No buildings of the same age as the capital have survived: most of the buildings of that time were wooden, and enemy raids, fires and simply the passage of time led to the fact that the capital was rebuilt more than once, changing beyond recognition. And yet in Moscow there are buildings that have survived many centuries.

— oldest building Moscow. According to the chronicles, the first wooden building of the temple was erected simultaneously with other buildings of the monastery, in 1357, but as a result of a fire in 1368 it burned down. In its place, a new stone cathedral was built, which sixty years later, between 1420 and 1425, was rebuilt and in this form has survived to this day. Participated in the painting of the temple Andrey Rublev And Daniil Cherny, however, only the ornamental painting on the jambs of the altar windows has survived from their work. The decoration of the cathedral has changed greatly several times. According to the inventory of 1763, there was a porch with a sacristy chamber, of which nothing remains today, but in 1812 Archimandrite Feofan reported on the significant destruction caused by the retreating Napoleonic army. The French robbed the cathedral, set fire to the iconostasis, causing “the domed vault to fall inside the temple...”. In 1934, the entire Spaso-Andronnikov Monastery was planned to be demolished, but for various reasons this did not happen. Its salvation was largely facilitated by the work on the cathedral published by the Academy of Architecture in 1940, after which the significance of the temple as a monument of Russian architecture became clear to everyone. In 1959-1960 the building was reconstructed in its original form.

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Spassky Cathedral of the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Lodo27 was built in 1326-1327 and was at that time the first stone church in Moscow. However, after a hundred years, its condition ceased to correspond to the status of the main temple of Russia: the walls of the building, which had lost its presentable appearance and threatened to collapse, were propped up with logs. Construction of the new cathedral began on April 30, 1471 and was entrusted to the Russians architects Krivtsov And Myshkin. Tragedy prevented the completion of what had been started: during the earthquake of May 20, 1474, the walls of the temple, which had been built almost to the vaults, collapsed, since “the lime was not glued, and the stone was not hard.” Ivan III Italian was invited architect Aristotle Fioravanti, who completely dismantled the construction of Russian architects and began construction from scratch. The new cathedral was consecrated on August 12, 1479. Many key events in Russian history are connected with it. For example, in 1547 he was crowned king here. Ivan IV, and starting from Peter II in the Assumption Cathedral the coronation of each new Russian Emperor, despite the fact that the capital was moved to St. Petersburg. repeatedly suffered from fires and was restored again: in 1547 the top of the building was covered with gilded copper sheets, and in 1624 the dilapidated vaults were dismantled and put back together. In 1812, the temple, like many other Moscow shrines, was looted and desecrated by Napoleonic army. After October revolution it was closed for access and worship, and since 1955 it received the status of a museum. After the breakup Soviet Union the temple began to be called “Patriarchal cathedral", and today services are held there on separate days with the blessing of the patriarch.

Moscow Kremlin

Assumption Cathedral. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Faceted Chamber, the oldest surviving civil building in Moscow, was built in 1487-1491 according to the design Marco Ruffo And Pietro Antonio Solari. Meetings were held here Boyar Duma, met Zemsky Sobor, various celebrations were held. It is interesting that a special secret “observation chamber” was provided for the king’s children in the chamber. The queen and her children could watch through a special grille the magnificent receptions of foreign delegations. Today the Chamber of Facets is a hall at the residence of the President of Russia.

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Faceted Chamber. Front facade. View from Cathedral Square. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Gérard Janot

Travel Palace Vasily III(father of Ivan the Terrible)- the oldest secular building outside the earthen city. Its discovery in 2003 became a real sensation. Then, during the restoration of the Golitsyn estate, white stone masonry from the 16th century was discovered under a layer of plaster. Layout ancient building almost completely preserved. The place for the construction of the palace was not chosen by chance: it was here that in 1395 they met Vladimir icon Vladimirskaya Mother of God, which, according to legend, saved Rus' from the invasion of hordes Tamerlane. The house is now occupied by commercial organizations.

