Presentations by Streams

This conference panel examines different ways of memory formation in Russian culture. Analysing relationships between the social, the political, and the cultural the papers try to reveal the forming mechanisms of personal, national, and emigrant memory in different media. The first paper, “Unforgettable Memorial of My Momentary Bliss”: Nature as a Place of Personal Memory in Russian Sentimentalism, examines the 18th-century shift in European commemorative attitudes when the role of personal emotions was to be a necessary condition for public praise and recognition. Focusing on Russian sentimentalism, it shows how natural settings obtained profoundly personal meaning, serving as symbolic places of memory, thereby forging emotional connections between authors and their readers. The second paper “Russian Temples of Fame: the Idea of Public Pantheon in Time of Alexander I and Nicolas I” focuses on the idea of a set of sculptural images of national great men which was very popular during the the first half of the 19th century. The paper traces the evolution of this concept from mainly literary construct in Alexander I's era to its partial realisation in commemorative practices of Nicolas I in the context of main European political and cultural trends. Finally, the third presentation, “Churches of the New Holy Martyrs of Russian Church outside of Russia: Twice Distanced Past?” delves into ROCOR’s distinctive perspective on the Soviet past and its unique approach to commemorating the New Martyrs in the USA, offering a compelling alternative to post-Soviet Russian memory work.