Humanities & Social Sciences 9 (2016 9) 2231-2259 ~ ~ ~ УДК 72.03(470.116) The Creation of the Sixteenth-century Architectural Ensemble at the Solovetskii-Transfiguration Monastery William C. Brumfield* Tulane University New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Received 09.04.2016, received in revised form 11.06.2016, accepted 21.08.2016 This article examines the major sixteenth-century architectural monuments of Solovetskii Transfiguration Monastery, with particular emphasis on the Preobrazhenskii sobor. <...> The origins of this extraordinary architectural achievement can be attributed to a culturally and politically complex “triad” formed by the Novgorod eparchy, the Muscovite court, and the already substantial monastic centers of northern Russian culture. <...> Although the monastery appears strikingly unusual, many of the architectural elements are found either in Novgorodian or in Muscovite precursors. <...> The text and accompanying photographs (based on the author’s fieldwork) define the architectural forms, their possible origins, and their historical context. <...> Keywords: Solovetskii Transfiguration Monastery, 16th-century Russian church architecture, Novgorod, Moscow, Ivan IV (the Terrible), White Sea, Filipp (Kolychev), St. Zosima, St. Savvatii, Livonian war. <...> All rights reserved * Corresponding author E-mail address: william.brumfield@gmail.com – 2231 – including its massive stone walls. <...> The impetus for this development originated with a gifted and dynamic hegumen, Filipp, the future metropolitan of the Russian church and, ultimately, the victim of a confrontation with Ivan the Terrible. <...> The Creation of the Sixteenth-century Architectural Ensemble at the Solovetskii-Transfiguration… much of Solovetskii Island over the next eighteen years. <...> Filipp not only greatly enhanced the economic viability of the monastery, he also created monumental buildings of stone and brick such as the Refectory Church of the Dormition and Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior (Spaso-Preobrazhenskii Sobor), among the most interesting examples of late medieval architecture in Russia (Fig. 1). <...> In the words of Olga Savitskaia, a leading specialist in the restoration of this monument: “In the Solovetskii temple (khram) everything is unusual: the exterior form, the interior structure of the spatial composition, the details of the architectural and construction elements.”2 Yet despite the unusual appearance of Transfiguration Monastery, many of its architectural elements are found either in Novgorodian or in Muscovite precursors. <...> Therefore, an examination of the major sixteenth-century architectural monuments of the Solovetskii Transfiguration Monastery must also note the origins of this extraordinary architectural achievement in a culturally and politically <...>