The Role of Stained Glass in the Sacred Visual Semiosis of Religious Buildings in Crimea

Kotliar Elena Romanovna PhD in Art History Associate Professor, Department of Visual and Decorative Art, Crimean Engineering and Pedagogical University named after Fevzi Yakubov 295015, Russia, Republic of Crimea, Simferopol, lane. Educational, 8, room 337 allenkott@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Kuznetsova-Bondarenko Ekaterina Sergeevna Senior lecturer, Department of Decorative Arts, State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "Crimean Engineering and Pedagogical University named after Fevzi Yakubov" 295015, Russia, Republic of Crimea, Crimea, lane. Educational, 8, room 337 allenkott@mail.ru

Visual semiosis is a subsection of semiotics, a science that analyzes sign systems and their connections.

According to the philosophical dictionary, the main functions of sign systems include: a) transmission of a message or expression of meaning;
b) communication, human interaction, emotional impact. The implementation of these functions requires the presence of certain sign systems and the laws of their application. In accordance with this, there are three main sections of semiotics: 1) syntactics, which studies the internal structure of a sign system; 2) semantics, the subject of which is the meaning of signs; 3) pragmatics, which studies groups of people using certain sign systems.

Semiotics, as a philosophical trend, emerged at the end of the XIX century, simultaneously developing in two directions: semiology and pragmatics. The foundations of semiological research are contained in the works of the Swiss philosopher, linguist and semiotic Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), who dealt with the semiotics of the linguistic sign and derived the concept of a "two-sided sign" consisting of a signifier (word) and a signified (form value).  The connection of the signifier and the signified, according to Saussure, is conditional: the meanings of the sign may differ for different groups of people.

The founder of pragmatics was the American philosopher, mathematician and logician Charles Sanders Pierce (1839-1914), who considered signs (both artificial, for example, letters, and natural, for example, psychological reactions) from the point of view of logic. The scientist believed that the whole universe consists of signs, the decoding of which lends itself to logic. In other words, a sign can be called anything that means (for a certain person or group of people) a certain object. At the same time, Pierce called symbols signs that do not outwardly resemble the signified object, but have an arbitrary ratio adopted by a certain group of people.

The Belgian Association of Semiotic Authors Mu (transcription of the Greek letter ?) (founded in 1967), operating at the University of Liege, in the 70s– 80s, developed the structure of semiotics, according to which signs function on three levels: iconic, symbolic or index.

Italian philosopher, cultural theorist, specialist in semiotics and medieval aesthetics, writer Umberto Eco (1932 – 2016), relying in his research on the development of the concept of the sign of Ch. Pierce, developed the concept of a sign and a set of signs to codes that mean not a specific, but a generalized object. In his work on the theory of semiotics, published in 1976, U. Eco called a message transmitted by a sign or a series of signs a text.

The theory of cultural text has become one of the key postulates concerning ethno-cultural interaction put forward by the Soviet and Russian cultural critic and semiotic Yuri Mikhailovich Lotman (1922-1993). He is the author of the theory of the "semiosphere" of culture created on the basis of the works of French structuralists. In Lotman's works, the concept of a single mechanism of semiotic space is presented: "the semiotic universe, as a set of separate texts and languages closed in relation to each other" ^[7;8]. It is Lotman who begins to address the concepts of "language" and "text" not only as a "system of signs, a means of communication, a storage system and the transmission of information", but without abolishing this definition, considers these categories in the context of cultural semiotics.  Subsequently, the Russian cultural critic Andrey Yakovlevich Flier (born 1950) includes the definition of "Cultural text" in the thesaurus of the main cultural concepts.

The theory of cultural text was addressed in their works by the Russian cultural critic and art theorist Nikolai Andreevich Khrenov (born 1942), the Russian historian and cultural critic Alexander Alekseevich Khlevov (born 1969), the Russian cultural critic and art theorist Igor Vadimovich Kondakov (born 1947), the Russian cultural critic Diana Sergeevna Berestovskaya (1934-2020), etc.The fundamental work of the German philosopher and culturologist Ernst Kassirer (1874-1945) is devoted to ethno–cultural semiotics and philosophy of symbolic forms, who noted the stability of symbol systems - "invariant structures" in culture that remain unchanged during historical development, and believed that they reveal the essence of human consciousness, expressed in the synthesis of opposites ^[5].

