The Reviews of European Travellers on Russia in the Beginning of the Emperorship of Nicholas I: the Formation of Cultural Mythology

The first period of Nicholas I's reign (from 1826 to 1831) in Russian and world history marked a crucial point when radical changes took place in the international relations between the Russian Empire and Europe. Against the background of the Russian-Turkish war (1828-1829), the July revolution in France (1830) and the Polish uprising (1830-1831), the Emperor decided to protect Russia from the revolutionary ideas of the century and to avoid further rapprochement with the "external world". In the thesis, I attempt to analyze the rapidly emerging "new" image of Russia in the letters and memoirs of the French and British coming to Russia in the designated years. The study of notes allows demonstrating what in particular the authors focus the readers' attention on, what cultural mythologems were introduced or actualized by travellers in the field of the country's established reputation. The principal aim of the work is to compare the image of the Empire, which is still on the threshold of the formation of the ideological program of nationalism, with that which is constructing in Rossika in 1826-1831.