Rustam Rakhmatullin: biography and creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Rustam Rakhmatullin is a well-known Russian writer, essayist and culturologist, perhaps the most famous as a participant in the Archnadzor project. In this article, we will look at his biography and literary works.

Short biography

Rakhmatullin Rustam Evrikovich was born in Moscow in November 1966. In his youth, he graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University. Soon after graduating from the university, he began working in the editorial office of the New Youth magazine until 2000 (at which time the magazine ended its existence). In 1996, he became the founder of the Essay Club and was its curator until the very closing in the same 2000. He also worked for Nezavisimaya Gazeta for a year, as an observer of the city's architectural monuments (since 1997).

The theme of Moscow in creativity

Since 1998, Rustam Rakhmatullin has been lecturing on local history and Moscow studies, and in 2012 he became a teacher of Moscow studies at one of the universities of this city.

In the mid-2000s, he led a column in Izvestia called "Beware of Moscow." In 2005, the writer was awarded on behalf of the Union of Architects of Russia for several topical articles on the preservation of monumentsarchitecture in the capital.

He is one of the founders and a member of the coordinating council of the Arkhnadzor city protection project (founded in 2009). This is a voluntary union of Muscovites, which contributes to the preservation, study and reconstruction of architectural monuments and landscapes of the city. Participants do not receive any payment for their activities, and they do not depend on any commercial organization. In addition, the society carries out various educational programs.

In 2011, he began to conduct a cycle of television local history programs “Admiration of Moscow” on the channel “Russia-24”.

In addition, Rakhmatullin is one of the active participants in the Heritage School project (started in 2015).

Over the years of his research and work, the writer has received several literary awards and prizes.

In addition, the writer periodically conducts excursions around Moscow, which invariably attract a large number of people who want to visit them.

Literary creativity

Russian writer Rustam Rakhmatullin published a book en titled "Two Moscows, or the Metaphysics of the Capital" in 2008. For this work, he received the National Prize in Literature "Big Book". In addition, the book won the Audience Award. It reflects Rakhmatullin's many years of research into the history of Moscow, a new understanding of its past, numerous interweavings with the stories of other cities. According to the author, Moscow is one of the embodiments of a higher plan, which has been carried out for many centuries. All this allows the reader to immerse himself in the atmosphere of the history of the city and feel like a direct viewer.

Another work dedicated to Moscow studies is “Admiration of Moscow” (2009). In it, Rustam Rakhmatullin continues his story about the unusual history of the city and its mythology, especially paying attention to the theme of love in Moscow. The new book contains for the first time previously unknown photographs of some architectural monuments. For her, the writer was awarded the prize of the Russian government for his contribution to culture.