Subterranean architecture

THE NEW ARCHIVE INFORMATION ABOUT CAVES IN GALIEVKA IN PODONYE (REVISITING MOTIVATION OF CAVE DIGGERS AND AUTHORITIES’ ATTITUDE TO THEM). The paper deals with the history of artificial cave in chalk bank of the river Don near Galievka village. It is written on the basis of archive information found by V.V. Stepkin in 2014. There was information about the names of the cave creators: Aleksey Dubov (began digging in 1817) and Miron Gnoevoy (continued digging in 1865). In the letter to tsar Aleksandr II written by peasant Miron Gnoevoy explains motivation of the cave builders by visitation of Holy Mother and saints. The report of archbishop Seraphim published in the article helps understand motivation of the authorities who prohibited the cave building because they were afraid of superstitious beliefs and offense against the law. The article demonstrates the difficult relations inside the developing civil society institutions represented by peasant community of the village of Galievka and the state authority.

Abstract:

This thesis suggests the alternative of extending existing buildings underground to overcome the dichotomous situation between urban densification and heritage preservation in cities. Where, on one hand, population growth and development imply the modernization and intensification of the urban fabric, and on the other hand, the city is restrained by preservation which thwarts the development, freezing it in a stagnant state.
Underground space is rich in original and creative opportunities but limited by technical, environmental, and even cultural constraints. It remains a field open to experimentation: it is, therefore, important to better understand this dimension of the city and study its advantages in order to anticipate new needs. This possibility immediately seems to offer two advantages: it makes it possible to use the space available underground to strengthen the compactness of cities consuming less peripheral space. It also helps preserve classified buildings of heritage value on the surface by building under their masses.
This work goes beyond the theoretical possibilities of this solution to elaborate on the means to overcome technical and geological constraints for digging under an existing building. It also focuses on how to overcome the pejorative connotation that has always associated the underground with darkness, claustrophobia, and asphyxiation while suggesting methods to make the underground space an attractive, adequate, safe, or simply habitable space.
In order to contextualize these issues and provide practical solutions, this thesis displays the synthesis of the retained elements on a selected existing building, taking into account the implications of a real urban situation. The case study is the Notre Dame de France church in Bizerte, Tunisia.

Key words: Densification, Preservation, Dichotomy, Underground.
Original title (in French): Ville Profonde, l’extension de l’existant en sous-sol.

La excavación es un modo de construcción diferente que da lugar a espacios de una libertad total, espacios absolutos, que se presentan como modelados a partir de una masa resistente y continua. A través de una decena de obras conocidas, intento desentrañar las características de esta “otra” forma de arquitectura, poseedora de un importante potencial de creación.
La excavación resulta imprescindible para acercarse a las verdaderas razones de muchas arquitecturas de todos los tiempos. Tras intentar cercar el concepto, se estudian diez proyectos de los que se investiga su gestación, se avanzan nuevas lecturas o planimetría inédita y se trazan interrelaciones que utilizan como punto de partida este particular modo de construcción y arquitectura.

This work aims to present traces of a hypogeum structure used to store snow in Potenza Picena's historical centre. All documents were collected during extensive research based on the reporting of the existence of such an underground snow- house. The construction of this structure was made in 1872, by the municipality of Potenza Picena, a town located in the lower valley of the Potenza river. Eighteenth and Nineteenth century cadastral sources, municipal resolution records, and administrative correspondence kept at the historical archives of the town, have all provided the trail that lead to the unfolding of the various stages of planning and utilization of this underground snow-house.

La excavación es una forma de construcción diferente que da lugar a espacios de una libertad total. Pensemos en modelar sin inconvenientes el volumen que deseamos para una estancia a partir de una masa resistente y continua.
Si existe un espacio absoluto, éste seguro que parte de esta "otra" forma de arquitectura poseedora de un potencial de creación que el hombre pocas veces se ha planteado utilizar.
Esta investigación intenta desentrañar cuáles son sus características para que nos ayuden a iluminar obras conocidas que nos resultan herméticas o simplemente nos causan extrañeza, obras cuya ideación desde la construcción tectónica o aditiva nos parece difícil.
Trata diez conocidas arquitecturas de todos los tiempos, desde la ermita de San Baudelio al museo para la Fundación Solomon R. Guggenheim, cuyo estudio deja al descubierto distintas estrategias en el proyecto arquitectónico: el hallazgo súbito, la transposición directa, el método progresivo pausado y seguro, la identificación iconológica, la materialización del capricho o la obsesión, la lucha con los requerimientos ajenos a la idea o la utilización de la últimas tecnologías.