Some articles of the Crimean poet, publicist, artist, philosopher Maximilian Alexandrovich Voloshin (Kiriyenko-Voloshin) (1877-1932) are devoted to the history of Crimean art and the formation of the "Crimean style", mainly he pays attention to the formation of the stylistics of architecture and its ornaments, the mutual influence of Turkic and Arabic (so-called. "Moorish") styles and the formation on their basis of their own identity of the art of ornamentation. Historian, researcher of the Crimean stone–cutting plastic Elena Akimovna Aibabina (born 1947) in the book "Decorative stone carving of Kaffa XIV-XVIII centuries." uses the term "Crimean style" in relation to decorative and applied stone-cutting art, considering examples of the synthesis of ornamental elements in the cultures of different peoples of the Crimea and the formation of a single recognizable image of Crimean art ^[1] A number of works are devoted to the analysis of individual historical and cultural monuments, including elements of folk decorative and applied art.

Oleg Arshavirovich Gabrielyan (born 1956) notes that the geographical (peninsular) essence of Crimea reveals an inner meaning (logos) in the peninsula as a place (topos), in which a deep and even sacred meaning is seen; the researcher considers the autonomy of culture an ontological feature of the existence of Crimea. In his opinion, the diverse Crimean texts that make up the ontological polytextual essence of Crimea, at the same time remain self-sufficient, that is, none of them becomes dominant ^{[2, p. 21]}. 

Visual (visual) semiosis is an important component of cultural texts of art, ranging from historical and ethnic to modern: fine and decorative arts, theater, cinema, ballet, television, Internet resources. In each of these types of communication, visual signs and allegorical (symbolic or allegorical) reading of certain visual elements that make up the texts of ethnic, historical and modern cultures are important ^[5]. Without deciphering the symbols that make up the visual semiosis, it is also impossible to read a cultural text, including a text that has a sacred meaning.

Visual semiosis in the cultural texts of the sacred space of temples and prayer houses plays a huge role, since it is a defining cultural identifier ^[4]. Using the term "sacred visual semiosis" we mean not only pictorial symbols related to a particular religious doctrine (for example, iconic symbols in paintings, mosaics, icons, and other religious objects), but also visual components that also create a special atmosphere in temples and prayer houses (liturgical rituals, for example incense burning and the movement of smoke towards the dome, certain movements of the clergy, etc.). The sacred visual space of the temple, in our opinion, is formed as a result of the synthesis of these two symbolic forms: objective and abstract. It is this combination that makes the temple space unique, distinguishes it from the household, utilitarian sphere.

In this article we will talk about such a visual temple element as a stained glass window. The stained glass window in the space of the temple combines both designated components of the visual semiosis: both symbolic, figurative (through the symbolism of the images on the stained-glass windows) and abstract, creating a special atmosphere and prayerful mood in the sacred space of the temple when the sun rays penetrate. The uniqueness of the temple stained glass of the Crimea lies in the fact that both the eastern (geometric, phytomorphic) and western (figurative) are organically combined on the territory of the peninsula the type of stained glass decoration, which is primarily due to its geographical location and the historically developed polyethnicity and polyconfessional nature of the region. The Crimean climate also plays an important role for stained glass art: due to the large number of sunny days and the penetration of rays through window openings at different angles, various variations of multicolored highlights and effects are created in the interiors, creating a general atmosphere of fabulousness, "sacredness", "otherness", as well as expressing hidden meanings through the symbolism of color ^[9]. At the same time, stained glass, unlike painting or mosaics, is not a historically characteristic monumental technique of the temple decor of the Crimea, in any case, all the stained glass windows we have taken as examples in temple spaces date back to the period no earlier than the XIX century, so we can trace a relatively small ontogenesis of stained glass in this territory.

The choice of specific temples considered by us in the article is due to their greatest characteristic: significant planes of stained glass volumes serving as a compositional accentualization of space.The peoples, ethnocultures, state associations that left their mark on the territory of Crimea were characterized primarily by the religious orientation of culture, and not by anthropological features ^[10].

