Title | Russia's Postcommunist Past: The Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Reimagining of National Identity |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2009 |
Authors | Ekaterina V. Haskins |
Journal | History and Memory |
Volume | 21 |
Issue | 1 |
Pagination | 25-62 |
ISSN | 0935560X |
Abstract | National monuments typically serve as aesthetic manifestations of dominant visions of history and collective identity, but they can also generate a contestation of the past they are intended to cement. Defending this two-pronged interpretive approach, this essay attends to the changing symbolic power of a unique national monument-the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. The study traces the cathedral's historic role in Russia's national self-definition during the last two centuries. The cathedral's construction under tsars, destruction under Stalin, and the postcommunist rebuilding accompanied and justified a particular version of national identity. The role of the cathedral as a magnet for competing versions of Russia's traumatic past is illustrated by the controversy over its rebuilding after the collapse of the Soviet Union. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT] |
URL | http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.cc.stonybrook.edu/docview/195096534/140C6DBA966677040CC/2?accountid=14172 |
Short Title | Russia's Postcommunist Past |