Naryshkin baroque, also called Moscow baroque, or Muscovite baroque, is a named given to a particular style of architecture and decoration which was fashionable in Moscow at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Essentually, the Naryshkin baroque was a fusion of traditional Russian architecture with baroque elements imported from Central Europe via Ukraine. Naryshkin baroque is opposed to a more radical approach of the Petrine baroque, exemplified by Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul in St Petersburg and the Menshikov tower in Moscow.
First baroque churches were built in the estates of the Naryshkin family of Moscow boyars. It was the family Natalia Naryshkina, Peter the Great's mother. Most notable in these category of small suburban churches were the Intercession in Fili (1693-96), the Sign in Dubrovitsy (1690-97), and the Saviour in Ubory (1694-97). They were built in red brick with profuse detailed decoration of white stone.
As the style gradually spread around Russia, many monasteries were remodeled after the latest fashion. The most notable of these were the Novodevichy Convent and the Donskoi monastery in Moscow, as well as the Solotcha monastery near Riazan. The most important architects associated with the Naryshkin baroque were Yakov Bukhvostov and Peter Potapov.
In the 1730 the Moscow baroque style gave way to the so-called Rastrelliesque, or Elizabethan, baroque.
See also