The Influence of Colonial Policy on the Destruction of National Cultural Identity and Ways of Overcoming its Consequences

Abstract

The article analyses the aspect of the influence of colonial policy on the destruction of national cultural identity, in particular, on the destruction of traditional religious objects. The problem is traced on the example of the colonisation of Algeria by France, which resulted in the purposeful destruction and reconstruction of historical mosques, on the example of the colonisation of Ukraine by the Russian Empire, which prohibited the construction of churches in the Ukrainian style, and later by the Soviet Union, and on the example of the modern Russian-Ukrainian war, when Russia deliberately destroys all religious buildings, even those subordinate to the Russian-backed Church. Religious buildings, as the legacy of a given nation’s material culture, should be placed under conservation, as they are treasure to all of humanity. Examples of such positive thinking do exist. The study is complemented by the photofixation of the destruction of temples during the Russian-Ukrainian war, taken directly in the combat zone. The purpose of the study is to analyse the negative effects of colonial policy on the preservation of the national identity of religious objects and to propose ways to overcome them.