ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the cultural history of Novorossiisk through the physical space and symbolic spatiality of remembrance of the war. It analyzes through monumental culture the opposition between mainstream memory, which dictates the official mnemonic identity of Novorossiisk and is located visibly in and around the city center, and some aspects of remembrance on the fringes of organized society, often situated on the geographical periphery of the city. The state is responsible for the monument's upkeep, while local authority architects are responsible for the area around it. The whole area was curtained off from nearby buildings by a line of 225 poplars, representing the number of days the land was defended. Most monuments in Novorossiisk support the popular war myth, which extols individual and collective military heroism and martyrdom, rather than recalling the ignominious defeat and subsequent mass slaughter of civilians.
