History in stone: the provincial town' cultural space of the late XVIII – early XX cent. (on the example of the Volsk city architecture)

The paper examines the history of the city of Volsk in the Saratov region as an object of tourism. The objects of the historical and cultural heritage of the city that have survived to the present day are identified and examined. The substantiation of new approaches to the study of architecture in a provincial city in the aspect of regional stratification of socio-cultural space is presented. The architecture of past centuries lends individuality and a unique identity to any settlement. It reflects the mental elements of an entire era and accumulates cultural codes and texts. Small provincial towns without urban growth tendencies have preserved architectural monuments that reflect the history not only of a particular locality, but of the whole country. The paper examines the architectural uniqueness of a small town in Saratov Province, Volsk. The aim of the work is to highlight the typological features of Russian provincial urban architecture, to analyze the urban space of Volsk city in the context of its historical-architectural heritage. The methodology and novelty of the research is represented by a structural and systematic analysis of the compositional, artistic characteristics and specific features of the architecture created in the late XVIII – early XX centuries. It is during this period that the individuality and uniqueness of Russian provincial architecture emerges and its own path of development is defined. The paper presents the rationale for new approaches to the study of the provincial city architecture in the aspect of regional stratification of the socio-cultural space