Recent scholarship has drawn attention to a ubiquitous 20th-century political space that was long overlooked – the bunker. This body of work draws on a variety of theoretical influences and explores multiple historical contexts, yet most remains wedded to the late Paul Virilio's influential 1970s study of the Nazi Atlantic Wall. Enlightening as his 'Bunker Archeology' is, Virilio's theorization has constrained contemporary debates around the function, materiality and temporality of the bunker. Here, we seek to counter this set of limitations in three ways. First, we contest the idea of the bunker as a simple space of human protection and argue for a more expansive conceptual-ization that is attentive to the bunker as a site of extermination. Second, we challenge the assumed concrete materiality of the bunker and suggest an expanded typology, utilizing a range of materials and milieux. Finally, we take to task readings of the bunker as an obsolete relic by highlighting the continued construction, re-appropriation and reimagination of this architectural form.

Explorés et fouillés depuis le milieu du XIXe siècle, les souterrains de l’âge du Fer constituent l’un des traits caractéristiques des fermes gauloises de la péninsule armoricaine. Depuis les années 1980, le développement de l’archéologie préventive et des décapages extensifs a révélé l’existence de structures similaires dans la plaine de Caen et dans le Bessin, en Normandie occidentale, mais aussi de caves boisées dont plusieurs caractéristiques rappellent les souterrains creusés en sape. Cet ouvrage aborde différents aspects de ces architectures enterrées variées, considérées comme des structures de stockage essentielles au sein des établissements ruraux de l’Ouest de la Gaule.
L’étude de plus de 460 aménagements de ce type a permis de dresser une typologie des architectures souterraines, d’en préciser les particularités, leur
mode de creusement et de construction, leurs liens avec les habitats qui les accueillent, et de considérer leur évolution au cours de l’âge du Fer. Si la ou les fonctions qui leur étaient attribuées restent à éclaircir, plusieurs hypothèses peuvent cependant être émises à propos des produits qui devaient y être entreposés. Le stockage souterrain, caractéristique de l’Ouest de la Gaule, n’est pas un phénomène isolé durant l’âge du Fer puisqu’il existe des parallèles au-delà de la Manche, témoignant ainsi de relations et d’échanges d’idées de part et d’autre de ce couloir maritime à la fin de la Protohistoire.

This paper deals with the mud brick settlements built between X11-X111 Century in Dakhleh, Egyptian oasis (Al Qasir Village). Settlements in the Dakhleh Oasis are collected structures with a strong defensive character: constructions are bound to each other to cope with the harsh hot arid environment. Domestic architecture, according to Islamic principles, is characterized by private and semi-private spaces. The aim of this paper is to analyse the main characters of the traditional architecture in the old Al Qasr settlement, focusing the ancient Egyptian approach to sustainable urban design and rehabilitation.

