IMPERIAL URBANISM IN THE BORDERLANDS Imperial Urbanism in the Borderlands Kyiv, 1800–1905 SERHIY BILENKY UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London © University of Toronto Press 2017 Toronto Buffalo London www.utppublishing.com Printed in the U.S.A. ISBN 978-1-4875-0172-3 (cloth) Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper with AQ1 vegetable-based inks. __________________________________________________________________________ [CCIP - to come] _________________________________________________________________________ This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario. an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario Funded by the Financé par le Government gouvernement of Canada du Canada In memory of all those perished in the struggle for freedom in Kyiv, in January–February 2014 Contents List of Illustrations and Tables ix Acknowledgments xiii Maps 1–6 xvi Introduction 3 Part One: Representing the City 1 Mapping the City in Transition 19 2 Using the Past: The Great Cemetery of Rus’ 75 Part Two: Making the City 3 Municipal Autonomy under the Magdeburg Law, 1800–1835 135 4 Planning a New City: Empire Transforms Space, 1835–1870 165 5 Municipal Autonomy Reloaded: Space for Sale, 1871–1905 200 Maps 7–12 230 Part Three: Peopling the City 6 Counting Kyivites: The Language of Class, Religion, and Ethnicity 239 7 Municipal Elites and “Urban Regimes”: Continuities and Disruptions 276 viii Contents Part Four: Living (in) the City 8 Sociospatial Form and Psychogeography 301 9 What Language Did the Monuments Speak? 335 Conclusions: Towards a Theory of Imperial Urbanism in the Borderlands 356 Notes 365 Selected Bibliography 449 Index 467 Illustrations and Tables Illustrations 1.1 Sazhin, A View of Kyiv from the Left Bank of the Dnieper 20 1.2 Sazhin, A View of Podil from St Andrew’s Hill 29 1.3 Unknown, The Kyiv Caves Monastery / Assumption Cathedral 42 1.4 Shevchenko, St Alexander’s Cathedral 43 1.5 Lauffer, A View of Khreshchatyk Square 67 2.1 Sazhin, Excavations of the Ruins of St Irene’s Church 85 2.2 Sazhin, The Ruins of the Golden Gate 92 2.3 Timm, The Chain Bridge 119 3.1 St Andrew’s Slope 139 3.2 Sazhin, A View of Theatre Square 144 3.3 Kul’zhenko, The View of Podil 156 4.1 Sazhin [?], Khreshchatyk Square 181 4.2 Timm, The View of Old Kyiv from the Iaroslav Rampart 183 4.3 Orda, Khreshchatyk Square and the Government Offices 185 4.4 Shevchenko and Sazhin, Kyiv St. Vladimir University 187 4.5 Kul’zhenko, Kyiv St. Vladimir University 190 4.6 New building area (photo from the 1870s) 197 5.1 Mering’s estate before redevelopment 216 5.2 Mykolaїvs’ka Street, Hotel Continental 217 5.3 Kul’zhenko, Demiїvka suburb 221 8.1 Kul’zhenko, Khreshchatyk 324 9.1 Timm, A Monument to the Magdeburg Law 339 9.2 Sazhin, A Monument to St Vladimir 339 9.3 Monument to Bobrinskii 341 9.4 Shpak and Seriakov, A project of Khmel’nyts’kyi statue 345 x List of Illustrations and Tables 9.5 Kul’zhenko, Statue of Bohdan Khmel’nyts’kyi 346 9.6 Kul’zhenko, Statue of Nicholas I 349 9.7 Statue of Stolypin 352 Chart 7.1 Share of Russians among Kyiv municipal voters, 1813–46 284 Tables 4.1 Kyiv budgets, 1837–68 178 4.2 Main expenditures in Kyiv, 1837–68 179 5.1 Kyiv budgets, 1871–1901 201 5.2 Main expenditures in Kyiv, 1871–1901 201 6.1 Social and economic groups in Kyiv, 1835 and 1845 247 6.2 Kyivites’ places of birth, circa 1874 253 6.3 Social structure of Kyiv’s major religious communities, 1874 258 6.4 Share of social estates in crafts and trades, 1874 262 6.5 Share of social estates in trade, transport, credit, and insurance, 1874 263 6.6 Share of social estates in arts, crafts, and related businesses, 1874 263 6.7 Birthplaces of Kyivites by economic classes, 1874 264 6.8 Birthplaces of Kyivites, 1897 267 6.9 Religion in Kyiv, 1863–97 268 6.10 Social estates in Kyiv, 1835–97 269 6.11 Russia’s urban population by social estates, 1897 269 6.12 Languages in Kyiv, 1874 and 1897 270 6.13 Division of social estates by language (major languages), 1874 and 1897 272 6.14 Social structure of Kyiv’s main linguistic communities, 1874 and 1897 273 7.1 Kyiv municipal elite, 1799–1820 281 8.1 Public, state, and private houses in Kyiv, 1817 303 8.2 Social profile of real estate owners in Kyiv, 1835–6 305 8.3 Residential pattern of social groups in Kyiv, 1835–6 306 8.4 Social profile of real estate owners in Kyiv, 1863–4 307 8.5 Residential pattern of social groups in Kyiv, 1863 309 List of Illustrations and Tables