In 1946, the historian BorisRybakov, while analysing miniatures of ancient Russianchronicles, pointed out that most of them, from the thirteenth century onward,display churches with onion domes rather than helmet domes.Nikolay Voronin, the foremostauthority on pre-Mongol Russian architecture, seconded his opinion that oniondomes existed in Russiaas early as the thirteenth century, although they presumably could not bewidespread.These findings demonstrated that Russian onion domes could not be imported from the Orient, where onion domes did not replace spherical domes until thefifteenth century.

1946年，历史学家鲍里斯·雷巴科夫，在分析古老的俄罗斯编年史里的袖珍画的时候，指出了从13世纪起，大部分教堂拥有洋葱式圆顶，而不是头盔的圆顶。尼古拉·沃罗宁是前蒙古俄罗斯建筑的权威学者，他认为，早在13世纪，洋葱式圆顶已在俄罗斯存在了，尽管它们大概并不普遍存在。这些调查结果表明，直到十五世纪，俄罗斯的洋葱式圆顶才取代球形穹顶，在此之前是无法引进来自东方的洋葱式圆顶。

SergeyZagraevsky, a modern art historian, surveyed hundreds of Russian icons and miniatures,from the eleventh century onward.， He concluded that most icons painted after the Mongol invasion of Rusdisplay only onion domes.First onion domes displayed on some pictures oftwelfth century (two miniatures from Dobrylov Evangelie). He found only one icon from the late fifteenth century displaying a domeresembling the helmet instead of an onion.

谢尔盖Zagraevsky，是一个现代艺术史学家，他研究了从11世纪起的数百个俄罗斯圣像和微型画。他总结说，大多数在蒙古人入侵俄罗斯后绘制的圣像画，只绘制洋葱式圆顶。首例的洋葱圆顶在第十二世纪（两张来自Dobrylov Evangelie的微型画像）的一些绘画中有所显示。他发现十五世纪后期只有一幅圣像画上显示了一个类似头盔的圆顶，而不是洋葱圆顶。

Zagraevsky explains theubiquitous appearance of onion domes in the late thirteenth century by thegeneral emphasis on verticality characteristic of Russian architecture from thelate twelfth to early fifteenth centuries,At that period, porches,pilasters, vaults and drums were arranged to create a vertical thrust, to makethe church seem taller than it was.It seems logical that elongated, or onion, domeswere part of the same proto-Gothic trend aimed at achieving pyramidal, verticalemphasis

Zagraevsky解释，在13世纪后期无处不在洋葱式圆顶，垂直俄罗斯建筑的特点，从后期第十二至十五世纪初普遍重视. 在此期间，门廊，壁柱，拱顶和鼓被安排创建一个垂直推力，使教会似乎比它高。似乎合乎逻辑的拉长，或洋葱，圆顶的一部分相同的原哥特式趋势，旨在实现锥体，垂直强调。.

Prior to the eighteenth century,the Russian Orthodox Church did not assign any particular symbolism to theexterior shape of a church. Nevertheless, onion domes are popularly believedto symbolise burning candles. In 1917, noted religious philosopher Prince Yevgeny Trubetskoy arguedthat the onion shape of Russian church domes may not be explained rationally. According toTrubetskoy, drums crowned by tapering domes were deliberately scored toresemble candles, thus manifesting a certain aesthetic and religious attitude. Another explanationhas it that the onion dome was originally regarded as a form reminiscent of the edicula(cubiculum) in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

18世纪之前，俄罗斯东正教没有给教堂的外部形状赋予任何特定象征意义。然而，洋葱圆顶被普遍认为，象征着燃烧的蜡烛。1917年，著名宗教哲学家叶夫根尼·Trubetskoy王子认为，俄罗斯教堂的洋葱圆顶可能无法合理解释。根据Trubetskoy的言论，在尖细的圆顶之下的鼓形座被故意做成像蜡烛的样子，从而体现一定的美学和宗教的态度。另一种解释认为的洋葱穹顶最初是为了让人想起在耶路撒冷的圣墓教堂的edicula（cubiculum）地下墓室的一种怀旧形式。

Onion domes often appear ingroups of three, representing the Holy Trinity, or five, representing JesusChrist and the Four Evangelists. Domes standing alone represent Jesus. VasilyTatischev, the first to record such interpretation, disapproved of itemphatically. He believed that the five-domed design of churches was propagated by PatriarchNikon, who liked to compare the central and highest dome with himself andfour lateral domes with four other patriarchsof the Orthodox world. There is no other evidence that Nikon ever heldsuch a view.

洋葱式圆顶，经常以三个一组的形式出现，代表神圣的三位一体，或五个一组的形式出现，代表耶稣基督和四福音。独自出现的洋葱式圆顶则代表了耶稣。瓦西里·Tatischev，记录这样的解释的第一人，特别强调他不赞成这样的观点。他认为五个圆顶的教堂这样的设计是由祖师尼康传播的，他喜欢把自己比作中间的那个最高的穹顶，而其他四个东正教的创始人则比作另外四个穹顶。这里没有其他证据可以证明尼康是否曾经持这样的观点。

The domes are often brightlypainted: their colors may informally symbolise different aspects of religion.Green, blue, and gold domes are sometimes held to represent the HolyTrinity, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus, respectively Black ball-shaped domes were once popularin the snowy north of Russia.

