Beoyond Moscow

Peredelkino

Peredelkino is the closest Moscow rest house/"dacha" location. It is situated 20 km to the south-west of the city. The beautiful nature and the 17th century ancient church with a cemetary are its main attractions. The history of Peredelkino is fascinating on its own but it is mainly known as the residence of a great Russian poet Boris Pasternak who used to live here at his dacha from 1936 to 1960. Nowadays his dacha has been turned into a museum. In Peredelkino you can visit the museums of several other famous Russian Soviet poets: children's poet Korney Chukovsky and of a poet of the second half of the 20th century Bulat Okudzhava.

Sergiev Posad

Sergiev Posad is located 70 km to the north-east of Moscow. Originally there was a church and later a monastery that was dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The monastery was founded by the monk Sergyi Radonezhsky in the 14th century. At its territory different buildings (churches, temples, bell towers, palaces ) still remain. They cover the period of Russian history from the 15th to the 19th century. The main cathedral of the monastery - the Trinity Cathedral - holds the most famous Russian icon "The Trinity" painted by the greatest medieval Russian painter of icons Andrei Rublev.

Sergy Radonezhsky was a monk and later became the father superior of this monastery. He had exerted a deep influence on Russian people. They came to him from everywhere begging for help, for an advice or asking for a blessing and stayed. That's how the settlement was founded that had later grown into the town of Troitsk, which is now known as Sergiev Posad.

The architectural ensemble of The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius is diverse and harmonious. UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site.

Kolomna

Kolomna is a small town located in Moscow region. It is about 900 years old. In the 14-15th centuries Kolomna used to be the second important city after Moscow. In the first half of the 16th century the Kolomna Kremlin was built to defend the southern Russian borders. This monumental structure still remains. Inside the Kremlin walls there are still monasteries and churches built in the 16th century. Cathedrals, bell towers, churches of the town represent various architectural styles: a tented roof design, the Baroque style, the Russian gothic, classical architecture.

One can enjoy a magnificent view on the three rivers - Moskva-river, Kolomenka and Oka - from the hill where the Kolomna Kremlin is located.

Suzdal

Suzdal is one of the most ancient towns of Russia located 240 km from Moscow. The town remained intact, so today we can see how the provincial Russian towns had looked in the 18-19th centuries: a lot of old churches, monasteries, small one-storeyed houses scattered here and there with vegetables patches. Can you imagine that in the 12th century the town was the center of the Vladimir-Suzdal Prinicipality? Nowadays Suzdal is the tourist center with an excellent infrastructure. It is a perfect place for recreation, one where one can also learn a lot about Russian culture.

Vladimir

Vladimir is located on the Klyazma River. The town is only 40 km from Suzdal. These towns have a history to share.

Vladimir was founded by the prince Vladimir Monomakh in 1108. When it was founded the capital of the ancient Russian state moved from Kiev to Vladimir. Vladimir had played an important role in politics and economy of the state before the Mongol/Tatar invasion of the 13th century. Vladimir had developed its own vladimir-suzdal schools of icon painting, architecture and writing of annals. A lot of white-stone cathedrals of Vladimir including Dormition Cathedral and Cathedral of Saint Demetrius (12th century) are the World Heritage Sites.

Yaroslavl

Yaroslavl is the ancient Russian city that was founded at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl rivers about 1000 years ago. It was founded by the Russian prince Yaroslav Mudry and is named after him. The coat of arms of Yaroslavl depict a bear standing on its hind paws. It is a symbol of foresight and power.

There are a lot buildings built in classical style of the 18-19th centuries, a lot of churches and monasteries of the 17th century.The historical centre of the city is declared the World Heritage Site. Yaroslavl is home of the first public Russian drama theatre, that was created by a Russian actor Fedor Volkov at the end of the 18th century.

Tula

The town of Tula is located 193 km to the south of Moscow. Tula was one of the first cities that faced the enemy attacks from the south. The most famous battle that took place near Tula was the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. The significance of this battle for the Russian history is explained by the fact that it was the the first battle between the army of Mongol-Tatars and the Russia army of the Muscow prince Dmitriy Donskoy, which had resulted in a victory for the Russians.

Tula is famous for its arms prodcution that had been founded in the 18th century: visit its museum of the armaments. Tula also produces the most famous Russian gingerbreads - and there is a gingerbread museum to prove it.

Not for from Tula the memorial museum - estate of a great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy called "Yasnaya Polyana" is located. Tolstoy was born and spent his childhood there. After he had become a famous writer he lived there for a very long time. He had described the house, the atmosphere of the life of a noble family, the surrounding villages and nature in his books. Today you can visit and experience the atmosphere of the estate.

Veliky Novgorod

Veliky Novgorod is a city of an unusual history. It is located far from Moscow, more than 500 km to the north-west. The city is built on the banks of the Volkhov River near its inflow into the Lake Ilmen. Novgorod is older than Moscow. The first mention of the city in the chronicles dates back to the year 856. It was the capital of ancient Russia before Kiev. From the 12th century till the end of the 15th century Novgorod was the feudal Republic, where the popular council - "veche" was the highest legislature and judicial authority. It is condsidered to be the only example of democratic rule throughout all of the history of Russia. There was still one other republic/town - Pskov - that was the part of Novgorod lands without losing its independence.

