The Russian onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles that
of an onion. More often than not, these domes are often larger in
diameter than the drum upon which they sit and their height
usually exceeds their width, with the bulbous structure tapering
off to a point. It is the predominant form for church domes
in Russia (mostly in Russian Orthodox churches). There is a bit
of disagreement among historians about the origins of these
domes. By the end of the nineteenth century, most Russian
churches from before the Petrine period had bulbous domes and
the largest ones were erected in the seventeenth century in the
area around Yaroslavl. There is one view that states that onion
domes first appeared during the reign of Ivan the Terrible while
others believe that onion domes were borrowed by Russians from
Muslim countries.
Some of the foremost modern-day authorities postulate that that
onion domes