Narina Gora is the highest point of Kizhi Island. It offers a picturesque view of the surroundings, the Kizhi ensemble, the villages of Yamka and Vasilyevo on the island of Kizhi, the Pudozh sector in the northern part of the island, as well as the villages located across the strait on the mainland, are perfectly visible. Previously, there was a chapel in the name of the Holy Spirit. This "native" chapel of the village of Yamka burned down during a fire in 1944. In 1968, its place was taken by the Chapel of the Savior Not Made by Hands, transported from the village of Vigovo. In the same year the memorial wooden architecture was restored with a reconstruction of its original appearance according to the project of the famous Russian architect Alexander Opolovnikov.

The chapel dates back to the turn of the 17th-18th centuries. It is a traditional type of Klet temple. Initially, the chapel was two-part with different-sized roofs. At the end of the 18th century, the building was reconstructed with an addition to the vestibule, above which a hipped belfry was placed on an octagon. Above the eastern cage, on a small neck, there is a cupola. From the south, a single-flight porch with a gable canopy on pillars was attached to the vestibule of the chapel. The room of the chapel itself is blocked by the "sky". The icon-painting decoration of the monument has been preserved: icons of the "heaven" dating from the second half of the 17th century and a two-tiered iconostasis dating back to the 18th century. 21 "heaven" icons are kept in the funds of the Kizhi Museum-Reserve, and the iconostasis is in the funds of the Karelian State Museum of Fine Arts.

In this article I will try to describe in detail all the stages of building this model "for beginners" from scratch, and of course I will show what I got in the end. Those who have already worked with wood more than once are unlikely to find much useful information in the article, I myself do not consider myself an experienced "piece of wood" but suddenly ...

The set of the company "SV Model", which was the second in the series "Russian Wooden Architecture", which will be discussed later, fell into my hands already in the second version. The first issue did not contain several details - mica, etching and carved ornaments. Who knows, maybe there will be other improvements in the future?

Briefly describe what the set consists of. The first thing we see is the documentation. An excellent instruction on eighteen pages describes in great detail all the stages of assembly. All plans of parts and subassemblies in it are given on a scale of 1: 1 to the model. Separately, on a sheet of coated paper, plans for details of the roof are printed, which can be cut out for the convenience of fitting a wooden roof to a log house. Another sheet shows a projection (template) of the position of the logs of the first (folding) crown of the log house (the crown is one row of the log house).

The contents of the set can (and should) be checked against the packing list. There are logs in six packages. The numbering of the packages matches the step number in the instructions. I will repeat what is written by the manufacturer in general recommendations - do not open several packages at once, do not mix their contents, otherwise you will be tormented to figure out what goes where. In a separate package there are domes and their necks, in two more - a plowshare (flakes) to cover them.

A certain number of parts will need to be made according to the drawings ourselves, from a variety of rails. Most of them have a tag with their cross section, some do not, but with the help of a ruler it is not difficult to find out their size.

For glazing the chapel, a piece of natural mica was added to the set, and for the manufacture of hardware - hinges and handles - a plank of metal photo-etched parts.
Before you start, it's worth deciding how you will treat the wood to simulate aging. Or you won't at all. The tree can be impregnated with stain, painted with paint or colorless varnish. I will be using thinned bituminous varnish during this build, what would you choose?

You will need some tools to assemble the model. Let's go in order. First of all, a knife. A very sharp knife. This is perhaps the most important tool. A linoleum knife or a table knife will not work here. Also, do not use a razor, it will be of little use, and the probability of cutting yourself is above average. I recommend looking for designer (for artwork) knives with replaceable OLFA or Excel blades. An entry-level knife can be found for 150 rubles, and it will cut as well as a professional one. In the photo you can see my OLFA knife, in which the handle has been changed with the help of epoxy putty (it looks like plasticine, right?) for convenience.

It will not work with a knife on weight, you need a special cutting mat. For our tasks, the smallest one you can find will do. In principle, you can do without a rug and cut on thick cardboard, but the knife blade will dull much faster.
For processing wood, we also need a needle file and sandpaper of different grain sizes.
Any paper scissors will also come in handy, but no comment here.

