Conservation of the residential and public architecture of the 19th - early 20th centuries (on the examples of kyiv and cracow)

The article examines the phenomenon of "pseudo-Gothic" and "neo-Gothic" in the residential architecture of historicism-eclecticism in Kyiv and Cracow in the 19th - early 20th century. There are three essential features of historicism with elements of Gothic: free interpretation by architects of the "token" elements of medieval Gothic which were often combined with the elements of Renaissance and Baroque architecture and some details of Art Nouveau; "Kyiv neo-Gothic" was a purely "facade style", which did not affect the changes in the characteristic plans of residential buildings; the limited use of stylized and simplified Gothic motifs. In Kyiv, the appearance of Gothic stylizations in architecture was explained by general enthusiasm for the ideas of romanticism. But in Cracow, as in whole Poland with a rich heritage of the Middle Ages, it was an attempt to revive the national style - the embodiment of national identity. The difference between the Cracow neo-Gothic style and the Kyiv one was primarily in the fact that such buildings were not so numerous and were only public or sacred objects. The peculiarities of the restoration of such buildings are associated with the use of a large number of the complicated finely detailed decor, ornamental masonry, and stained-glass windows.