Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER
7
Religion
Field Note
Dying and Resurrecting
Figure 7.1
Vyshniyvolochek, Russia.
A Russian Orthodox church lies in ruins in this small village in
1964.
© H. J. de Blij.
When I made my fi rst trip to the Soviet Union in 1964, the world was divided into
West and East in the Cold War. I was cataloging the unique cultural landscape in
my mind as my group drove along a road from Leningrad to Moscow: I was look-
ing for evidence of communism on the landscape. The rural areas were fi lled with
state and collective farms. To me, the most interesting aspect of the landscape
was the multitude of churches in ruins.
In every town we passed, and in many villages along the way, churches lay in
ruins, their roofs collapsed, their steeples toppled. The bells were gone; where
stained-glass windows once adorned the churches there were now gaping holes
(Fig. 7.1). My host did not want me to photograph the churches.
“Why let them collapse?” I asked, “Why not remove them altogether?” He
pointed his fi nger to emphasize his point, “Religion causes confl ict. We had many
religions in the Soviet Union, and they set Soviet against Soviet. And the Orthodox
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