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Travel Palace of Vasily III. Photo: pastvu.com/losinka1 - the oldest civil building outside the Kremlin. This white stone residential building was built in the 15th century and was owned by Ivan Bobrishev nicknamed "Yushka", bed servant of Grand Duke Ivan III. Apparently, Yushka left no heirs, and after his death the building became a state building. The chambers began to be called the English court after 1553 Sir Richard Chancellor opened the Northern Sea Route, which connected England and Russia. The British supplied gunpowder, saltpeter, lead, tin utensils, and brought furs, blubber, wood, hemp, and leather to England. Ivan the Terrible was interested in trade relations with England and granted overseas merchants a house in Zaryadye. After the severance of trade relations with England in 1649 due to execution in Great Britain King Charles I all English merchants were expelled from Russia, and their property was confiscated. After this, the boyar owned the chambers for more than 20 years Ivan Andreevich Miloslavsky, and then the metochion of the Nizhny Novgorod Metropolitan was located here. In the middle of the 18th century Peter I established one of the first Arithmetic schools in Russia in this building, and then it was sold into private hands and changed owners many times. By the middle of the 20th century, the chambers lost their original appearance: in Soviet time there were residential apartments and various institutions. The revival of the chambers in their original form is associated with the name restorer Pyotr Baranovsky, who in the 1960s discovered an architectural monument under later layers and insisted that it be preserved. After a comprehensive study, the building was restored to its 16th-century appearance. In 1994, the grand opening of the Old English Courtyard museum took place, which became a branch of the Museum of the History of Moscow.

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English courtyard in Zaryadye. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / NVO - a complex of buildings in which fragments of buildings have been preserved late XVI - early XVIII centuries. This is the oldest existing residential building in Moscow. There was once a yard here Chief Marshal Lewald, and later the owners were listed Prince Ivan Urusov, merchant Semyon Mylnikov, collegiate advisor Mikhail Chebyshev. His daughter Ekaterina Chebysheva married Prince Pavel Golitsyn, and from that moment on the estate began to be associated with this surname. However, even after the Golitsyns, its owners were representatives famous names — Karasy, Savostyanovs, Tsyplakovs. In the second half of the 19th century, the estate was rented out to various institutions: in different time there were furnished rooms here, School of Music, hospital, printing house, bookbinding workshop. In the latter in 1914 he worked as a typesetter Sergey Yesenin. According to activist of the urban protection organization "Arkhnadzor" Alexander Mozhaev, five years ago, restoration of the estate began, which was planned to be turned into luxury housing, but it was frozen. IN this moment Unidentified people live in a semi-abandoned building (lights are on on the second floor in the evenings). The estate is in disrepair, and this is especially true of the roof and facade. The outbuildings of the complex are occupied by various commercial organizations.

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Golitsyn chambers. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org/NVO

Solodezhnaya Simonov Monastery- the oldest “multi-story building”, was erected in XVI-XVII centuries and is one of the few surviving buildings of the Simonov Monastery. The monastery, founded in 1370, was almost completely destroyed during the construction of the ZIL automobile plant. The malt room (drying room) was intended for storing monastery products, grain, malt, and according to other sources, it was also a dining room. The uniqueness of this building lies in the fact that it is taller than a modern five-story building: such houses were very rare in those days. Now the building is used for economic needs.

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View of the Moscow River from the bell tower (the Dulo tower and the Sushil (Solodezhnaya) building are visible below); to the left of the river bend is the church in Stary Simonovo, old photograph.

September 12th, 2014

The sensational discovery of a German archaeologist in Anatolia allows us to take a fresh look at the ancient history of human civilization. On a mountainside in southeastern Turkey, not far from the Syrian border, an expedition led by Klaus Schmidt unearthed a magnificent ancient temple that is 12 thousand years old.

The oldest religious building found to date, Gobekli Tepe, built in the early Neolithic era, was discovered in the middle of the twentieth century. However, scientists became interested in this cultural monument only after massive stone walls and T-shaped columns covered with paintings were found in the 1990s.

It is estimated that the total number of temples at Göbekli Tepe must have reached 20. Each of the buildings probably marked the ascension of Sirius in the sky at different times.

The star Sirius first appeared in the earth's sky about 11,300 thousand years ago. In terms of brightness, it ranks fourth right after the Moon, Venus and Jupiter, so it probably made an indelible impression on a person of the early Neolithic era.

Let's study it in more detail...

Photo 2.

Klaus Schmidt is a private assistant professor at the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin, studying the ancient history of mankind. When Schmidt began excavations at Gobekli Tepe in 1994, he was sure that these excavations would become the main work of his life. The archaeological complex in this area can be compared to Stonehenge in England, with the only difference being that the ruins in Anatolia are 6 thousand years older.

