Rescuing Zastroika during Perestroika: Grassroots Preservation of Historic Architecture in Leningrad, 1986-1990

• In Event: Perestroika from Below: From Shared Soviet Space to Divergent Local Histories

Abstract

In the late USSR, caring for historical heritage emerged as one of the few avenues for legitimate civic engagement. This provided activists with a space to operate independently from authority, functioning within a sanctioned and relatively secure realm of activity. In Leningrad, grassroots preservation of pre-Soviet buildings, regardless of their cultural and historical significance, marked the beginning of perestroika. The political shifts under Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms empowered groups of young Leningraders to launch a campaign against Leningrad urban planning that threatened the architectural heritage of the former imperial capital. As such, these movements not only shaped the discourse surrounding heritage preservation in the period but also drove civic engagement during perestroika in Leningrad.
This study suggests that referring to Leningrad’s pre-revolutionary image had a dual effect: it implied a high mobilization potential while also masking disagreement with Leningrad urban planning and the local bureaucratic policies. By preserving the buildings associated with prominent figures of Russian pre-revolutionary and early Soviet cultural canon, activists evoked the ethos of a Petersburg imbued with non-communist and Western imagery. Newly uncovered archival sources shed light on activists’ aspirations to positively contribute to the city’s preservation, albeit somewhat naively, by aligning with the principles of perestroika.

Author

• Margarita Pavlova, U of Giessen (Germany)