“As the Measure and Beauty Suggest”: Traditional Principles of geometry in Russian Orthodox Churches

This article proposes that the “Trinity diagram” was used for designing the plans for Russian churches. The “diagram” is a combination of squares which form the principal structure of the building; it has a semantically rich meaning refiecting the doctrines and ideology of the Middle Ages. The hypothesis is con.ftrmed by numerous examples from Western European, Byzantine, and Russian church architecture.