historical religious landscape of the Urals

"In a Very Elegant Gothic Style": A History of the Catholic Tradition in the Middle Urals from Late 1600s until the Late 1930s

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.