DOI 10.46726/H.2026.3.15
The article is devoted to the study of the use and adaptation in the USSR of foreign experience in the reconstruction of ancient cities and the preservation of urban architectural heritage. The article analyzesthe British experience of reconstruction and preservation of old cities such as Coventry, Norwich, Bath. The article examines the discussions among the Soviet intelligentsia about the museification of Ulyanovsk and Suzdal in the 1960s. The authors of the article conclude that the problem of preserving urban historical heritage arose in industrialized countries at about the same time. In this regard, in the twentieth century, and especially in its second half, this problem became the subject of wide discussion at various levels. Due to the fact that these problems were solved in the USSR and Western countries in parallel, Soviet architects and urban planners actively turned to foreign experience. In the UK and in the USSR, approximately the same set of problems were discussed. Among them is the choice between preserving individual urban monuments or preserving entire architectural ensembles and the urban environment as a whole. Another point of contention was the complete conservation of the monument or its adaptation to the existing infrastructure.
For citation: Bashmakova E.V., Guseva M.A., Komissarov V.V. The search for ways to preserve urban historical heritage in the 1950s and 1960s: foreign practice and soviet experience, Bulletin of the Ivanovo State University. Series: Humanities, 2026, iss. 3, pp. 136—146.