Transnational circulation of cultural form: multiple agencies of heritage making

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article analyses the evolution of the Soviet heritage-making policy in late socialism. Based on archival sources and interviews with former key experts from the Soviet ICOMOS committee, as well as other activists in conservation and heritage protection in former Soviet republics, the article explores the multi-faceted nature of the construction of heritage in the Soviet context that involved a complex interplay between local and international agencies, mediated by Soviet cultural institutions. It shows that rapid development of conservation activity in the USSR along with officially backed public engagement in heritage protection in the late 1960s and 1970s manifested a ‘historical turn’ that reflected a demand on the rationalized past in the socialist modernization project similar to that seen in many western countries. The article contributes to the discussion on the role of cultural heritage in the ideological construction of Soviet society and to the growing literature on socialist cultural engagement with the outside world by examining the role of heritage as a global cultural form.