Power of a fairy tale: magic of national folklore discussed at the National Centre RUSSIA

---

On 16 December, attendees of the tenth lecture in the "Symbols of Time" series, held at the National Centre RUSSIA, had an opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of the Russian fairy tales and trace their influence on painting, graphic art, sculpture, and architecture. The host of the event was art and architectural historian Yelizaveta Likhacheva. The invited expert was Sofia Bagdasarova, art blogger, writer, and journalist at the Art Newspaper Russia.

Opening the meeting, Yelizaveta Likhacheva outlined the sacred role of the fairy tale in human culture, emphasising its therapeutic function and influence on personality formation.

"The fairy tale is a crucial element of human development, which is why it is important that our attitude towards it does not depend on fleeting political or social changes. There is always a demand for fairy tales because, among other things, they have a remarkable anaesthetising effect. They help us process difficult emotions, offer hope, and shape values," noted Yelizaveta Likhacheva, setting the tone for a conversation about the origins of the national myth.

During the lecture, the experts analysed how folklore, acquiring literary form in the 19th century, became the foundation for works of visual art, and demonstrated how fairy-tale motifs, filtered through the creative lenses of artists, sculptors, and architects, formed a recognisable visual language that became an integral part of the cultural environment of the Russian intelligentsia. Particular attention was paid to the scientific understanding of fairy tales. Yelizaveta Likhacheva focused in detail on the revolutionary work of Vladimir Propp, who in 1928 laid the foundations for the structuralist analysis of folklore.

"This book essentially overturned the understanding of Russian folklore. Propp applied a structuralist method to the analysis of fairy tales and discovered an incredible, paradoxical thing. He revealed that there are, in essence, few fairy-tale plots. The 35 basic functions and narrative links he described, built on archetypal oppositions, are universal to the cultures of all humanity. This is a fundamental work whose importance is hard to overstate. Its ideas remain relevant for a huge variety of fields, from literary studies to modern screenwriting, proving that the formation of a fairy-tale plot follows laws common to all humanity," emphasised the lecturer.

Developing the theme of the uniqueness of national interpretations of common plots, Sofia Bagdasarova addressed a current context — the "Book of Fairy Tales" exposition that has opened at the National Centre RUSSIA.

"What is presented at the 'Book of Fairy Tales' exposition illustrates a very interesting thesis: everything presented there is a product of mass culture that has developed in Russia over the past 150 years. And this is the key point: plots are eternal and repeat across different peoples. Native Americans, Chinese, and Egyptians may all tell the same story of Cinderella. This is not a joke; the most ancient version of the Cinderella tale was recorded during the time of the pharaohs — so, only the visual and semantic content is unique. The same archetypes acquire different 'flesh' in each culture. This unique content becomes the most important symbol, the banner, for a nation. We take pride in 'The Scarlet Flower,' perceiving it as an inherently Russian story, although it is a direct descendant of 'Beauty and the Beast,'" drew a parallel Sofia Bagdasarova.

The experts discussed how, during the Enlightenment and Romantic eras, a conscious process of 'collecting' and even mythologising folk culture began to strengthen national identity. Yelizaveta Likhacheva gave vivid examples of such creative stylisation, which has become part of our cultural landscape.

"For example, Prosper Mérimée allegedly made a translation of Balkan folklore, and he did it so well that even Pushkin believed it. Another example is the visual image of the magician in 'The Song of Prophetic Oleg,' which our artists borrowed from English depictions of Celtic druids. Architecture also participated in this myth-making: for instance, the Igumnov House is a stylisation of the Russian Middle Ages, and the Pertsova House is an embodied fairy tale, a kind of terem (tower chamber). This is not genuine antiquity, but it is a genuine expression of the spirit of the time," explained Yelizaveta Likhacheva.

Sofia Bagdasarova expressed confidence that the fairy tale as a source of inspiration is not diminishing but is merely transforming into new formats.

"The fairy tale, by its very nature, is always a source of inspiration, no matter whether it existed 20,000, 10,000, or 5,000 years ago. In our time, somewhere in the last 10 years, contemporary art and illustration have resumed experiments with folklore, and these experiments are becoming more and more interesting, acquiring new 'flesh' in the current cultural field," she summarised.

The traditional cycle of enlightening lectures with Yelizaveta Likhacheva began at the National Centre RUSSIA with the architectural exposition "The Birth of Scale"; then it continued under the new title, "Symbols of Time," and was expanded with conversations about visual art. The first event of the updated cycle was the lecture "Palaces of Russia," which took place at the National Centre RUSSIA in June 2025.

Everyone can attend the enlightening lectures and other events at the National Centre RUSSIA free of charge by registering in advance on the website russia.ru. The schedule of enlightening events is available in the "Events" section.