The Role of the Practice of Protecting and Popularizing Historical Heritage in the Implementation of the National Idea

Abstract

The article presents the author’s point of view on the role of the practice of protecting and popularizing historical heritage in the implementation of the national idea. The chronological framework of the research carried out by the author allows us to trace the formation of state policy in the field of formation of a national ideology capable of uniting society and ensuring its further development. The 19th century is characterized as a time of creating favorable conditions for realizing the unity of the nation due to the large-scale reforms of Alexander II. In the context of a complex restructuring of the social structure, the unity of Russian society could only be achieved by referring to the historical experience of state-building. That is why in the 19th century the popularization of historical heritage reached a fundamentally new level, which allows us to talk about the formation of a national ideology based on the cult of historical memory. Using the materials of the Novgorod province as an example, the author proves that it is the state that is an institution, ensuring the preservation of historical memory, supporting civic initiatives and forming a national ideology based on the generalization of the centuries-old experience of the nation.