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REGIONAL HISTORICAL MEMORY PERPETUATION: RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCHES

G. Smirnova, I. Rutsinskaya

Abstract

For centuries Orthodox churches in Russian regions kept not only sacred relics but also secular objects that were presumed to preserve and highlight the memory of important State and regional events. Being situated in churches' interiors, memorial objects inevitably obtained sacral meaning. Consequently, when interacting with these things one had to contemplate, honour and worship them. As time went by, the composition of objects placed in churches changed noticeably. The scheme of changes was as follows: from sacred relics to secular objects and further on from objects of worship dealing with major historical events (arms, for example) to personal belongings of the Lord's Anointed (Russian Tsars) and in the later periods to possessions of famous people. Along with the objects themselves the forms of interaction with them in church surroundings also evolved considerably. Churches became tourist attractions and were described on the pages of regional guidebooks. The description of the objects emphasised not only their historical value, but also their material worth and involved funny stories from their owners' lives. The worship of the objects transformed into the brief touristy sightseeing. Based on the examples of well-known Russian regional churches, the report aims to examine the composition of the relics as well as the changes in the interaction with them from the second part of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, the epoch of mass culture and tourism formation in Russia.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgemsocial2014/b31/s10.073

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