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Anonion dome is adome whose shape resembles anonion.[1] Such domes are often larger in diameter than thetholobate (drum) upon which they sit, and their height usually exceeds their width. They taper smoothly upwards to a point.
It is a typical feature ofchurches belonging to theRussian Orthodox church. There are similar buildings in otherEastern European countries, and occasionally inWestern Europe:Bavaria (Germany),Austria, and northeasternItaly. Buildings with onion domes are also found in theOriental regions ofCentral andSouth Asia, and theMiddle East. However, old buildings outside Russia usually lack the construction typical of the Russian onion design.
Other types of Eastern Orthodoxcupolas includehelmet domes (for example, those of theDormition Cathedral inVladimir), Ukrainianpear domes (St Sophia Cathedral inKyiv), andBaroquebud domes (St Andrew's Church in Kyiv) or an onion-helmet mixture like theSt Sophia Cathedral inNovgorod.
According to Wolfgang Born, the onion dome has its origin in Syria, where someUmayyad Caliphate-era mosaics show buildings with bulbous domes.[2][3] An early prototype of onion dome also appeared in Chehel Dokhter, a mid-11th centurySeljuk architecture in Damghan region of Iran.[4]
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It is not completely clear when and why onion domes became a typical feature ofRussian architecture. The curved onion style appeared in Russian architecture as early as the 13th century.[5] But still several theories exist that the Russian onion shape was influenced by countries from the Orient, likeIndia andPersia, with whom Russia has had lengthy cultural exchange.Byzantine churches andarchitecture of Kievan Rus were characterized by broader, flatter domes without a special framework erected above the drum. In contrast to this ancient form, each drum of a Russian church is surmounted by a special structure of metal or timber, which is lined with sheet iron or tiles, while the onion architecture is mostly very curved. Russian architecture used the dome shape not only for churches but also for other buildings.[citation needed]
By the end of the nineteenth century, most Russian churches from before thePetrine period had bulbous domes. The largest onion domes were erected in the seventeenth century in the area aroundYaroslavl. A number of these had more complicated bud-shaped domes, whose form derived from Baroque models of the late seventeenth century. Pear-shaped domes are usually associated withUkrainian Baroque, while cone-shaped domes are typical for Orthodox churches ofTranscaucasia.[citation needed]
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Supposedly,[original research?] Russianicons painted before theMongol invasion of Rus' of 1237-1242 do not feature churches with onion domes. Two highly venerated pre-Mongol churches that have been rebuilt—theAssumption Cathedral and theCathedral of Saint Demetrius, both in Vladimir—display golden helmet domes. Restoration work on several other ancient churches has revealed some fragments of former helmet-like domes below newer onion cupolas.[citation needed]It has been posited[by whom?] that onion domes first appeared in Russia during the reign ofIvan the Terrible (r. 1533–1584). The domes ofSaint Basil's Cathedral have not been altered since the reign of Ivan's sonFyodor I (r. 1584–1598), indicating the presence of onion domes in sixteenth-century Russia.[citation needed]
Some scholars postulate that the Russians adopted onion domes from Muslim countries, possibly from theKhanate of Kazan, whose conquest in 1552 Ivan the Terrible commemorated by erecting St. Basil's Cathedral.[6] Some scholars believe that onion domes first appeared in Russian wooden architecture abovetent-like churches. According to this theory, they were strictly utilitarian, as they prevented snow from piling on theroof.[7]
In 1946, historianBoris Rybakov, while analysingminiatures of ancient Russian chronicles, pointed out that most of them, from the thirteenth century onward, display churches with onion domes rather than helmet domes.Nikolay Voronin, who studied pre-Mongol Russian architecture, seconded his opinion that onion domes existed in Russia as early as the thirteenth century.[8] These findings demonstrated that Russian onion domes could not be imported from the Orient, where onion domes did not replace spherical domes until the fifteenth century.[9]
Modern art historianSergey Zagraevsky surveyed hundreds of Russianicons and miniatures, from the eleventh century onward. He concluded that most icons painted after the Mongol invasion of Rus display only onion domes. The first onion domes appeared on some pictures from the twelfth century.[10] He found only one icon from the late fifteenth century displaying a dome resembling the helmet instead of an onion. His findings led him to dismiss fragments of helmet domes discovered by restorators beneath modern onion domes as post-Petrine stylisations intended to reproduce the familiar forms of Byzantine cupolas. Zagraevsky also indicated that the oldest depictions of the two Vladimir cathedrals represent them as having onion domes, prior to their replacement by classicizing helmet domes. He explains the ubiquitous appearance of onion domes in the late thirteenth century by the general emphasis on verticality characteristic ofRussian church architecture from the late twelfth to early fifteenth centuries.[11] At that time, porches, pilasters, vaults and drums were arranged to create a vertical thrust, to make the church seem taller than it was.[12] Another consideration proposed by Zagraevsky links the onion-shaped form of Russian domes with the weight of traditional Russian crosses, which are much larger and more elaborate than those used in Byzantium and Kievan Rus. Such ponderous crosses would have been easily toppled, if they had not been fixed to sizeable stones traditionally placed inside the elongated domes of Russian churches. It is impossible to place such a stone inside the flat dome of the Byzantine type.[citation needed]
Prior to the eighteenth century, the Russian Orthodox Church did not assign any particular symbolism to the exterior shape of a church.[13] Nevertheless, onion domes are popularly believed to symbolise burning candles. In 1917, religious philosopher PrinceEvgenii Troubetzkoy argued that the onion shape of Russian church domes may not be explained rationally. According to Trubetskoy, drums crowned by tapering domes were deliberately scored to resemble candles, thus manifesting a certain aesthetic and religious attitude.
