Buriatiia: Architectural Heritage in Photographs

The Kennan Institute is pleased to announce the appearance of Buriatiia: Architectural Heritage in Photographs, volume eight in the "Discovering Russia" series, published in Moscow by "Tri Kvadrata" Publishers with the support of the Kennan Institute. This book is devoted to the rich architectural and historical heritage of the Republic of Buriatiia. The text and photographs are by William Craft Brumfield, a leading western specialist on the history of Russian architecture, Professor of Slavic Studies at Tulane University (New Orleans), and honorary Fellow of two Russian national academies: the Academy of the Arts and the Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences.

The volume begins with the author's extensive Russian text on the history and architecture of Buriatiia, with prominent attention given to Ulan-Ude (formerly Verkhneudinsk) and Kiakhta, as well as the Buddhist temples and shrines at Ivolginsk and Gusinoe Ozero. The text and photographs also include the historic settlements of Selenginsk, Novoselenginsk, Tvorogovo, Kabansk, the Trinity-Selenginsk Monastery at Troitskoe, and--of particular interest--the Transfiguration Monastery at Posol'skoe, on the southeast shore of Lake Baikal. The text is accompanied by a selection of the author's color photographs, as well as two engravings from sketches by George Frost, who accompanied George Kennan the Elder on his trip to the region in 1885. The frontispiece displays a segment of Semion Remezov's early 18th century "Map of the Lands of Nerchinsk."

The main section of the book contains black-and-white images of architectural and historical monuments photographed by Brumfield during his trips throughout Buriatiia. The negatives for these photographs are preserved in the William Brumfield Collection at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, and were originally taken with support provided by the "Meeting of Frontiers" project at the Library of Congress. The photograph captions are in English and Russian, and include the date of each photograph. The volume concludes with an English summary of the text. 108 pages.

This publication continues the "Discovering Russia" series of books dedicated to the historic regions of Russia and their architecture. The series, containing Brumfield's previous books on the areas of Tot'ma, Irkutsk,Tobol'sk, Solikamsk, Cherdyn', Kargopol', and Chita, is intended for those interested in architecture, history, photography and regional studies.

ISBN: 978-5-94607-099-0