As a child, Klaus Schmidt haunted caves in his native Germany, hoping to find prehistoric drawings there. Thirty years later, already representing the German Archaeological Institute, he discovered something infinitely more important - a temple complex, almost twice as ancient as all similar structures on the planet.

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“This place is a supernova,” says Schmidt, standing under a lone tree on a windswept hill 55 kilometers north of Turkey's border with Syria. “Already in the first minute after its discovery, I knew that I had two options: either leave here without saying a word to anyone, or spend the rest of my life here, on these excavations.”

Photo 4.

Behind him, the first bends of the Anatolian Plateau open up. Ahead, the Mesopotamian plain stretches hundreds of miles all the way to Baghdad and further south, looking like a sea the color of dust. Directly ahead, hidden behind a hill ledge, are the stone circles of Gobekli Tepe. In those days when people had not yet built permanent dwellings for themselves, did not know how to make a simple clay bowl, and obtained food by hunting and gathering, the inhabitants of South-Eastern Anatolia erected a monumental sanctuary for their gods.

Photo 5.

Compared to Stonehenge - the most famous prehistoric monument in Great Britain - they are not striking in their grandeur of scale. None of the excavated round structures (and there are currently four out of twenty of them) exceed 30 meters in diameter. What makes these finds completely unique are the carvings of boars, foxes, lions, birds, snakes and scorpions on them, as well as the age of the finds themselves. They were created 9.5 thousand years BC. They are 5.5 thousand years old older than the first cities of Mesopotamia and 7 thousand years ago - Stonehenge.

Photo 6.

In Gobekli Tepe, archaeologists discovered a gigantic complex of round buildings and stone pillars with carved reliefs on a hill. Currently, only a small part of the buildings has been excavated, but if you take into account the age of the ruins, it immediately becomes clear that this is a unique archaeological site.

Photo 7.

The ancient ruins of Nevali Keri, which have been located at the bottom of the Ataturk reservoir since 1992, are almost as old as Gobekli Tepe, their age is 10,500 years. But the pillars there are much smaller, and the decoration is more modest. Jericho can compete with the temples of Gobekli Tepe in age, but there are no large sculptures there, no architectural decorations. All other ancient archaeological sites belong to a different era - they arose about 2 thousand years later. The people who created these rounded monuments and stone bas-reliefs, this entire complex, did not even have pottery and did not grow cereal crops. They lived in settlements. But they were hunters, not farmers.

Photo 8.

Judging by the age of the Gobekli Tepe complex, it was in this area that hunters and gatherers switched to a sedentary lifestyle. In Gobekli Tepe, first of all, they amaze intellectual abilities Stone Age people, their hard work and knowledge of construction. But until now, scientists were sure that the implementation of such gigantic projects as the construction of a temple presupposes a sedentary lifestyle and high degree organizations.

“It has always been assumed that only complex societies with hierarchical structures could build such monumental structures, and that they only appeared with the advent of agriculture,” says Stanford University anthropology professor Ian Hodder, who has led the excavations since 1993. in Çatalhöyük, the most famous Neolithic settlement in Turkey. – Gobekli changed all ideas. This is a complex structure and dates back to the era before the birth of agriculture. This fact alone puts it among the most important archaeological finds over a very long period of time."

Photo 9.

The archaeological site at Gobekli Tepe was first surveyed in 1963. However, then archaeologists underestimated its significance, and for a long time they didn't work there at all. On the hill, in the thickness of which the temple complex is located, there was a field of oats. The peasants continually removed the bulky stones that were in their way from the fields, so top part the temple was destroyed before scientists could explore it.

Based on the excavated areas, we can conclude that people stayed here for a very long time. Near the round building of the sanctuary, several smaller buildings were found, in which, apparently, some kind of ritual meetings took place. But in all these buildings there is no the slightest sign human habitation.

Excavations have been ongoing for ten years. As a result, only a small part has been cleared so far, but the purpose of Gobekli Tepe for the people who built it remains unclear. Some believe that this place was intended for fertility rituals, and two tall stone in the center of each circle symbolize a man and a woman.

Photo 10.

But Schmidt is skeptical about the fertility theory. He shares the opinion that Gobekli Tepe could be “the last flowering of a semi-nomadic society, which was about to be destroyed by the advancing era of agriculture.” He points out that if the site remains in nearly perfect condition today, it is only because its builders soon buried their creation under tons of earth, as if their wildlife-rich world had lost all its meaning.