The famous Russian culturologist and sociologist Nikolai Yakovlevich Danilevsky (1822-1885) in his program work "Russia and Europe" (1869) deduced a number of "cultural and historical types", one of the most important categories defining which is religion. "Religion is the moral basis of any activity" ^{[3, p. 157]}, "Religion is the predominant interest for the people at all times of their life" ^{[3, p. 225]}, "Religion was the most essential, dominant (almost exclusively) content of ancient (...) life, and (...) in it it is the prevailing spiritual interest of ordinary (...) people" ^{[3, p. 577]}. Ethnic identity, therefore, was based historically (before the globalization of the twentieth century), primarily on religious dogmas. This thesis is also confirmed by other ethnographers, in particular, V. V. Stasov.Throughout its history, various religious trends have existed (and still exist) in Crimea:

- polytheism of the Greeks, Scythians, Sarmatians;

- Orthodox Christianity of Byzantium, the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicism of the Genoese, Protestantism of the peoples invited to the Crimea by Catherine (Germans, Baltic peoples);

- Judaism of Karaites (Karaism), Krymchaks (Sephardim) and Jews (Ashkenazim);

- Islam of the Crimean Tatars and Turks.

At all times of the existence of certain ethno-confessional communities, the most significant material and spiritual consolidation was a temple or a house of prayer. The space of a special room for prayer (a prayer house, in some confessions, for example, in Christianity, called a temple), has always had a sacred, symbolic meaning set forth in the prescriptions, in the Abrahamic religions their main source is the Torah. The symbolic role was played not only by the total volume of the building, but also by the location of the altar part relative to the cardinal directions, the size and shape of its parts, the number of door and window openings. Observance of sacred and symbolic laws and regulations in the architecture of prayer buildings prevails both over the utilitarian purpose of the building and over its stylistics.

The prototype of Jewish, Christian and Muslim prayer houses was the Jerusalem Temple built by King Solomon. According to the biblical story, King David moved the Tabernacle of the Covenant to Jerusalem, where his son, King Solomon (c. 967– 928 BC), built the First Temple. In 586 BC, the First Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and a significant part of Judea was taken into Babylonian captivity. After the conquest of Babylonia by the Persian king Cyrus (c. 590-530 BC), they were given permission to restore the Temple. During the reign of King Herod (74-4 BC), the Temple was rebuilt and expanded. The second Temple existed until the Jewish War (66-73), and was burned during the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman emperor Titus.

The temple or prayer house was the architectural dominant in the community's place of residence. The buildings of temples and houses of worship provided a safe haven for the ethnic community during wars and disasters ^[11]. It was the basis for preserving traditions ^[13], and its appearance reflected the social and property status of the community of the corresponding city or place.

The center of the Jewish communities of the Crimea was a synagogue, the Karaites – kenas, the Crimeans – kaal ^[13]. Unlike the destroyed Jerusalem Temple, the main and only Jewish shrine at all times, the synagogue (Greek) or Beit Knesset (Hebrew) literally meant "meeting house".  The synagogue served as a center for community life, a prayer hall and a public meeting. The Krymchak kaal (kagal) – "community" (Hebrew) had the same purpose  and Karaite kenasa (the same as Beit knesset).

The architectural form of kenas and kaals in Crimea earlier (before the era of architectural eclecticism of modernity, the end of the XIX century) was distinguished by a stricter, straightforward style, almost complete absence of decor in the exterior, although the main volumes and their purpose remained the same as in synagogues. The influence of the Baroque in Karaite and Krymchak prayer houses was much less pronounced than in synagogues, and manifested itself only in certain forms of ritual objects, but not in architecture, which is obviously due to the borrowing in the architecture of the Crimea of the generally accepted geometric stylistics of Asia Minor and the rigor of its architectural forms. It is worth noting that even the architecture of the Ashkenazi craft synagogue Yeghia Kapai in Yevpatoria, founded in 1911, is distinguished by a strict basilic form, practically without external decorations, except for a small pediment with the image of tablets and an arcature belt on the facade. At the same time, the architecture of the Kenas of Galician and Lithuanian Karaites is distinguished by a more traditional Spanish-Moorish flavor inherent in the Mudekhar style, with an abundance of decorative elements, including on the facades, as well as the architecture of the kenas built in 1896 in Simferopol, inscribed in the general style of elegant "Crimean" Art Nouveau with an eastern ethnic flavor ^[12].

