Visual dominants of the Urals in photographs of the late 19th - early 20th centuries (based on guidebooks and postcards)

This article deals with the photographic image of the Urals in the late 19th - early 20th centuries and studies the role that scenic photographs played in shaping the visual dominants of the Urals. The main materials for this research were photographic illustrations presented in guidebooks as well as photographic postcards of the period in question. Theoretically and methodologically, the study is based on the perception of means of communication as a message and the structural-semiotic understanding of the cultural code. Postcards and guidebooks are considered as influential space coders that present an image of the Urals in accordance with their communicative settings. The tourist orientation and technical possibilities of photography production lead to a wider and more detailed coverage of the Ural space than in previous verbal representations. In connection with the focus on tourist attractiveness, spatial dominants are selected that correspond to the status of a landmark. The Chusovaya River firmly establishes its status as the main river of the Urals. The interest shifts toward the Southern Urals, where the most spectacular mountain landscapes are located. Taganay Mount, which crowns a group of high ridges in the Zlatoust region, becomes the dominant feature of the Ural Mountains. Tourist photography reintroduces as a landmark the mining industry of the Urals, which, due to the crisis of the second half of the 19th century, was losing its status as an economic pillar of the region. Mining production is presented as an object of tourist ethnography. There is noted special attention with regard to myths and legends of the region as well as historical plots that possess the qualities of attractive narration. A view from above becomes the most preferred, constantly employed perspective, emphasizing the steepness and the scale of the space. Mass authorship and an intensive distribution of photographic views of the Urals lead to a new discovery of the Ural space.