PVA glue is used to glue wooden parts together. I highly recommend finding Moment carpentry express glue, manufactured by Henkel. This thick PVA sets in just a couple of minutes. Cheap and cheerful.

The set contains several photo-etched brass parts, for fixing which to the wood you need super-glue (based on cyanoacrylate), preferably gel (it allows you to change the position of the part to be glued within a short time).

Brass parts require either painting or blackening with a special compound. Paint can be any that will lie on a metal surface. But now we will not paint, but armed with a school chemistry course and cheap ingredients easily found in stores, we will make the simplest composition for blackening brass. And in stores we will look for the following:

• in a pharmacy - a solution of ammonia (more than 10% is not sold, but we have enough).
• in the grocery - soda (but probably in your kitchen).
• in the gardening store - a bag of copper sulfate.

A couple of bottles and a piece of gauze will come in handy for practicing this black magic, that is, chemistry. How to use it - I will not write, but.

For tinting and aging wood, in addition to bituminous varnish, I need white spirit and a dilution jar. Oh, and don't forget the brush.
You also need to find the most common white (but in fact - translucent) masking tape. On it we will assemble structures from boards - doors and roofs.
Now everything is ready for assembly and you can start.
I will assemble the layout according to the instructions, with minimal deviations from it.
So, let's begin.

Stage 1

First, prepare the details. Let's open the package at number 1 and inspect the details. The first task is to clean the parts from scoring. To do this, you can use whatever you like best. I cleaned it with sandpaper, and in some places with a knife. The main thing is that there are no chips left in the log cups - any debris remaining in them will deform the entire assembly. Next, you need to lay out the parts in order, as shown in the diagram. The details in it are sorted by increasing length, be careful! In subsequent stages, there are parts of the same type that differ in length by literally one millimeter.

Now you can modify the parts indicated on the first sheet to the assembly state - cut off the edges of the logs and make grooves for the steps. The first is convenient to do with a wide file or sandpaper, the second with a knife. On the logs of the last, at this stage of the crown, it is necessary to make cutouts for the logs (boards on which, at the second stage, you will lay the floorboards). I cut them out with a knife, but this can also be done with the edge of a flat file. When making these grooves, check if a 2 * 3.5mm rail will fit into them.

After stripping and processing, impregnate all parts with a ready-made solution of bituminous varnish and wait until it dries.

Just do not leave parts in the open if an animal lives at home. I found one broken and bitten part two days later under the bed, and at the same time two cats smiled maliciously at me (mine can;)). It's good that the set includes logs for self-manufacturing lost details.

At the first stage, we will also need four steps on the porch stairs - cut them from the rail with a knife according to the size given in the instructions - all drawings of parts, as I said, are given on a 1: 1 scale, which is very convenient - a ruler is not needed at all.

By the way, I advise you to treat all the slats that are in the box with varnish or stain immediately, so that you don’t remember about it later.
Now start collecting the frame. Lay out the crown crown on the template. Do not glue the details of this crown yet! This is done so that the frame does not warp. After the first crown is laid - lay out the second, but already gluing. After one or two glued crowns, we return to the very first one and glue it.

To get a smooth and beautiful model, follow a few rules:
After laying each crown, check the walls for verticality with a square, or at least by eye. If this is not done, then the log house will be assembled, but it will literally be crooked. I forgot about it for a bit, and the chapel moved a little.

After putting in all the crowns that you wanted at the moment, install a couple of logs of the next crown without glue in order to be sure that everything is glued correctly. If these parts are in another package - get them in advance. If this is not done, then returning to the layout tomorrow, you will be surprised to find that the log does not fit in the right place, and you either need to cut the cups or break the already glued parts.

When gluing wooden parts, try to fix them firmly enough, while not applying too much glue to the joints in order to avoid stains on the finished model. Remove all PVA smudges immediately, for example with a cotton swab.

Well, constantly looking back at the instructions, we put the crown after the crown. Do not forget to lay on the last crown, without gluing, long logs (details 6 and 29).

Stage 2

There are few logs here, only three pieces. The main work is flooring. The sequence of actions here is simple. First of all, we glue logs from a 2 * 3.5 mm rail (and small ones from a 2 * 2 rail) into the last crown. Next, we install the logs, and only after that we lay the floorboards from thin slats. The last two points can be interchanged, but then unwanted gaps may appear, or vice versa, the floorboards will prevent the logs from being installed in place. Boards in front of the threshold of the door on the porch, lay the last.

