Calling to heaven

The cupolas , clad with unalloyed gold - to more often the Lord noticed.

St. Nicholas naval Cathedral. Saint-Petersburg

It so happened so far that the gilding of the temple domes remains the ideal of Church construction. Gold in human consciousness is a symbol of incorruptibility, a symbol of eternal Existence.

Cathedral in Pushkin, Leningrad region

In Russia, this custom, to cover the dome with gold, came from Byzantium, when ,after the adoption of Orthodoxy, the question arose about the construction of temples. This metal in the soul of an Orthodox person is not connected with wealth, but with God, with eternal life, with heavenly glory. It is a sign of immortality, greatness and flaming faith.

Isaakievsky cathedral. Saint-Petersburg

It is believed that the Golden domes in the shape of an onion symbolize a burning wax candle and are a prayer and appeal of Orthodox people to God. Of course, in this sacred sense of the dome cover a thin layer of gilding was and is the practical meaning Golden dome could repair stand 100 years – gold securely closed the iron from corrosion and protected from all weather conditions.

this photo served as a model for my drawing

The work of the master, who performed the work of gilding, was very harmful to health and therefore good masters did not have a long life. For example, it is known that when gilding the domes of St. Isaac's Cathedral in the XIX century from mercury poisoning died 60 goldsmiths, and all the dome was spent about a hundred kilograms of gold.

Today I also showed you my new work "Domes" step by step. This is a view of the dome of the Peter and Paul fortress (Peter and Paul Cathedral and the Royal tomb of the Romanov dynasty) All photos are original and made with the camera SONY DSC-W350

I use paper for watercolor Fabriano Artistic, watercolor, graphic pencil, eraser, round brush synthetic №1,2,7