Epic visual signs in urban space: Evidence from Armenia, Estonia, North Macedonia, and Bulgaria
DOI: 10.23951/2312-7899-2026-2-72-103
The study examines how epic images function in urban space as semiotic markers of cultural memory and collective identity. The aim of the study is to show the mechanisms by which epic material is “translated” from textual, symbolic signs into visual, iconic ones. Such intersemiotic translations activate epic heroes in the minds of city inhabitants: on the one hand, reinforcing some discourses (mythological, commemorative) and reducing other practices, such as reading the most epic texts. Recognition of visual characters is high, while textual nuances are weakened. The article consistently addresses the following tasks: first, it substantiates the approach to the city as a complex semiotic text and highlights the epic cultural code of the urban environment as a framework for analysis, using the examples of Yerevan, Tallinn, and Prilep. Second, an intersemiotic analysis of visual artifacts is carried out using examples of sculptures, stamps, and commemorative coins, considering double coding and historical, mythological, and ideological layers. Third, Armenian, North Macedonian, Bulgarian, and Estonian materials are compared to identify stable models of epic visualization and epic heroes. Methodologically, the study is based on the tools of visual semiotics and a typological analysis of urban artifacts, supplemented by survey data as an indicator of the reception and recognition of signs in the mass consciousness (using the Armenian example). Based on the Armenian material, it is shown that the high recognition of the hero in the city and the replication of his image (in the media, philately, numismatics) work as mechanisms of “imprinting,” fixing the city sign in cultural memory. The visualization of epic heroes almost always represents not a “plot-plot,” but a dedicated “plot-situation,” which is associated with the language of sculpture, painting, and other monumental visual systems. It is revealed that the non-representation of the enemy in the visualizations of cultural heroes is modeled on the logic of constructing the zero sign at the visual level. The recipient of the sculpture can reconstruct the image of the enemy himself, or the situation, only when the epic text is activated in his mind. Based on the Tallinn material, it is shown that epic codes are actualized both in commemorative images (Linda) and in hyperbolically archaic images of a cultural hero (“Glehn’s Devil”), which fit into the urban space of Tallinn both in the city center and outside (“Crying Linda,” “Linda’s Stone”). The significance of this article lies in the fact that epic images in the city serve as tools for building identity, commemoration, and relevant socio-political narratives, regardless of geography or region.
Keywords: cultural code of city, epic, semiotic translation, cultural memory, monumental visualization, Sasuntsi David/David of Sassoun, Kral Marco, Linda, Kalev, Kalevipoeg
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Issue: 2, 2026
Series of issue: Issue 2
Rubric: ARTICLES
Pages: 72 — 103
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