Light & Engineering 33 (1) 2025

Volume 33
Date of publication 02/20/2025
Pages 51–55

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Lighting of the Church in Honour of Saint Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian L&E, Vol.33, No.1, 2025

Articles authors:

Olga A. Averkova, Ksenia P. Tolkacheva

Olga A. Averkova graduated from Tomsk Polytechnic University in 2024 with a degree in Optical Engineering. Her master’s thesis focused on church lighting. Currently, she works as a lighting engineer at Arlight. Her research interests include lighting technology and light design

Ksenia P. Tolkacheva Ph. D. in Technical Sciences, Associate Professor at the Department of Electric Power and Electrical Engineering, Tomsk Polytechnic University. She graduated from TPU in 2009 with a degree in Lighting Engineering and Light Sources. In 2013, she defended her doctoral thesis on “Study of the Energy Efficiency of Outdoor Lighting Installations in Design Using Laser Scanning”. Her research interests include lighting system design and architectural lighting

Abstract:

A church is a sacred space where individuals experience a religious encounter. Church architecture has an ancient history and established canons, setting it apart from secular buildings. Lighting in a church is also governed by tradition, yet for maximum expressiveness, alternative forms can and should be used without altering the essence.
Church architecture interacts with natural light, and when designing artificial lighting, it is essential to consider the effects created by sunlight. The purpose of lighting in a church is to influence a person’s spiritual state through aesthetic sensations.
This article presents an analysis of natural lighting in the Church of Saint Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, which is currently unbuilt, calculated through computer modelling using the DIALux.evo software. Quantitative illumination measurements and the effects of light within the space at different times of the year and day during services were studied.
A project for an artificial lighting system is presented, which supports the spatial hierarchy within the church, provides sufficient illumination for safe visual tasks performed by church staff, and affects the psycho-emotional state of parishioners.

References:

1. Petrov-Spiridonov, N. A. “The Semantics of ‘Created’ and ‘Uncreated’ Light in Russian Church Architecture.” [Petrov-Spiridonov N.A. Semantika “tvarnogo” i “netvarnogo” sveta v russkom tserkovnom zodchestve] // Architecture and Modern Information Technologies, 2021, no. 3(56), pp. 195–213.
2. Ivanovskaya, V. I. “Light and Space in the Interior of an Orthodox Church.” [Ivanovskaya V.I. Svet i prostranstvo v inter’ere pravoslavnogo khrama // Tezisy dokl. XXVII Mezhdunarodnykh Rozhdestvenskikh obrazovatel’nykh chteniy] // In Proceedings of the XXVII International Christmas Educational Readings (Moscow, January 22–25, 2019), Moscow, 2019, pp. 306–311.
3. SR 391.1325800.2017 Orthodox Churches: Design Rules. [SP 391.1325800.2017 Khramy pravoslavnye. Pravila proektirovaniya.] // Effective date: 2018–06–23.
4. SR 52.13330.2016 Natural and Artificial Lighting. [SP 52.13330.2016 Estestvennoe i iskusstvennoe osveshchenie. Aktualizirovannaya redaktsiya SNIP 23–05–95.] // Updated edition of SNIP 23–05–95. Effective date: 2017–05–08.
5. Ilvitskaya, S. V., Shepetkov, D. N., Chervyakov, M.M. The Role of Illumination in Integration and Differential Processes of Visual Perception of Temple Interior Architecture // Light & Engineering, 2021, Vol. 29, # 6, pp. 59–68.

Keywords

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33383/2024-079

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