RUSSIA HOW I LIVED TO SEE HER

In Russia, I stayed eight times, between 1971 and 1978. Each of these stays referred to projects, according to which we purchased technological equipment from the then Soviet Union, and each time the stay lasted for a week. Working on projects toward Soviet equipment I experienced a highly professional recognition of their eminent experts, and even received the recognition of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, but all this is not the subject of this work. It's just for my introduction. As each time I had a free day for visits to galleries, museums and other sights, I was given the opportunity to get to know Russia better and their achievements. I spent all my time with professional people, which gave me the opportunity to gain my own credibility in their expertise and human character. With everything I've experienced in Moscow and St. Petersburg. I am delighted with Petersburg and I remain in my most pleasant memories for a lifetime. I took more recent updates from the Internet.

Among the first sites I visited was the Tretyakovskaya Gallery (Pavel Mihailovich Tretyakovsky). The Tretyakovskaya Gallery is a museum of fine arts in Moscow, one of the largest art educational institutions in Russia. It was founded in 1854. It is a picture gallery of famous Russian masters, an extraordinary institution for the visitor's eyes. At the time of my visit, it contained nearly 2,000 exhibits, of which 1362 were paintings, 526 drawings and 9 sculptures. Today it is stated that the same gallery has four thousand exhibits.

The Tretyakovskaya Gallery in Moscow is the spiritual center of the visual creation of Russia. It preserves the best that Russia has created, from the very few icons to the creation of contemporary painters and sculptors.

Everybody who is a little interested in Russian art and painting has heard about the Tretyakovskaya Gallery (State Gallery "Pavel Tretyakovsky"). Anyone who comes to Moscow, even for a short time visit, needs to visit this famous gallery. It is here that one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of Russian art is located here.

 

In this gallery one can see a lot of things - from unique Russian icons to the realization of contemporary painters and sculptors. The gallery is particularly proud of the works of art that enter the golden fund of Russian and world painting. The works of Rjepin, Serov, Vrubel, Kramski, Šiškin, Levitan and many other painters, known to many by their many reproductions, can be seen here in the original. It is impossible to speak about Russian culture, and not to mention the Tretyakovskaya Gallery. It is one of the spiritual centers of their country, because it preserves the best that Russia has. That is the richest collection of paintings from the second half of the 19th century, which is not flat. The gallery is famous for its paintings by Perov, Levitan, Gea, Vrubel, Savrasov, Kuingia, Serov, Vasnevcov, Surikov and Rjepin, who was also the founder of the Tretyakovskaya Gallery. Here are the top achievements of the golden age of Russian painting.

After October 1917, the gallery collection was supplemented with nationalized collections and works of contemporary painters. These canvases illustrate the development of Soviet art, its official flows and its illegal avant-garde.

The Treasury Gallery continues to fill up its fund. At the beginning of the 21st century, a department of contemporary art was opened in which the works of modern painters arrive. In addition to paintings, the gallery has a valuable archive of manuscripts and a large collection of Russian graphics and sculptures. A rich collection of ancient art and icons is one of the best in the world. It was founded by P.M. Tretyakovsky. After his death, this collection consisted of about 60 art objects, and now has about 4000 exhibits.

The Tretyakovskaya Gallery was named after collectors, brothers Pavel Mihailovich and Sergei Mihailovich Tretyakovsky, who gave their collections of paintings in 1892 to Moscow. After nationalization in 1918, they entered the gallery and collection of works of art from various museums and private collectors. The fund's gallery (over 45,000) of paintings, graphics and sculptures of Russian and Soviet art by purchases is constantly increasing. Especially rich collections of icons (11-17th century) and collections of Russian painting from the mid-18th to the beginning of the 20th century. Within the gallery, which, along with scientific activity, intensely popularizes fine arts, there is a rich library, a photo library, an archive and a restoration workshop.

Then I visited a gallery where the only image is of the Battle of Borodin, set on a 118m long circular wall, to conjure a battle between Napoleon and the Russian army, two armies confronted on the vast space of the Russian steppe, Napoleon's conqueror and Russian, fatherland, under the command of General Kutuzov, which he cares to defend at the cost of survival. The image was set up to see both armies, their infantry, cavalry and artillery, to a distance of about thirty kilometers in all directions. In addition to the army, the village houses are in flames and the fields of grain that attackers burned. In front of visitors, standing on an elevated podium, in the center of the hall, the burning beams of the burning houses and the real bundles of grains are placed in the image below, so they conjure up a realistic ambience. The impression is complete with perfume fragrances, which gives the visitor a unique impression, which is nowhere to be seen anywhere else in the world. Borodino battle is an unrivaled work of artistic value.

