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Bezhin Meadow (Бежин луг,Bezhin lug) is a 1937Soviet propaganda film, famous for having been suppressed and believed destroyed before its completion. Directed bySergei Eisenstein, it tells the story of a young farm boy whose father attempts to betray the government for political reasons by sabotaging the year's harvest and the son's efforts to stop his own father to protect the Soviet state, culminating in the boy's murder and a social uprising. The film draws its title from a story byIvan Turgenev, but is based on the (largely fabricated) life story ofPavlik Morozov, a young Russian boy who became a politicalmartyr following his death in 1932, after he supposedly denounced his father to Soviet government authorities and subsequently died at the hands of his family. Pavlik Morozov was immortalized in school programs, poetry, music, and film.
Commissioned by acommunist youth group, the film's production ran from 1935 to 1937, until it was halted by the central Soviet government, which said it contained artistic, social, and political failures. Some, however, blamed the failure ofBezhin Meadow on government interference and policies, extending all the way toJoseph Stalin himself. In the wake of the film's failure, Eisenstein publicly recanted his work as an error. Individuals were arrested during and after the ensuing debacle. (Full article...)
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With the pale yellow rump visible.Buryatia, Russia.
Pallas's leaf warbler is one of the smallestPalearcticwarblers, with a relatively large head and short tail. It has greenish upperparts and white underparts, a lemon-yellow rump, and yellow double wingbars,supercilia and centralcrown stripe. It is similar in appearance to several other Asian warblers, including some that were formerly considered to besubspecies of it, although its distinctivevocalisations aid identification. (Full article...)
Named for thesiege of Sevastopol during theCrimean War, the ship was commissioned into the First Pacific Squadron of theRussian Pacific Fleet and was stationed atPort Arthur (todayLüshunkou District,Dalian,Liaoning, China), a Russian naval base acquired from China in 1898 as part of theKwantung Leased Territory. One of the first ships to use Harvey nickel-steel armor and Popov radios, she displaced 11,854 long tons (12,044 t) atfull load and was 369 feet (112.5 m) longoverall, and mounted a main battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns in two twin turrets. She was laid down in May 1892, launched on 1 June 1895 and completed in 1899. Her sea trials lasted until 1900. (Full article...)
The construction of the cathedral was approved in 1894 by theMinistry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire.Groundbreaking was in 1899; construction work began in 1901 and was completed ten years later. Three-aisled and built from red brick, the cathedral is based on a design by architectTomasz Bohdanowicz-Dworzecki. The style was influenced byWestminster Abbey andMilan Cathedral. With the help of funds from Catholic parishes in Russia and its neighbouring states, the church was consecrated as a chapel for Moscow's Polish parish in 1911. In the aftermath of theRussian Revolution in 1917, theProvisional Government was overthrown by theBolsheviks and Russia eventually became part of theSoviet Union in 1922. Because the promotion ofstate atheism was a part ofMarxist–Leninist ideology, the governmentordered many churches closed; the cathedral was closed in 1938. During World War II, it was threatened with demolition, and was used after the war for civil purposes, as a warehouse and then a hostel. Following thefall of communism in 1991, it returned to being a church in 1996. In 2002 it was elevated to the status of cathedral. Following an extensive and costly programme of reconstruction and refurbishment, the cathedral was reconsecrated in 2005. (Full article...)
Dubnium does not occur naturally on Earth and is produced artificially. The SovietJoint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) claimed the first discovery of the element in 1968, followed by the AmericanLawrence Berkeley Laboratory in 1970. Both teams proposed their names for the new element and used them without formal approval. The long-standing dispute was resolved in 1993 by an official investigation of the discovery claims by the Transfermium Working Group, formed by theInternational Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and theInternational Union of Pure and Applied Physics, resulting in credit for the discovery being officially shared between both teams. The element was formally nameddubnium in 1997 after the town ofDubna, the site of the JINR. (Full article...)
Poltava wassalvaged after the Japanese captured Port Arthur and incorporated into theImperial Japanese Navy. The ship, renamedTango in Japanese service, participated in theBattle of Tsingtao in late 1914, duringWorld War I. She was sold back to the Russians in 1916 and renamedChesma as her original name was in use by another battleship. The ship became theflagship of the RussianArctic Flotilla in 1917, and her crew supported theBolsheviks later that year.Chesma was seized by the British in early 1918 when theyintervened in theRussian Civil War, abandoned by them when they withdrew andscrapped by the Soviets in 1924. (Full article...)
The ship was torpedoed during the Japanese surprise attack onPort Arthur during the night of 8/9 February 1904 andgrounded in the harbour entrance when she attempted to take refuge inside, as herdraft had significantly deepened from the amount of water she had taken aboard after the torpedo hit. She was refloated and repaired in time to join the rest of the1st Pacific Squadron when they attempted to reachVladivostok through the Japanese blockade on 10 August. The Japanese battle fleet engaged them again in theBattle of the Yellow Sea, forcing most of the Russian ships to return to Port Arthur after theirsquadron commander was killed and hisflagship damaged.Retvizan was sunk by Japanesehowitzers in December after the Japanese gained control of the heights around the harbour. (Full article...)
