SUMMARY:

The article studies attempts to de-Sovetize Arkhangelsk street names in the 1990s in the context of more global developments in postsocialist societies of the period. Ideologically, the task met with little opposition in Arkhangelsk and was further encouraged by strong local patriotism. Hampering the process, however, was a lack of consensus regarding national political and cultural symbols that had been the main source of names for public places since the early twentieth century. Eventually, with a few exceptions, Soviet-era names survived on the map of the city.