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988 | Baptism
All Pagan architecture was destroyed. Nothing to add here.
1223 onward | Mongolian Invasion
On the contrary to popular belief, the Mongolians did not destroy Russian
cities because of their brutal nature but rather due to the Russian habit
of killing the ambassadors. Anyway, the destruction was thorough.
XV-XVI'th centuries | Conquest of Volga Bulgaria
Tatar architectural tradition was arguably much more developed than
Russian but after Volga Bulgaria was conquered by Russia all mosques were
intentionally destroyed. A couple survived.
Late XVIII'th century | Secularization
During the reign of Catherine the Great (who married her way into Russian
monarchy) secularization was enforced - around 300 monasteries were
destroyed, most churches modified in Neo-Classical style. Until today
there are many churches all over the former Russian Empire still not
purged from these awful alterations.
1917 onward | Communism
It would be wrong to say that Communists destroyed churches without
consideration - most historical buildings survived, some previously lost
churches were even restored, but the Russian Revival style took a heavy
toll as it was considered to "lack historical value" + several timeless
masterpieces of historical architecture that were "in the way". Generally,
during Communism religious architecture was neglected.
1941-1944 | Nazis
A lot of architecture in Russia was destroyed during WWII by the Nazis -
either during storming of cities or blown-up in order to prevent Russians
from using them as fortifications in case for a counter-attack. Because I
don't think the Nazis destroyed anything intentionally - being used to
kitschy architecture back in Europe they probably didn't find Russian
churches to be valuable cultural objects.
III'rd century onward | Wooden Architecture
An estimated 85-90% of the post-Mongolian Russian wooden religious
architecture was lost due to the nature of the material and neglect. Wood
remained the main construction material of civilian architecture until the
early XVIII'th century so all that was lost as well. |
