Originality, skill and scope of creative imagination": Russian architectural and urban planning heritage in the mediadiscourse of the pre-war years

The article is devoted to the practices of actualization of the Russian architectural and urban planning heritage in Soviet socio-political and specialized press and books of the 1930s-early 1940s within the framework of the state patriotic course and the proposed task for creation of architecture which would be "national in form, socialist in content". The author concludes that media texts designed to form the national pride of readers conveyed ideas about the originality of the national heritage, the outstanding achievements of Russian architects, and the value of historical buildings in any Soviet city. All of that objectively contributed to further research and initiatives in the field of architectural monuments’ protection.