Geometric proportional model of the church of the Ljubostinja monastery

Abstract

The use of proportions is one of the oldest theoretical issues in architecture. However, sometimes geometry, with its specific shapes and constraints between them, can fully describe the logic of architectural design. This paper presents geometric proportional schemas of the Serbian medieval church of the monastery Ljubostinja (built around 1387), the representative of so-called Morava architectural style. The research is partly based on Ivo Štambuk’s proportional canon, which he applied on several churches, in wider Mediterranean region during prolonged period of time (4th to 15th c.). Štambuk’s proportional canon is based on two circles and one equilateral triangle constrained to each other and set relative to characteristic points of the church plan and cross-section, above all the location of the altar and the center of the church dome. By adding principles of triangulation and dynamic rectangles, this paper demonstrates more precise proportional model of the church plan and the cross-section through the dome. Results show that the proportions of the Ljubostinja’s church can be interpreted by dynamic rectangles (their diagonals are square roots of full numbers) with ratios 1:√2, 1:√3, 1:√5 and, in addition, by specific scheme of equilateral triangles which are constrained to the characteristic points of the church space: center point of the apse and the dome.