Victoria Donovan on Preservation and Patriotism in Russia

Hidden Histories

Victoria Donovan chats to Helen about how present-day Russia and the USSR have grappled with the legacy of Russia's buildings. The atheist USSR frequently deployed images of ruined Orthodox churches in the aftermath of the Second World War - it was great propaganda. But this posed problems - the USSR was an atheist state, and did not want to be seen harking back to fervently to the religiosity of the Kievan Rus.

Debates about what should and shouldn't be preserved under Communism helped to form anti-socialist groupings. Those who became fervent preservationists sought to undermine the USSR, while town planners and ministers often demolished the building blocks of Russia's history.

Victoria Donovan is a Senior Lecturer in Russian and Director of the Centre for Russian, Soviet, Central and East European Studies at the University of St Andrews. Her book is Chronicles in Stone. Read more from Victoria here: https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/blog/2020/11/05/victoria-donovan-chronicles-in-stone/

Find out more here: https://www.ukri.org/news/100-new-generation-thinkers/

Producer: Peter Curry

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