Saturday, 23 August 2008
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Siberian Wooden Houses
I originally put this posting up on my family blog, because it's really not an Orthodox post, per se. But I was reading from the life of Fr. Seraphim Rose the other night and immediately my mind went to these houses in Siberia, Russia. Fr. Seraphim was very much into the beauty of the world around us. He wanted to cultivate in the pilgrims and students that came to Platina an appreciation for that which is beautiful; classical music, classical art, good literature with Christian themes, beautiful Vicorian archetecture, etc.
He wanted us to see that there was value in beauty and that something reduced to it's most utilitarian state is not always best. He pointed out it may be cheaper to make things that are purely practical, but in the process we lost a great deal. Fr. Seraphim wanted parents to educate their children in this way as well so that they "would not simply think that whatever is modern or most up-to-date is the best..." He thought students should develop a sense of art instead of the "crudity, coldness, and inability to judge what is better and what is worse - total relativity, which only confuses a person and helps fit him into the world of apostasy."
So, with this in mind, I think that this is also an appropriate post to put up on my Orthodox blog:
A few years back I found a graphic artist who created not only commercial art for clients, but also some great wallpapers/ backgrounds for your computer. He is a Russian that lives in Irkutsk and has a site called Vladstudio. His wallpapers/ art range from beautiful scenery to whimiscal creatures and I recommend them for anyone who is looking for a change of pace over the standard fare for desktop wallpapers.
A few days ago I was looking around on his normal site and came across a new sub-site that he had started. Apparently a while back he went around Irkutsk with his camera to take pictures of the beautiful old wooden houses around town that are falling into disrepair. These are some truly amazing houses with incredible, detailed woodwork. I have put one of the pictures up on my desktop wallpaper both at work and at home.
Each time I sit down to my desk I find myself staring at the pictures with all the detailed woodwork. My mind ends up drifting; thinking about the people who did this incredible work in a time when precision laser cutting machines weren't available. I reminesce that even if these craftsmen had jigs to aid in this work it would have been and incredible, labor-intensive act of love. Alas, I also end up thinking about how these houses are falling into seeming ruin. No one appears to be stepping up to rescue these houses from their inevitable fate.
My hope and prayer is that soon someone will step forward to save these houses and recognize the amazing gift this city has been given with these pieces of art that a person can actually live in. I invite you to also go look at these photos and ponder the talent of these amazing craftsmen of the past.
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