Stage 3

There is a lot of work here. In the beginning, you need to lay out nine crowns.
In doing so, I would like to draw your attention to two points.

• There are many details, and some of them are very similar to each other. Be sure to sort them the way it is drawn on the fifth page of the instructions. Parts 43 and 42 can be distinguished from each other only by laying them out with their end to some straight surface, such as a ruler!

• The saying about "measure seven times - cut one" is as relevant as possible in terms of processing cutouts for doors and windows. Before surgery, check whether you attached the part to the drawing with the right end, whether the distance from the edge of the log to the cup (round cutout for the log) is correct.

When assembling, do not forget to attach the square to the walls of the resulting log house!

While the glued frame is drying (did you forget to put a couple of parts No. 9 from the package with number 4 on the last crown?), You can do windows and doors.

To assemble the windows, we will use masking tape. We glue the details of the window frame directly on it. To create a binding, it is necessary to cut a groove in the center of the parts with a depth of only half a millimeter, glue them crosswise and paste them into the finished frame.

The outer frame is ready, you can do the inner. It is assembled in exactly the same way, except for the bindings. Now glue the parts of the window block box (85 and 86) at a right angle, and immediately, before the glue dries, glue the outer frame into the resulting structure, as shown in the photo.
It's time to insert the mica, but it still needs to be cut off. The problem is that with any strong pressure, it exfoliates and becomes cloudy. I have tried cutting it with both knives and a razor, but I think the best result is achieved with small, well-sharpened nail scissors. If the mica still stratifies - just try to remove the extra layers with tweezers. Put the resulting "glass" on the outer frame and fix it by gluing the inner one on it.

Now you can glue the remaining parts of the window block box and the window is ready! Check that there is no glue left on the front part, if there is, sharpen it with a needle file or cut it off with a knife. It remains to repeat this process four more times.

Done - the resulting windows can be installed in the log house. If the window does not fit into the space allotted for it, waste the logs. Install windows so that their outer edge coincides with the edge of the log, i.e. do not recess the window inside the log house. This is necessary to install platbands, which will close all the cracks around the window. I advise you not to cut all the platbands at once. First, cut out one board and try it on the installed window, for example, vertically - the edges of the window boxes should close, but the frame parts should not. If all is well, cut another one of the same, and glue them both in parallel - one opposite the other. Now cut out two more platbands, but make them a little longer, literally by a millimeter, and then, attaching them to those already glued, adjust the corners. When you fit - glue. Nothing complicated, but you have to tinker. The platbands, probably, can be assembled into a square on adhesive tape, or glued to the finished window until it is installed in the wall, but these methods did not seem convenient to me.

Door assembly technology is simple to disgrace. We cut off a small piece of masking tape, stick four parts from a rail with a section of 1 * 4 mm on it and glue two parts from a rail 0.6 * 3 across them. After 5 minutes, the door can be removed from the adhesive tape and slightly align the top and bottom edges with a needle file. For assembly, you will need two of these doors.

Now let's move on to photo-etched parts (etched). In fact, this is just a thin sheet of brass, on which details are formed with the help of acid. Before working with etching, burn this leaf in an open fire - this is necessary to increase plasticity and remove the varnish that covers brass. Only for a short time - a couple of seconds. Now you can remove the parts with a knife, just try to cut them as close as possible to the part itself. If burrs remain on the part after removal, process it with a needle file.
The hardest part is bending the pickling correctly. With handles, I think, there will be no particular problems, but the hinges and the lock will certainly cause difficulties.

Each loop consists of three parts - a large part with tails, a small one and a pin. I bent the loops like this: at the beginning, with tweezers, I bent the very edge of the parts by about 1 mm, and then, placing the wire in the resulting corner, with the same tweezers, I tried to “wind” the parts onto it. To be honest, it didn’t work right away, but it worked out. I tried to take a photo of the process, I hope it will be clear.