The altar part of the Ashkenazi Jewish synagogue is always oriented to the east (to Jerusalem), according to the direction from which the Jewish religion came, respectively, the entrance is located on the western facade. Unlike the synagogue, the altar of Kenasa and kaala is oriented to the south, which is connected with the actual southern direction of Jerusalem from the Crimea.

The interior of the synagogue, kenasa and kaal represents the tabernacle of the Covenant, built by the Jews in the desert, and later the temple of Solomon, who repeated the tabernacle. In terms of the synagogue, the kaal and kenasa are most often a rectangular room divided into three zones, different in practical and symbolic meaning: gehal, shulkhan, Moshav zekkenim, Ezrat nashe.

At the eastern wall of the synagogue and at the southern wall – kenasa and kaala, there is a Gehal – "temple, sanctuary" (Hebrew) – the altar, in the center of which is Aron-Hakodesh (among Ashkenazim) or Gehal (among Sephardim (including Krymchaks) and Karaites) – an altar carved cabinet for storing the main Jewish shrine – the Torah scroll. The niche with the Torah is closed with a special curtain – a parochet made of velvet or brocade embroidered with gold threads. Near the ark there is an amud – a music stand for hazzan with a shivviti – a tablet with the inscription "I always represent the Lord before me." Aron-Hakodesh also houses a seven–candle Menorah, which is one of the main Jewish symbols.

In the center of the hall, the main part for prayer, called shulkhan – "table" (Hebrew), there is a square elevation in the form of a pulpit – bim, with a pillar – lectern, or shulkhan table, on which the Torah is read and the cantor choir is singing (in the absence of a specially attached balcony above the prayer hall – choirs).

Choral synagogues, as a rule, were built in large communities, mainly in cities. These were spacious, elegant and bright buildings in which cantor singing was practiced (a synagogue choir under the direction of a "cantor" – conductor). It is the presence of a choir that determines the common name of synagogues of this type – "Choral Synagogue".

The most famous Karaite architectural monuments in Crimea are the kenas of Chufut-Kale in the vicinity of Bakhchisarai (Bolshaya Kenasa – XIV century, Malaya Kenasa – XVIII century), the complex of Karaite kenas in Yevpatoria (construction began in 1803, the entrance portal was made in 1889-1890), Karaite kenasa in Simferopol, erected in an elegant Moorish style, Karaite kenasa in Feodosia, presumably dated 1292.

Among the Crimean monuments, the most significant were the ancient kaals in Karasubazar (Belogorsk) (1516) and Cafes (Feodosia) (1309), but there were prayer houses of the Crimean people in other cities where Crimean communities functioned, including in Simferopol.

Most of the Jewish prayer houses were destroyed during the two World Wars, as well as in the Soviet post-war period; units of Jewish prayer houses have partially survived to this day, most often they were those that served the needs of the city in Soviet times (such as the placement of a cinema in the Alushta synagogue, or a warehouse in the Simferopol kenas). Objects (or fragments of them) attributed to the museum fund have also been partially preserved: the kenas complex on Chufut-Kale, the kenas complex in Yevpatoria, the kaal in Belogorsk.

Unlike Jewish houses of worship, the church in the Christian vocabulary is called a temple, considering that it is the "house of God", where his spirit is present. The interior of the Christian church, as well as in the Jewish prayer house, is divided into three zones: the vestibule (entrance part), the main room for worshippers and the altar, where the rites of preparation of Communion are performed and where only church servants can enter. In the church, as in the synagogue, according to the type of the Jerusalem temple, there are key zones and attributes: in the altar there is a sacrificial (altar) table for preparing a symbolic sacrifice-Communion, a seven-candle Menorah is placed near it, a table for Bread offerings is located on the side. Unlike the Jewish altars, which are a cabinet for storing the central shrine – the Torah, the Christian altar is a full-fledged room where the rites performed by the clergy take place. The altar part is separated from the main room by an iconostasis partition, on which images (icons) are placed in a certain order Jesus Christ, the Mother of God and other saints. In the center of the church, like the bimah in the synagogue, there is sometimes an elevation for the episcopal ministry – the "bishop's place". Lecterns for icons and Bible readings, icons (and/or wall paintings) are placed in the central hall they are also usually placed on the walls of the church.

