Image of Barnaul in the 18th - Mid-19th Centuries as Described by Contemporaries

The article attempts to reconstruct the image of the Siberian city of Barnaul in the 18th-19th centuries based on the notes of contemporaries - scientists, writers, travelers. Its image was dominated by positive, even idealistic, features. Barnaul was characterised as ‘Siberian Athens’, ‘a corner of St. Petersburg’, ‘an oasis in the barbaric desert’, as well as ‘the most pleasant and merry city in Siberia’ (as it is presented in É. Reclus’ ‘The Earth and Its Inhabitants’). However, sometimes critical and satirical notes slip into the image of the city, as a tribute to the stereotype of provincialism (this is especially noticeable in Dostoevsky).