European Cities in the Foreign Studies of Mykola Rigelman

Abstract

The article considers the range of subjects related to Mykola Rigelman’s travels to European countries in the 40-60s of the 19th century. The travelogues of this public figure and historian became the basis of our scientific research. They are characterized by subjective nature of the descriptions, the lack of clear structure, and inconsistency in the presentation of the material (for example, detailed representation of the German lands and only brief mentions of his stay in France). However, travelogues contain depictions of everyday life that are difficult or impossible to recreate with the help of other sources. The study found that the traveler was attracted not only to material culture, but also to customs, traditions, and worldview beliefs of people of different countries. It has been revealed that Mykola Rigelman focused on several aspects related to urban space, in particular, general descriptions of landscapes, features of buildings, architectural monuments, mainly of religious significance. Certain problems that were common to both European and Ukrainian cities, such as dirty streets and, at times, the decrepit housing, also attract our attention. Under the influence of imperial ideology and myths, the traveller constantly, often skeptically, compared life in European countries to everyday life in St. Petersburg, and pinpointing negative attitudes, especially those of Germans towards the Russian Empire. Describing his stay abroad, Mykola Rigelman did not limit himself to documenting what he saw and heard. He used historical and ethnographic information about the regions he visited, borrowed from European literature or stories of his compatriots and fellow travelers.