Dean McKenzie, an expert in ancient Greek and Roman art, Medieval art and Russian and Byzantine icons is giving a lecture on Russian Orthodox church architecture. During his twenty year time as in instructor at the University of Oregon, McKenzie traveled to Russia to study the architecture found all across the country. Being a central religion in Russia, Orthodox Christianity has numerous churches to be seen and visited, which gave McKenzie plenty of material to draw from. Some examples from his work include the Cathedral of St. Vasily the Blessed from the Red Square in Moscow, the Church of Saint Nicholas from Juneau Alaska and another from a remote Aleutian chain island.

Now eight photos from his travels are installed and on display in the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art as well as a detailed digital collection of 25 other photos. In addition to the pictures he took, McKenzie will be presenting and analyzing miniature models of various churches said Debbie Williamson, the museum’s communications manager. McKenzie hopes to use these pictures and models from his studies in order to show his audience the cultural influences that the time period and region had on the individual churches.

The lecture takes place at the Lecture Hall in the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on today from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Admission is free.