Little was known about the effects ofspaceflight on living creatures at the time of Laika's mission, and animal flights were viewed by engineers as a necessary precursor tohuman missions. The experiment, which monitored Laika's vital signs, aimed to prove that a living organism could survive being launched into orbit and continue to function under conditions ofweakened gravity and increased radiation, providing scientists with some of the first data on thebiological effects of spaceflight. (Full article...)
The Polish architect Władysław Horodecki originally constructed the House with Chimaeras for use as his own upmarket apartment building during 1901–1902. However, as the years went by, Horodecki eventually had to sell the building due to financial troubles, after which it changed ownership numerous times before finally being occupied by an officialCommunist Partypolyclinic until the early 2000s. When the building was vacated, its interior and exterior decor were fully reconstructed and restored according to Horodecki's original plans. (Full article...)
In the early days ofsound cinema, among the various distinguished composers ready to try their hand at film music, Prokofiev was not an obvious choice for the commission. Based in Paris for almost a decade, he had a reputation for experimentation anddissonance, characteristics at odds with thecultural norms of the Soviet Union. By early 1933, however, Prokofiev was anxious to return to his homeland, and saw the film commission as an opportunity to write music in a more popular and accessible style. (Full article...)
Of mixed Russian and French heritage, Trubnikova was orphaned at an early age and subsequently raised by a wealthy relative. She married at 19, and she and her husband, Konstantin, had seven children. In adulthood, Trubnikova hosted a women-onlysalon inSaint Petersburg which became a center of feminist activism. She also maintained international connections to fellow feminists in England, France, and other countries. AlongsideAnna Filosofova andNadezhda Stasova, whom she mentored, Trubnikova was one of the earliest leaders of theRussian women's movement. (Full article...)
Due to the length of the front lines created by the German1942 summer offensive, which had aimed at taking theCaucasus oil fields and the city ofStalingrad, German and other Axis forces were over-extended. The German decision to transfer several mechanizeddivisions from the Soviet Union to Western Europe exacerbated their situation. Furthermore, Axis units in the area were depleted by months of fighting, especially those which had taken part in the struggle for Stalingrad. The Germans could only count on theXXXXVIII Panzer Corps, which had the strength of a singlepanzer division, and the29th Panzergrenadier Division as reserves to bolster their Romanian allies guarding the German Sixth Army's flanks. These Romanian armies lacked the heavy equipment to deal with Soviet armor. In contrast, the Red Army deployed over one million personnel for the offensive. Soviet troop movements were not without problems: concealing their build-up proved difficult, and Soviet units commonly arrived late due to logistical issues. Operation Uranus was first postponed by the Soviet high command (Stavka) from 8 to 17 November, then to 19 November. (Full article...)
He led the team that made the first crossing of theGreenland interior in 1888, traversing the island oncross-country skis. He won international fame after reaching a record northern latitude of 86°14′ during hisFram expedition of 1893–1896. Although he retired from exploration after his return to Norway, his techniques of polar travel and his innovations in equipment and clothing influenced a generation of subsequentArctic andAntarctic expeditions. He was elected an International Member of theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1897. (Full article...)
Rimsky-Korsakov believed in developing anationalistic style of classical music, employingRussian folk song andlore along with exotic harmonic,melodic andrhythmic elements in a practice known as musicalorientalism, and eschewing traditional Western compositional methods. Rimsky-Korsakov appreciated Western musical techniques after he became a professor of musical composition,harmony, and orchestration at theSaint Petersburg Conservatory in 1871. He undertook a rigorous three-year program of self-education and became a master of Western methods, incorporating them alongside the influences ofMikhail Glinka and fellow members ofThe Five. Rimsky-Korsakov's techniques of composition and orchestration were further enriched by his exposure to the works ofRichard Wagner. (Full article...)
AlthoughJames Clerk Maxwell made the first color photograph in1861, the results were far from realistic until Prokudin-Gorsky perfected the technique with a series of improvements around1905. His process used a camera that took a series of monochrome pictures in rapid sequence, each through a different colored filter. Prokudin-Gorskii then went on to document much of the country of Russia, travelling by train in a specially equippeddarkroomrailroad car.
Lenin, a Sovietnuclear-powered icebreaker, was both the world's first nuclear-powered surface ship and the first nuclear-powered civilian vessel. The ship entered operation in 1959 and worked to clear sea routes for cargo ships along Russia's northern coast. Nuclear power proved to be an ideal technology for a vessel working in such a remote area, as it obviated the need for regular replenishment of fuel. From 1960 to 1965, the ship covered over 85,000 mi (137,000 km) during the Arctic navigation season, of which three-quarters was through ice. After being decommissioned in 1989, the vessel was subsequently converted into a museum ship and is now permanently based atMurmansk.
Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–81; depicted in 1872) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and philosopher. After publishing his first novel,Poor Folk, at age 25, Dostoyevsky wrote (among others) eleven novels, three novellas, and seventeen short novels, includingCrime and Punishment (1866),The Idiot (1869), andThe Brothers Karamazov (1880).
Sadko is a character in the Russian medieval epicBylina. An adventurer, merchant andgusli musician fromNovgorod, Sadko becomes wealthy with the help of theSea Tsar, but is thrown in the sea when he fails to pay the Sea Tsar his due respects. This story was widely adapted in the 19th century, including in a poem byAlexei Tolstoy andan opera byNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
Shown here isSadko in the Underwater Kingdom, an 1876 painting byIlya Repin. It depicts Sadko meeting the Sea Tsar under the sea.
Photograph credit: Arto Jousi; restored byAdam Cuerden
Yuri Gagarin (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was aSoviet Air Forces pilot andcosmonaut who became the first human to journey intoouter space; his capsule,Vostok 1, completed a single orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, includingHero of the Soviet Union, his nation's highest honour. In 1967, he served as a member of the backup crew for the ill-fatedSoyuz 1 mission, after which the Russian authorities, fearing for the safety of such an iconic figure, banned him from further spaceflights. However, he was killed the following year, when theMiG-15 training jet that he was piloting with his flight instructorVladimir Seryogin crashed near the town ofKirzhach.
This photograph of Gagarin, dated July 1961, was taken at a press conference during a visit to Finland approximately three months after his spaceflight.
TheSolovetsky Monastery is aRussian Orthodox monastery inSolovetsky,Arkhangelsk,Russia. Founded in 1436 by the monkZosima, the monastery grew in power into the 16th century, becoming an economic and political center of theWhite Sea region and eventually hosting 350 monks. After theBolshevik Revolution, Soviet authorities closed down the monastery and incorporated many of its buildings intoSolovki prison camp, one of the earliest forced-labor camps of thegulag system. The camp closed after the region's trees had been harvested. Today the monastery has been re-established, and also serves as a museum.
A painting depictingIvan Tsarevich, one of the mainheroes ofRussian folklore, riding amagic carpet after having captured theFirebird, which he keeps in a cage. This work wasViktor Vasnetsov's first attempt at illustrating Russian folk tales and inaugurated a famous series of paintings on the themes drawn from Russian folklore.
TheBolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre inMoscow, Russia, which holds ballet and opera performances. The company was founded on 28 March [O.S. 17 March] 1776, whenCatherine the Great granted PrincePyotr Urusov a licence to organise theatrical performances, balls and other forms of entertainment. Usunov set up the theatre in collaboration with English tightrope walkerMichael Maddox. The present building was built between 1821 and 1824 and designed by architectJoseph Bové.
This photo of theNilov Monastery onStolobny Island inTver Oblast,Russia, was taken bySergey Prokudin-Gorsky in 1910 before the advent of colour photography. His process used a camera that took a series ofmonochrome pictures in rapid sequence, each through a different coloured filter. By projecting all three monochrome pictures using correctly coloured light, it was possible to reconstruct the original colour scene.
Hotel Astoria is afive-star hotel located onSaint Isaac's Square inSaint Petersburg. Commissioned in 1910 by the Palace Hotel Company to host visitors to theRomanov tercentenary, the hotel was designed byFyodor Lidval and first opened in 1912. After theOctober Revolution, it continued to be used as a state-operated hotel, though during World War II it was also a field hospital. The hotel, now owned byRocco Forte Hotels, has been renovated several times, most recently in 2012.
November 19, 1825 -Alexander I of Russia died of typhus. The army swore allegiance to his eldest brother, theGrand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. Constantine, however, following Alexander's choice of successor, swore allegiance to his younger brother,Nicholas I.
Born in central Russia, Vasilevsky began his military career in the Imperial Russian Army duringWorld War I and earned the rank of captain by 1917. After theOctober Revolution of 1917 and the start of theRussian Civil War, he was conscripted into theRed Army and took part in thePolish-Soviet War. Following the war, Vasilevsky quickly rose through the ranks, and in 1931 was appointed to the Directorate of Military Training. In 1939, afterJoseph Stalin'sGreat Purge, he was appointed deputy chief of operations of the Red Army. (Full article...)
We bow our heads in respect for those Soviet women who displayed exceptional courage in the severe time of war. Never before but during the days of the war the grandeur of spirit and the invincible will of our Soviet women, their selfless dedication, loyalty and affection to their Homeland, their boundless persistence in work and their heroism on the front manifested themselves with such strength.
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![Image 15 Bolshoi Theatre Photograph: DmitriyGuryanov The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, which holds ballet and opera performances. The company was founded on 28 March [O.S. 17 March] 1776, when Catherine the Great granted Prince Pyotr Urusov a licence to organise theatrical performances, balls and other forms of entertainment. Usunov set up the theatre in collaboration with English tightrope walker Michael Maddox. The present building was built between 1821 and 1824 and designed by architect Joseph Bové. More selected pictures](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMoscow-Bolshoi-Theare-1.jpg)
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