At Fili, on the western edge of Moscow, stands one of the most accomplished churches of late 17th-century Russia. Built for the Naryshkin family, it gave its name to a whole manner: the Naryshkin baroque, in which Muscovite tradition absorbs European ornament without losing its own logic. The composition is centralised and tiered, a cube surmounted by receding octagons, the whole set on an open arcaded terrace reached by curving stairs. Red brick provides the body, carved white stone the detail, and the contrast of the two gives the building its precision. Filmed in 4K, the programme reads the church as an object in the round, moving from the sweep of the outer stairs to the shell-like ornament of the upper tiers and the vertical drama of the interior. A strong title for architecture and sacred-heritage strands.
