Abstract

This thesis examines the accounts of thirteen Westerners who traveled to Russia in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and argues that their negative perception of Russian Orthodoxy contributed to the notion of a generally backward, alien and un-European Russia. It links these travelogues to prevailing opinions in Western Europe and argues that, from the perspective of Western audiences, the lack of reform within the Russian Orthodox Church and the un-enlightened practices of popular Orthodoxy invalidated other Westernization efforts attempted by the Russian government.