Bochka roof or simply bochka is the type of roof in the traditional Russian architecture

Russian architecture

Russian architecture follows a tradition whose roots were established in the Eastern Slavic state of Kievan Rus'. After the fall of Kiev, Russian architectural history continued in the principalities of Vladimir-Suzdal, Novgorod, the succeeding states of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire,...

 that has a form of half-cylinder

Cylinder (geometry)

A cylinder is one of the most basic curvilinear geometric shapes, the surface formed by the points at a fixed distance from a given line segment, the axis of the cylinder. The solid enclosed by this surface and by two planes perpendicular to the axis is also called a cylinder...

 with elevated and sharpened upper part, resembling the sharpened kokoshnik

Kokoshnik (architecture)

Kokoshnik is a semicircular or keel-like exterior decorative element in the traditional Russian architecture, a type of corbel zakomara . Unlike zakomara that continues the curvature of the vault behind and carries a part of the vault's weight, kokoshnik is pure decoration and doesn't carry any...

. In English it is sometimes designated by the term barrel roof

Barrel roof

A barrel roof is a curved roof that, especially from below, is curved like a cut-away barrel. They have some advantages over dome roofs, especially being able to cover rectangular buildings., due to their uniform cross-section....

, but the confusion may arise here, since outside Russia barrel roofs are just simple curved roofs, resembling a cut-away barrel

Barrel

A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container, traditionally made of vertical wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. Traditionally, the barrel was a standard size of measure referring to a set capacity or weight of a given commodity. A small barrel is called a keg.For example, a...

 from inside.

Typically made of wood, bochka roof was extensively used both in the church and civilian architecture in the 17th-18th centuries. Later it was sometimes used in the Russian Revival

Russian Revival

The Russian Revival style is the generic term for a number of different movements within Russian architecture that arose in second quarter of the 19th century and was an eclectic melding of pre-Peterine Russian architecture and elements of Byzantine architecture.The Russian Revival style arose...

 style buildings.

The intersection of two bochkas forms a so called cross bochka , or cube cover .

External links

• Bochka (architecture) at the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
  Great Soviet Encyclopedia
  The Great Soviet Encyclopedia is one of the largest and most comprehensive encyclopedias in Russian and in the world, issued by the Soviet state from 1926 to 1990, and again since 2002 .-Editions:There were three editions...
  
  
• An illustration of the cross bochka