With the heck, everything is much more complicated. Its overhead part will have to be bent with the help of pliers and the same tweezers. If it does not work out, you can simply not install it on the door.
It is necessary to paint or blacken the parts before gluing them to the tree. If you blacken, using the article, the link to which you indicated, consider one point that I missed. Do not keep the parts in the solution for more than 10-15 minutes. Regardless of the outcome. Otherwise, they will simply oxidize through and fall apart. Unfortunately, I missed the door handles so much - I had to restore them from improvised means.
All etching is glued (only with superglue) to the door leafs. I assembled the doors according to the following scheme (slightly different from the one suggested in the instructions):

• The resulting structure is glued to the middle of the door frame (part 62).
• In the same way, item 67 must also be glued to the opposite post of the box.
• Glue door frames into openings
• We make platbands in the same way as for windows.

Stage 4

At this step, nothing complicated awaits you. Is it a ladder, which is extremely easy to assemble again on adhesive tape, and carefully grind the posts on four sides. On the pillars, I advise you to first grind on sandpaper from two opposite sides, and only then the rest - it will turn out much better.

The assembly sequence is as follows:

• We put in place the pillar 58 with parts 78, 79 and 80

• Installing pillar 59

• We form two subassemblies from parts 83 and 84 and glue them between the posts 57.

• We install the rafters pre-assembled from parts 60 and 61 on the subassembly of the front porch wall and the pillars already installed on the porch.

• Installing the subassembly on the porch

• We complete the sewing of the porch with parts 40, 81 and 82

• We install logs, put logs and lay the floorboards of the belfry platform
• We glue the stairs (however, in my photographs this has already been done before).

Stage 5

The installation of the last crowns of the quadrangle (the main, four-walled part) of the log house should not cause any complications. I will recommend only one thing, yet do not machine parts 109, 110 and 111 from the ends. The roof will be laid on these beveled surfaces in the future. But detail 108 - process it.
Install logs on the log house up to part 109 inclusive, i.e. up to an octagon (octagon).
The octagon itself is best assembled separately, and then installed on a log house. Set aside the two parts 106 for now, glue them last. Start with one part 108 and three 107, then another 108 and two 107. Well, continue further in a circle - until the logs run out (107). After connecting the ring, be sure to try it on the log house. When assembling the eight-wall, I started with parts 107, and glued 108 at the end, so the photos are a bit different. Glue the parts 106 that were set aside earlier and try again how the octagon falls into place. Before its final installation, with a pencil on part 109, mark the places where the edges of the 108 part are pumped, and then grind off these two walls so that you end up with a solid plane for installing the roof. Do not grind the remaining two walls yet.

Stage 6

At this point, I propose to deviate from the instructions in terms of the sequence of actions. Pay attention to the continuation of the octagon - it begins to expand upwards - this is called a fall. If you assemble it now, then putting the roof slope in place with one part will not work - you will have to disassemble it into two parts. In principle, it's okay, I did it myself, but I think that first you need to put the slopes, and then return to the eight. So, install all the remaining logs of the quadruple and all lay down (all thin poles with a diameter of 3 mm). In my set, the root slide (the one that is the top one itself) was made with an error. Before fixing it, check that its end face, looking outward, is in the same plane with the ends of the others. If this is not the case, you will have to cut the cups yourself for parts 118 in new places. This is not difficult, especially since the cups on this slug are very small. After the glue has dried, grind the ends of the logs flush with the surface.

Roof slopes must begin to be installed from the porch. But before you do this - install the decor elements (104 and 105) and the porch gable (subassembly H). Item 105 stood between the posts without question, but 104 "hung in the air." Therefore, a longer board was cut out of a thin slat 3x0.6 and glued between the pillars, and 104 was already glued on it. The pediment is glued end-to-end from several boards, and then cut off according to the template.

Roofs are made very simply - just like doors. Sliced ​​boards are glued close to each other on masking tape, and then glued with transverse rails. Please note that these slats on one side do not coincide with the edge of the roof - this is necessary for the installation of berths - carved boards that protect the end parts of the roof and lay down from moisture. Do not rush to cut grooves for logs in the slopes. First, cut out the stencils of both porch roof slopes from a sheet of cardboard, and attach it to the log house. If everything is in place, and the slopes converge at the top point, put these stencils on the finished wooden sets slope and cut the grooves. After installing the slopes of the porch, install the cooler (part 174, its drawing on the penultimate page).
The slopes of the main roof are made in exactly the same way. Cooling on this roof is better to put after assembling the octagon felling.

