ARCHITECTURE
wooden architecture — research, maintenance and restoration

The Dormition Chapel reveals rectangular framework, stepped both in layout and throughout the height. It is a rectangular framework with an extension under the roof. The Chapel’s oratory is covered with a gable roof composed of planks fixed with nails, a dome with a cross is installed under its ridge on the low cut octagon. The framework of a refectory and a passage is covered with a general gable roof fixed without use of nails. Over the framework of the passage there is an octagonal belfry with a tent roof with a small dome and a cross on top of it. A porch with one stair flight supported by poles and covered with the gable roof is located along the axis of the western facade.

Small three-jamb windows are cut through the log walls of the northern and southern facades. Both southern and northern walls of the oratory and the passage each have one window, the refectory has two windows on the southern wall and one window on the northern one. All rooms of the chapel are along one axis: the ceilings of the passage and the refectory, which are horizontal along the beams, are situated at one level. The ceiling of the oratory is higher and made up in the form of the dome (so-called ‘sky’) – it is a truncated pyramid with 16 borders on which the angel’s images are painted (images date back to early 18th century).

The Dormition Chapel rests on a loose rock foundation. The framework is assembled of logs fixed according to the traditional method with the logs’ ends protruding from the edges of the walls in the corners (‘v oblo’); the octagon is fixed so that logs’ ends do not protrude from the walls (‘v lapu’). The roof of the oratory is composed of planks fixed with nails with the peak-shaped upper boards. The plank roof of the passage is constructed without the use of nails.

There are benches with carved tops along the lateral walls in the refectory. The main ornamental details of the chapel are located at the level of the roof. These are fascia boards with the multi-tier carvings, the contour layer of fretwork is done in shape of alternate ‘flags’ and semi-circles, the pierced-through layer is in the shape of circles, and the grooved one is several layers of saw-like cogs, a ‘towel’ (a special decorative element that covers the joint of two roof slopes) has carvings in the shape of circles, semi-circles and an eight-point cross.