Russian Life: Nov/Dec 2010 issue (sample extract)

volume 53 issue 6 novem

ber/december 2010

mass pilgrim

age • napoleon’s lost treasure • russia’s false apocalypse • kiev fallsRussian Life

DISPLAY UNTIL JANUARY 15Nov/Dec 2010 $6.50 • $9 Canada

Russian Lifenovemberdecember

walking through RussiaPilgrims’ Progress

Napoleon’s Lost Treasure

2010

tagging along with diggers

Russia’s False Apocalypsein the year 1492

cover_wide.indd 1 10/15/10 2:11 PM

creo

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28 Russia On the MarchIn recent years, a resurgent interest in religious pilgrimages has swept through Russia. Stella Rock joined 20,000 Russians on a 150-kilometer journey through Kirov region and brought back this story.

36 Tolstoy’s FlightAuthor Pavel Basinsky has penned a new book about Tolstoy’s last days in Yasnaya Polyana and it has become a Russian bestseller, proving that the classic author is still widely popular in his homeland.

38 Sewing Up a DealIf the boyars of Serpukhov had not been so intransigent, history would have been much different for the town of Podolsk. As it turned out, the little town was forever transformed by a chance visit by American entrepreneurs.

46 The Napoleon CodeThere have been rumors of, and searches for, Napoleon’s Treasure since the mid-nineteenth century. Anna Dymkovets tagged along with some modern-day treasure seekers to find out what they are looking for.

54 Apocalypse NyetRussian church officials were so sure that the year 7000, counting from the purported beginning of time (1492 in modern calendar time), would herald in the Apocalypse, that they did not bother making Easter calendars beyond that year.

features

vol. 53, no. 6Number 539

cover Pilgrims being sprinkled with holy water by a priestby Sandra Reddin

Russian Life

46

38

4 from the editor got an app for that?

5 feedback & map readers connect

6 contributors writers and illustrators in this issue

7 notebook news flying below mainstream radar

16travel notes underground museum, long-distance train

18event listings happenings of interest to Russophiles

19russian calendar Kiev, itinerants and a tsar

26 survival russian a patriotic column

44expat tales IKEA battles

60russian cuisine vodka with a kiss

62under review new and of note

64postscript dueling calendars

departments

2010November / December

36

28

www.russianlife.com

44

notebook 7russianlife.com | Russian Life

over the past decade, politics in Russia has ceased to be a realm for public spectacle, what with Vladimir Putin’s “vertical of power” replacing the free-wheeling Yeltsin years’ ethos of insub-ordination and political back-biting. That all changed this fall when high drama and political intrigue enfolded Yuri Luzhkov, Moscow’s mayor of 18 years (a period equal to that of Leonid Brezhnev’s tenure as General Secretary of the USSR).

Luzhkov’s style and persona permeated every aspect of the capital, from the countless honey festivals (Luzhkov is a beekeep-er) to the Luzhkovian granite and glass edifices that displaced historic buildings. Yet President Dmitry Medvedev sacked the mayor with a decree that cited “lack of confidence” in Luzhkov – harsh words indeed from a president many consider a pawn of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and who has never before fired a governor.

The Luzhkov v. Kremlin bout began with several articles in mayor-friendly newspapers, criticizing recent presidential deci-sions, followed by a stream of commentary from “unidentified Kremlin sources” regarding Luzhkov’s inappropriate behavior, and a series of reports on state television about corruption in Moscow. Observers have concluded that the mayor’s mortal sin was attempting to sow discord between Putin and Medvedev, which would seem a strange tack for the 74-year-old mayor, who was expected to step down next year in any event, when his term as governor ran out.

Other analysts look to Luzhkov’s wife, Yelena Baturina, as a source of Kremlin ire. Baturina is Russia’s richest woman, having amassed a real estate fortune that some have alleged is the fruit of favored treatment by city officials. Meanwhile, Luzhkov has long been criticized for failing to manage the growing city, whose traf-fic jams and pollution have risen to global notoriety, while real estate prices remain well beyond the reach of ordinary people.