Mikhail Illarionovich Golenizov Kutuzov (1747-1813) General Field Marshal, the main commander of the Russian army during the Fatherland War of 1912. He was born in St. Petersburg, and spent his childhood in Pskoščina, where his ancestors lived in the 16th century. His father, Illarion Matveevich Golensčev-Kutuzov, was a lieutenant-engineer, who commanded the army at the time of A. V. Suvorov. Mikhail Kutuzov was celebrated by the Russian hero of the Fatherland War of 1812, the first knight holding the Order of St. George.

I was especially impressed by the Moscow Metro, the Moscow Metro, whose cells are huge halls, with painted walls and ceilings, which, as if they are still not present anywhere in the world. Moscow Metro daily transports about nine million passengers, and the longest distance between two trains on the same line, at the time of the largest congestion, is up to 90 seconds. In my impression, Moscow Metro is the best massive shelter for cases of atomic war. The Moscow Metro has absolute purity, no waste, and the transport costs are very low, accessible to all layers of the population. Metro is forbidden to enter drunken persons, and violators are punished in a special way, by highlighting their photos in all means of transport of Moscow, which is very effective.

Moscow Metro is the sixth in the world by the intensity of use, after Beijing, Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Guangzhou. The first line was put into operation on May 15, 1935 and went from the station Sokolniki to the Cultural Park. The system consists of 13 lines, a total length of 350 km, with 207 stations, of which 44 are classified as cultural heritage and 40 are cultural monuments. In total, 45,000 people are employed and are being upgraded on a daily basis.

I spent a short time at the Virgin Cemetery, where Russian poets were buried, and Nikita Khrushchev was buried there too.

The Bolshoi Theater (in translation means the Great Theater) is a historical Moscow theater, built by the architect Osip Bove, in which performances of ballet and opera are held. It is one of the best theaters in the world. He is the founder of the Ballet Academy, the world's leading ballet school.

The theater was founded by Prince Peter Urusov and Mihail Madoks in 1776. Today's building of the Bolshoi Theater was built in 1824, replacing the Petrovka Theater building, which burned down in 1805. This new building was given by the architect Andrej Mihailov.

 Among others, I also visited Ostankino and picturesque Podmoskovlje and walked to the auditoriums of the University of Lomonosov. I also visited the Kremlin with Red Square and visited the Temple of Vasily Blazheny.

 After Moscow, I went to St. Petersburg by night-sleeping train. St. Petersburg, where I first visited the "Hermitage", is the largest gallery in the world, with over three million images. In the world she has no flat, both in size and in the quality of construction. Of course, it is impossible to see everything in two to three days of visiting, but enough to experience a unique impression, primarily by the works of the painter of the Italian Renaissance and the French Impressionists. Mostly they are the collections of Peter the Great, who traveled around the world and bought the most valuable works of art by famous masters.

Hermitage is the most important art gallery and museum of all humanity, human history and culture. Its collections are exhibited in six buildings, among which the main "Winter Castle", which was the residence of Russian emperors. The main features of the Hermitage are the collections of Western art, the works of Michelangelo, Buonaroti, Leonardo da Vinci, Peter Pole Rubens, Antonius van Dajek, Rembrant, Nikola Posen, Claude Lorraine, Winter Castle Antoine Veto, Đovania Batista, Canaletto, Antonia Kano, Ogis Rodent, Clod Monee, Kamala Pisar, Pierre Ogis Renoir, Paul César, Vincent van Gogh, PolGogene, Pablo Picasso and Anri Mates.

The collection also includes jewelry made of gold and filigree.

Katarina Velika (Catherine the Great) started the collection in 1764, buying 250 paintings by European masters. She gave an assignment to the then ambassadors around the world to buy the most famous works of art. Catherine gave the name of the Hermitage, and she also gave the same name to a private theater built in the immediate vicinity of the castle in 1785.

 

Interesting facts about Russia and the Russian people

 

Russia (Russian Federation), officially the Russian Federation is a federal state that extends over the vast expanses of Eastern Europe and North Asia.

- The name of Russia originates from the ancient nation of the Russians, the Varyag group (possible Swedish Vikings), who founded Kievan Russia.

- Russia is the seventh largest state in the world, by population.

- Russia had 141.9 million inhabitants in 2010 and compared to 1993, the population decreased by 6.6 million.

- Russia is a multi-nation state, according to the 2002 census, 180 nationalities were singled out in Russia.

- Russian language is highly dominant, and it is used by 98% of the population.

- Russian is one of the 5 most widely spoken languages ​​in the world.

- With an area of ​​17,075,400 km2, Russia is the largest country in the world. Only the Siberian area is 9.7 million square kilometers, which makes up 9% of the total land area.

- The surface of Russia is slightly larger than the dwarf planet Pluto.

