New lands: Designing an image of the motherland

Abstract

The article focuses on the search for architectural representations of the Russian Empire on new lands (the Far East and Turkestan), which simultaneously became part of it in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. The article consists of two parts. The first one reviews the architectural and spatial arrangement of railways, which were the colonization structural frame: the eastern part of the Transsib (the Amur and Ussuri Railways), the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER), and the Trans-Caspian Military Railway (TCMR). The second part of the article describes the evolution of the colonial orientalism and national stylistics. The article draws a conclusion about the variability of the cultural policy of the Russian colonialism.

Keywords

• architectural image of the motherland
• colonial architecture
• the Far East
• Turkestan
• Transsib
• CER