More than a Guidebook: Emotional Response and Personal Impressions about Travel to Kyiv in Travelogues of the Late 18th – Early 19th Century

The author of the article considers the travelogues of three authors who visited Kyiv in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth century: German physician Otto von Gun, Russian sentimentalist Vladimir Izmailov, and Russian prince Ivan Mikhailovich Dolgorukov. Based on the analysis of these travelogues, the author tries to determine some specific features that make them different from the guidebooks that appear later, in the mid-nineteenth century. Though these two kinds of travel literature about Kyiv have some similarities, for instance, they describe must-see sites, they express admiration concerning holy places and ancient sites, they also have a number of differences, because each traveler had his own agenda, plans, and taste that influenced his unique rout around the city: one used to prefer holy places or sites of historical interest, while the other used to be interested in socialization and landscape watching. What was most important, travelogues, unlike guidebooks, captured vivid – often emotional – reaction of people concerning what they saw and experienced within the city. This reaction varied depending on many aspects and circumstances, such as traveler’s age, temperament, taste and personal sympathy. Moreover, travelogues reflected everyday practices of the city and its dwellers, as well as personal attitudes and impressions of the three authors. For instance, von Gun was most impressed by holy places, treasures of the local churches, and picturesque disposition of Kyiv. Vladimir Izmailov, the most verbose and emotional of the three travelers, felt exalted about ancient spirit of the city, while rather reserved and oldest of all Ivan Dolgorukov was mostly moved by picturesque landscapes of Kyiv.