Irina A. ZHERNOSENKO

The paper is focused on the research on the Altai sacral centers in the context of phenomenology of the sacrality and special aspects of the cultural landscapes of the Altai region. The relevance of the study stems from the discursive gap between the theory on the sacrality phenomenon and practical empiric studies on the specific sacral objects. In light of this, this paper is aimed at the substantiation of the heuristic and the axiological meaning of the concept of the sacral center through cultural and philosophical analysis and explication of the structure of this concept. The methodological basis of the research comprises the semiotic theory, the theory of historical and cultural zones (HCZ), the chronotope and topochrone theories, that enable us to define the criteria and the boundaries of the “sacral center” phenomenon. Implementation of the structural method and the method of semantic analysis provides an opportunity to explicate the semantic code of the study subject and the ways of its functioning, both in the ancient times and in the modern sociocultural space. In the course of our studies, we developed the definition of the “sacral center” as a special historical and cultural phenomenon with the functions of cultural preservation and creation; substantiated the introduction of this definition to the academic practice, as it provides the means for complex studies on the sacral objects of both ancient and modern traditional cultures with the respect to their diversity.

Keywords: Sacral center, topochrone, chronotope, cultural landscape, Altai