Tiled Decor of Tyumen Annunciation cathedral

Tyumen Annunciation cathedral, built in 1700-1715, was one of rare religious Siberian constructions with a unique tiled decor. The monument was destroyed in 1932. The decor of Tyumen Annunciation cathedral was written about by P.M. Golovachev (1903). The cathedral exterior appearance was considerably changed after repairs of 1817, 1838 and 1889. In the black-and-white photos of the late 19 - early 20 century architectural details' surveys are absent, that is why the study of Annunciation cathedral tiled decor from Tyumen museum collection is becoming more important. Out of decorative rectangular insertions under the small domes only two relief polychrome unframed rectangular tiles are left (fig. 2/ 1). Under the roof there was a tiled frieze on the facade. The fragment of a green relief profiled tile with a carved lower part belonged to the under-cornice frieze under the roof of a high quadrangle and refectory (fig. 2/ 2). The second one represented a frieze which, probably, was in the upper part of the main building and may be in the upper tier of a big octagon (fig. 2/ 3). On the whole, the composition reminds a strongly modified and stylized "peacock's eye"; looking like a pomegranate flower and a heavenly bird peacock's plumage - Christian symbols of Resurrection. The building inscription was on the walls of the refectory and altar below the cornice. Two fragments of slabs with white-coloured letters against the general dark blue background are preserved (fig. 2/ 4). Windows' and doors' apertures are represented with fragments of a column and top decor. The column tile fragment is a cylinder, twined around with a grape bunch; the lower part is broader than the upper one (fig. 2/ 5). The theme of a grape bunch is universal for Christian symbolism directly referring to the Gospels text and then to the images of Jesus Christ, church and The Eucharist sacrament. There preserved a polychrome tile with a triangular top and symmetrical hollows on both sides of the window decor. On the tile a two-headed eagle with flopped wings is depicted and a cross between crowned heads in the centre (drawing 1, 2/6). The tiled decor of Annunciation cathedral, the first stone Tyumen construction, is not only the monument of Moscow style in Siberia, the expression of esthetic preferences of the Siberians, but the manifest of the country unity idea, dynasty continuity and the task of the teachings of Christ dissemination among local population as well.

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