For Luzhkov, who has far more political experience than either Putin or Medvedev, and nurtures his reputation as a fighter, the firing was an unexpected blow. This man, who in many ways helped Putin to be elected president in 2000,* was apparently not even invited by the president for a face-to-face meeting to discuss their conflict. In a letter to the president sent

one day before the decree was signed, Luzhkov explained that he was given an ultimatum to step down or be fired by Medvedev’s chief of staff, Sergei Naryshkin. “In this country, since 1937 people have been afraid to express their opinion... how can this be viewed alongside your calls for developing democracy?” Luzhkov said in defense of opinions he offered via the press.

While Russians tend to sympathize with underdogs (indeed, it was Boris Yeltsin’s firing from the Moscow mayoralty by the Soviet Politburo in 1987 that fueled his rise to power), Luzhkov’s calls for democracy are hypocritical: the mayor was one of the biggest proponents of ending the popular election of governors, and his administration repeatedly disallowed public demonstra-tions in the capital, leading to their often brutal dispersal by the city police.

Still, Luzhkov, with his ever-present cap and hair-brained ideas (e.g. shooting down snow clouds), will be remembered as a character, and one who was quite popular throughout the 1990s. What is more, his removal likely has little to do with corruption. President Medvedev appointed Luzhkov’s deputy, Vladimir Resin, as acting mayor. Resin, a grey-suited bureaucrat who has worked in City Hall since 1988, is known primarily for his watch, which allegedly cost one million dollars.

End of an Era

notebookby maria antonova

Yuri Luzhkov falls from favor and his mayoral seat

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* Luzhkov threw his party movement Otechestvo, previously opposed to Putin’s government, behind Putin and merged with the Yedinstvo party several months before the election, creating United Russia.

8 notebookRussian Life | November/December 2010

Polytech RemakeBritish-Irish firm to polish up a dated

Lubyanka museumThe British company Event

Communications won a tender to revamp Moscow’s Polytechnical Museum, a famous institution built in the 1870s and standing on Lubyanka square. Once a nation-al and international marvel, today the museum’s science exhibits are severely outdated.

The country’s largest museum of technology will be closed for recon-struction, and its entire moderniza-tion program, overseen by a foun-dation with multiple government representatives, will be completed by the end of 2016. The Russian gov-ernment has budgeted R7.5 billion for the project, gazeta.ru reported.

While a top-notch renovation by a company that is responsible for award-winning museums in Glasgow

sounds like excellent news, some have expressed fears that the result may be far from what many expect. In particular, former museum direc-tor Gurgen Grigoryan, who was fired in July, said the renovation may well turn the massive downtown build-ing into a conference hall and move exhibitions and 170,000 items to a different venue, on the outskirts of Moscow.

Not just PushkinEnthusiasts to open Dovlatov museum

near MikhailovskoyeA privately owned muse-

um devoted to the writer Sergei Dovlatov may open next year in the Pushkinskiye Gory (“Pushkin Hills”) area near Pskov, where Dovlatov lived when he worked as a guide at the Mikhailovskoye estate, where

Russia to join WTOAfter nearly 18 years of negotiations, Russia is on track to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin recently said all outstanding issues between the U.S. and Russia have been resolved. Russia is the world’s largest economy outside the WTO, and can start the formal adherence process before the end of the year, Kudrin said.

Congressional AvengersTwo U.S. congressmen, Senator Benjamin Cardin (MD) and Representative James McGovern (MA), both Democrats, have introduced a draft bill to freeze U.S. assets and ban visas for 60 individuals allegedly at fault for killing Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year-old Russian lawyer who was working on behalf of Hermitage Capital and died in pre-trial detention. Magnitsky’s law firm compiled the list, which is comprised of police, prison, and court officials, and wants the ban to be in effect until Russia thoroughly investigates Magnitsky’s death. The Russian Foreign Ministry has criticized the draft legislation, saying it recalls Cold War era policies.

Call us SiberiansAn internet campaign kick-started by several Siberian journalists is encouraging citizens who live east of the Urals to declare their national-ity as “Siberian” during Russia’s fall census. “Tell the census worker: I am Siberian,” say internet banners spread throughout blogs. Campaign organizers say they resent the fact that the Siberian regions are viewed as “oil producing colonies” and estimate that 24.5 million people may declare themselves to be Siberian. People are entitled to put anything they want in the “nationality” field.

globalsib.com/8257

Space flick seeks fundingSpanish filmmaker, Nicolás Alcalá is plan-ning to make a science fiction movie about a Soviet cosmonaut who comes back to earth, only to find it deserted. And he is using “crowdfunding” to finance the film’s production, promising that anyone who contributes money will be listed in the film’s credits. Alcalá plans to film in Russia’s forests and at Star City, near Moscow, where space training facilities are located. The movie will be released with a Creative Commons license, allowing anyone to use and reuse it, provided proper credit is given. The movie’s script, cre-ative team and other information are already online at thecosmonaut.org. At press time, the film so far had 2288 producers.

