The Trees of Tavrichesky Garden: Forgotten Actors in the Politics of Cultural Landscape

Authors

  • Lewis Purcell Higher School of Economics (HSE), Russia

Abstract

Scholars are turning their attention to the politics of cultural landscapes including urban parks; however, trees and natural vegetation are left out of their analysis. This article uses the Tavrichesky Garden of St. Petersburg’s historic downtown as a case study. Since its creation in the 1790s, Tavrichesky’s trees and vegetation have represented the government’s political values. Twentieth-century restoration projects, including the planting of greenery to “return” the park to its original format, used the trees in a similar way: to convey the political values of the state.

Author Biography

Lewis Purcell, Higher School of Economics (HSE), Russia

Lewis Purcell graduated from Duke University with a BA in history and Russian in 2013. He just graduated from the MA program “Usable Pasts: Applied and Interdisciplinary History” of the Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg, Russia. His research interests include public memory and religious memory, but he also loves studying all things related to Russian and Soviet history of the twentieth century.

The Tauride Palace.

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Published

2020-08-20

Issue

Section

Summer