Este trabajo estudia un momento particular de la historia del subte porteño, se presenta aquí una serie de 18 proyectos de tranvías subterráneos que se desarrollaron entre 1887 y 1911 , y de los cuales sólo dos logaron materializarse: el de la Compañía Anglo Argentina de Tranvías y el de la empresa del Ferrocarril Oeste. A través de estos proyectos, la historia de la ciudad es abordada “desde abajo” y a través de un objeto que podría considerarse oculto dentro de la historia urbana de Buenos Aires.
A excepción de trabajos específicos sobre la temática, el subte no se ha presentado como un objeto relevante dentro de los distintos estudios que se ocuparon de las aceleradas y vertiginosas transformaciones que la ciudad sufrió en el período propuesto para este trabajo.  La historia de los orígenes del subterráneo se aborda aquí superando su mera condición de transporte público. Se propone entender los proyectos como instrumentos modernizadores mediante los cuales pueden verse los debates, ideas y conflictos que se presentaron en torno a la instalación del primer subterráneo.
Los proyectos estudiados permiten descubrir un nuevo estrato urbano, ubicado bajo la habitual “cota cero”, cuya explotación generó conflictos de intereses que se mantuvieron durante años e involucraron a representantes de los gobiernos nacional y municipal, empresarios, ingenieros y arquitectos.  Se evidencia así un modo de intervención del subsuelo que es absolutamente urbano, pero que sin embargo no presentó conexiones con las ideas y propuestas que, contemporáneamente, se discutían para la superficie.
Pensar el subte implicó pensar también en abrir la ciudad y hundirse en ella, buscar soluciones a males como el de la congestión, que aquejaba a Buenos Aires y no le permitía desarrollar una circulación fluida. A su vez, el subte también fue pensado en términos económicos proponiendo, por un lado – y desde una concepción mercantilista- recuperar el tiempo que los movimientos por la ciudad consumían; y por otro se presentaba como una oportunidad de desarrollo comercial en el centro de la ciudad.
Los proyectos del subte se inscriben también dentro del pensamiento de modernización y progreso que la elite de hombres probos que discutía la ciudad desarrollaba. Asimismo permiten descubrir las lógicas de pensamiento y acción que el sector privado tuvo sobre la ciudad; dejando en evidencia que, si bien las voces de los empresarios no se reconocen de modo claro dentro de los debates urbanos, sus propuestas y acciones tuvieron gran impacto en los procesos de modernización de la ciudad.

SUMMARY: Lecture-4 provides a broad overview of the Chalcolithic period in the Levant, including settlement patterns, settlement layout (with variants), cultic structures (En-Gedi; Cave of Treasure), material culture (pottery; stone; copper; art; ivory; sculpture), burial customs, subsistence economy, and its origins and collapse. This lecture is designed mainly as an educational resource/aid for college students (i.e., normally posted only on my institution's course website), the public (e.g., people auditing my course), and interested colleagues from other disciplines (to whom I periodically provide copies privately).  I am posting it here, both as a broader access, educational tool, and especially to promote the study of this region and its past societies.  For further knowledge about this region and period, I refer interested parties to the textbooks and other sources from which the initial materials were extracted for this ppt. (see syllabus; e.g., initially Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible), and/or the bibliographies in these works and my online resource guides (see other files in my academia folders).  Much of this and the other lectures summarize the pertinent materials in the course textbook(s), add in other data, including my own research materials, and furnish numerous images to clarify/illustrate the wealth of information encountered in the textbook(s).  Some generic imagery (usually indicated as such) is posted to aid in transmitting various concepts visually, and/or when a specific image remains not located (temporarily).  I update and revise such lectures each time, with such elective courses normally being taught once every two years.  I try to cover the most current, mainstream views, and usually place summary notes at the end of each lecture (or in separate test study guides).  Over time, each lecture is improved, errors rectified, and additional data placed within the lecture.  These ppt. lectures take many hours to compile, but they have proved useful to many of my more serious students (who have since pursued graduate degrees), and a few colleagues, who, like me, often teach outside our main fields of specialty, and I hope they can be of benefit to others as well.  My apologies for any errors I may have made (over time, as I teach this course every two years, I try to rectify any errors that might slip in inadvertently), and for my liberal usage of educational imagery from professional sources and vetted internet sources.  In the case of my knowledge of ancient Syria-Palestine, fortunately I originally pursued a virtual specialist undergraduate and graduate degrees in this subject (under John S. Holladay), alongside my main focus in Egyptian Archaeology), subsequently examined Egypt's presence and influence in the Levant from 1550-525 BC (for my doctoral dissertation), and have since maintained my interest and research in Egypt's relations with this region (especially during the Old Kingdom [EB Age] and Late Period [Iron Age to Persian period]). REVISED: Aug., 2023. Particularly adding some DNA analysis findings for compostion of Chalcolithic/Ghassulian population.

