Transcaucasia

The military and political situation in the border regions of the Russian Empire required the construction of fortresses in strategically important points. These fortifications, together with a complex of buildings necessary for the life of the garrison, played a role not only in the defense system against external threats, but also in maintaining the “peace” of the local population. At the same time, the organization of the space of the fortress complexes, their architecture and even the names of the strongholds and their parts (bastions, fronts, gates, etc.) represented imperial messages and carried a significant symbolic load. Near them, suburbs and even cities of various sizes arose, populated mainly by indigenous residents of the national outskirts. The latter, being involuntary witnesses to the manifestations of army routine (housekeeping, military ceremonies, etc.), found themselves in a special cultural space. The significance of the latter was enhanced by the fact that Russian military personnel in peacetime constituted about a third of the population of the city and district, and during the war, the Armenians who settled there found themselves in the minority. The focus is on Alexandropol, which was the only fortress in Transcaucasia, built in the 1830–1850s in the border region of the Armenian region on the site of the Gumry fortification, founded in 1807. Various symbolic messages were addressed primarily “inward” to maintain imperial identity in a foreign cultural environment, but it is impossible to deny that they also influenced the local population and created conditions for imperial integration.