Religious landscape of border territories: the problem of functioning

Abstract

The article discusses religious landscape within the cultural landscape of the frontier. By the beginning of the XX century geographical concept "landscape", together with the notion of “cultural landscape” were generally accepted in the scholarly discourse. This article explores conceptual design and the features of categorical and methodological apparatus of the "cultural landscape". The author believes that the notion of "religious landscape" which can be instrumental in identifying and describing the confessional layer of cultural landscape has been researched insufficiently. The article analyzes the existing definition of the concept "religious landscape" and regards this concept as a part of the cultural landscape, since religion is one of the essential elements of culture. The author writes about the complexities of the religious landscape of the frontiers of the Russian Federation in connection with its mosaic picture. The religious landscape of these territories was formed under the influence of active ethnic contacts of several peoples. Each culture tried to create its own landscape, turning frontier areas into multi-layered entities with different religious traditions. The interaction took place not only in the form of the adoption of new elements and their combination into one system, but also in open confrontation. And the application of the notion of religious landscape borrowed from related disciplines gives a new perspective to the research.