The history of mankind leaves posterity visible material reflections of bygone eras and civilizations. Of course, culture is not limited to material monuments. But little else speaks of the past with the same persuasiveness as architectural monuments. Without them, it is impossible to imagine a culture of any ethnos noticeable in the history of mankind.
Through times and eras
It is generally accepted that time is merciless to everything. Its effect even affects such durable natural materials as basalt and granite. Among other things, architectural monuments are also being destroyed. But any society that considers itself civilized always cares about their safety. The stone heritage of the past is carefully protected and restored as necessary. Every nation has significant architectural structures that have a certain spiritual dimension. This is something more than a specially connected set of stones and slabs.
Architecture and tourism
In addition to the unconditional cultural, historical and spiritual significance, architectural monuments also have a very specific economic meaning. In order to join the heritage of history and culture and take pictures on the background of ancient architecture, people are ready to travel very long distances and spend significant money. Tourists prefer to leave their money in those countries where ancient architectural monuments are abundant.
There are many countries for which tourism is one of the most important industries. There are states where, in addition to tourism, there is simply no other economic life. But even Europe’s developed countries such as Italy, France or Spain are interested in attracting travelers. The most successful countries in the tourism sector are those that, in addition to a comfortable beach holiday, are able to offer guests an acquaintance with historical and architectural relics that have been carefully preserved and carefully restored.
World Cultural Space
Architectural monuments of the world are distributed very unevenly on the planet. It will not be an exaggeration to say that most of them are concentrated in Europe and in its immediate vicinity. Modern Egypt was very lucky in whose territory the architectural heritage of the unique irretrievably disappeared civilization turned out to be. But the greatest number of architectural historical monuments are concentrated in the cities of Italy. Over the centuries, generations of masters have been working on their creation. To a certain extent, the same can be said of many large and small European cities. But the United States of America in this regard was much less fortunate: on their territory it is not so easy to find an architectural structure whose age would exceed two hundred years. But even in this country, architectural monuments love and often imitate them, giving the old Gothic look to the structures erected not so long ago.
Cultural Heritage
The world cultural space created by human civilization over several millennia cannot be imagined without material monuments, and above all, without an architectural heritage. Its protection is the responsibility of all governments in whose territory the monuments were located by the will of historical circumstances. And such an international organization as UNESCO deals with this problem on a planetary scale. She carefully guards especially significant architectural monuments and does everything in order to preserve them for future generations.
Territory of Russia
The history of our country is most often described starting from Kievan Rus. But in the territory of the modern federation there are many artifacts from much more distant eras.
Architectural monuments of Russia are mainly concentrated on its European part - in two historical capitals and in the largest settlements of medieval Russia. In tourist life, they are usually called the cities of the Golden Ring. Among them are Sergiev Posad, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Vladimir and Suzdal. Of course, the list of settlements with a large number of monuments of ancient architecture by the cities of the Golden Ring is not limited to - there are many of them in the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East.
The heart of a great state - Moscow
For more than eight and a half centuries of its existence, the Russian capital has experienced a lot - fires, wars, revolutions and reconstruction. However, in terms of the total volume of cultural heritage, in the number of historical and architectural monuments, Moscow has no equal cities. The Moscow Kremlin and the Red Square architectural ensemble are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. A significant number of architectural monuments are located throughout the city and beyond. Outstanding works of Russian architecture are located in historical noble estates and ancient Orthodox monasteries. The most important part of the transport infrastructure of the capital, the Moscow Metro, is saturated with unique architectural monuments. Many of its stations, without the slightest exaggeration, can be attributed to masterpieces of architecture.
St. Petersburg
The northern capital of Russia has a special fate. It was originally conceived as something exceptional and completely unlike any of the cities existing at that time in the country. The best masters and architects of the era were involved in creating the unique city, as well as many serf-servitude people who laid their lives on the foundation of the future capital of the Russian Empire. And this plan was fully implemented. The architectural monuments of St. Petersburg are known today throughout the civilized world. It is difficult to say whether the northern capital is inferior to Moscow in their number. But in order to get acquainted in detail with the entire architectural heritage of the city on the Neva, a lifetime may not be enough, because you will have to examine a lot - from the Winter Palace to Peterhof, from Pavlovsk to Tsarskoye Selo. And this is not surprising - St. Petersburg from the first stones was built as an architectural monument.
Traveling on the Volga
But in order to penetrate the cultural heritage of Russia, merely acquaintance with the architectural monuments of both its historical capitals is clearly not enough. For this, it also makes sense to take a leisurely trip down the Volga - from Yaroslavl to Astrakhan. On the way there will be such unlike one another city, such as Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Saratov. The architectural heritage of each of them deserves attention. A very vivid impression is left by the ancient Kremlin on the high Volga slopes in Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan. In addition to large cities on the Volga, there are also less known, but very significant in Russian culture, provincial historical settlements, such as Plyos and Myshkin. There are architectural monuments that, in antiquity, are not inferior to the well-known tourist attractions.