The Byzantine cupola above the church represents the vault of heaven above the earth. On the other hand, the Gothic spire expresses unbridled vertical thrust, which rises huge masses of stone to the sky. In contrast to these, our native onion dome may be likened to a tongue of fire, crowned by a cross and tapering towards a cross. When we look at theIvan the Great Bell Tower, we seem to see a gigantic candle burning above Moscow. The Kremlin cathedrals and churches, with their multiple domes, look like huge chandeliers. The onion shape results from the idea of prayer as a soul burning towards heaven, which connects the earthly world with the treasures of the afterlife. Every attempt to explain the onion shape of our church domes by utilitarian considerations (for instance, the need to preclude snow from piling on the roof) fails to account for the most essential point, that of aesthetic significance of onion domes for our religion. Indeed, there are numerous other ways to achieve the same utilitarian result, e.g., spires, steeples, cones. Why, of all these shapes, ancient Russian architecture settled upon the onion dome? Because the aesthetic impression produced by the onion dome matched a certain religious attitude. The meaning of this religious and aesthetic feeling is finely expressed by a folk saying - "glowing with fervour" - when they speak about church domes.
— Evgenii Troubetzkoy[14]
Another explanation has it that the onion dome was originally regarded as a form reminiscent of theaedicula (cubiculum) in theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre inJerusalem.[15]
Onion domes often appear in groups of three, representing the Holy Trinity, or five, representing Jesus Christ and theFour Evangelists. Domes standing alone represent Jesus.Vasily Tatischev, the first to record this interpretation, disapproved of it emphatically. He believed that the five-domed design of churches was propagated byPatriarch Nikon, who liked to compare the central and highest dome with himself and four lateral domes with four otherpatriarchs of the Orthodox world. There is no other evidence that Nikon ever held such a view.[citation needed]
The domes are often brightly painted: their colors may informally symbolise different aspects of religion. Green, blue, and gold domes are sometimes held to represent theHoly Trinity, the Holy Spirit, andJesus, respectively. Black ball-shaped domes were once popular in the snowy north of Russia.[citation needed]
The onion dome was also used extensively inMughal architecture, which later went on to influenceIndo-Saracenic architecture. It is also a common feature inSikh architecture, particularly inGurudwaras, and sometimes seen inRajput architecture as well.
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Outside theIndian subcontinent, it is also used inIran and other places in theMiddle East andCentral Asia. At the end of the 19th century, the Dutch-builtBaiturrahman Grand Mosque in Aceh,Indonesia, which incorporated onion shaped dome. The shape of the dome has been used in numerous mosques in Indonesia since then.[citation needed]
Baroque domes in the shape of an onion (or other vegetables or flower-buds) were common in theHoly Roman Empire as well. The first one was built in 1576 by thearchitectJohannes Holl (1512–1594) on the church of theConvent of the Franciscan Sisters of Maria Stern inAugsburg. Usually made ofcopper sheet, onion domes appear onCatholic churches all over southernGermany,Switzerland,Czech lands,Austria, andSardinia and NortheastItaly. Onion domes were also a favourite of 20th-century Austrian architectural designerFriedensreich Hundertwasser.[citation needed]
TheWorld's Only Corn Palace, atourist attraction andbasketballarena inMitchell,South Dakota, also features onion domes on the roof of the structure.
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