Musings on Lost Tradition
Well, there was some favouritism last week, I have to admit. An entire article on the Cathedral of the Dormition… It just worked out that way. There’s something about the structure that really appeals to me – essentially its authentic, medieval aspect. Later cathedral designs drew upon the European Renaissance as Russia opened up to the West, and this new, imported culture became fashionable. It’s a familiar story that still rings true today. Various nations of the world seem all too ready to abandon long-valued elements of their own cultures in a bid to embrace the West – with all the good and the bad that comes along with that – on a fashion-quest for “progress”, “development” and “sophistication” (all in heavy inverted commas).
The Renaissance without doubt was an amazing, explosive period of creativity with far reaching consequences in the arts and architecture, but fundamentally it wasn’t Russian. We can only speculate on what might have been if Russia, in developing as a world power and opening up to other cultures, had kept its architectural lineage intact. No pastel Renaissance affectations in stone then – and more structures akin to the Cathedral of the Dormition perhaps? I write it like that’s a good thing, of course, because I like it. But maybe you prefer “pastel Renaissance affectations”? And maybe the Russians do as well?
I’m neglecting to mention that this embracing of another culture and selective abandonment of tradition had already happened in Russia anyway, long before the renaissance. The Byzantine Empire (surviving remains of the Eastern Roman Empire, long after its Western arm had collapsed) had informed the country in matters architectural and religious since the end of the first century, with the wholesale conversion to the Christian Orthodox Church. Cue the abandonment and destruction of a whole “pagan” life and culture… It would also set the switches that would later facilitate the Crusades, when Orthodox Byzantium called upon the Catholic Pope for help in repelling the Turks, and two Christian nations united against a common Islamic opponent… But once again, I digress. No edifices of early Russian architecture prior to the Byzantine embrace remain, so the true extent of lost lineage is unknown. We can still see the father and child of this marriage, so to speak, but perhaps only speculate on the mother.
I am informed that Mongolia is rather wise to this trap of monopolization by imported elements, seeking to preserve more of its culture and tradition than most, even though (or maybe because) it too has seen the effects of imported Soviet industrialisation. It is believed that the so-called Russian “cultural cringe” phenomenon, still encountered here and there: a desire to be seen in the best light by foreigners, coupled with an awkwardness, even embarrassment, over the more “rustic” aspects of their society when set against a plasticised Western ideal. Did that ideal ever exist in any real way?
Of course, I’m looking down on all this from my luxurious Western viewpoint. What might seem authentic, culturally rich, noble or (condescendingly) quaint from our centrally heated, mains-gas-and-electric perspective, might well be a true pain in the rear from the point of view of someone actually having to live it on a daily basis. We can’t expect indigenous people to live in poverty, just so we can have our photographs taken next to them and their hut on our holidays. And facing a 100-mile reindeer trek with a broken leg is a whole magnitude away from a quick dash in a modern ambulance down a lit tarmac high street.
So, what is the point of this ramble? Be careful what you throw away? This grass isn’t always greener? Yeah, something like that…
Next time: Trips and Tales (Part 29)
Three more Moscow cathedrals, as the roundup continues…
[Photo by Svadilfari]