Mnemonic practices as a subject of M. Halbwach’s sociology of religion

The article considers prerequisites of formulation of the question about collective memory of religious communities in E. Durkheim and M. Halbwachs's sociological works. The main function of memory is formation of social solidarity. Need for the sacral past started the process of formation of religion as a social institute. In the late works M. Halbwachs passed from the simplified understanding of religion to its analysis as a set of mnemonic practices based on spatial localization of the initial text.