Elena Glavatskaya "In a Very Elegant Gothic Style": A History of the Catholic Tradition in the Middle Urals from Late 1600s until the Late 1930s Elena Glavatskaya - Professor, Department of History, Ural Federal University (Yekaterinburg, Russia), elena.glavatskaya@urfu.ru The paper shows the evolution of Catholicism in the Middle Urals over more than two centuries. The study is based on archival sources and statistical records that allow a reconstruction of the Catholic population dynamics as well as the process of Church institutionalization. The paper covers three periods of Catholic presence in the region: formation, institutionalization, and establishment, with an evolution from ethno-religious isolation to integration in the local cultural landscape. After the Revolution, the Catholics were subject, along with other religions, to rigid state policy, while practices were forced out to the private sphere. The Catholic Church institutions contributed to the preservation of the ethnic identity of the population historically associated with European, especially Polish, culture. They played a role in social protection for the most vulnerable population groups. Among other things, the data prove a particular role of religion in socially critical conditions. Keywords: Roman Catholic Church in Russia, Catholicism, Catholic population of the Urals, exiled Catholics, POWs Catholics, Polish Catholic communities, historical religious landscape of the Urals. Работа выполнена при финансовой поддержке РФФИ, грант N15 - 06 - 08541 "Религиозное разнообразие евразийского города: статистический и картографический анализ (на примере Екатеринбурга в конце XIX - начале XXI в.)". стр. 218С САМОГО начала активного освоения Урал формировался как регион многоконфессиональный. Православный ландшафт со всеми характерными элементами сложился уже в конце XVII века; в южных районах среди башкир и татар утвердился ислам; народы Севера продолжали сохранять приверженность этническим религиям, в ... Читать далее