ARCHITECTURE
ARCHITECTURE. Original architectural culture on the territory of Bashkortostan is associated with the creation of the simplest shelters in the times of the Stone Age. Karst caves were used as natural shelters and temples-shrines (The Ignatiev shrine and Shulgan-Tash). Dwellings and shelters were built in the crevices of the rocks (Mysovaya) or were cut in the rock and covered with logs (Surtanda campsites). Pit stops and settlements are among the earliest forms of architecture. Unique memorials of ancient A. in the Ural region are fortified settlements of the closed type (Arkaim, Bersuat, Sintashta). In the Iron Age, there appear fortified types of settlements such as Ananin, Kara Abyz, and those of the Pyanoborsk cultures. When making smaller to middle settlements in the forest-steppe and forest zones, there were used as fortifications various natural barriers (high river capes, ravines, etc) that impeded access to the settlement. Defenses also improved with time: walls were built and fortified by loam, as well as there appeared tower-like buildings and ramparts. The initial traditional housing of the nomadic peoples of the South Ural (such as those of Bashkirs, Bulgars, Kipchaks, etc) was always a yurt. The Bashkirs also had dugouts and framed structures, as well as adobe, and log buildings.
In the 14th century, there appear first stone buildings as memorial shrines, which were also used for worship and which were called keshene. From the 16th century on, the number of Muslim structures increases significantly. The architecture from then on was concentrated on mosque building. A good example of the earliest 19th century Muslim A. is Toshkurov mosque.
Towards the beginning of the 17th century, there appear the earliest Christian style stone buildings in the center of Ufa Kremlin – Smolensk Church, designed in the style of the 16th century Moscow architecture and subsequently rebuilt in the classical manner. There also appear first Ufa monasteries, that of Assumption and Birth of Christ nunneries (middle of the 17th century). Orthodox churches were built, and these originally contained elements of Russian Baroque. Later, due to reconstructions and extensions, these acquired features of early classicism (ref. Architectural styles). These are still preserved in such places as Ufa, Belebey, Beloretsk, Birsk, Sterlitamak, the selos of Nadezhdino of Belebeyevsky Raion, Verkhotor of Ishimbaysky Raion and others. In the 18th century, industrial A. is born. The earliest complexes include the industrial plants such as Kamensky, Voskresensky and Verkhotsky. These were built in the style of Russian Baroque which became a rather unique way of creating plants in the Ural area.
In the Bashkortostan A. of the second half of the 19th and early 20th century, one
may observe a certain loss of stylistic purity of previous classicism. It acquires the features of retrospectivism and eclecticism, against the backdrop of which there appears a new stylistic direction of modern architecture. Buildings with the use of decorative brick (“brick style”) make up a significant part of the historical buildings of the republic’s cities. They are built in the style of architectural romanticism. Wooden A. was also by then well developed, richly carved ornate mansions and large buildings appeared.
In the 1920s, architectural creation became rather limited. Most was in the constructivist style. Near Ufa, the formation of a new industrial zone included residential buildings (Chernikovsk); and a new draft of city districts construction Greater Ufa (1931–32) was developed.
In the 1930s, there is a transition from constructivism to neoclassicism. During this period, reorganization and strengthening of project creation began. In 1929, the first
State design organization named Bashgosproekt (now Bashkirgrazhdanproekt) was established. Work continued on the compilation of new and adjustment of existing general city plans (ref. Urban Development). In 1935, the Union of Architects of the RB was created.
The atmosphere of social upheaval, associated with the victory in the Great Patriotic War, was embodied in the rich decorative style and characterized by monumentality of architectural forms of urban ensembles. In the post-war decade, the A. of Ufa continued to develop along neoclassical lines.
Later realization of many projects coincides with the period in which decorative style was deemed too excessive. In the 1950s, these were altered in the direction of simplification and schematization. As a result, some feel that streets lost their individuality. Departure from the neoclassical style which began in the late 1950s and what some see as the ensuing stagnation in A. was accompanied by a large-scale economic housing program and general reorganization of the construction industry.
In mid. 1960s, the process of reassessing the standard model began, leading to the reworking of standard projects, the emergence of a series of more comfortable housing and new types of decoration. The Ufa Circus (1968), the Rossiya hotel, the Palace of Sports, the Ufa department store (all built in 1967), and the Iskra cinema (1970) were built in Ufa. Among the buildings of 70– 80s that mark the beginning of the transition to the creation of the modern day city environment are: House of Culture and Technology (architect – R.I.Kiraydt), the building complexes of the Uchilishche of Arts (L.V.Khikhlukha and others), The House of Culture and Chemists (K.D.Kurbatov, Ya.A.Livshits), Neftyanik (M.P.Mazin, O.V.Novikov, V.S.Firsov, and P.P.Petrov), and the Russian Drama Theatre (A.I. Pechonkin; all – in Ufa).
In the 2nd half of the 80s – 1st half of the 90s, while taking into account changes in the socio-economic sphere, planning documentation of cities, regional centers, regions, raions and other populated areas of the Republic were updated.
The development of A. at the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century is characterized by expansion of the typology of design, as well as reconstruction and restoration of the historical buildings in cities. New trends in the field of housing construction are characterized by an increase in the quality of construction and finishing, more active plasticity and creative expression and more comfortable-looking silhouettes of outer design. The most significant buildings of this period in Ufa were the buildings of theatre Nur (2000, architects – P.M.Andreyev and G.G.Bogatyryova), the Museum of Military Glory (2000, D.A.Vinkelman), the National Youth Theatre (2002, K.A.Donguzov and D.Yu.Mirsayapov), the Congress Hall Toratau (2007, R.U.Mullagildin and Kiokazu), and the sports facility UfaArena (2008, I.F.Ibragimov, D.I.Mavrodiyev and others).