“From my point of view, the people who carved them were asking the greatest questions of all,” the scientist continues. – What is the universe? Why are we here? But the fertility symbols that have been found at other Neolithic sites are missing here, and the T-shaped pillars, while clearly semi-human, are asexual. “I think here we are faced with the earliest images of gods,” says Schmidt, stroking one of the largest blocks with his hand. “They have no eyes, no mouths, no faces. But they have arms and they have palms. These are the creators."

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Perhaps the most interesting thing in Gobekli Tepe is its last days. The buildings were undoubtedly filled up, and this is what explains their good preservation. All the ancient religious buildings were simply abandoned, abandoned, but the temple on the Anatolian hill was literally buried in the ground. A massive building with monolithic giant pillars covered with magnificent reliefs was covered to the top with stones and soil, so that it literally disappeared underground.

Photo 12.

Although archaeologists liberated only part of Gobekli Tepe from under the embankment, it is already possible to appreciate the extraordinary big sizes sanctuaries It consists of four different temples, surrounded by a low stone fence. Particularly interesting are the T-shaped monoliths with partially preserved reliefs. They depict birds, gazelles, and bulls very naturalistically. Next to the image of a donkey and a snake, you can make out the head of a fox. There are even spiders and a three-dimensional wild boar with a frowning, blunt muzzle.

What the builders of the temple attached great importance the animal world is not surprising in itself. But they depicted wild animals, and this confirms the assumption that the creators of the sanctuary were not settled farmers. Another interesting thing is that in the vicinity of Gobekli Tepe there are all kinds of wild cereals, which were later cultivated as grain crops.

Photo 13.

Perhaps Gobekli Tepe is the missing link in the chain - the connecting element between primitive nomadic hunter-gatherers and sedentary farmers. The production of monolithic stone pillars with reliefs requires certain professional skills - this requires stonemasons. This means that other people supplied artisan stonemasons with everything necessary for life, that is, they had a society based on the division of labor.

Photo 14.

There are pictograms on some of the pillars. Some archaeologists have suggested that these icons may have influenced sign systems that emerged at a later time, but it is difficult to see whether there is a connection between them. Hieroglyphs were not common in neighboring Mesopotamia, but in Ancient Egypt, that is, far from Gobekli Tepe. In addition, the time interval between Ancient Egypt and the Gobekli Tepe culture is very large.

Photo 15.

The end of the Gobekli Tepe sanctuary occurred at the beginning of the 8th millennium BC. At this time, agriculture spread to neighboring Mesopotamia. The soil in the vicinity of Gobekli Tepe is poor, perhaps for this reason the sanctuary lost its significance. The most important centers formed much further south, on fertile plains and river valleys. At least this may partly explain why people abandoned the temple where their ancestors had worshiped the gods for hundreds of years. They covered the sanctuary with stones and left there forever.

The lessons of Gobekli Tepe encourage us to reconsider the idea of ​​the so-called Neolithic revolution. Until now, historians thought that the transition of nomadic tribes to a settled way of life created the preconditions for the construction of large urban centers and huge temples. But the experience of Gobekli Tepe proves that, in all likelihood, it was just the opposite: the very existence of a grandiose sanctuary, where the main rituals took place, encouraged people not to move away from it, but to stay close to the holy place and arrange permanent homes for themselves. This means that first there was a temple, and then a house, a village and a city.

Photo 16.

The mystery of Gobekli Tepe is no less amazing than the secrets of the pyramids, but much older. Scientists can only assume that it was a ritual structure, but it is not known for certain what made the ancient people get together and build such a truly colossal structure.

Among researchers and enthusiasts, a variety of assumptions are emerging: from the mundane to the incredible. Some believe that Gobekli Tepe was not a temple, but only a place where people lived, while others put forward ideas about the intervention of alien races in the history of the Earth and the construction of this complex by aliens. There are opinions that Gobekli Tepe was the Garden of Eden or a prototype of Noah's Ark.

RUSSIAN HISTORIAN GENNADY KLIMOV BELIEVES, that Gobekli Tepe and similar buildings on Russian territory were built by the same race. He confirms his theory by the fact that in the 9th millennium BC. There was no Black Sea yet and the path from the Russian periglacial steppes to these regions was clear.

We are accustomed to the idea that agriculture appeared first, and then settlements, but Gobekli Tepe globally changes our understanding of ancient people in this matter. Scientists have found that to build such a monumental structure, it was necessary to gather at least 500 people at the same time. That is, all these people lived together.

