Andrei Muraviev in the Face of Death. On Italian Voyages from a Thanatouristic Perspective

The article, based on the findings of Sławoj Tanaś, is an attempt to present thanatouristic dimension of Italian voyages of Andrei Muraviev in 1845. The research material consists of two works: Roman Letters and Appendices to “Roman Letters”. Various death spaces visited by the writer in Italy can be divided into two categories. The first and most extensive one includes peregrinations to sepulchral spaces, i.e. places where human remains are buried (temples, cemeteries, tombs, catacombs). These were both places commemorating death of anonymous (e.g., catacombs) and particular individuals (e.g., artists’ tombs). The other category includes visiting areas of natural cataclysms (Pompeii). Muraviev was a post-figurative tourist, as he was characterised by a traditional, sacralised attitude to death in various aspects of its understanding.