圆顶往往涂上明亮的颜色：它们的颜色可能不太正式地象征了宗教的不同方面。绿、蓝和金色的圆顶有时候会分别代表三位一体、圣灵、耶稣。特别提一句，黑色球形圆顶曾一度流行在白雪皑皑的俄罗斯北部。

​主要存在于俄罗斯东正教教堂、巴伐利亚、德国，但也可以在莫卧儿，印度，奥地利，东欧，中东和中亚等地看到。 

Russian icons painted before the Mongol invasion of Rus do not featurechurches with onion domes. Two highly venerated pre-Mongol churches that havebeen rebuilt—the Assumption Cathedral and theCathedral of St. Demetrius in Vladimir—uniquely display golden helmet domes. Restorationwork on several other ancient churches revealed some fragments of formerhelmet-like domes below newer onion cupolas.。

蒙古人入侵之前的俄罗斯圣像画显示，人们不会用洋葱式圆顶装饰教堂， 两座重建的被高度崇敬的蒙古前教堂——圣母升天大教堂和在弗拉基米尔的圣德米特里大教堂，是唯一显示使用了金色头盔圆顶的。在其他一些古老教堂的修复工作中，人们发现了在新的洋葱圆顶之下有一些头盔状的圆顶碎片。

It has been posited that oniondomes first appeared during the reign of Ivanthe Terrible. The domes of Saint Basil's Cathedral have not beenaltered since the reign of Ivan's son Fyodor I,indicating the presence of onion domes in the sixteenth-century Russia.

人们假定洋葱式圆顶最早出现在伊凡雷帝统治时期，圣巴西尔大教堂的圆顶自伊万的儿子菲奥多尔的统治期以来就没有被改变（破坏），由此证明了十六世纪洋葱式圆顶的出现。

Some scholars postulate thatonion domes were borrowed by Russians from Muslim countries - probably from the Khanateof Kazan, whose conquest Ivan the Terrible commemorated by erecting St.Basil's Cathedral.Some believe that onion domes first appeared in Russian wooden architectureabove tent-like churches. According to this theory,onion domes were strictly utilitarian, as they prevented snow from piling onthe roof·

一些学者推测，洋葱式圆顶是俄罗斯人从穆斯林国家借用而来的，可能是来自喀山汗国。伊凡雷帝建造圣巴索大教堂纪念对其的侵略。有些人认为洋葱式圆顶首次出现在俄罗斯木质建筑上面的帐篷般的教堂。根据这个理论，洋葱式圆顶完全是出于实用，因为它们可以阻止积雪堆放在屋顶上。

Based on the notion that oniondomes did not exist in Russiabefore the mid-sixteenth century, restoration work on churches built before theseventeenth century have routinely involved replacement of onion domes with"more authentic" helmet-shaped domes. One example of such restorationis the Dormition Cathedral in the MoscowKremlin.

基于洋葱式圆顶在十六世纪中期之前并不存在于俄罗斯的观点，在对那些建造于十七世纪前的教堂的修复工作中 ，经常涉及更换“更真实的”的盔形的穹顶的问题，这种恢复的一个例子是在莫斯科克里姆林宫的安息堂。

The onion dome is not only foundin Russian Architecture: it was also usedextensively in Mughal architecture, which later went on toinfluence Indo-Gothic architecture. Outside India,it is also used in Iran and other places in the Middle East and CentralAsia.

洋葱式圆顶不仅存在于俄罗斯建筑，也在莫卧儿王朝建筑中被广泛使用，后来又影响印度的哥特式建筑。印度以外，它也在伊朗和中东、中亚等其他地方使用。

Baroque domes in the shape of an onion (orother vegetables or flower-buds) were common in the HolyRoman Empire as well. The first one was built in 1576 by the architect Hans Holl (1512-1594) on the church of Saint Mary Star Abbey in Augsburg. Usually made of copper sheet, oniondomes appear on Catholic churches all over southern Germany, Czech lands,Austria andNortheast Italy. Onion domes werealso a favourite of 20th-century Austrian architectural designer Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

巴洛克式的洋葱形状的圆顶（或其他蔬菜或花芽）在神圣罗马帝国是常见的。第一个巴洛克式洋葱顶始建于1576年，由建筑师汉斯·霍尔（1512年至1594年）在奥格斯堡圣玛丽修道院教堂修建。通常由铜片制成，洋葱圆顶出现在位于德国南部，捷克的土地，奥地利和意大利东北部等地的天主教教堂。洋葱式圆顶同样为20世纪的 奥地利装饰艺术家百水先生所钟爱。