The style of the Crimean churches corresponds to the period of their creation and the style generally accepted at that time. The oldest surviving Christian churches in Crimea is the Church of St. John the Baptist in Kerch, founded in the 10th century, built in a strict Byzantine cross–domed style, with strict decor. Medieval Christian churches include the Armenian monastery of Surb Khach, the Church of St. John the Baptist in the Old Crimea and some other buildings that have a basilic form and a strict geometric style of fortress-type structures with thick walls and natural unpainted stone facades. Later, in the XIX century, some other churches were built in the neo-Byzantine style, some of the most significant examples are St. Nicholas Cathedral in Yevpatoria and the Greek Catholic Cathedral in Yevpatoria. Since the XVIII–XIX century. the main generally accepted style of interior decoration of Christian churches in Crimea is Baroque, but the exterior of the temples are very diverse, they combine features of different styles, from Byzantine to Baroque, Rococo and Oriental Mudekhar style. This is due to the mutual influence of the traditions of numerous national cultures on each other, including artistic ones.

The interior space of Crimean mosques, unlike churches and Jewish prayer houses, is characterized by asceticism in connection with the official doctrine of Islam. The mosque space is intended for prayers, and nothing earthly should distract the worshipper. The mosque necessarily includes three main architectural components: the niche-mihrab, oriented to the south (to Mecca), where the worshipper should turn his face; the minbar-the pulpit of the mullah, located to the right of the mihrab; the repository of the holy Quran. Mosques in the Muslim community, as well as churches in the Christian and Jewish prayer houses, played the role of cultural and educational centers. Madrassas-religious schools functioned with them, mosques gathered for celebration and mourning, people communicated with sages and with each other in them. During the Middle Ages, mosques also served as a fortified fortress for the community.

The oldest building preserved in the Crimea is the Uzbek mosque in the Old Crimea of the medieval fortress type, the construction of which dates back to the XIV century. Most of the later Crimean mosques are built in the Byzantine style, which becomes the "official" style of cult Islamic architecture. The model for them was the Hagia Sophia Mosque in Constantinople, which functioned as the Hagia Sophia Cathedral before the Ottoman conquest. Thus, the Byzantine style is common for Crimean religious buildings, both Christian and Muslim. In particular, the Juma-Jami mosque in Yevpatoria, Mufti-Jami in Feodosia, Kebir-Jami in Simferopol, etc. were built in the Byzantine style. It should also be noted that the Baroque style, common in the interior decoration of churches and synagogues in Crimea, was not welcomed in mosques, where the interior was much more ascetic. The exception is also the Armenian temples, built in the medieval ascetic style.

Various types of decorative and applied art were used in the decoration of walls and cult attributes of prayer houses of all three confessional directions: wall paintings, stone and wood carvings, metal art products, art textiles. Stained glass art was not characteristic of this region, although inserts of colored glass were sometimes observed in the windows of well-to-do houses and houses of worship. As a rule, these were only solid fragments of glass, without any images on them. It is worth noting that this kind of window decoration with colored glass (with the advent of technologies for producing colored glass) has developed autonomously in different parts of the world. The heyday of the world's stained glass art was the period of the Middle Ages, when stained glass windows became an integral part of Gothic temple architecture. However, in the history of the artistic culture of the Crimea there are no preserved artifacts of the presence of full-fledged stained glass windows or mentions of them in written sources.

Stained glass windows in Crimea appeared by the end of the XIX century, with the advent of the Russian Empire. Among the religious buildings of Crimea, several Orthodox cathedrals were decorated with stained glass windows (Holy Trinity Cathedral in Simferopol, the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Feodosia, the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the Church of St. Elijah in Yevpatoria), the Roman Catholic Church in Yalta, the Juma-Jami Mosque in Yevpatoria, Karaite kenas in Simferopol, Chufut-Kale and Yevpatoria.

