This collection of thirteen vignettes addresses several important episodes in the history of Russian temporary architecture and public art, from the royal festivals during the times of Peter the Great up to the recent venues including the Sochi Winter Olympics. The forms and the circumstances of their design were drastically different; however, the projects discussed in the book share a common feature: they have been instrumental in the construction of Russia's national identity, with its perception of the West - simultaneously, a foe and a paragon - looming high over this process. The book offers a history of multidirectional relationships between diplomacy, propaganda, and architecture.

Alla Aronova is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, State Institute of Arts, Moscow, Russia. She earned her Master of Architecture with specialization in restoration and historic preservation from the Moscow Architectural Institute in 1980, and her PhD from the State Institute of Art Criticism, Moscow, in 1993. Alla Aronova's research interests are directed towards Russian art and architecture in the end of the 17th and the 18th centuries, with special focus on the history of Westernization of Russia under Peter the Great and his immediate successors. She is a leading expert on the subject of Russian festivals and festival architecture, has published a large number of articles in major Russian art history journals such as Isskustvoznanie (Art History Review), contributed chapters to edited volumes such as Moscow Kremlin in the 15th Century (Moskovskii Kreml' XV stoletiia), Moscow: Volkhonka, 2011, and runs scientific seminar, "Arts and Culture in the eighteenth century," at State Inst. She is a recipient of numerous grants, such as Russian State Foundation for Humanities Grant, Deutscher Akademischer Ausrauschdienst Grant, and Swedish Institute Foundation Grant.

Alexander Ortenberg is a professor at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, USA, where he teaches architectural history and theory, and design. He earned his MArch from the Moscow Institute of Architecture, Russia, in 1980 and his PhD from UCLA, USA, in 2004. His research interests include the history of architectural practices, the history of representation, and the history of exposition architecture. His publications include 'Joy in the Act of Drawing: Maybeck's Palace of Fine Arts, ' published in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (JSAH) in March 2011 and The Architecture of Great Expositions (2015) which he co-edited.