METHODS USED IN THE FORMATION OF THE TRADITIONAL CHARACTER OF THE HISTORICAL ENVIRONMENT OF CATHEDRAL SQUARE IN ODESSA (UKRAINE) WITH THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE LOST OBJECT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE – TRANSFIGURATION CATHEDRAL

In 1936, in Odessa, the largest temple of the North-Western Black Sea region, the
Transfiguration Cathedral on Cathedral Square, was barbarously destroyed. By this time, the
Cathedral had undergone the robbery of valuables, legalized by the Soviet state, with the destruction
of relics. Since 1991, on an initiative basis, the creative team of architects and students of the Odessa
Civil Engineering Institute began to collect initial data and develop a project to recreate this
outstanding lost object of the cultural heritage of Ukraine. In 1999, the team of architects of the
communal enterprise "Odesproject" won the all-Ukrainian open competition for the best project for
the reconstruction of the temple and began to develop scientific and design documentation, according
to which in 2000 construction and installation work began on Cathedral Square. Since 2002,
scientific and project documentation on the architectural and decorative finishing of the facades and
engineering support of the Cathedral, the interiors of the Lower and Upper Churches, the Andreevsky
Hall, baptisms for children and adults - was developed by the architectural studio "M-Studio". When
carrying out a complex of preparatory work, the development of a draft design, working
documentation, interior designs, scientific support and field supervision, the authors used scientific
and practical research methods, which helped to substantiate and accept decisions for
implementation, which were subsequently detailed in the scientific and design documentation.
The article presents the main research methods that were used to recreate the outstanding lost
cultural heritage of Ukraine – Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa, 1991-2010. The methods used
in the reconstruction of the Cathedral are conditionally divided into two groups: the first group
concerns the formation of the traditional character of the historical environment of the Cathedral
Square and the second - the formation of the image of the restored Cathedral, including its interiors.
Presents 21 methods from the first group, these methods were used in the study and formation of the
traditional character of the historical environment of the Cathedral Square and the facades of the
Cathedral: Building sanitation, Revealing layers, System approach, Compliance with the prototype,
Field surveys, Archaeological research, Architectural and geodetic measurements, Analysis and
Synthesis, Hypotheses, Architectural Yantra, Paradigms, Photogrammetric Reconstruction,
Prototyping, Modeling, Logic, Citizens Informing, Comparison, Brainstorming, Visual Shading,
Manufacturability, Collectiveness. The methods used in the reconstruction of the Cathedral
contributed to the adoption of the most acceptable scientific and design decisions both in terms of the
formation of the traditional character of the historical environment of Odessa Cathedral Square, and
in the formation of the image of the Cathedral, including the interiors of its Upper and Lower
Temples. The article can be useful for specialists working in the field of reconstruction of outstanding
lost objects of cultural heritage.