Past and Present of functioning and usage of river settlements in Rostov region (Russia)

Water is basic element of life. The most valuable resource, people will always need. During historical development of human kind we taught how to adapt water around us (rivers, seashores, etc.) for our own needs. Concerning such crucial importance of this element, there is no need to admire, why people have always been used waterfronts intensively. The article is devoted to systematizing knowledge about Rostov region settlements, situated close to water; influence of Cossacks’ culture on functional use of those settlements, concerning their architecture and urban planning. Since the earliest years of current era river Don and its basin was a core of special and unique contact zone, where the mutual influence of the ancient and barbarian Iranian world on the one hand, and the interaction of the sedentary and nomadic (Sarmatians, Scythians, Turks and so on) population of the region on the other created base for diverse ethnical mixture. Result of evolution is mirrored in many interconnected planes: economic, ethno-cultural, historical and even architectural. Attention is paid to case studies, which analysis helps to understand both background of settled formations and current situation.

Key words: waterfronts, architecture, functional usage, Don area, Cossacks

szerző

• 
  Krasikova Iaroslava
  Építészmérnöki mesterképzési szak osztatlan
  egységes, osztatlan képzés

konzulens

• 
  Dr. Wettstein Domonkos
  egyetemi adjunktus, Urbanisztika Tanszék