Transfiguration Church

The Transfiguration Church of the Spasa-Euphrasyne monastery in Polatsk is one of the earliest preserved churches in Eastern Europe. Its architecture, formed in the process of creative rework of Byzantine traditions, was an example of a fundamentally new type of buildings that, at the turn of the 12th–13th centuries, became the main building type in the architecture throughout Rus’: from the Carpathians to Staraya Ladoga.

Constructions of this type have oblong, elongated proportions and are often referred to in the scientific literature as “tower-like”. The “tower-like” temples became widespread throughout Rus’ in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, when this type of buildings had a significant influence on stone construction in Smolensk (Church of St. Michael the Archangel), Novgorod (Church of St. Paraskevi), Hrodna, and Chernihiv (Pyatnytska Church of Saint Paraskevi) and other cities. Later, in the 14th–15th centuries, the upward construction of temples took a dominant position in the architecture of Novgorod and Pskov.

It should be noted that the “tower-like” church construction in Polatsk is completed using entirely independent means, which have no parallels in the history of Rus’ and Byzantium. In the case of the Transfiguration Church of the Euphrasyne Monastery, the vertical inclination of the construction is achieved by the proportional ratio of the dimensions created with the help of structures that are usual for most of the monuments, but used here in a completely different context.

The Polatsk Transfiguration Church is a valuable moment from the 12th century that has survived to these days. It reflects the process of forming the style of “tower-like” temples, the search for new structures and the adaptation of traditional techniques to express new architectural ideas. When compared with other temples of this type, it becomes obvious that the Transfiguration Church of the Euphrosyne Monastery opens up a process of searching for new forms in the architecture of Rus’, well ahead of its time. Thus, while the “tower-like” composition became widespread among temples more than half a century after its appearance in Polatsk, the pedimental overlaps of the tops, the existence of which in terms of the Transfiguration Church in the 12th century was recorded in the course of recent research, find application in the architecture of Rus’ much later – in the 15 century.

At the same time, the technique of using the three-lobed finishing of the facades in pediment forms proves that the creator of the Transfiguration Church, architect John, was familiar with the use of this motif in the architecture of Byzantium and, first of all, Greece. However, in Polatsk, this Byzantine technique is used in a completely different architectural context – to create a vertical accent in the spatial composition of the building, which has no analogies in Byzantine architecture.

The level of preservation of the authentic structures and details of the Polatsk Church is also unique. Especially important is the fact that many of the surviving elements of the monument allow getting into the “creative laboratory” of ancient masters, to trace their searches and changes in the original plans during construction.

The most valuable iconographic programme of the Transfiguration Church, created with the participation of the reverend Euphrasyne of Polatsk, the outstanding artistic features of the frescoes – one of the few surviving examples of the Komnenian style of the 12th century in a unique state of preservation, are of exceptional importance for the development of art in the lands of Belarus and Rus’, and the entire area of the Byzantine culture.

Thus, the Transfiguration Church of the Euphrasyne Monastery isan original and the only truly surviving example of the Polatsk school of architecture. In addition, the degree of preservation of the ancient murals, which is rare for murals of the 12th century, places the Transfiguration Church, together with the Balkan temples of that time (the Church of St. Panteleimon in Nerezi, the Church of St. Panteleimon in Boyana), among the most outstanding monuments of medieval art of the Byzantine circle.

The spiritual role of this monument is also of significant importance, it is associated with the legacy of the great enlightener of Ancient Rus’ – the reverend St. Euphrosyne of Polatsk – the first woman in the Belarusian lands to have founded a monastery in 1125, initiated the construction of a temple that is unique in its architecture, and created a special iconographic programme as well as the most valuable reliquary cross.