With the assembly of the floor of the belfry and the second staircase, no questions should arise, but they may arise with the assembly of the ring (subassembly K). It is very difficult to assemble a regular octagon from rails on a weight, or even on a table, primarily because it is impossible to correctly remove an angle of 22.5 degrees without a special tool. Therefore, we make parts according to the instructions, cutting them directly according to the drawing. Next, lay a piece of masking tape, adhesive side up, directly on the instruction template, folding its edges and pressing them against a sheet of paper to fix around the ring diagram. We first try on the parts from the rails without glue, if you don’t like the size or angle, we cut it right in place, and then glue it with excess glue. It takes longer to dry this design before removing it from the masking tape.

Stage 7
The installation of the pillars and the fencing of the belfry platform is well reflected in the instructions, however, I will still write how I would do it the second time, since I didn’t really like the first one. So, firstly, we put the pillars under the tent, and immediately install carved valances (item 137), this will make it a little difficult to install a fence, but it will fix the pillars on top, which is more important. Secondly, before gluing the balusters in subassembly J, cut the 1x7mm batten slightly larger than the drawing, and grind both ends of it at a slight angle so that they adjoin the posts more closely. Try on the part in place, and if everything suits you, stick the balusters and paste them on the belfry. We install the railing when all the railings are already installed. Part 136 is also cut off with a small allowance - about 1 mm, and then we process its ends with a round needle file so that they wrap around the posts, of course, trying on the part in place.

When gluing the frame of the tent, I also advise you to use masking tape to keep the octagon correct, and I inserted a five-millimeter log into the center of the tent without gluing it. Sheathing the ceiling of the belfry, I cut off the slats right in place, on the weight - it's more convenient and faster.

Finally, we got to the police, that is, to the sloping parts of the roof, which diverted rainwater away from the tent and octagon logs, and at the same time were an architectural decoration. Since the tent has not yet been set up, make the top row of policemen first (subassemblies "O"). Assembling all the elements of the police is one of the most difficult moments in the entire model, because no matter how hard you try, you didn’t get the perfect octagon (and, in fact, just like in a real building), and the subassembly drawing will be relevant only under this condition. But there is nothing wrong with that. Make eight blanks for slopes. Pay attention to the fact that the manufacturer offers to narrow the releases of roofing boards (3x0.6mm) for decorative purposes. This can be done after assembling the police with a knife, but it is more convenient and faster to prepare the parts even before gluing with nail clippers, and they come with varying degrees of rounding - the stronger, the better - it looks more beautiful. The two photographs provided by the manufacturer show how the slope looks like.

True, I went a little further and tried to cut the release with a knife the way it really looks, but it's very slow. How the police will look on your model is up to you.

The final processing of the police consists precisely in cutting off everything superfluous from the workpiece. Do not process all eight parts at once - start with four. The ends of the polices with which they will come into contact with each other should be slightly grinded inwards so that an ugly gap does not form later. Now stick these four policemen in a cross - opposite each other on the tent.

After the glue dries, take the ramp template cut out of cardboard and try it on any of the remaining free places. If the template fits perfectly, process the wooden part in accordance with it and try it on, if not, measure with a ruler or mark the correct dimensions on the part with a pencil. The main rule here is one - it is better to cut off less than more - you will always have time to grind off the excess. If in the process of assembling the roof, small gaps nevertheless formed, then it is not necessary to disassemble everything. It is enough to cut a wedge of a suitable size and paste it into the slot. After assembly, treat the entire surface of the roof with fine sandpaper to smooth out the joints of the polices. The policemen of the lower tier and the slopes of the tent are made in exactly the same way, after which the tent can be glued to the belfry pillars.

It remains only to put the domes, their necks, as well as decorations. When processing the neck of the dome, which will be installed on the roof - do not be lazy to once again try it on in place, there should be no gaps between it and the slopes. Check that the second neck is installed on the tent without problems. Before you start gluing the plowshare (flakes), be sure to fit the dome to the neck, or even glue them right away, since I had to drill out the landing hole in the neck for the dome. The procedure for gluing with a plowshare is well outlined in the instructions. The plowshare is placed on a drop of glue applied to the dome / neck, then each part is mounted on a needle or the tip of a knife, only the needle must be sharp and thin, otherwise it will split the scale, and presses on the place prepared for it. It turns out very fast...