Photo 17.

Scientists suggest that it was the construction of this temple that played important role in the process of transition to agriculture, and therefore to the emergence of civilization in our usual view. As soon as the ancient people gathered together and began to live in one place, it became difficult to feed so many workers and pilgrims. And perhaps this is what prompted them to domesticate wild plants and animals.

All conclusions regarding the Gobekli Tepe temple complex are preliminary, since excavations are being carried out only on 5% of its territory. Archaeologists believe that research will continue for about 50 years. The dating of the studied part dates the end of layer III to the 9th millennium BC. e., and its beginning - by the 11th millennium BC. e. or earlier. Layer II dates back to the 8th-9th millennia BC. e.

Photo 18.

Since the complex appeared before the Neolithic revolution, the origin is in this region agriculture and cattle breeding should apparently be attributed to the era after the 9th millennium BC. e. At the same time, the construction of such a grandiose structure required effort large quantity people and certain social organization. This is not typical for the Mesolithic. According to rough estimates, the production and delivery of columns weighing 10-20 tons from the quarry to the building, which are separated by up to 500 m, in the absence of draft animals, required the efforts of up to 500 people.

In fact, some columns weigh up to 50 tons, so even more people were needed. It is even suggested that slave labor was used in such work, which is also uncharacteristic of hunter-gatherer communities. Such work required systematic effort and a social hierarchy in which many people were subordinate to one religious or military leader, and the religious leader then had to control the conduct of the rituals. In this case, the very existence of the temple complex in such a distant historical era indicates social stratification at a very early stage development of Neolithic culture.

Construction of buildings and structures is defined as structure human production, used or intended for support or shelter from the elements or permanent occupancy. This article lists 10 oldest buildings built in the world, which are a masterpiece of craftsmanship and self made people of that era. Today we are surprised to see these miracles, how in such distant centuries without any modern technologies and machines, such masterpieces were created. So, top 10 oldest buildings in the world.

10. Dhamek Stupa, India

Dhamek Stupa is a massive stupa that is located in Sarnath, 13 km from Varanasi in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It was built in 500 AD, which was meant to replace earlier architecture commissioned by the great Mauryan king Ashoka in 249 BC, along with several other monuments, to honor the activities of Buddha at this place. Dhamek Stupa emerged as circular mounds surrounded by large stones. King Ashoka built the Dhamek Stupa to enshrine small pieces of calcined bone and other relics of the Buddha and his disciples. An Ashoka pillar engraved on it with a decree stands nearby.

9. Sanchi Stupa, India

Sanchi Stupa or Great Stupa is oldest building in India made of stone and was commissioned by Emperor Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century BC. Its core was a simple hemispherical brick structure over the relics of the Buddha. From the outside it looks like a crown, symbolizing high rank, which was intended to honor his relics. The Sanchi Stupa has four carved decorative gateways with a balustrade surrounding the entire structure. Construction work The Sanchi Stupa was led by Empress Devi, who was Ashoka's first wife.

8. Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak, Bulgaria

The Thracian tomb of Kazanlak has a vaulted brickwork"Beehive", which is located near the city of Kazanlak in central Bulgaria. The Kazanlak tomb is located near the ancient Thracian capital of Sevtopol. The Kazanlak tomb is part of a large Thracian necropolis. It includes narrow corridor and a round burial chamber, which is decorated with frescoes representing a Thracian couple at a ritual funeral. The monument dates from the 4th century BC and has been listed since 1979 World Heritage UNESCO.

7. Parthenon, Greece

The Parthenon is a temple on the Acropolis of Athens, Greece, dedicated to the goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patron. Its construction began in 447 BC, when the Athenian Empire was at the height of its power. It was completed in 438 BC, although decoration of the building continued until 432 BC. It is the most important building surviving from classical Greece. The Parthenon is considered an enduring symbol Ancient Greece, Athenian democracy, Western civilization and one of greatest monuments world culture. On the seventh line in the top 10 oldest buildings in the world.

6. Minoan Palace of Knossos, Greece

The Minoan Palace of Knossos was the ceremonial and political center of Minoan civilization and culture. The palace was excavated and partially restored under the direction of Arthur Evans in the early years of the 20th century. Its size far exceeds his initial expectations, as does the discovery of two ancient scripts, which he called Linear A and B to distinguish their writing from pictogram. At some point during the late Late Bronze Age the palace was abandoned (c. 1380-1100 BC). The incident is not known for certain, but one of the many disasters that befell the Palace was probably the refusal of the population to use it as administrative building, Mycenaean Greeks who previously occupied the city-state.

5. Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt

Also known as the Pyramid of Cheops is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids at Giza, Necropolis, Egypt. This oldest building of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one that remains virtually untouched. Egyptologists believe that the pyramid was built as a tomb for the fourth dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Cheops during the 10 to 20 year period of 2560 BC. Initially at 146.5 meters (481 ft), Great Pyramid has been the tallest man-made (man-made) structure in the world for over 3,800 years.

4. Pyramid of Djoser, Egypt

Located in Saqqara, Egypt, the Pyramid of Djoser was built in the 27th century BC. for the burial of Pharaoh Djoser by his architect Imhotep. This is the first Egyptian pyramid, which consists of six steps built on top of each other.

The size of the pyramid is 62 meters high, with a base of 109 m × 125 m. The core of the tomb is made of white limestone. The Step Pyramid is considered the earliest large-scale stone construction. The oldest known uncut stone structure. The construction of the pyramid dates back to 3000 BC.

3. Tarxien Temples, Malta

Tarshin temples are archaeological complex Tarshin, Malta. They date back to around 3150 BC. The temples were accepted into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1980. The Tarshin Temples consist of three separate, but attached, structures. The main entrance has been under reconstruction since 1956, when the entire complex was restored. At the same time, many of the decorated slabs discovered at the site were moved indoors for protection at the Museum of Archeology in Valletta. The first temple was built around 3100 BC. and is the most ornate of Malta's temples. Third place among oldest buildings in the world.

2. La Hougue Bie, Jersey

La Hoog Bi - historical monument, with a museum, in the district of Grouville, Jersey. The monument was built around 3500 BC. It is a corridor tomb 18.6 meters long, covered with a 12.2 meter earthen rampart. The mound was first excavated in 1925 by the Jersey Society. In Western Europe, it is one of the largest and best preserved corridor tombs Western Europe. During the 2nd World War the chapel was used as an observation post, and there was an underground command bunker in and around the mound.

1. Tumulus of Bougon, France

The oldest building in the world The Bougon necropolis is a group of five Neolithic megalithic burial mounds (Mound A, B, C, D, E, F) discovered in a bend of the Bougon River, France. The discovery of the necropolis in 1840 caused great

scientific interest. To protect the monument, it was acquired by the department of De Sèvres in 1873. Excavations resumed in the late 1960s. The oldest buildings in this complex date back to 4800 BC.

How old is architecture? Experts are absolutely sure that the first structures on Earth appeared long before the advent of our era. At the same time, ancient buildings sometimes look simply amazing. The question even arises - who really built the most ancient buildings, fragments of which have survived to this day.

Pyramid of Josser at Saqqara recognized as the oldest building on the planet. The building was built by the Egyptians, and it is even known that the ancient architect’s name was Imhotep. The pyramid was built around 2650 BC. This is the first such structure, others Egyptian pyramids arose much later. The height of the building is 62 meters, and the size of the base is 121*109 meters.

Pyramid of Josser at Saqqara

In Europe the oldest is Skara Brae settlement. This is an amazing architectural monument located on the islands of Scotland. The settlement is very well preserved, and allowed scientists to learn the details of the life of ancient people. There are 10 houses that were built around 2500 BC. The ancient dwellings amazed us with their furnishings. Researchers claim that there were covered passages, heating, bathrooms and water supply.

Skara Brae settlement, Scotland

Stonehenge in England- this is not only very ancient building, but also an architectural mystery of all times. The age of the buildings is from 1100 to 3500 BC.

Stonehenge in England

Is a real work ancient architecture. It was built around 1473 BC. The building was created by an incredibly talented architect. The temple is supported by massive columns, its entire appearance is attractive and harmonious.

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Egypt

Famous statue Great Sphinx appeared around 1400 BC. The huge statue, 20 meters high and 73 meters long, stands on the banks of the Egyptian Nile River. The tombs of the pharaohs are also located here - the Sphinx seems to be guarding their peace.

Great Sphinx statue

IN ancient city Rome preserved Mamertine prison. Its existence dates back to 578 BC. Criminals were kept here, but as it turned out, not all of them were guilty. According to legend, it was here that the apostles Peter and Paul spent their last days. The dungeon is located at the base of Capitol Hill.