Unlike the majority of Russian manors and principalities Novgorod wasn't conquered by the mongol-tatars, which makes its destiny unique. Novgorod is called Veliky, which means Great in Russian. It was a very rich, well organized, economically and politically developed city. Ivan the Terrible ended the history of the independent Novgorod Republic. At the end of the 16th century he had conquered the city and destroyed it. Since that time Novgorod had become part of the Moscow Principality.

Kazan

Kazan is a capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, that is a part of the Russian Federation. More than a half of the Tatarstan's population are tatars, a nationality of a Turkic group. Tatars live along the Volga river, in Siberia, in the Urals, in Kazakhstan. Tatars are muslims. They have their own original culture, their own traditions and a unique history.

Kazan was a part of the Golden Horde. Since the middle of the 16th century the Kazan khanate became the part of the Moscow Principality, and later the part of the Moscow State. Today Kazan is a large modern city that functions as a trade and political mediator between the East and the West.

Petersburg

At present Petersburg is the second most important city after Moscow. It was the capital of Russian Empire from 1712 till 1918. Peter I conceived and realized the idea of constructing a new city on the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea. While planning Petersburg the tzar kept in mind such European cities as Amsterdam and Stockholm. But the Russian way of life, Russian traditions, culture, religion, climate, introduced certain corrections. Despite a great contribution of European experts Petersburg had remained a truly Russian city. Its architecture is unique, the Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and related groups of monuments are the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

It is no wonder that Petersburg is called the cultural capital of Russia. There are over 200 museums, numerous libraries, exhibition centres and galleries. Various festivals and holidays take place here. The life of the 19th century that is now referred to as the Golden Age of Russian Culture was concentrated in the city. The most famous writers, poets, scholars and scientists, people of art, philosophers and political leaders were this way or another connected to Petersburg.

However one can learn more than just of the art of the classical period in Petersburg as it is the modern, live fast-moving city. For instance, it is considered to be the capital of contemporary Russian rock music culture.

Petersburg is often referred to as "the city on the Neva River". Great and wide the Neva River flows throughout the city. It is the core of the city, its center line. In addition to the Neva River there are over 100 smaller rivers and streams, more than 20 channels. Bridges are another attraction of Peretsburg. One can be most impressed by the drawing of the bridges over Neva during the summer navigation.

Petersburg features a very specifice marine climate. Summers are hot and winters are humid and mild. The famous White Nights is the season from the end of May till the end of July. The sun sets only for a brief period of twilight. The city stays alive day and night, compensating for hard winter months when Petersburgers can hardly enjoy the daylight. Mystic light of the White Nights are widely reproduced in paintings, novels, poems and music.

Cathedral and icon.

During your travels across Russia you will see a lot of monuments of arts and first of all you will be encountering historical monuments of religious nature. To enjoy them you should learn a bit about Russian Orthodox culture and the Orthodox Church.

The state that existed in the early Middle Ages in the territory of the Eastern-European Plain was called Kievan Rus, because of its capital Kiev. It was a powerful state reigned by the Grand Prince of Kiev. In the end of the 10th century Kievan Rus was christianized by Vladimir the Great who chose Eastern Christianity. The choice of the Byzantine Rite can also be explained by the fact that Orthodox Byzantium with the capital in Constantinople (called Tsargrad in Slavic, that literally means the tzar city) was the most powerful state in Europe. Vladimir was canonized in the 13th century as the baptizer of Rus and named Vladimir the Baptizer.

From Byzantium to Russia Orthodoxy brought Orthodox books, religious rites, architecture and the first priests. The Orthodox churches, that were built first by foreigners and later by Russian architects, used the Greek cross plan in church architecture and were crowned by a dome or several domes. That is why this architectural form of churches is called crossed-dome. One of the first Orthodox churches are Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev (beginning of the 11th century) and Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod (beginning of the 12th century).

There are neither benches nor chairs inside the Orthodox church. People stand during the whole service regardless of its length. The decoration of the church interior was also Byzantine. There were mosaics, fresco paintings, icons. However, there wasn't a tradition to put sculptures. Icons were painted right on the church walls. And there was also a special wall between the place for parishioners and the sanctuary which was covered with icons. The wall is called the iconostasis.

First the iconostasis was small with only a few icons in a tier. By the 15th century it had grown up to five tiers of icons. The placement of icons is regulated by a number of rather strict rules. There is a door in the center of the iconostasis called the Beautiful Gate. During the Easter week - the main holiday of the Orthodox believers - the Beautiful Gate is kept opened. Any other time the Gate opens during the services and is only used by the clergy.

In Russia the art of icon painting had truly blossomed. Icons were never signed that is why we do not know the names of the artists except for a few ones. However all of them had to follow a set of strict technical rules of the Byzantine icon painting school. The icon itself is symbolic. The artist had to show the spiritual aspect in the first placel. The icon actually spoke with the parishioners who were often illiterate and ignorant. People were able to understand the plot without a word, they recognized the faces and the figures in the icons because of the repeating details and some certain colours of the clothes. They understood the symbolism of these colours, of gestures and poses of the saints. In order to emphasize the spiritual nature of the saints the artists changed the proportions of bodies and faces. The face was drawn smaller, the figure more stretched. The folds in clothing were drawn in every detail. The painters used reverse perspective where the further the objects are, the larger they are drawn. The use of this perspective displays the spiritual communication with God.

Till the 17th century icon painting was the only visual art known in Russia. In different towns and cities icon painting schools were established. For example, the schools in Novgorod, Vladimir and Suzdal, Yaroslavl and Moscow are widely known.