- The territory of Russia spills the waters of the sea. These are: Baltic, Belo, Barents, Karsko, Sea Brothers Laptev, Eastern Siberia, Chukot, Bering, Okhotsk, Japan, Caspian, Azov and Black. (Russian Lake is called the Caspian Sea). It is a lake that is not connected to any other sea or ocean.

- Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and the largest reservoir of fresh water on planet Earth.

- There is a terrain that connects two seas and two oceans, and separates two countries, two continents and two peninsulas. It's the Bering Strait. It connects Čukotsko and Bering Sea, as well as the Northern Ice Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, at the same time dividing Russia and the US, Asia and America, the peninsula of Čukotka and Alaska.

- The shortest distance between Russia and America is 4 kilometers.

- Ural Mountain Range, which separates Russia into European and Asian parts, is the oldest mountain chain in the world.

- On January 16, 1820. Russian researchers Tadeus Belinghausen and Mikhail Lazarev discovered Antarctica.

- The lowest temperature in Russia is measured in the Ojmakakonsko-Verkhovna basin (Yakutia, Sibir), about -70 degrees below zero.

- 25% of the forests in the world are in Siberia.

- Russia has the longest border in the world, it borders 14 countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Norway, Poland, Ukraine.

- 75% of Russian territory is in Asia.

- Volga is the longest river in Europe, 3,534 kilometers long.

- The western Siberian Plain is the largest plain on earth.

- The Russian State Library is the largest in Europe and the second in the world, after the Congress Library in the USA, is located in Moscow, and was founded in 1862.

- There are about 600 universities in Russia.

- In May 1990, the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda sold the largest number of copies in the world, as much as 22 million.

- Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev was a Russian chemist, known as one of the two scientists who created the Periodic System of Elements.

- The father of modern television was Russian electronic engineer and inventor Vladimir Zvorikin who had immigrated to the US in 1919.

- Russian scientists have invented TV, electronic microscope, helicopter, bombardier, video recorder, color photography, gasoline engine, combine, gun, synthetic rubber, radio, drill, projector, electric submarine, detergent, and many other things.

- Yuri Gagarin is the first cosmonaut who entered the orbit of the Earth.

- Russian astronaut Sergei Krikalev set the world record in space in space - he spent 803 days continuously up there.

- Only in St. Petersburg, there are 221 museums, 2,000 libraries, over 80 theaters, over 100 concert halls and a large number of cultural institutions. St. Petersburg is the northernmost city in the world with a population of over one million inhabitants.

- St. Petersburg is located on 101 islands. These islands connect, in the narrower area of ​​the city, 363 bridges, and if they take into account the suburbs, there are 578. This number does not include bridges on the territory of the company and railway bridges, as well as wooden bridges in parks and over the canal. If they counted, the number of bridges in St. Petersburg would have shifted to 1000.

- Moscow is a port of five seas. She became it thanks to the channels.

- A canal named Moscow, built 1933-1937 (connects the river with Moscow with Volga), has transformed the Russian capital into the harbor of three seas: the White, the Baltic, and the Caspian. The Volga-Don Channel Moscow is connected with two more seas - the Azov and the Black.

- Moscow Underground Railway travels daily to nine million people.

- The waiting period for the two trains in the subway station in Moscow is shorter than anywhere in the world. The next train waits for a maximum of 90 seconds.

- In 2012, UNESCO included the city of Yekaterinburg on the list of twelve ideal cities for life.

- Russia has at least 15 secret cities. They are not shown on maps and there is no signpost.

- Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior with 105 m height, the highest Orthodox church in the world.

- Although Christians make up a large part of the population, New Year is a much larger holiday than Orthodox Christmas.

- According to the legend, the Russians chose Christianity, not Islam because they did not want to give up alcohol.

- Russia holds half of the global stock of highly enriched uranium, which amounts to 695 tons. The second is the United States, which owns 604 tons.

- Russian gas oil and other pipelines have a total length of 259.913 kilometers, which means they can surround the Earth six times.

- Russian natural gas reserves are equivalent to 13.2 billion Olympic basins.

- Russia is the second largest oil exporter in the world.

- Trans-Siberian Railway, the longest railroad in the world, is 9,288.2 km long.

- Ivan Grozny was not a tyrant. He ruled quite a bit in comparison with his European colleagues, he killed much fewer people.

Every ruler of the Romanov dynasty left his heir to a greater state than the one he received during his reign.

- Russia never had slaves. The feudal period in Russia lasted shorter than in England so they were not able to develop this habit.

- Extra-rich residents of Moscow sometimes ride in ambulances to avoid crowded crowds.

- One of the most popular computer games Tetris was created by Russian programmer Aleksej Pažitnov.

 

 

                                                                                Ottawa, February 2018

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