Two identical crosses are assembled very simply, the only thing I advise is to make a spike on the cross, and drill a landing hole for it on the dome.

The last steps will be the installation of berths and towels (a carved detail that protects the junction of berths).
That's it. I got something like this:


And you?

Chapel in Pozhny, early 18th century.
Der. Zhitnukhino, Vologda region.

Reading my review of the exhibition about Russian wooden architecture, you probably noticed that most of the layouts were made by one person, V.I. Sadovnikov. Even from the photographs you can see how detailed and high-quality these models are made. Not knowing, you can’t even guess that we have a mock-up in front of us, and not a real temple.

Barbarian Church XVII-XVIII centuries on Yandomozero.

V.I.Sadovnikov’s friend, Arkady Volodin, kindly sent me more photos of V.I.Sadovnikov’s layouts for the site. The photographs are unique in that they were taken by the modeler himself. The photographs are incredibly charismatic and artistically integral - the composition, background, angles are captured so that the images seem to come to life.

travel tower, XVII century
(Nikolo-Karelsky Monastery, Arkhangelsk region)

Unfortunately, Vadim Ivanovich Sadovnikov left earthly life, leaving behind no advice, no notes, no recommendations for making models of Russian wooden architecture. But the layouts themselves, both live and in photographs, do not leave the viewer indifferent and remain in memory for a long time.

Cross with canopy 1763 from the village of Chuinavolok.

Also, Arkady Volodin kindly sent a biography of the layout designer. The following is an excerpt from S. Kiselyov's article “The New Russians We Have Lost” (Voskresenskaya regional newspaper Novoye Slovo, April 2, 2002, No. 34).

Vadim Ivanovich Sadovnikov

Sadovnikov V.I. comes from the once well-known and respected family of peasant entrepreneurs in the village of Marchugi, the Sadovnikovs. The dynasty was founded in the second half of the 19th century by Gavrila Semyonovich Shatskov. He served as a gardener on the Spasskoe estate with Princess Liven, and therefore both he and his descendants began to be called the Sadovnikovs.

Taking the calculation from the princess, Gavrila Semyonovich took up the timber trade. He himself went to the Volga, bought wood, taking away logs. Sometimes I had to stand up to my waist in the water, inspecting the raft planned for purchase. Getting a good profit, Sadovnikov lived by no means in luxury, living in an ordinary peasant hut. Money was invested in the development of production: a steam sawmill appeared in Marchugi, and a brick factory appeared on the Otra River. In general, that generation of “new Russians”, unlike the current one, did not privatize what was ready, but created the real sector of the economy with their own labor.

The son of Gavrila Semyonovich, Mikhail Sadovnikov, had a chance to enjoy the fruits of wealth. He built a magnificent house in Marchugi: the first floor is stone, the second is wooden, there are 7 windows along the facade; the cornice, platbands, fence and gates are decorated with luxurious wood carvings. Nearby stood stone barns, a cowshed, a poultry house, a stable, and a carriage house.

Mikhail Gavrilovich had 7 children. The third daughter, Anna, married the deacon of one of the Moscow churches, Pavel Domninsky. Curious detail: all men in the Domninsky family bear the name Pavel.

The Sadovnikov family turned out to be rich in talents. Anna's brother, Alexei Mikhailovich, who in the 1920s taught at primary school village of Voskresensky, graduated from the theater studio of Y. Zavadsky and played on the stage of the Chamber Theater. Another brother, Ivan Mikhailovich, despite his non-proletarian origin, became the head of the huge association "Dalles". A very dramatic fate befell his son, Vadim Ivanovich...

Church of the Epiphany XVI-XVIII centuries in the village of Chelmuzhi.

A disabled person who moved from the age of 8 on crutches, Vadim in 1943 received a term for ... "organizing an armed uprising"! After going through camps and exile, in 1959 he was fully rehabilitated "due to the lack of corpus delicti." Settling in Moscow, Vadim Ivanovich began to create models of little-known masterpieces of Russian wooden architecture.

