What question did this study set out to answer?

The research aims to analyze the role of fairy-tale characters in murals as representations of the Russian cultural code.

February 5, 2026Open Access

The Fairy-Tale Character as an Archetype of 'Russianness': In Search of a Cultural Code (Based on the Murals of the Industrial Park 'Yesipovo-4', Moscow Region)

Key Points

The research aims to analyze the role of fairy-tale characters in murals as representations of the Russian cultural code.
Conducted an interdisciplinary analysis combining art history and cultural studies.
Applied iconographic and formal-stylistic methods to the murals.
Performed comparative and intertextual analyses of characters depicted in the murals.
Identified key fairy-tale characters as carriers of national identity.
Demonstrated the murals as allegories that reflect cultural values.
Revealed connections between the murals and broader ethnocultural heritage.

Abstract

This study explores the themes and imagery of murals in the industrial park of the Holding «Stroitelny Alliance» in the Moscow Region. The murals prominently feature Russian folk and authorial fairy tales, as well as literary works whose heroes are widely recognized as fairy-tale characters. The main goal was to understand these characters as carriers of the Russian cultural code, which forms the conceptual program of the murals. Key figures include Vasilisa the Wise, Marya Tsarevna, the Swan Princess, Chernomor, the Thirty-Three Bogatyrs, Ivan Tsarevich, Danilo the Craftsman, and Lefty. The murals function as allegories rather than literal illustrations of texts. The research object is the fairy-tale murals of the «Stroitelny Alliance» Holding in the Moscow Region, with the subject being the fairy-tale characters depicted. An interdisciplinary approach was employed, combining art history methods (iconographic, formal-stylistic) with comparative, intertextual, and intermedial analyses. This revealed connections within the artistic space (monumental painting, applied arts) and external interactions (architecture, design, business, ethnocultural heritage). Significant results include analysis of ISP «Koledino» murals as an ethnocultural prototype for the «Yesipovo-4» murals; identification of the process of codifying national values in fairy-tale characters and their transmission through «Yesipovo-4» murals; and interpretation of the cultural code in contemporary contexts. The study introduces new empirical material and proposes methodologies for analyzing objects in the art buffer zone, such as autonomous industrial murals. Terminological solutions for analyzing these objects (replication, intermedial remake and remix, compositional collage) are offered. This research contributes both theoretically and practically to art studies and cultural understanding in industry.

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