Russian Onion Domes

Piece #5 of 100

Here’s another one I never saw Mom wear, but I love it. I googled “Russian spires” to get a bit of history of this type of architecture. Here’s what I learned from Wikipedia, loosely paraphrased as follows: Onion domes became a typical feature of Russian architecture starting with Byzantine churches. The largest onion domes were erected in the seventeenth century in the area around Yaroslavl. Pear-shaped domes are usually associated with Ukrainian Baroque, while cone-shaped domes are typical for Orthodox churches of Transcaucasia.

Mom never traveled to Russia, and never wanted to. I actually brought the topic up recently at lunch. I was digging for some background for this post, actually. And Mom wrinkled her nose, in her special way, meaning “Ick!” Why did she never want to see Russia? It’s so third world, she replied. Well, I answered, you loved Morocco and you considered that third world. And then the REAL answer was revealed. “There’d be nothing to buy there!”

So, while is certainly not really true, it was true for her. She traveled to shop. And in her mind, there was nothing to buy there, so she didn’t have any desire to go there!

I wonder where she got this gold tone pin? I’m thinking maybe it was a garage sale treasure. I think I’d like to put it on a jacket lapel.

The piece is signed “JJ” which is a mark used by the Jonette Jewelry Company (founded in 1943) that was first used in 1970. With a little bit of googling, I was able to discover that the church in the brooch is the Church of the Savior on Blood of St. Petersburg. The name refers to the blood of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, who was assassinated on that site in 1881. Look at this picture from Wikipedia. After looking at the photo, is there any doubt in your mind that I’m right?