Abstract
Built in the mid-17th century, the Russian Defensive Line was a great wooden wall punctuated with forts, stretching 2,300 kilometers from eastern Ukraine to the fortress of Simbirsk which was located on a bluff overlooking the Volga River. The Line was built to protect the burgeoning Muscovy state from raiding invaders from the East and the South. (From 1600-1630 alone, approximately 200,000 Russians were kidnapped and sold into slavery in Crimea, the Ottoman Empire, and beyond.) In this paper I introduce the topic of the Russian Defensive Line as a construction of epic proportions, which shaped the landscape and thus rendered it “Russian.” It both symbolically and literally symbolized Russian expansionist power. And it effectively protected the interior from the brutal raids from the South and Southeast. I briefly describe how it was managed for the time period that it existed. Because it was built from wood and not stone or concrete, and because Russia’s expansion continued thereafter beyond the Line’s demarcation, it fell into disrepair and disintegration, and eventually vanished. Today all that remains of this massive undertaking is a “notch” and the occasional indentations of the forts that punctuated the Line. The larger point of my presentation has to do with meaning. The notch is a remnant, an artefact, a scar on the landscape, which is a memory keeper and a reminder of a rich and complicated history. In this regard, the notch is a primary source, a text which can be read symbolically, atavistically.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
LANDSCHAFT/LANDSCAPE HISTORY, HISTORICAL MONUMENT, TEXT, ICONIC/EMBLEMATIC SYMBOL, EMBODIMENT, MINDSCAPE