xi 8.6 Sociospatial profile of Kyiv residents, 1863 313 8.7 Residential pattern of social groups in Kyiv, 1874 315 8.8 Number of residential houses in Kyiv, 1863 and 1874 316 8.9 Residential houses and rental apartments in Kyiv, 1874 317 8.10 Assessed property tax per district 319 8.11 Number of residents in Kyiv’s districts, 1863–1905 320 8.12 Population densities in city districts (per dessiatina), 1897–1902 321 8.13 Residential densities in city districts (per dessiatina), circa 1902 322 Acknowledgments In the fall of 2013, while I was wrapping up the research for this book, peaceful protests against a corrupt Ukrainian government broke out on Kyiv’s main square – Independence Square (once known as Khreshchatyk Square, later Duma Square, and today simply the Maidan). In January and February 2014 those demonstrations were marred by unprecedented levels of violence unleashed by the ruthless regime of President Viktor Yanukovych against the largely peaceful protesters; more then one hundred of them were killed by riot police, mysterious snipers, and government-sponsored thugs. Suddenly, historical Kyiv seemed far removed from this new city of televised death and heroism, a city in which my family members and close friends risked their lives and some were injured. Writing a book seemed an absurd notion at a time when civilians on Kyiv’s streets were suffering through a horrifying spectacle, one that might have been painted by a postmodern Hieronymus Bosch. But then I realized why I had to finish this book – if only to remind readers of the fortunes of this great city, a place where the human spirit rebelled against oppression and that has become a monument to human perseverance in the face of political adversity, urban fragility, and (not always favourable) change. A project that I began with the city’s shape in mind has evolved into one about humanity itself; the tragic events of January and February 2014 offer a sombre drum beat for an ongoing discussion of Kyiv as a place and as a community. This book is deeply indebted to my many academic and non- academic friends who struggled for freedom on the barricades of the Maidan and on other Kyiv streets. The courage and determination of these and other fellow Kyivites inspired me to think about the city as xiv Acknowledgments a living cluster of spatial and social, built and human, historical and contemporary qualities. I want to thank Roman Szporluk for encouraging me to think seri- ously about Kyiv’s unique place in Eastern European history. Serhy Plokhii patiently listened to my rough ideas during a few hot summers in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I thank Douglas Donegani for his never- ending hospitality in Toronto and for helping me “search for the right metaphors.” Olena Betliy and Olia Martyniuk stimulated my research by inviting me to the excellent conference on Kyiv’s historical urban- ism in December 2015. Faith Hillis offered generous advice and shared her precious archival materials (as well as numerous insights from her brilliant book). My own book would not have been possible with- out the constant care of Richard Ratzlaff of the University of Toronto Press, who enthusiastically guided me through a complex and at times obscure editorial process. I also thank Richard and his colleague Peter Kracht of the University of Pittsburgh Press for inviting me to the annual conference “Recovering Forgotten History: The Image of East- Central Europe in English-Language Academic Textbooks,” which not- withstanding its “academic” title was a pure pleasure. While there I was honoured to have Andrzej Nowak, Ostap Sereda, and John Merri- man as attentive readers and insightful critics of my manuscript. I also want to thank Frances Mundy, Matthew Kudelka, and the entire staff at the University of Toronto Press for making sure that the words are right and images are in the right places in my manuscript. I am espe- cially grateful to the Ukrainian Studies Fund and personally to Roman Procyk for funding my research work. My project would have been impossible without Frank Sysyn’s wise advice and kind support. My special thanks go to Dmytro Vortman for his excellent maps of Kyiv and for several very helpful suggestions regarding the city’s cartogra- AQ2 phy and its past in general. Regarding illustrations, a number of them have been generously supplied by Kyiv’s famed publishing house “Mystetstvo” (a personal thank you to Nina Dmytrivna Prybieha).