Cultural Policies in Russian Museums

Abstract

The actual definition of the museum is articulated around different roles: the preservation of tangible and intangible heritage in addition to research on and communication of knowledge. Consequently, visitors need to trust museums with their interpretation of reality. Historical or national museums hold a central role, insofar as they strongly influence the identity of entire nations. In this article, I will study the ways in which heritage is used to construct politically engaged collective memories and contemporary Russian cultural policies, which promote such uses. In particular, I will analyse the transformation of the 2013‐2016 Moscow Manege exhibitions into an entertainment centre called ‘Russia—my (hi)story’, which is promoted by the Russian Orthodox Church and supported by the authorities. Another case presented herein is the Gulag History Museum in Moscow. My aim is to demonstrate how the cultural heritage is being ‘applied’ to construct historical narratives of the difficult past and what is the relation of cultural policies implemented by the State to this process.

Multimedia Historical Parks and the Heritage-based “Regime of Truth” in Russia

“…In Russia -my (hi)story exhibition in the Moscow Manege in 2017 the current tension between Russia and Ukraine followed the contemporary political debate and the State media's stance in the question (as in "Crimea was historically a part of Russia", "there was no annexation but a homecoming" and the "Western media are leading the information war against Russia"). Such an effort to construct a national cultural memory based on the recent events creates the further polarization in Russian society which is already being fuelled by the conflicts over "difficult history" (on representations of Stalinist repressions in museum context see Zabalueva 2017).…”

The Romanovs Revisited: The Reimagining of the Romanovs within “Russia My History” History Parks

“…The initial exhibit was created by the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and hosted in the Moscow Manège, an exhibition hall located to the west of the Kremlin and adjacent to Red Square. The success and warm public reception of the exhibit contributed to the development, starting in 2016, of the larger Russia My History project as part of the 2030 Strategy of National Cultural Policy, receiving endorsement from the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education as a tool for teaching (Zabalueva 2017). As Ekaterina Klimenko (2020) has noted, the ROC and the Russian state were key actors in conceiving the history parks in order to "forge an 'official' vision of Russian history" (2020:73).…”

Museology and Museum-making: Cultural Policies and Cultural Demands

“…The Museum of Patriarch Nikon was envisaged as a core institution for a larger research centre, the mission of which would be to form the national and religious identity of the Russian people as Christian Europeans through representing the New Jerusalem cultural heritage from the 'golden age of the Muscovy state' (Baranova et al 2014, p. 31). Here we can see a controversial point, as the interest in the pre-Petrine Russian history traditionally comes together with the national-building processes, for example in the 19th century when the monuments of the first tsars from the Romanov dynasty were memorialised, as I discuss elsewhere (Zabalueva, 2017). A historical discourse that emphasises the importance of the Pre-Petrine period is usually applied when the argument for advantages of 'non-Western' development of Russia is taking place.…”