One of the earliest surviving religious buildings of the Crimea, in the decor of which there are stained glass windows, is a complex of Karaite kenas in Yevpatoria, the construction of which dates back to the beginning of the XIX century. (the beginning of construction in 1803 – completion in 1818). Today the complex functions as a prayer house and a museum at the same time.

Stained glass windows are installed in the openings of the courtyard of the Bolshaya Kenasa – Azara. The portico is a glazed canopy, which is supported by marble columns connected by arches. The number of columns, namely thirteen, is a significant number in Judaism (for example, the total number of commandments in the Torah is 613, 13 columns of the Temple are also described, etc.). The space between the columns is filled with stained glass windows.

There are six arched stained glass windows in the three-leaf window frames, six more are placed in the double-leaf windows, and two more are in the double-leaf door panels. Stained glass windows are also decorated with two single-leaf window frames and a door leaf.

The main compositional technique in the design of the kenas stained glass decor is the diagonal linear rhythms of the lintels and the alternation of diamond-shaped shapes. The rhombus is an iconic figure in Judaism. A rhombus consisting of two multidirectional triangles carries the same meaning as the Magendavid – the Star of David: a combination of heaven and earth, masculine and feminine, good and evil, heavenly (spiritual) and earthly. The main colors of kenasa stained glass windows are blue, yellow, and red. The symbolism of the blue color in the Karaite tradition is associated with the name of God  Kek Tengri (Turkish) – "Blue sky". The etymology of this word goes back to the ancient Turkic polytheistic beliefs, echoes of which can be traced in the language and traditions of the Crimean Karaites and Crimeans. Yellow color means the sun and gold (wealth and prosperity, prosperity). Red represents sacrifice to God.

At its core, the windows of the portico of the bolshaya Kenasa are not stained glass in the classical sense, since they do not include any images, they are colored glazing of openings, creating a play of light in the interior, like stained glass windows. The same principle applies in the kenas of the medieval city of Chufut-Kale, which for a long time was predominantly Karaite. The colored glasses of the same three primary colors placed in the windows of the ancient kenas enliven the space of the prayer building and represent the symbolic meaning of color.

A similar principle of colored glazing can be traced in the design of window openings of some Muslim mosques, in particular, the very famous Yevpatoria mosque Juma-Jami, the construction of which dates back to the XVI century. The creator of the mosque was the famous Turkish architect Khoja Sinan, who introduced elements characteristic of the Islamic East into the volumes and decor of the building, in particular, window openings in the form of pointed arches. The windows in the mosque are arranged in tiers rhythmically repeating the general shape of the wall. The north wall includes eight window openings, the west and east have five windows each. From the east and west of the building are adjacent galleries, including 12 windows.

The mosque's windows include stained glass windows using four colors: green, yellow, red and blue. Each of the flowers symbolizes the four seasons, and their combination is personified as eternity. The southern part is made in warm shades, the northern – in cold. The blue color in the Muslim semiosis, as in Karaite, means the Sky – Kek Tengri. Red is a protective, protective color. Yellow, like the Karaites, symbolizes wealth and well-being. The green color is a symbol of holiness, the color of the Prophet Mohammed, the Aziz (saints) and the Hajj (pilgrims who made the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca). Unlike kenas, the stained glass windows in the Juma-Jami mosque have a subject structure, including images of flowerpots with flowers – symbols of the paradise tree, one of the components of the Muslim paradise. Also in the openings of the mosque windows there are images of the hexagon – the Star of Daoud, as a symbol of the Old Testament continuity, and the octagon Rub-al-Hizb – a symbol of Chaos and Creation.

A striking example of stained glass compositions in the religious buildings of the Crimea are the stained glass windows of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Simferopol. The cathedral was built in 1868 by architect Ivan Fedorovich Kolodin (1788-after 1838). Stained glass windows are decorated with the windows of the main prayer hall of the cathedral and the openings of the octagonal light drum crowning the building ^[11]. 

