KIZHI Russian North

Описание: Series: TAO-Matches / Matchstick Architecture / Miracle Matches / Golden Collection of Temples
Original design: 1995
Completion: 2001
Dimensions:
230 x 170 x 305 mm
Packaging:
320 (diameter) x 360 mm (height)
Weight with packaging – 3.346 kg.

Materials:
• Eternity
• Matches
• Straw
• PVA glue
• Rhinestones in metal frames
• Self-adhesive Swarovski rhinestones
• Self-adhesive film
• Plexiglass
Packaging:
Protective acrylic case.
Church "Kyzhi. Rossiyskiy Sever" was created on the basis of the reconstruction of the wooden church of St. Barbara the Great Martyr, built in 1656 (Republic of Karelia, Kondopozhsky District, Yandomozero village).
The small island of Kizhi is located in the north of the harsh Lake Onega. Its name is reminiscent of ancient rites (the Karelian word "kizhat" means "playground").
For the first time, the Spassky pogost in Kyzhy is mentioned in historical sources in 1496. It united more than 100 villages located on neighboring islands.
In the architectural monuments of the Kyzhsky Ensemble, the best traditions of northern carpenters, the ideal of beauty, born in constant proximity to a field, a forest, a lake, a native home, were fully embodied. To this day, these structures are considered the pinnacle of the development of wooden temple architecture.
When creating this work, the author did not strive to reproduce the architectural monument as accurately as possible, although, unlike other works, he had at his disposal several reconstruction drawings of the church from the book "Treasures of the Russian North" by A. V. Opolovnikov. In this work, the proportions of the main parts of the building are somewhat elongated, thanks to which the church is perceived as more slender and elevated. Such an approach is based on the main tradition of ancient masters: to build not according to a template, but "strangely and harmoniously", "as measure and beauty will say".

This is not a model, nor a reconstruction.
It is a memory of a temple, assembled from patience.
Two towers stand side by side, not competing. They seem to speak through silence: one listens to the sky, the other to the earth. Between them lies a space meant for a human pause — a moment before lifting one’s gaze upward.
The wood is not concealed. It speaks of hands, of time, of repeated gestures. Each matchstick is a quiet “yes” to the world, uttered without haste. The architecture does not seek to impress — it remembers.
The transparent base releases the structure from gravity. It does not stand; it is held by trust. Light glides across surfaces and lingers not on the form itself, but in the spaces between — where silence is born.
This is a temple without ritual, yet full of presence.
A place where the bell has not yet rung — and is already echoing.
Two towers
hold the sky
without touching it.
The wood remembers
the warmth of hands
that were never in a hurry.
Here the bell
has not yet sounded —
yet silence
already knows its name.