetery in Moscow, Russia, is the spiritual and administrative center of the largest Old Believers denomination, called the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church. Historically, the name cemetery was applied to the whole Old Believer community, with living quarters, cathedral, almshouses,...
). Congregations responded with numerous new construction projects. Bondarenko, well-known to influential community leaders, became the foremost architect for Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy
Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy
Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy is the first full and stable church hierarchy created by the Old Believers.The hierarchy was created in 1846 by acceptance of the Greek Metropolitan Ambrose...
. In 1907-1908 he built the first new Old Believers church in Moscow, in Tokmakov Lane (for the Pomorian Old-Orthodox Church
Pomorian Old-Orthodox Church
The Pomorian Old Orthodox Church is a branch of the priestless faction of the Old Believers, born of a schism within the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century.- Pomorian Agreement :...
). This was followed by churches in Noginsk
Noginsk
Noginsk is a town and the administrative center of Noginsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located east of the MKAD ring road on the Klyazma River. Population:...
, Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
, Kashin, Orekhovo-Zuevo, three more churches in Moscow. He also worked for the State Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
, completing the Shuya
Shuya
Shuya is the third largest town in Ivanovo Oblast, Russia; located on the Teza River. Population: -History:The first record of Shuya is dated by 1393. Since 1403, the area was held by a branch of the House of Suzdal, which got their name "Shuysky" after the town. In 1539, the town was sacked by...
Cathedral in 1912.
Preservation efforts
Bondarenko adored the Moscow variety of NeoclassicismNeoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
, and was engaged in studies of this style since 1904. In particular, he discovered and published the original drawings of Domenico Giliardi
Domenico Giliardi
Domenico Gilardi , was a Swiss architect who worked primarily in Moscow, Russia in Neoclassicist style. He was one of key architects charged with rebuilding the city after the Fire of 1812...
and Afanasy Grigoriev
Afanasy Grigoriev
Afanasy Grigorievich Grigoriev was a Russian Neoclassical architect, who worked in Moscow and its suburbs. Grigoriev is remembered for his refined Empire style mansions, completion of Great Ascension Church and assistance to Domenico Giliardi in rebuilding Moscow after the Great Fire...
(1913), and wrote the first biography of Matvey Kazakov
Matvey Kazakov
Matvey Fyodorovich Kazakov was a Russian Neoclassical architect. Kazakov was one of the most influential Muscovite architects during the reign of Catherine II, completing numerous private residences, two royal palaces, two hospitals, Moscow University, and the Kremlin Senate...
(1912).
After the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
Bondarenko, despite his affiliation with the church, found a place in Soviet system - first as the museum manager in Ufa
Ufa
-Demographics:Nationally, dominated by Russian , Bashkirs and Tatars . In addition, numerous are Ukrainians , Chuvash , Mari , Belarusians , Mordovians , Armenian , Germans , Jews , Azeris .-Government and administration:Local...
(1919–1921), where he set up the first theater and the first museum (present-day Mikhail Nesterov
Mikhail Nesterov
Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov was a major representative of religious Symbolism in Russian art. He was a pupil of Pavel Tchistyakov at the Imperial Academy of Arts, but later allied himself with the group of artists known as the Peredvizhniki...
Museum; Nesterov and Bondarenko were close friends). In 1921, Bondarenko returned to Moscow, and worked in various soviet institutions until his death in 1947.
In 1930s, he returned to architecture, working with historical buildings, notably his 1938 expansion of Bakhrushin Museum of Theatre and 1933 expansion of Moscow Conservatory
Moscow Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...
. He held title of chief architect of Vagankovo Cemetery
Vagankovo Cemetery
Vagan'kovskoye Cemetery , established in 1771, is located in the Krasnaya Presnya district of Moscow...
, chief architect of Mosenergo
Mosenergo
Mosenergo is the Russian largest power generating company operating on fossil fuel and the world largest thermal generation company. In addition to electric power it also generates and sells heat for consumers in Moscow and the Moscow Oblast...
, and was engaged in numerous consultancies regarding old buildings, including the 1938-1940 surveys of Saint Basil's Cathedral
Saint Basil's Cathedral
The Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat , popularly known as Saint Basil's Cathedral , is a Russian Orthodox church erected on the Red Square in Moscow in 1555–61. Built on the order of Ivan the Terrible to commemorate the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan, it marks the...
. His last assignment has been the restoration of Matvey Kazakov
Matvey Kazakov
Matvey Fyodorovich Kazakov was a Russian Neoclassical architect. Kazakov was one of the most influential Muscovite architects during the reign of Catherine II, completing numerous private residences, two royal palaces, two hospitals, Moscow University, and the Kremlin Senate...
's Travel Palace in Tver
Tver
Tver is a city and the administrative center of Tver Oblast, Russia. Population: 403,726 ; 408,903 ;...
, damaged during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.