Role of natural landscape in perception of Ukrainian sacral architecture monuments

The article analyses the impact of natural environment on the creation of a Christian church design, as an example, reviews the Orthodox architecture of Ukraine – historical and contemporary one. From time immemorial, Orthodox churches were erected in the most picturesque places – on high hills, steep banks, near rivers and lakes – so that the temple was reflected in the water surface. A typical example is the historical silhouette of the steep right bank of Kyiv, formed by many churches, cathedrals and monasteries located along the edge of the hilly shore. If temples in the urban environment were constrained by the conditions of dense quarterly development (the principal cathedrals and monasteries were an exception), then the peculiarity of the remote suburban monasteries – the hermitages – was precisely the creation of nature and architecture picturesque combination. At the monasteries, parks, gardens and flower beds were created, artificial lakes were arranged. During the domination of the atheistic ideology, temple construction was in decline, most of the cathedrals, churches and monasteries were destroyed or redesigned under the socialist functions of clubs, museums of atheism, schools and storages. The contemporary course in the creation of new Orthodox churches is aimed at restoring the lost sequence in the church building. In this case, particular attention is paid to the natural environment: churches are built in park areas, in forest parks, on the banks of lakes, surrounded by flower beds. The relevance of the study is explained by the presence in Ukraine of a large number of Orthodox churches – both architectural monuments and newly built, which are traditionally surrounded by gardens, parks and flower gardens as symbols of their non-earthly purpose, the image of the Garden of Eden. Therefore, during the restoration and new construction of such objects, it is necessary to understand the features of the сhurch landscape design, which has been formed and improved over the centuries.