The cathedral has ten stained glass windows with geometric ornaments, eight of which are in the aisles, two behind the altar and two more inside the church in front of the altar. The window openings of the naves have an arched shape.  The stained glass window consists of an eight-beam rosette in the center of the arch and an ornamental stripe along its edge. The eight-pointed star in Christianity is a symbol of the Christmas Star, Heavenly Jerusalem, Paradise, and the final Transfiguration ^[24]. The octogram also represents eight periods in the history of mankind: The seven rays represent the seven ages of the Creator and the eighth ray is a symbol of the Kingdom of God ^[6].

The fragments that make up the linear rapport framing the windows are based on the image of an equi–pointed cross, which is an early form of the Christian cross and symbolizes the four cardinal directions where the gospel spreads, as well as the four evangelist apostles.

All stained glass windows are made in the classic lead-soldered style, the colored glass used in it harmoniously combines with transparent and textured glass. The main colors for stained glass windows are blue, red, light blue and yellow. In Christian symbolism, their interpretation is as follows: blue and blue colors are the personification of the Mother of God, deep spirituality, heavenly peace. The red color represents the sufferings of Christ and the saints who suffered for the faith. The yellow (golden) color represents the sun, the radiance of faith.

The difference between the stained–glass windows located in front of the altar is the presence in the central part (instead of a rosette) of the figurative face of the Mother of God. This stained glass window is made taking into account the classical iconographic canons established by the Ecumenical Council and characteristic of the Orthodox (Orthodox) Church.

In 1893, in Yevpatoria, in honor of the liberation from the Anglo-Turkish-French troops during the Crimean War, a cathedral was founded in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The cathedral was built in the Byzantine style by Alexander Osipovich Bernardazzi (1831-1907).

The arched window openings in the main structure and drum, characteristic of Byzantine architecture, are decorated with classical soldered geometric stained glass windows with round fragments. In the upper semicircular part of each window there is an image of the rising sun, which is a symbol of Christ. Yellow, blue and white glass colors are used in the inserts. Similar in composition and color design are the stained-glass windows of the arched windows of the Cathedral of the Kazan Mother of God in Feodosia, dating from 1907 and erected according to the project of Heinrich Ludvigovich Keil (1871-1907).

In 1906, the Roman Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in Yalta according to the project of the famous architect Nikolai Petrovich Krasnov (1864-1939). The cathedral includes 16 stained glass windows in the form of pointed arches, six of which are located in the altar part of the temple. Stained glass compositions made in the classical soldered style include combinations of geometric elements: an equi-pointed cross, a rhombus and a four-leaf clover. The quatrefoil in Catholicism, due to its similarity to the cross, is a symbol of good luck and the four Gospels that make up the New Testament. The image of the rhombus in the composition is interpreted as a symbol of the Virgin Mary's chastity.

In the pointed arch of the stained glass window there is a stylized image of an egg – a symbol of life, Resurrection. The white color of the shell symbolizes purity and perfection, as well as chastity. Also, the image of an egg represents a harmonious structure of the world, where the shell is the vault of heaven, the protein is water, and the yolk is fire.

Purple glass was chosen as the background for the stained glass composition. In Christian doctrine, purple was interpreted as a symbol of silence, self-denial and secret knowledge. The purple color also personified the image of Mary Magdalene. Fragments of Catholic crosses are made of green glass. The green color is a symbol of eternal life. The rhombuses, in which the images of crosses are inscribed, are made of white glass. The combination of blue (spiritual) and white (immaculate) is also the image of the Mother of God. A similar combination of colors is read in the almond–shaped form - mandorla, which was a common symbol of the immaculate conception ^[6].

Analyzing the significance of stained glass windows in the sacred space of Crimean temples and prayer houses, we can conclude that, despite the fact that classical stained glass appeared in Crimea only at the end of the XIX century, colored glazing was present on this territory earlier. However, figurative stained glass has not become the main trend in the sacred architecture of the Crimea, the main place in its semiosis is occupied by abstract geometric, less often floral ornaments. The stained glass window combines both components of the sacred visual semiosis: both subject-symbolic (through a pictorial sign) and abstract-symbolic (through creating an atmosphere with the help of color highlights). An important role in this context is played by the symbolism of the object, shape and color, through which a hidden meaning is transmitted, significant for a particular ethno-confessional community.