Aleksandr Lyubimtsev with trainees at the model bathhouse they built
Third-year students of the program 07.03.02 "Restoration and Reconstruction of Architectural Heritage" from the SPbGASU Faculty of Architecture completed a technical internship on Kizhi Island. For several years, the Kizhi Museum-Reserve and Educational Center have welcomed university students, providing the opportunity to learn about unique wooden architecture and the specifics of its preservation.
During their internship, future restoration architects studied the design features and construction traditions of northern wooden churches, chapels, residential buildings, and outbuildings. Under the guidance of technologists and carpenters, the students mastered the specifics of working with wood and became familiar with traditional timber construction techniques.
The educational program included a series of lectures by leading specialists from the Kizhi Museum-Reserve. Tatyana Nezvitskaya, PhD of Architecture and Head of the V.S. Rakhmanov All-Russian Center for Wooden Architecture at the Kizhi Museum-Reserve, delivered lectures on "Masterpieces of Kizhi Island," "Development of Scientific and Design Documentation for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage Sites," and "Architectural and Archaeological Dating: The Case of the Chapel of the Archangel Michael."
First-category restorer and leading specialist in preserving cultural heritage sites and maintaining the integrity of the Kizhi Museum's historical and architectural complex, Aleksandr Lyubimtsev, spoke to students about the spatial planning and design features of religious buildings, using the Church of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God and the Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus from the Murom Monastery as examples.
Anastasia Dibrova, chief curator of the Kizhi Museum-Reserve, introduced the participants to the technology for recreating the "sky" of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, and also led a tour of the museum's storage facility, which displays household items, crafts, and other monuments of the material culture of the Russian North.
The internship on Kizhi Island became an important stage in the professional training of future specialists, allowing them not only to deepen their knowledge in the field of preserving wooden architectural heritage sites but also to gain valuable practical experience working with unique monuments of Russian wooden architecture.The practical part of the program allowed students to apply their acquired knowledge in completing professional assignments. They prepared a development strategy for the village of Yamki and a concept for the preservation and development of peasant houses, which are cultural heritage sites. They compiled a technical condition report for one of the historic houses, conducted an architectural and archaeological analysis of the dating of the Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus, and dismantled and reassembled a model of a log bathhouse using traditional design solutions. Furthermore, the students thoroughly studied the spatial layout of wooden architectural monuments, both externally and internally.
The students express their gratitude to the staff of the Kizhi Museum-Reserve for the warm welcome, the high level of organization of the internship, and the opportunity to learn from leading experts in the field of restoration and preservation of wooden architecture.
