The Image of Orenburg in F. I. Lobysevich’s Guidebook (1878): Historical and Imagological Analysis

The article is dedicated to a historical-imagological analysis of F. I. Lobisevich’s guidebook “The City of Orenburg” (1878). The research reveals the mechanisms behind the construction of the image of Orenburg and the Orenburg Governorate as a frontier region of the Russian Empire. The authors identify the key narrative strategies through which the text forms a complex and ambivalent image of the city: a “gateway to Asia”, a multi-ethnic trade center with an “Oriental” flavor, and a provincial city balancing between backwardness and hope for progress. The analysis demonstrates how the guidebook combines statistical accuracy, ideological clichés, and Orientalist stereotypes, reproducing the imperial discourse of the second half of the 19th century. It is concluded that the guidebook was not merely a descriptive source but an active tool for the symbolic appropriation of space, participating in the creation of the empire’s “mental map” and influencing the perception and development of the region.