Arkhangelsk community cultural memory about the demolition and desecration of religious buildings during the Soviet era

The aim of the article is to explore the phenomenon of Arkhangelsk residents’ cultural memory about the demolition of the Orthodox religious objects (by studying oral and written sources); to identify the main cultural meanings and interpretations of these events; and to analyze the influence of modern forms of memory implementation on collective visions or perceptions and their translation to folklore and speech practice. The study used the anthropological approach, was based on the interdisciplinary principle, and traced the dynamics of mass perceptions. Religious narratives are part of the modern cultural memory of Arkhangelsk residents. The analysis suggests that the religious narratives are located on the periphery of local community cultural memory, being replaced by the values of the Soviet period, but the emergence of new religious objects invoked the need to obtain information about the history of Arkhangelsk churches in some of the local community members.