This paper reports on attempts to establish a preliminary chronological framework, based on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, for an enigmatic megalithic-like structure located underground the town of Carmona, Seville, Spain. The structure had been initially categorized as a dolmen of the Chalcolithic period. Here we applied OSL dating to superficial quartz grains extracted from the cobbles that compose the structure's walls, on the assumption that their last sunlight exposure would account for the erection of the structure. OSL dating established a maximum age for the structure that is no earlier than the 3rd Century BCE, excluding it from the major phase of megalithism of Iberia (4th–3rd millennia BCE).

THE CAVE COMPLEX NEAR MECHETKA VILLAGE.
The cave complex is located in the Bobrovskiy district of the Voronezh region. There are 2 caves:  Mechetinsky-1 (Big) and Mechetinsky-2 (Small). There is no information about the history of its construction. Caves were destroyed and now we can not reconstruct its original appearance. Presumably there was a church that could be made by Old Believers.

THE BELOGORSKY CAVE COMPLEX: MORPHOMETRY AND SOCIAL ASPECT.
The Belogorsky cave is one of the largest cult caves of Eastern Europe. It is located in the Voronezh region in 3,3 km from Pavlovsk. The cave is founded in 1796 by Maria Sherstyukova. The cave is 985 m length. This complex includes St. Alexander Nevsky's cave church. In the given article, the results of modern researches of the cave are described.

Este artigo analisa um movimento contemporâneo que realiza expedições urbanas. Considerada um hobby, tais expedições designam uma prática contemporânea denominada urban exploration, atividade que envolve percursos através de lugares abandonados, de subterrâneos, até os pontos mais altos da cidade. A prática revela um modo de ressignificação do indivíduo em sua relação com a cidade, no intuito de observá-la e registrá-la por diversos ângulos. Infiltrar-se nas entranhas da cidade, nos lugares esquecidos, permite pensar sobre uma nova possibilidade de o sujeito recriar sua relação afetiva e subjetiva com a cidade moderna. Aliás, a grande contribuição do urban exploration deve-se ao registro fotográfico, que mostra a beleza dos lugares esquecidos da cidade, levantando questões sobre a preservação e o patrimônio. Precisamente neste artigo vão ser analisadas expedições do urban exploration pelo subterrâneo de metrópoles como Paris, Nova York e Londres, por meio de uma aproximação artístic...

The objective of the provided research is to reveal the meaning of the cave tunnel architectural elements in The Dormition Divnogorsky Monastery at the Middle Don. We hypothesize upon the objective fulfillment on a symbolic reflection here of Via Crucis (Via Dolorosa), a street in Jerusalem being a symbolic reflection of Jesus Christ's way to his crucifixion. Herewith we address the following issues: 1) clarification of the monument historical background; 2) written sources analysis: pilgrimage to Holy Land description and application of the findings to the architectural elements of caves in Divnogorye. The second task solvation allows opening a new methodological aspect to understand the intended purpose for the numerous underground passages and spaces of ancient cult caves in Russian Plain.
The Dormition Divnogorsky Monastery is located in the area of Tikhaya Sosna inflow into Don. It traces its roots to the middle of XVII century. It was a result of secular and monasterial settlement in the south border of Moscow State by Orthodox Christians native of Western Ukraine. The monks arrived to the new community brought a European tradition of Via Crucis construction. The tradition dates back to XIV century and in XVII century it became widespread in European countries. Initially the Via Crucis had seven symbolic architectural stations, which reflected significant events of the latter day of Jesus Christ's earthly life. The same principle can be seen in the caves of The Divnogorsky Monastery. The first station is outlined by a chapel, it is Pilate’s Trial. This very station starts the Via Crucis in Jerusalem. The stations from two to five are outlined by turns of the underground tunnel, which make a form of a cross on the plan emphasizing the plentitude of suffering on the cross. The second station is the place where Christ met His Blessed Mother. The third station is the place where Christ met Simon of Cyrene. The fourth station is the place where Christ spoke to the women of Jerusalem. The fifth station is the place where the soldiers cast lots for Jesus Christ’s garment. The stations identification was made in accordance with the early European tradition based on the Gospels. The sixths station is Golgotha. Its symbolism can be easily recognized due to the steps leading up and down in the cave tunnel. Besides, the number of the steps is equal to the Church of Resurrection in Jerusalem described by Russian pilgrims Vasiliy Poznyakov and Trifon Korobeynikov in XVI century. The seventh station is the Edicule of the Holy Sepulture. It is clearly symbolized by its hexagonal shape and sepulture carved out in the chalk. The sepulture is positioned in accordance with the present tradition.
The Via Crucis explained hereby is unique and non-typical for Russia, which is strengthened by its underground position. A very important task now is its preservation and further study due to its earlier dating.
Keywords: Divnogorye; pilgrimage to Holy Land; New Jerusalem; Via Crucis; caves.