Mamertine Prison, Rome

It is the oldest building in Russia. The years of its construction were from 1475 to 1479. The temple was built by Russian craftsmen under the leadership of the Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti. The building has been well preserved thanks to numerous restorations. Sometimes services are held here today.

Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin

Publications in the Architecture section

The oldest buildings in Russia

From Derbent to Vyborg, from Kaliningrad to the Bashkir village of Chishmy. We peer into the depths of history and study, together with Sofia Bagdasarova, which buildings in Russia are breaking age records.

The most ancient buildings

The most ancient buildings erected by man are, undoubtedly, megalithic structures(menhirs, dolmens and cromlechs). The most famous is the British Stonehenge, however, a considerable number of similar structures have been preserved in Russia. It is impossible to choose the most ancient of them, they are too wide chronological framework, and there are no exact dates. The most famous are the dolmens of the Kuban and Caucasus, created in the 3rd–2nd millennium BC. e. But you can also find them in Northern Russia(for example, on Solovki), and in Siberia.

The oldest Christian churches

The oldest churches in Russia were built in the Byzantine era, even before the Great Schism of Christianity into Orthodoxy and Catholicism in 1054. They are located in the Black Sea basin, the ruler of which was Byzantium. The first of them is the Crimean Church of John the Baptist in Kerch - ancient city Panticapaeum, founded in the 7th century BC. e., later - Byzantine possession. This temple, built by the Byzantines, stood at least as early as 757 AD. e.

Younger and more provincial in terms of architecture are the churches of the Alanian state, which adopted Christianity in 916 (now Karachay-Cherkessia). These are the Shoaninsky temple (1st half of the 10th century), the Sentinsky temple (967) and three Zelenchuk temples - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (916–925), Elijah the Prophet (10th century) and the Life-Giving Trinity (10th century). They are included in .

The oldest Islamic buildings

In the same southern region stands the oldest Islamic religious building. The Juma Mosque stands in Derbent - an important fortress of the Armenian Emirate Arab Caliphate(modern Dagestan). It was built in 733–734.

Islamic architects also built other types of buildings, but due to their poor state of preservation, researchers sometimes wonder what their purpose was. Such is the mausoleum of Tura Khan, which may have been not a tomb, but a courtroom. It was built in the 14th–15th centuries (and maybe in the 12th century) near the village of Chishmy in Bashkortostan. Near the city of Bolgar in Tatarstan there is a historical and archaeological complex "Bulgar" - former city Bulgar ulus of the Golden Horde. On its territory there are many attractions, including the mysterious Black Chamber (XIV century): either a mausoleum, or a resting place for dervishes. Other buildings of Bulgar also date back to that era.

The oldest ancient Russian church

The most ancient temples Ancient Rus' remained on the lands of Ukraine and Belarus. Thus, the oldest church of this medieval state in the territory modern Russia turned out to be the Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, founded in 1045 and completed five years later.

And here ancient church in Moscow dates back to the post-Mongol period - this is the Spassky Cathedral of the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery (1420–1425), now the Andrei Rublev Museum.

In St. Petersburg it’s the same old church- Peter and Paul Cathedral, built in stone in 1712.

Oldest Catholic Church

The most ancient Catholic Cathedral in the territory Russian Federation is apparently Gothic, built in 1288 in East Prussian Königsberg (modern Kaliningrad). It is also, most likely, the oldest Lutheran church, since it, like others Catholic churches Protestants took over those lands in the 16th century. Today its walls house Orthodox community, and the building bears the name of St. Nicholas Church.

The most ancient defensive structures

The oldest fortified building, perhaps, is the Crimean Tower of Zeno in ancient Chersonesos, which began to be built in the 2nd century BC. e. during the struggle of this policy with the Scythians. It was rebuilt several times - last time in the 10th century. Although today the tower is almost a ruin, its power still makes an impression.

In the same 10th century, another fortress tower was erected in Volga Bulgaria (now Tatarstan), which can be seen in the Devil's Settlement (Elabuga Museum-Reserve). Its modern appearance is the result of reconstruction; the original masonry is preserved only on one side.

And in the north of the country there are fortresses founded by eternal enemies - the Novgorodians, the Livonian knights and the Swedish military. These are the stone Novgorod Detinets (1333), the Pskov “Persi” Krom (1393), the Koporye Fortress (1237) and