ARCHITECTURE
wooden architecture — research, maintenance and restoration

The Kizhi Bel Tower exemplifies a traditional layout for such structures — namely a log-wall base that is square in plan, topped with log walls that are octagonal in plan. The square base comprises two-thirds, and the octagonal top one-third, of the total height of the log walls. Above the octagonal part is a colonnaded belfry with columns supporting the steeple roof. The belfry has railings between its eight perimeter columns. The plank balusters of the railing have a teardrop-shaped central figure with internal fretwork (four intersecting circles inside each teardrop). A small, shingled, onion dome topped with a ball and then a cross crowns the Bell Tower.

Two cross-walls divide the quadrangle base into three parts: an anteroom, a staircase, and a store-room.

Five flights of stairs lead to the belfry. There are three floors: the entry (base); belfry (top); and an intermediate floor at the transition from square to octagon.

The North and the South walls of the square base have tall, arched, portal doors. Each of these two entrances has a small, un-roofed exterior deck. The Western and Eastern façades have false-portals that are identical in appearance to the two functional doors.

The logwork of the Bell Tower’s walls uses a construction method in which no log protrudes past the corner intersections, and this made it easier to cover the walls of both the square and the octagonal structures with plank siding. The planking is fastened to vertical sleepers, not to the log walls themselves. Each board of the two-layer roofing has a gutter on every edge. Each roof plank terminates at the eave with a decorative spear-shaped carving. The soffit boards under the eaves are plain. The Bell-Tower’s quarrystone foundation is mortared.

The interior is lighted by an arched window above each of the four portal-doorways and there is one window in the north-eastern wall of the upper, octagonal log walls. There are four braced doors.