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Reclaiming Byzantium
Russia, Turkey and the Archaeological Claim to the Middle East in the 19th Century
Introduction
There is a long-held feeling in Russia that Moscow is the true heir to the Christian Byzantine Empire. In 1894, Imperial Russia opened one of the world's leading centres for Byzantine archaeology in Istanbul, the Russian Archaeological Institute – its purpose was to stake the claim that Russia was the correct heir to Tsargrad (as Istanbul was referred to in Russian circles).
This then is the history of that institute, and the history of Russia's efforts to reclaim its Middle East – events since in the Crimea, Syria and Georgia are all, to some extent, wrapped up in this historical framework. Ure looks at the founding of the Russian Archaeological Institute, its aims, and its place in the digging-race which characterised the late Imperial phase of modern history. Above all, she shows how the practice of history has been used as a political tool, a form of soft power.