Assumption Church, XVII century.
With. Varzuga, Tersky district, Murmansk region.

To see the churches that served as models for him, one has to travel around the most remote corners of the Russian North, and other monuments have already been wiped off the face of the earth (V.I. Sadovnikov created models from photographs and drawings). 36 of his works were purchased by the State Museum of Architecture. Shchusev, 2 more - Trinity-Sergius Lavra. There were layouts at foreign exhibitions.

Tombstone of the ancestors of V.I. Sadovnikov

Now in Marchugi there is almost no trace of the peasant family of the Sadovnikovs. Only in the church fence there is a monument on the grave of the founder of the dynasty Gavrila Semyonovich and his wife Matrona Nikiforovna. It seems that if in 1917 the well-known events had not forced thousands and thousands of such talented (and therefore prosperous) families to leave the habitable places, the question of restoring the destroyed temples and estates would not have been raised now, and there would have been fewer problems with culture. And there is nothing to say about the economy.

Sadovnikov's wife V.I. Tamara

And according to the words of the wife of Sadovnikov V.I. Tamara about him (recorded by A. Volodin): Vadim Ivanovich Sadovnikov was born in Kolomna, after which his parents moved to the village of Marchugi, near Serpukhov, where Vadim spent his childhood, and where he graduated from 7 classes.

Church of Flora and Lavra, 1775.
Rostov parish, Shenkur district, Arkhangelsk region.

In the 30s, the family moved to Moscow and settled on the old Arbat, it seems, in one of its lanes. There Sadovnikov graduated from accounting courses and worked in Torgsin. There was such an office, in those years, where they bought gold and jewelry from the population.

Trinity Church, 1727.

Before the war, Vadim Ivanovich was engaged in mock-ups of German and Soviet aircraft, they were then taught to find weak spots for air combat.

Vadim Ivanovich in childhood (on crutches).

Vadim's health was poor, bone tuberculosis - from the age of 8, Vadim Ivanovich moved on crutches. His father was a worker, his mother, I don't remember. His mother's father, was a merchant of the first guild, the family had their own two-story house. It seems to be in Kolomna.

Trinity Church, 1727.
With. Nyonoksa, Primorsky district, Arkhangelsk region.
Back view.

In 1943, Vadim was repressed by the authorities for "preparing an armed uprising" with a group of three people. Six months of solitary confinement in Butyrka prison and 10 years in camps. There was "Volgolag", where he served 6 years, there was "Karagandaugol" - a high-security camp.

Church of the Transfiguration, XVII century.
With. Spas-Vezhi, Kostroma region.

The deadline has expired, and Sadovnikov The.AND. moved to live in the city of Balkhash, Kazakh SSR, where he stayed for 6 years. There he made models of the Balkhash Metallurgical Plant and led the "Skilled Hands" circle. At the end of 1959 he returned to Moscow and was rehabilitated. In the mock-up workshop he made mock-ups of nuclear and thermal power plants.

Church of the Transfiguration, layout fragment.

In 1968, in one of the books I saw the church of St. Lazar, made it and since then has become interested in Russian wooden architecture. Once he offered his work to the Shchusev Museum of Architecture and since then began to cooperate with them. 36 models of Vadim Ivanovich are in the funds of this museum. Two models ordered by Patriarch Pimen are kept in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. And that's not counting small layouts - gifts to friends.

Bell tower, XVI century.
S. Kuliga (Drakovinovo), Arkhangelsk region.

When his health did not allow him to do what he loved, he became interested in reading books about the Second World War. His wife Tamara Georgievna, whom he met on a cruise ship on the Volga, contributed to the fact that he enjoyed listening to classical music in the evenings. He was fond of weaving and collecting books on art and Russian wooden architecture. I bought old books from second-hand booksellers.

Church of Clement, 1501 (burned down in 1892).
With. Una, Primorsky district, Arkhangelsk region.

The Solzhenitsyn Foundation supported him in the difficult 1990s. April 22, 2004 Vadim Ivanovich Sadovnikov passed away. For 60 years of painstaking and hard work, camps and exile, he has not been awarded a single state award. Vadim Ivanovich is undeservedly forgotten by the state and contemporaries. His only exhibition of works was at the Shchusev Museum in 1980 during the Summer Olympics. Who knows the Master and his unique works located in the vaults of the Shchusev Museum of Architecture? There are no monographs about his work, no photo albums.

