Rumyana Chukova, Legitimizing New National Identity Through the Monuments: the Case of Macedonia and Post-Soviet Central Asian Republics
This paper analyzes the formation of national identity and political state legitimation through the evocations of monumental art in urban environment. The research focuses on an ostensibly unusual combination: a comparison of the Republic of Macedonia and the five former Soviet republics in Central Asia. The goal has been to outline the thematic forms and methods by which the political elite can influence public awareness, in order to legitimize its vision of a new national identity. Formulation of similar elements and trends will contribute to outlining more clearly the model of national legitimation in newly independent post-communist states. Thus defined, the theme is too complex and that is why the object of analysis has been restricted to the monumental architectural artefacts erected in most symbolic places of the capital cities, which synthesizes the historical messages addressed to the nation and the world.