This article is dedicated to the urgency topic of preservation and study of cultural heritage. Because of the limitlessness of the cultural heritage area, the authors took the opportunity to structure the cultural space. They singled out the complex of architecture and urban planning and defined it as an architectural heritage. The named complex includes buildings and structures that incorporate the high construction and artistic skills of their creators and form the surrounding inhabited space. Using the scientific works of N.M. Karamzin, D.S. Likhachev and other investigators, some written and visual sources, the authors of the article reveal the features of the architectural appearance of such medieval cities as Moscow, Novgorod, Pskov, Vologda. It must be note that the close relationship between urban practices and the natural environment as the most important characteristic of architectural heritage is defined. So reviewing historical materials about the ancient Novgorod, academician D.S. Likhachev wrote that unforgettable image of the developed, inhabited country was created. It is important to note that the article contains materials about the death and destruction of architectural monuments, which required their protection. An overview of the monument protection activity in Russia made known that the Imperial Russian Archaeological Society, established in 1846, was pioneered in it. It is noted that the Moscow Archaeological Society achieved the greatest success in the protection and restoration of monuments of church and civil architecture in the middle of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its creators and leaders, spouses A.S. and P.S. Uvarov, had the right to permit or prohibit the restoration and conversion of ancient structures in many cities of the country, and they used this right actively. The events of the 1917 Revolution changed the situation in the architectural heritage area. Identification and protection of architectural monuments was transferred to the state structures. A department for museums and protection of art and antiquities was established as part of the National Education Commissariat (Narcomat of Education). Units of this department formed around the country were called as committees for museums and protection of monuments of art and antiquities. The article reports on the results of the identification and preservation of architectural monuments in Siberian cities Tomsk and Kuznetsk. It is known that in the 1930s many church monuments and civil structures were destroyed in Russia. Still in 1940–1990s the monument protection activity received serious legislative support from the state power. So facts and their interpretation taken together allow the authors to talk about architectural heritage as a phenomenon of Russian history, requiring study and preservation.