Seismic Response of Three-Lobed Shape

Abstract

The paper deals with the three-lobed churches, the most representative creations of the ecclesiastic and monumental architecture preserved in the Carpathian-Danubian-Pontic area. Beginning with the fourteenth century, in Moldavia and Wallachia, the old wooden churches, often threatened by the fire, were replaced with stone or brick masonry ones. Unfortunately, strong and enduring earthquakes occur in this area. The stone and brick masonry, with clay or lime mortars, used for three-lobed churches, including their foundations and steeples, were often severely damaged by earthquakes. According to a legend, in the case of the Church of Arges Monastery, usually the damages occurred during the nights. To save the church, by the virtue of an old myth, the Manole Master has immolated his wife into one of the pronaos walls. By that occasion, the whole pronaos was enlarged and the church was no longer damaged. The later research has shown that by reshaping the pronaos, the relative positions of the weight center and the stiffness center have been reversed. Since then, that beautiful church, during its long service of 503 years, was never damaged again by earthquakes. The same happy fate has been experienced by the subsequent three-lobed churches which adopted the same enlarged pronaos.