Tented roof

In the Queen Anne Victorian style, it took the form of a wooden turret with an octagonal base with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak, usually topped with a finial.

It took the form of a polygonal spire but differed in purpose in that it was typically used to roof the main internal space of a church, rather than as an auxiliary structure.

However, Zagraevsky has argued that the earliest use of the stone tented roof was in the Trinity Church in Alexandrov, built in the 1510s.

Two prime examples dating from his reign employ several tents of exotic shapes and colours arranged in a complicated design.

In the Nativity Church at Putinki, in Moscow, this trend was pushed to its limit, as there are five major and three minor tents used in the construction.

Only in the late 19th century was the ban lifted, and the tented roof design was revived in such remarkable monuments as the Church of the Savior on Blood in Saint Petersburg and St. Peter and Paul's Cathedral in Peterhof.