DIVNOGORSKIE CAVES OF FORES-STEPPE DON REGION ON THE SOUTH RUSSIAN FRONTIER.
Frontier research is a topical issue of scientific discourse, revealing insights into various processes of public life. In the forest-steppe Don region of the South Russian frontier different ethnic and cultural groups and political entities interacted. This factor contributed to emergence of such a phenomenon of spiritual life as a cult cave digging. In the Golden Horde times Divnogorsky cave monastery was created here, which reflected Byzantine influence on Russian-Orda borderlands. 153 Monastery ceased to exist in late 14th century, whereupon it was revived in the mid-17th century, when the region started active development as a result of governmental colonization from central regions of Muscovy and free colonization from the Dnieper area. The region development was important in strengthening of the country South from attacks of the Crimean and Nogai Tatars. The monks from Little Russia, who came here with a Cossack regiment, had already tried the ascetic tradition of cave digging developed at home. In the future, as the Southern border of Russia was moving to the sea, the forest-steppe Don region lost its meaning of political and military frontier, having kept by the 19th century the features of ethnic and cultural frontier within the framework of such European region as Slabozhanshchina. The tradition of veneration of Kiev Pechersk Lavra well developed in Little Russia interacted here with the local tradition of caves cult development, which led to rise of folk cave digging. In Don Divnogorie, in addition to the caves in both Malye and Bolshie Divy, the cult catacombs were also developed in urochishche Shatrishche and near sloboda Seljavnoe. In the forest-steppe Don region in general, by the end of the 19th century, there were about fifty religious caves. In addition to fronted character of the territory the friendly environment - outcropping of white writing chalk - was by no means important. The methodological basis of the study was the historical-genetic method and comparative analysis. Keywords: Southern Russian frontier, forest-steppe Don region, Chervlyony Yar, Diocese of Sarai, Divnogorskie caves, Byzantium, monastic colonization, Voronezh governorate, folk Orthodoxy, the Russian Orthodox Church.

ATHOS AND PODON’E IN THE LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY: CONTACTS IN CONTEXT OF RESTORATION OF SHATRISHCHEGORSKII CAVE MONASTERY. The paper deals with the interaction between Athos and Podon’e in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in connection with the restoration of Shatrishchegorsky cave monastery St. Tikhon’s University Review. Series II: History. Russian Church History. 2017. Vol. 75. P. 39–54 В. В. Степкин. Афон и Подонье в конце XIX — начале XX в.: контакты в контексте возрождения... 53 in Voronezh guberniya. The analysis of the religious situation in both regions is based on the study of some new sources from the Russian State Historical Archive. These sources show the development of monastic traditions in the region and allow us to give a concrete example. In the late 19th century the monks from Athos Diodor (Kotliarov) and Tikhon (Prisiazhnyi) tried to restore Shatrishchegorskii monastery in Podon’e, which was closed under the Secularising Reform of 1764. Their choice was conditioned by the fact that in the late 19th century undeservedly forgotten holy places of the land of Don were well-known in Athos. The attempt of Diodor and Tikhon failed despite local people’s support. Voronezh regional authorities traditionally did not support communities that were forming within the popular Orthodoxy and aimed to create cave monasteries. Local authorities considered such attempts as potentially leading to the spread of superstitions and schism.

IMAGE OF A CAVE IN OVERCOMING FEAR OF DEATH
IN FOLK AND HESYCHASTIC TRADITION.
The article reviews some special aspects of a cave image perception in folk and hesychastic tradition which are in the sphere of fundamental perception of life and death terms. Subject of the research with ontological component is caves of artificial origin, they are reviewed in the paper as a part of Christian culture within the culture-historical field of Russia.

