Image of the city. Code of cultural identity of the megacity on the basis of architectural heritage

The preservation of entire blocks of historical buildings in the city centre makes Samara a unique city and creates the phenomenon of “architectural identity” - recognisability, identification of images. The aim of the article is to identify the system of priority identification features of Samara architecture. The research formulates criteria and principles of Samara’s architectural identity, identifies the most typical architectural images that characterise the code of the city’s cultural identity.