The Art and Architecture of Russia

This revised and up-dated history confines itself to Russia west of the Urals, the Russia whose artistic beginnings lay in the response of a newly settled people to the impact of Christianity and the Byzantine Empire. In the first centuries the arts flourished and developed in the independent states and principalities, but gradually native schools in centres like Novgorod and Kiev gave way to centralization based on Moscow. From the emergence of Russia under Peter the Great until the late 19th century, specifically Russian qualities gave way to Western European inspiration and advice. However, as the 19th century developed, there was a reaction from foreign domination and this led to the rediscovery of native traditions.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.