@phdthesis{Afanasyeva2015, author = {Afanasyeva, Dariya}, title = {Shared heritage: Sacred landscapes of Crimea, their development and protection in the multicultural context}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus4-35938}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Owing to its unique strategic position on the northern coast of the Black Sea, Crimea has, since Antiquity, been a highly diverse, multi-ethnic, multi-religious location. Throughout history, the peninsula's landscapes were shaped and transformed under the influence of its ever-changing populations. In this process, religion played a crucial role. Nowadays, Crimea abounds in sacred sites in the same way as it abounds in culturally and religiously diverse inhabitants. Rebirth in the 1990s of the religious and cultural life that had been repressed for over seventy years of the Soviet rule gave a powerful impetus to the revival of Crimea's sacred landscapes and enabled the different ethno-religious groups residing in the peninsula to re-establish the bond with the home of their ancestors. The notion of landscape as a memoryscape became central in this context, since it is the landscape that records, as well as reflects, the events in history. The sites communally regarded as sacred unite the people as much as common memories transmitted from one generation to the other do. The objectives of the theoretical part of this thesis are twofold. On the one hand, it aims to grasp the connection between religion, landscape and memory, whereby sacred sites are seen as landscapes of memory and anchors of people's cultural and religious identity. On the other hand, it seeks to explore the specific issues pertinent to the Crimean socio-cultural context, such as the peninsula's history and the evolving ethno-religious relationships among the diverse local population, which have impacted the development and protection of Crimea's sacred sites overtime. Method employed is the comparative literature review, whereby for each chapter a selection of authors was made, whose contributions towards the discussion of the aforementioned issues have been particularly relevant. Based on the theoretical background described above, the empirical section of the research targets two main groups of actors: the state on the one side, and the organizations representing local religious groups on the other. In relation to the state, the objective is to explore how the religious revival of the post-Soviet period correlates with Ukraine's current policies towards the safeguarding of Crimea's sacred landscapes, namely, to what extent they are being protected under the existing legislation, and which of the aspects are given most attention in the process. In relation to the organizations representing local religious groups, the task is to investigate to what degree the sacred sites under study remain relevant for various groups, and to establish how the knowledge about the local sacred places and their importance is being disseminated both within these groups and beyond. In order to fulfill these tasks, the set of indicators has been developed, which takes into consideration the specific Crimean socio-cultural context, and a selection of case studies has been made, which in their totality reflect the viewpoints of Crimea's prominent religious groups. The case studies are: (1) the Assumption Monastery, (2) the cave town of Chufut Kale with Balta Tiymez Karaite cemetery, and (3) the old town of Bakhchisaray with Salachiq historic district and Gazy Mansur cemetery. All of the three case studies are located on the territory of Bakhchisaray Historical and Cultural Preserve (BHCP). The evaluation of the Ukrainian state's policies with regards to safeguarding of the selected sacred sites revealed that while many of their elements are recognized as cultural heritage of high significance, protection activities are impeded by substantial obstacles of administrative nature, as well as by the lack general planning. Moreover, conservation and day-to-day management is carried out with little consideration for the opinions of the local people and with the insufficient involvement of the latter. The indicator-based assessment of relevance of the selected sacred locations for various local religious groups and the ways, in which the knowledge about these sites is being spread exposed a number of clear tendencies, as well as highlighted the existing challenges and deficiencies which need to be urgently addressed, so as to ensure the safeguarding of the studied sites for the future generations.}, subject = {Cultural landscape; Sacred landscape; Memoryscape; Cultural heritage; Heritage protection; Kulturlandschaft; Sakrales Erbe; Kulturerbe; Denkmalschutz; Krim; Kulturerbe}, language = {en} }