REVISITING THE EXISTENCE OF DIVNOGORSKIY CAVE MONASTERY
IN THE TIMES OF THE GOLDEN HORDE:
RELIGIOUS SITUATION IN THE DON REGION IN THE 13TH-14TH CENTURIES

The article presents the religious and political situation in the special area of the Don  in the Golden Horde times. It concludes that there may be the orthodox monastery,  belonged to Constantinople. Divnogorskiy Monastery ceased to exist in late 14th century due to worsening of political situation in the Ulus of Jochi. The monastery was revived in the mid-17th century as part of Moscow Patriarchate.
Keywords: Divnogorskiy Monastery; forest-steppe Don region; Chervlyoniy Yar; Ulus of Jochi; Sarai diocese; Byzantine; Orthodox Church

The article discusses the results of the investigation of underground structure in 1 Sobornosti Sq. in Uman. Spelestologic and archeological-architectural analysis of the site is completed. Functional peculiarities and purpose of the catacomb are defined. Artifacts, graffitis and construction materials are analyzed and attributed.  A number of analogies to other historical sites in Ukraine are suggested. Practical functions of the catacombs - goods/natural products stock are proved. Chronological framework of the underground structure usage (17c (?) - 1920s) and its role in the planning structure of the town are determine

SACRED ARTIFICIAL CAVITIES NEAR THE OLD KRIUSHA VILLAGE. Two more sacred artificial cavities in Voronezh region were surveyed in 2015 by interregional expedition of the Russian geographical society. One (Old Kriusha-1) is the underground church with system of galleries around. And another (Old Kriusha-2) is a gallery system with a bay for storage of a portable icon. These two artificial cavities probably were built in different periods but undoubtedly they present a unified complex of religious underground constructions.

INTERRELATION OF PEASANT COMMUNITY, CHURCH AND THE STATE WITH REFERENCE TO CREATION AND FUNCTIONING OF KOSTOMAROVSKY CAVE COMPLEX IN PODONYE (THE MIDDLE OF XIX – XX CENT.). The article presents in detail the history of creation and development of Kostomarovsky cave complex in Podgorensky district of Voronezh region on the basis of archival records found out by the author. The author pays special attention to interrelation of the cave creators community with the state and church authorities. It is concluded that the cave temple, made in the chalk hill by the peasant community, became the center of people’s religiosity. The attempts to formalize it by means of dedication service had been encountering opposition within the 20th century from the Church as well as from the government who were in fear of independent civil communities that could gather around the temple and be uncontrolled. The peasant community of settlement Kostomarovo which created the caves in the middle of 19th century manages to make here a people’s monastery only one century later. However, by that time due to changes in peasants’ lifestyle throughout Soviet history, neither a rural community nor a common vestry of the Russian Orthodox Church had played a prominent part in the spiritual life of a village in the late 20th century. Having lost the basis of social support in the context of the new persecution against the Church, the people’s attempts to create an official monastery from the cavebuilders community were interrupted. Only at the end of 20th the eparchial authorities established the Svyato-Spassky Convent. It became possible due to the caves that had been seen by the Church as a significant in sacral meaning locus of the surrounding area.

Аbstract: the article presents stories of the cave life which was built in 1930s near settlement Karayashnik of Olkhovatsky district, Voronezh region. Development of such folk Orthodoxy like cave digging is presented in the context of religious and social transformations in the course of modernization in 20–30s years of the XX century.
The article comes to conclusion that the individual peasants who dug caves were trying to find a way out of their crisis conditions by recreating the model of traditional communal religion in the archaic consecrated locus of life space. It is stated that the situation was affected by the following: old cave digging tradition in Voronezh region determined by particularities of physical and socio-cultural environment. The analysis is based on vast range of archive sources and field study results.

