{{Short description|Architectural element in Eastern Europe}} {{more citations needed|date=June 2020}} [[File:H9029 Vladimir Dimitrin seinä Balati-ikkunasta C.JPG|thumb|Cathedral of Saint Demetrius, Vladimir, Russia]]
'''Zakomara''' (Russian and {{Langx|uk|Закомара}}; {{Langx|be|Закамара}}) is a semicircular or keeled completion of a wall (curtain wall) in early Russian church architecture.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shvidkovskiĭ |first1=Dmitriĭ Olegovich |title=Russian Architecture and the West |date=1 January 2007 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-10912-2 |page=glossary |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Russian_Architecture_and_the_West/LQy9TJ2yOQEC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |language=en}}</ref>
It first appeared in Kievan Rus',<ref>{{cite web |title= |script-title=ru:Словарь архитектурных и церковных терминов |trans-title=Dictionary of architectural and church terms |url=http://temples.ru/dictionary.php?TerminID=101 |website=Храмы России |language=ru}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Shmyh |first=R. A. |url=https://shron1.chtyvo.org.ua/Shmyh_Roman/Terminolohichnyi_slovnyk-dovidnyk_z_budivnytstva_ta_arkhitektury.pdf |title= |last2=Boyarchuk |first2=V. M. |last3=Dobriansky |first3=I. M. |last4=Barabash |first4=V. M. |date= |year=2010 |isbn=978-966-7407-83-4 |location=Lviv |pages=93 |language=uk |script-title=uk:Термінологічний словник-довідник з будівництва та архітектури |trans-title=Terminological dictionary-handbook on construction and architecture |publisher=Львівський національний університет природокористування}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url= |title=Byelorussian Soviet Encyclopedia |publisher=Belarusian Encyclopedia |year=1971 |editor-last=Brovka |editor-first=Petrus |volume=4 |location=Minsk |pages=474 |language=be}}</ref> reproducing the adjacent to the inner cylindrical (convex, crossed) vault.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Vechersky |first=Viktor |date=10 December 2020 |title= |script-title=uk:Закомара |trans-title=Zakomara |url=https://vue.gov.ua/Закомара |access-date=6 May 2025 |website=Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia |language=uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Yakimovich |first=Y. A. |url=https://pdf.vlib.by/vicebski-sshytak/Yakimovich-Siluety-staroga-Vicebska.pdf |title= |year=2019 |editor-last=Khmyalnitskaya |editor-first=L. U. |location=Minsk |language=be |script-title=be:Сілуэты старога Віцебска: гісторыка-краязнаўчая экскурсія |trans-title=Silhouettes of old Vitebsk: historical and local lore excursion |publisher=Витебская областная библиотека им. В.И. Ленина}}</ref> Early examples can also be found in Belarus and Ukraine. After the 12th century, the zakomara, initially influenced by Byzantine architecture, was adapted into a more uniquely Russian style and it became a distinctive feature of Russian churches before the emergence of Russian Baroque. False zakomara, which is not repeating the inner shapes of the vault, is called the kokoshnik. Kokoshniks were only made as exterior decorative elements. They were placed on the walls, vaults, as well as the shrinking tiers at the base of the tents and reels of chapters in church buildings.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vechersky |first=Viktor |date=25 October 2020 |title= |script-title=uk:Кокошник |trans-title=Kokoshnyk |url=https://vue.gov.ua/Кокошник |access-date=6 May 2025 |website=Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia}}</ref>
==History== Similar features have existed in the Byzantine Empire and early examples of zakomaras are considered to have been borrowed under Byzantine influence.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Curl |first1=James Stevens |last2=Wilson |first2=Susan |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-967498-5 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Oxford_Dictionary_of_Architecture/4Lu6BwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |language=en |page=865}}</ref> However, some researchers consider zakomaras to be a unique development of architecture in Kievan Rus' and one of the first deviations from the traditional Byzantine style in the region, with the Boris and Gleb Cathedral, now in Chernihiv, Ukraine, being among the first such examples.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Travkina |first=Olha |date=30 August 2023 |title= |script-title=uk:Борисоглібському собору у Чернігові — 900 років (маловідомі факти з історії стародавнього храму) |trans-title=The Boris and Gleb Cathedral in Chernihiv is 900 years old (little-known facts from the history of the ancient church) |url=https://oldchernihiv.com/borysoglibskomu-soboru-u-chernigovi-900-rokiv-malovidomi-fakty-z-istoriyi-starodavnogo-hramu/ |access-date=6 May 2025 |website=Ancient Chernihiv |language=uk}}</ref>
The transition to a more uniquely Russian aesthetic began in the 12th century as seen in the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl.<ref name="Schwartz">{{cite book |last1=Schwartz |first1=Ellen C. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Art and Architecture |date=2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-027735-2 |page=380 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Oxford_Handbook_of_Byzantine_Art_and/u2dHEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |language=en}}</ref> From the 12th to the 17th centuries, zakomaras were a typical detail in Russian Orthodox church architecture. Quite often, a combination of zakomaras and kokoshniks was used in the construction of many churches. The Cathedral of the Savior in the Andronikov Monastery (1425–1427), part of the Moscow school, follows the Russian adaptation of this style.<ref name="Schwartz"/>
The roof in the zakomara covering was arranged directly on the vaults. Depending on the number of vaults, the facade of the church had the same amount of zakomaras. By the seventeenth century, a significant number of Russian churches had the zakomara covering. But sophisticated curvilinear rooftop was not very practical—the snow and rain accumulated on it, causing leaks. By the end of the seventeenth century, the Baroque era came to the Russian architecture, making the zakomaras and zakomara coverings a thing of the past. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, zakomara coverings were replaced with four-pitched roofs in many churches. Because of the spread of the retrospective trends in the Russian Empire’s architecture, zakomaras reappeared in the church buildings.
At the end of the 20th century, the revival of the zakomara covering has occurred. It was due to the appearance of construction technology, which created rain and snow resistant zakomara coverings. Therefore, the new Uspensky Cathedral in Yaroslavl has the zakomara covering.
== Examples == <gallery class="center" widths="180" heights="160"> File:Vladimir Nerl3.JPG|Zakomaras of the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl File:Pereslavl SpasoPreobrazhenskyCathedral .JPG|Facades of Transfiguration Cathedral in Pereslavl-Zalessky, with zakomaras File:Cathedral of the Holy Mandylion (Andronikov Monastery) 27.jpg|Saviour Cathedral of the Andronikov Monastery, combination of zakomaras and kokoshniks typical for Moscow style File:M-danilov-sobor-5423.jpg|Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity Danilov Monastery in Pereslavl-Zalessky with a roof rebuilt as hipped one File:Борисоглібський собор.Літній ранок.jpg|Boris and Gleb Cathedral in Chernihiv with zakomaras File:Volodymyr-Volynskyi Volynska-Cathedral of the Dormition of the Theotokos-south view.jpg|Dormition Cathedral in Volodymyr with zakomaras File:VITEBSK. Annunciation (Дабравешчанская) church (XII century). (cropped).jpg|Anunciation Cathedral in Vitebsk with zakomaras </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Architecture in Russia Category:Church architecture Category:Architectural elements Category:Architecture in Ukraine Category:Architecture in Belarus