Russian nationalism - architecture

 In 1881, Russian Tsar Alexander II was murdered in Saint Petersburg by young

terrorist. Tsar Alexander was the symbol of the liberal reforms in Tsarist Russia. He
was succeeded by his son, Alexander III, who thought that liberalism and democracy,
which are suitable for Western world, would cause chaos in his state. Tsar started to
promote the autocracy, returning to the “real” roots (times before the reign of Peter the
Great and his westernization of Russia) – architecture played a significant role in his
plan.
 Russian architects ended copying the western European architectural ideas. They
started to promote new style called Russian Revival, which was a mixture of three
other styles – byzantism, old-Russian and romantism.
 The most significant example is the Savior Church on Spilled Blood in Saint
Petersburg, which was built on the site, where Alexander II was murdered. It
resemblances the Russian cathedrals and monasteries from the Middle Ages
(especially Saint Wasil Basilica on Red Square in Moscow), what creates huge
architectural contrast in the city center of Saint Petersburg (built rather in classicist
and baroque style);

 Russians also built churches and public-use buildings in the cities dominated by non-
Russian nations, to show domination over them. For example, in Helsinki and Tallin,
there are still cathedrals built by Russians. In Warsaw and Vilnius were destroyed as
too much dominating in the city scape.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Tallinn

 The russification of the architecture was especially visible in Poland and its main city,
Warsaw. Russian redesigned many classicist buildings, especially those built by
foreign architects. The most significant example is Staszic Palace in Warsaw, which
housed the Academy of the Sciences.
 1890s front view

Original, classicist façade

Russian literature:
 XIX century was the Golden Age for the Russian literature. Many writers and poets
like Alexander Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoyevsky or Mikhail Lermontov even became
known beyond the borders of Russia. However, their work can be divided into two
types: based on the historical and political events (which was later used by Russian
propaganda) or based on the everyday problems of Russian citizens
 Pushkin used to comment the political events in Russia by poems. For example, he
wrote the poem called “To the Slanders of Russia” against the Polish uprising in
Warsaw. This poem was definitely a chauvinistic and imperialistic – author claimed
that Western countries should not be interested in the internal affairs of Russia, Poles
with their romantism would never be able to defeat Russian armies.
 Pushkin is also the author of the poem called “Ruslan and Ludmyla”, rather well-
known only in Russia. It tells the story about the daughter of Prince Vladimir of
Kievan Rus, Ludmyla, who was kidnapped by the evil wizard and was saved by the
knight called Ruslan. In the second half of the XIX century, Mikhail Glinka created an
opera with the same title. However, this work had also its propaganda usage. Pushkin
in his poem, states clearly that Russia is the successor of the traditions of the Kievan
Rus, Russian ruling family, Romanov, is the successor of the Prince Vladimir, what
clearly is against the historical facts. The aim of this propaganda was to erase the
remeberance and the traditions of the medieval greatness of Ukraine and Kiev as the
capital city of Eastern Slavs, in comparison to the underdeveloped and provincial
Moscow.

Czech nationalism – architecture

 Czechs in the second half of the XIX centuries were competing with Germans for the
dominance in the cities in the Bohemia and Moravia. Czechs wanted to show that their
nation is not worse than the German one, their history, culture and literature is equal to
these in Western Europe.
 Many Czech intellectuals, especially historians like Frantisek Palacky (Father of the
nation), argued that nation should have its own buildings and places, where can
discover its own greatness and have contact with culture.
 The most significant examples are the National museum and National Theater, both in
Prague. They were built by Czech architects, using only Czech materials and were
sponsored only by Czech, that’s why above the main scene in the National Theater is
written Narod sebe (Nation for himself).
 National Theatre was the place, where young artists could have shown their enormous
talent and interest in the Slavonic mythology, which was extremely popular among
Czech artists in the second half of the XIX century. For example, the painting on the
main curtain in grand hall shows Slavia, the allegory of the all Slavic nations,
surrounded by the allegories of the comedy and tragedy.
 Very significant event was the finishing the construction of the Saint Vitus Cathedral
on Castle Hill in Prague. The construction started in the XIV century, during the rule
of Charles IV, when the Prague was the capital city of the Holy Roman Empire and
had its own “Golden Age”. The decision to finish the construction was very symbolic
and was to send information – Czech nation is reborn and will never be erased from
the maps again.
 In Prague, like in no other Austro-Hungarian cities, professional architects were also
interested in the design of cafes. Cafes were very important meeting points for Czech
intellectuals and writers, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk (first president of the
Czechoslovakia) called described them as “the free Czech universities, where many
ideas were born, developed and shared among people”. Café Slavia (named after the
mythological goddess of all Slavs), Café Imperial and Café Savoy were the most
famous Czech cafés in Prague

The Interior of Café Imperial

Czech nationalism – literature and music
 The discovery of the Kralovedvoretsky manuscript in the 1818 and Zelenohorsky
manuscript next year, which were dated from the XII century was a huge shock in
Bohemia. They were consisting of the tales about glorious Czech warriors and
their great victories over the enemies, but also consisted of purely lyric texts about
the beauty of their homeland. These manuscripts were the spur for the birth of the
modern Czech literature after 1848. However, they were proven to be false, at the
end of the XIX century, but their influence on the Czech writers is undoubtful
 As a result, Czech writers started to look for the roots of the nation. For the
example, writer Alois Jirasek, published book called “Ancient Bohemian legends.”
Book was based on the medieval Cosmas Chronicle of Bohemia and was the
mixture of tales and folk legends. What is more, Jirasek was also an author of
many books, which were praising many national heroes. His trilogy “Between the
currents” (Mezi proudy) was about the period of Hussite wars – period of history,
when small kingdom of Bohemia, with its military leader Jan Zizka, was able to
defeat and destroy the armies of the Holy Roman Empire. These books were
bestsellers and led to the contestation of the role of catholic church in Bohemia.
 Also, writers started to migrate to the Bohemian countryside, in the order to re-
discover the beauty of their. The most significant book of this type was written by
Bozena Nemcova and was called “The Grandmother” (Babička). It was inspired
by her own childhood, spent in the village Ratiborice. This book had also very
important family motive – family as the essential unit of every nation – keeping
good relations between the members of family, you take care of your nation as a
whole.
 In music, there also has been a trend to create operas based on the novels about the
legendary heroes. The first, and simultaneously the most significant, is the opera
called “Libuse”, written by Bedrich Smetana. Libuse was a legendary princess,
legendary ancestor of Premyslid dynasty (first ruling Czech dynasty) and the
founder of the city of Prague. This opera plays significant role for Czechs, is
always performed in the National Theatre during very significant anniversaries.
 Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) was a Czech compositor who tried to create new
musical style. For many years, Dvorak was the head of National Conservatory of
Music in New York and became deeply interested in the music of the native and
black population of the United States. As the mixture of his American adventure
and Bohemian folk legends, he created the opera called “Rusalka”. Rusalka was
the demonic creature from the Slavic mythology, which was living near lakes or in
forests.