O artigo analisa um movimento contemporâneo que realiza expedições urbanas. Considerada um hobby, essas expedições designam uma prática contemporânea denominada urban exploration, atividade que envolve percursos através de lugares abandonados, de subterrâneos, até os pontos mais altos da cidade. A prática revela um modo de ressignificação do indivíduo em sua relação com a cidade, no intuito de observá-la e registrá-la por diversos ângulos. Infiltrar-se nas entranhas da cidade, nos lugares esquecidos, permite pensar sobre uma nova possibilidade de o sujeito recriar sua relação afetiva e subjetiva com a cidade moderna. Aliás, a grande contribuição do urban exploration deve-se ao registro fotográfico que mostra a beleza dos lugares esquecidos da cidade, levantando questões sobre a preservação e o patrimônio. Precisamente, neste artigo, vai ser analisada as expedições do urban exploration pelo subterrâneo das metrópoles como Paris, Nova Iorque e Londres através de uma aproximação artística e literária com o registro das fotografias dos exploradores urbanos.

REGIONAL LOCATION FEATURES OF CULT CAVES IN EUROPEAN RUSSIA

This article analyzes the regional location features of cult caves in European Russia in the 17th–20th centuries.  It is concluded that most caves were placed in the southern regions of the country: Voronezh, Belgorod and Volgograd regions. It is explained by integrated consideration of historical, cultural and physical landscapes of these regions.

Keywords: peasants’ religiousness; caves; European Russia; Orthodox Church; pilgrimage; cave-monasteries; chalk landscapes.

CAVE ON MONASTERIAL TERRITORIES OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF 17-21ST CENTURIES: GENESIS AND PLACE IN THE SACRED LANDSCAPE
The article considers genesis of the caves located on territory of 23 monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church, which are in different subjects of European part of the Russian Federation. It is noted that emergence of the cult caves was influenced by a number of factors. The caves appeared as a transfer result of sacred space of such centres of Christian pilgrimage like Jerusalem, Athos, Kiev onto Russian soil. The caves were also created as a result of spiritual practice of hesychasm, repentance lives and eschatological expectations. Appearance of the cult caves was both in the form of individual penance laypeople and monks, and in the form of people's cave digging. It should be noted that the caves were built either in new, not previously included in the sacred space of the settlements, or in the areas of monasteries previously abolished as a result of secularization. In some cases creation of caves on monasterial territory was reported. During the Soviet period the caves were abandoned along with closing monasteries. Currently, the sacred space of caves is being recreated along with re-emerging abodes, church service is hold in underground churches. Caves, occupying a unique place in the cultural landscape, attract pilgrims and tourists. However, the sacred space semantics cannot always be fully implemented in them. The concrete examples of transfer discovered in the article fro sacral space of Jerusalem, Mount Athos and Kiev into the cave monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church intended to level this aspect as well as the aspect of Hesychast’s way reflection in the corridors and cells of cave mazes. The structural-semantic method was used in the studies for analysis, which allowed revealing the meaning of cave complexes in sacred monastic space. Anthropological approach to the studies of cave diggers subculture helped analyze the cave creators’ motives and values.
Keywords: The Russian Orthodox Church, cave monasteries, sacred landscape, devotional theology, hesychasm, people’s cave digging, pilgrimage, Athos, Kiev, Jerusalem.

RECONSTRUCTION CULT CAVES BUILDING ON THE TERRITORY OF EUROPEAN RUSSIA.
Abstract: The article describes construction process of cult caves in Christian tradition in European Russia. Attention is drawn to the fact that the process primarily depended on the nature of rock formation where the caves were constructed. The walls and ceiling after taking up the rocks in softer and loose ground were strengthened by armour stone or bricks. There was no need in additional fastening in hard rocky grounds. Direction of waling was done in accordance with attitude of beds and rock jointing. An adze, spade, crowbar, or other metal tools were used in the course of work. Construction works were proceeded both during the daytime and at night. The space was lighted with candles. The activities were arranged by the community formed during the cave construction with active support of the local population. Drawings and plans of venerated underground holy places in Christian pilgrimage centres could be used in construction works. In case of making the cave construction official a professional architect could be invited, as we can see through the example of the longest in Russia Belogorskaya cave. Intensity of work depended on the age and gender characteristics of the employed and of the official authorities.

