IDEOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS AND SUGGESTIVE MECHANISMS IN THE FORMATION OF PROTESTANT VISUAL CULTURE IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The study explores the formation of Protestant visual culture in Ukraine through the prism of ideological determinants and the mechanisms of their suggestive embodiment in sacred space. The relevance of the study is determined by the lack of sufficient art historical analysis of Protestant architecture, which has long been interpreted as a reduced form of sacred art. The main objective is to identify the principles by which Protestant theological doctrines are transformed into spatial and visual characteristics of prayer houses and to establish them as an independent model of visual culture. The methodology combines iconological, phenomenological, and cultural-semiotic approaches, with the inclusion of spatial analysis of religion and the concept of digital religion. Comparative-historical and typological methods are applied to reveal structural patterns of sacred space organization. The results demonstrate that Protestant sacred space functions as a suggestive system in which the absence of iconography is compensated by the intensity of the environment. Light, emptiness, text, and spatial order serve as key means of conveying sacred meaning. Three main types of Protestant sacred space in Ukraine are identified: historical-traditional, functional-rational, and mediaoriented, reflecting different modes of interaction between ideological principles and architectural form. The scientific novelty lies in the interpretation of Protestant prayer houses as an alternative model of visual culture realized through suggestive mechanisms rather than representational imagery. The findings contribute to a broader understanding of contemporary sacred architecture in Ukraine and outline new perspectives for interdisciplinary research in visual culture studies.