SUMMARY:

When discussing Bolshevik cultural politics, both scholars and the public today emphasize what the Bolsheviks destroyed. In this essay, however, the focus is on what they “preserved,” and especially how they preserved it, to what purpose, and with what consequences. The article reconstructs the ideology and practices of cultural heritage in Soviet Russia from the vantage point of Bolshevik policies in reuses of the past. As an example, in reading the writing of the authority in Soviet cultural heritage industry, Igor Grabar, the author reconstructs the process of aestheticization, commodification, and internationalization of the Russian Orthodox icon.