Monuments to Saints: Controversies and Uncertainties Around the Sacral Landscape of Russian Cities

Abstract

From 1991 to 2023, over 470 monuments to saints were erected in Russia. These new points of the sacred landscape turn out to be objects of public ritual practices (both official and vernacular) and the causes of urban conflicts associated with the implementation or impossibility of implementing regular public space practices near such a monument. Based on the material of media texts (including social media), we identify key controversies associated with monuments to saints, ideologies of interaction with them, and the reflection of these ideologies in the monuments themselves, texts about them, and ritual practices associated with them. Research showed that the key point of conflict is the concordance between the memorial and the visual, affective and / or ideological landscape of the territory where it is located, as understood by emergent ensembles of urban actors.