THE PLAN OF BELOGORSKY CAVES AND THEIR SURROUNDINGS, COMPILED BY FYODOR ERMAKOV IN 1858, AS A HISTORICAL SOURCE. The article presents the  plan 1858 of Belogorsky caves which were found V.V. Styopkin. His analysis leads to the conclusion about the dynamics of the cave labyrinths, their length. The archival material gives the opportunity to learn more information about the beginning of Belogorsky monastery.

RELIGIOUS CAVES OF KHOPYOR AREA IN LITERATURE AND EYEWITNESS MEMORIES. In this article, religious caves which are created in clay down the river Khopyor near the villages of Troitsk, Alferovka and the cities of Uryupinsk are examined. Their description and history under references and memories of people is adduced.

The cave complex (Demidovskaya cave) is located in the Verkhnedonsky (Upper Don) district of the Rostov region. The complex was cut out in the chalk thickness in the middle part of the right bank of the river. Don near Demidovsky village. It was first investigated speleologists of the Voronezh speleosection in 1975. The article presents the results of studies of the complex carried out by the authors in 2014. The complex consists of a number of galleries and adjoining small rooms. It has two tiers connected by a staircase. The structure of the complex is largely subordinated to the system of cracks within the massif-the contours of the main rooms, ledges, niches, and ceiling ledges were formed along them. The upper tier is best preserved. Part of the lower tier is currently completely filled with talus and is inaccessible. The total length of the accessible part of the complex is 72 m. According to local residents, monks associated with the Donetsk Monastery of John the Baptist lived in the cave, but there is no documentary information about this fact. The religious purpose of the complex is confirmed by the discovery of several niches-icon cases, in which icons could be installed. Currently, there are icons inside, brought in in the mid-2000s.

If we affirmatively answer Maria Kaika and Erik Swyngedouw's invitation to think beyond the 'fetishization of the modern city' as the pinnacle of human-centered progress and achievement in order to consider the urban as both a process of transformed nature and the metabolic and social transformation of nature through human labor, the city becomes a 'hybrid of the natural and the cultural, the environmental and the social' (Kaika and Syngedouw; 122). This essay argues that markedly different ways of imagining monumental public spaces and the relationship between nature and the city have arisen since the economic crisis of 2008 in Spain. Urban cultures create opportunities to imagine these new social, material and symbolic transformations and are exemplified in the documentary films of Víctor Moreno Edificio España (2012) and La ciudad oculta (2018). Considered together, the two films capture the scale, depth and three-dimensionality of spaces that are made up of both organic and non-organic material flows in ways that encourage us to question some of our basic assumptions about the urban.
_______________________________
Si respondemos afirmativamente a la invitación de Maria Kaika y Erik Swyngedouw de pensar más allá de la “fetichización de la ciudad moderna” como cúspide del progreso y del logro centrados en lo humano para considerar lo urbano a un mismo tiempo como proceso de naturaleza transformada y como transformación social y metabólica de la naturaleza a través del trabajo humano, la ciudad se convierte en un “híbrido de lo natural y lo cultural, lo medioambiental y lo social” (Kaika y Swyngedouw, 122). Este ensayo sostiene que desde la crisis económica de 2008 en España han surgido modos notablemente diferentes de imaginar los espacios públicos monumentales y la relación entre naturaleza y ciudad. Las culturas urbanas crean oportunidades de imaginar estas nuevas transformaciones sociales, materiales y simbólicas y las películas documentales de Víctor Moreno Edificio España (2012) y La ciudad oculta (2018) son un ejemplo de ello. Consideradas en su conjunto, las dos películas captan la escala, profundidad y tridimensionalidad de espacios que están hechos de flujos materiales orgánicos y no orgánicos de un modo que nos insta a cuestionar algunos de nuestras premisas básicas sobre lo urbano.

In foregrounding the voluminous materiality of the state, the essays in this collection speak to current and emerging concerns about the emulsive relationship between political sovereignty and elemental forces... This dramatic shift in conceptual models is having significant repercussions on the way state borders are imagined and approached: less human-centered, more collaborative, eminently three-dimensional. It is perhaps here, at the juncture between political theory and the more-than-human, that a volumetric imaginary is especially critical.