Chapel of the Three Saints

Special thanks to Arkady Volodin for scanned and sent photos of layouts and V.I.Sadovnikov's biography!

Windmill-pillar, XVII century.
With. Schelkovo, Kirillovsky district, Vologda region.

Chapel of Saint George, XVII century.
S. Srednepogostskoye, Cherevkovsky district, Arkhangelsk region.

Tower from the village of Torgovishche in the Khokhlovka Museum.

Assumption Church

Assumption Church, 1774, Kondopoga, Karelia.
Layout fragment.

Chapel of the Three Saints XVIII-XIX centuries from the village of Kavgora.
Photo by A. Volodin.

Chapel of the Three Saints XVIII-XIX centuries from the village of Kavgora.
Photo by A. Volodin.

Architectural model of the Transfiguration Church in Kizhi.

This craft is from the category of exclusive works of applied art. Made with a high degree of professionalism and deep insight into the theme of the world-famous legendary church “without a single nail”, the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior, which is located in Kizhi as an exhibit of the open-air museum of ancient Russian wooden architecture.

The model of the church exactly repeats all the design features of the original.

How was this architectural model created? What materials were used in the construction? What set of tools did the master use to achieve such an impressive result?

And finally, how long did it take to make this craft?

We will try to answer all these questions in this article.

Before starting work, it was necessary to decide on the choice of a suitable material. The main problem was that the church has in its constructive content a lot of small details that needed to be reflected when building the model.

And since the scale was chosen 1: 75, it immediately became clear that an ordinary tree would not work, you need a very strong, solid and at the same time enough plastic material so that the wood can withstand fine processing, does not crumble and does not crack under the cutter. Of course, much depended on the tool, which should be double-edged and easily cut the workpiece without pressure. And then the most subtle and elegant details, such as the chapels and valances of the church porch, will be successfully cut out.

After numerous experiments, the choice was made in favor of mahogany. It should be noted that this material is of different quality. In the production of furniture, the first and second grades are used. The highest grade of mahogany is used to make sculptures based on African motifs. We have seen miniature mahogany crafts, they are unusually hard and polished to a shine. It was this variety of mahogany that the master chose to build a model of the Transfiguration Church in Kizhi.

A set of tools was selected and work began.

First, the base was made. Moreover, the foundation of an architectural model of such a level as the church in Kizhi cannot be just a board of suitable size. It is made in the style of fine decoration. A mosaic of square pieces of material, in this case mahogany, is laid out on a plane. The parquet mosaic of the base of the model is visible in the photo.

The next step in the construction of the model was the work on cutting the material for the manufacture of crowns. Of these, the body of the church was going. A real crown is essentially a hewn pine log, at the ends of which special recesses are selected for the transverse laying of the next crown. In our case, crowns are round sticks as thick as a pencil, of different lengths, with notches at the ends. They can be laid like real crowns. Such laying of crowns is called "in oblo". There is also a method of laying "in the paw" and a method of laying "in cut".

After the walls were built, work began on the manufacture of the interior of the church. The iconostasis is the full width of the refectory with miniature icons in four tiers. Each icon is the size of a small postage stamp. Holy scenes and icon-painting stamps are drawn in strict accordance with the real original icons in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior.

Domes with drums and barrels are covered with special toothed plates called "ploughshares". The real Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior is covered with a plowshare made of aspen. Our church model will also be covered with a plowshare from the same mahogany. On the original church in Kizhi there are about 30 thousand jagged carved decorations, and on the model 25 thousand, not much less.

The construction of the architectural model is completed by the manufacture and installation of crosses.

But there are still purely mechanical tasks, this is the possibility of opening and closing the model, so that there is access to the inspection of the spiritual life of the church, its interior decoration.

The master coped with this task brilliantly.

A semi-automatic drive was mounted at the base of the model. One movement of the lever and the church opened.

The process of unfolding the walls of the model is accompanied by a quiet ringing of bells, several miniature bells are suspended inside the church and hammers hit them.

And the last. The architectural model of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior was built almost within six months. That's a decent amount of time spent on such an exclusive piece.