Buildings are renovated from time to time. Sometimes they make cosmetic repairs, and sometimes they make big alterations. If you look at the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin in Osorgino, you can clearly see the late finishing work.
Although the refectory premises collapsed a long time ago, there are traces of it. This is a hollowed-out groove on the round wall of the temple, where the roof of the refectory was led. Nothing special at first glance, standard building practice. To prevent water from getting into the cracks, the edge of the roof is buried into the wall.
The refectory collapsed a long time ago, but a broken groove is visible, where the roof was led.
But look where the uppermost beam, the ridge of the refectory roof, is located. It falls into a wall niche, and even crookedly, not in the center. This niche, a recess, is made in the wall, apparently for a fresco, mosaic, icon or relief.
The upper roof beam falls crookedly into the niche. Obviously, this was not conceived during the construction.
You may suspect that this is a later pawned window. But look at the adjacent window opening. Above the bricks are laid with a wedge, as previously did the lintels over the windows when there were no reinforced concrete beams.
Adjacent window opening.
If you look from the inside, there are no cracks or other traces of a blocked window. So this is not a window, but a pre-conceived niche.
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In which a good hole was made for the roofing beam. It is clear that this was not conceived and projected in the drawings. Was the architect so wrong with the corners of the roof of the refectory? The temple with the refectory was built as a whole, and even during the laying of the walls and domes, the angles of the roof slope were clear. Something could have been done to avoid hammering the beam into the painted niche.
Hence the simple conclusion is that the roof of the refectory was made later than the building itself. And they made it much cooler than originally planned. On the opposite side of the building, on the side of the altar, there is the same niche, on the same level.
View from the side of the collapsed altar
Niche on the east side.
But it was not so badly damaged by the groove for the altar roof. The recess runs along the lower edge of the niche. It turns out that the architectural project originally had different roofs. Which were then redone, increasing the steepness.
Why is an increase in the angle of inclination of the roof required? So that snow does not accumulate on the roof and its weight does not break the roof. The steeper the angle, the less snow accumulates at the top. It seems that the original architectural plan of the church did not take into account the Russian winter with heavy snowfalls. Moreover, in many churches heating was also added later. Which leads to suspicions about global climate change.
But this is not all the secrets of the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin in Osorgino. Take a closer look at the western niche. The bricks in it are clearly chipped away. This is clearly visible when compared with the surrounding bricks of the walls. Maybe they did the groove like that? Just chipping away at a few centimeters of brickwork?
It can be seen that the bricks in the western niche have been knocked down.
Difference between niche and wall bricks.
However, the niche on the side of the altar is lined with good, not hewn bricks. This means that both niches were made by masonry. But on the western side, something was depicted that was then considered unacceptable. And even harassed. If there was a fresco or mosaic, then it could simply be painted over or plastered. What was so terrible that the church builders did in the western niche, which then had to be shaved?
Whole bricks of the eastern niche.
Such a trace speaks of a change in religion. Orthodoxy was different, it had a different meaning. During the church reform, images and symbols that did not fit into the new canon were removed. The new government always destroys the symbolism of the previous one.
It can be assumed that the Bolsheviks changed the roof when they used the church building for household needs. But the communists would not bother chipping bricks, but would hammer the beam right into the image.
But what has changed in Orthodoxy? And so much so that the new owners of churches and temples barbarously destroyed the traces of the old religion? We will deal with this issue, as well as with climate change.
Author: Artyom Voitenkov