Architecture and Dynasty
This chapter sketches the political and geographic environment in pre-Petrine Rus´ that favored architecture as a major but little-investigated arena for symbolic action by the ruler. It mentions rulers from Saint Vladimir to Peter the Great that made architecture a useful tool for state-building in order to demonstrate their power and define their image. It also points out that architectural construction, whether of churches, fortifications, or palaces, was avidly noted in chronicles from the Primary Chronicle to the Nikon Chronicle and beyond. The chapter elaborates the ways that Boris Godunov used architecture in order to make a useful case study as architecture in relation to the pre-Petrine period finds too little place in discussions of political history. It provides access to some perceptions of Godunov's architectural efforts and gauges how successful those efforts were.