Architectures of Russian Identity: 1500 to the Present by James s> Cracraft Daniel Rowland (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS I35 Cracraft,James, and Rowland, Daniel (eds). Architectures of RussianIdentity. I500 to thePresent. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, and London, 2003. viii + 253 pp. Illustrations.Notes. Index. C3495; CI5.95. THEeditorsdescribethis collection of essaysas an 'interdisciplinaryconversation ' between fourteen specialists working in different fields and periods. 'Architectures',they argue, can reflectthe power of churchand state,embody culturalpreferencesthatspringfromideological choices (Westernformsin the eighteenth century, avant-garde in the 1920S), provide a focus for debates about political and ideological goals, underpin group identities and national pride, and much more besides. There is little 'traditional' architectural history here. James Cracraft perhapscomes closestto it in his usefulreconsiderationof the periodizationof Russian architecturalhistory around the Petrine 'divide'. The aptness of the different 'Baroque' tags attached to the period invites furtherdebate. In the Muscovite section Michael S. Flier'ssubtlestudyof Ivan IV and the throne of Monomach (actuallyan elaborate royal pew) analysesthe scenes on the side panels, the architecturalsourcesand the throne'srelationshipto the restof the building. Daniel Rowland reveals the remarkable extent to which Boris Godunov deployed buildingsand architecturalspace to establishhis own and his clan'slegitimacy,with particularreferenceto his identificationof Moscow with various 'Jerusalems'.Symbolic landscapes full of allegories and associations also feature in Dmitri Shvidkovskii's entertaining exploration of Catherine the Great's 'field of dreams' in the parks and ensembles around Tsarskoe Selo. Russian noble estate architectureemulated such visions on a smaller scale. In her article on the subject PriscillaRoosevelt confirms that court fashion dominated noble tastes throughout the imperial period, from Baroque through Palladianism and their various revivals, to the 'rustic' cottages favoured by nineteenth-century rulers. Christopher Ely explores visions of 'touristicspace' in the I820s-50s, showing how Russia's 'meagre' (in comparison with idealized European models) landscape was transformed into suitable 'sceneryof the fatherland'.Travelwriterssign-posteda new sort of pilgrimage for an educated public rediscoveringthe sights of Holy Russia and Orthodox spiritualitywith the insights of modern man. West European observerscontinuedto findsuchlandscapedistinctlyalien.LaurenM. O'Connell gives a useful account of the pioneeringjoint ventures into Russian art history of Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc and Viktor Butkovskii. The latter'sHistoire del'ornament russe (Paris, i 870) brought 'strange'Russian art to a European public, emphasizing the influence of 'Asiatic' elements, while Viollet-le-Duc's book L'art russe (i 877. Russiantranslationi 879) narrowedthe focus of 'Slavic-Asiatic'theory to Indian or 'Hindu' origins.Associationswith 'barbarism'provedunpopularwith many Russianreaders.Demonstratingthe 'vitalityof the historicalspiritof Muscovite Rus" in modern architecturewas one of the motivatingfactorsbehind the imperialchoice of the 'Russianstyle' in late tsaristchurch architecture,which Richard Wortman illuminates in a stimulating overview. 'Revival' churches also featured in the imperial reconstruction of Tashkent, which forms the subject of Robert D. Crews's article. The creation of a 'European quarter' in the late i 86os, erecting i36 SEER, 83, I, 2005 monuments to the common Russian soldier, redesigning parts of the old city, were meant to demonstrate 'the vitality and civilizing capacity of the Russian tribe' (p. 123). 'Progress' blatantly confronting 'backwardness' helped to fuel revolutionary politics. The old and the new were juxtaposed in different ways in Soviet cities. Greg Castillo examines and castigates the contribution of Constructivism to the design of the Socialist city in reality and as utopia, including the demolition of 'superfluous' ancient buildings. Andrew Day provides a stimulating revisionist overview of 'the rise and fall' of Stalinist architecture and its 'complex, dynamic and often contentious interactions' (p. 173), focusing on the plan for the reconstruction of post-war Stalingrad. Mark Bassin's excellent contribution stresses the importance of nature in the socialist realist vision, illustrating how the natural world was reconciled with industrial construction in 'dynamic' landscapes. At its crudest, this could mean including a tractor in a winter forest scene, but in wartime the unadulterated landscape of the motherland under threat of despoilment byfashisty was allowed to appeal directly to the emotions. In the post-Soviet section Kathleen F. Frost discusses the heated debates over suitable monuments to Stalin's victims and Blair A. Ruble offers a fascinating glimpse of the new order in Iaroslavl', as modernity clashes with heritage, church with city authorities, private capital with public money in reclaiming and reshaping the town. This is a thought-provoking and attractively produced volume of...