FOTOKHRONIKA-TASS

Moscow’sPolytechnicalMuseum.Photograph taken in1884.

continued, page 11


FACTS & FIGURES:1. Vedomosti. 2. The World Health Organization. 3. Vedomosti. 4. lenta.ru, quoting

Ru-center. 5. RBC Daily. RUSSIANS WHO: levada.ru (fashion, fortune tellers). Public Opinion Foundation

(pollution), headhunter.ru (vacations).

In 2010, the Strasbourg court of human

rights received 42,580 complaints

from Russian citizens, and looked at 5264

cases, making court decisions on 310.

Most complaints had to do with human

rights violations (Article 5 of the European

Convention). Complaints about use of

torture and absence of a fair trial were the

second and third most common suits.

Russia has the highest youth homicide

rates in Europe, followed by Albania and

Kazakhstan. The rate of violent deaths for

individuals aged 10-29 is 15.85 per

100,000 persons. The lowest rates among

the 53 European countries are in Germany,

Armenia, and Austria.

Bureaucrats are most expensive in Moscow,

St. Petersburg, and the Moscow region, with

Moscow’s deputies, judges, and government

officials costing R21.6 billion in 2009. Yet

this was still just 1.9% of the total gov-

ernment budget. Meanwhile, in the Caucasus

republics of Kabardino-Balkaria and

Ingushetia, bureaucrat salaries comprised

10.4% and 10.2% of the budget.

The Jewish Autonomous republic, Kalmykia

and Altai had the lowest salary costs, in

percentage terms.

The 3,000,000th internet domain

name was registered in the .ru zone in

September. RuNet registrations passed

one million registrations in 2007 and two

million in March 2009. The .ru zone is the

world’s sixth largest in terms of registered

domain names.

The Finance Ministry has a plan to cut 5% of government workers by April 1, 2011, and

up to 20% by April 1, 2013. The measures

are meant to make government spending

more efficient, saving R40 billion

over three years. Observers were skeptical,

however. Transparency International said

that previous efforts to economize had led

to a 250% increase in the number of gov-

ernment workers, to a quantity higher than

under the Soviet Union.

Russians who...

Took a vacation this summer: 69%

of these, the amount of time taken was over one month: 9% 15-20 days: 26% 8-14 days: 43% one week: 12%

consider it important or very important to follow fashion trends: 26% do not: 72%

have used the services of magicians and soothsayers: 20% of these, 68% say their problems were at least partially resolved

have used the services of a psychotherapist: 10% of these, 61% say their problems were at least partially resolved

feel environmental conditions in Russia are worsening: 64% unchanged: 23% improving: 3%

are concerned about the environment of their region: 73% of these, were most concerned about pollution of sea and rivers: 19% forest logging: 17% poor waste management: 15% air pollution: 14% industrial pollution: 13% pollution from cars: 10%

think being fashionable means dressing like their friends: 20% dressing expensively: 17% wearing the latest outfits: 12% dressing to attract attention: 12% wearing famous brands: 9%

must deal with work-related issues while on holiday: 66%

of these, the reason they do so is to help out colleagues: 59% they must always be on top of company affairs: 14% they are forced to by their boss: 13%

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10 notebookRussian Life | November/December 2010

“In the larger scheme, this is similar to Soviet-era anony-mous denunciations … How is it different from the Stalin era? Back then, to lock someone up, the NKVD demand-ed that the note be written by a neighbor. In our times, the ones who are writing the notes and putting people in prison are the same. In other words, it’s all combined. You know, it’s actually a well-advanced system…”

Yelena Baturina, left, wife of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who was summarily fired. (The New Times)

“Many American agents made their careers on me. They couldn’t catch bin Laden; it was simpler to catch Bout, who was not hiding anywhere.”

Viktor Bout, awaiting possible eviction to the US from Thailand. (gazeta.ru)

“Those who drink vodka, who smoke – they help out the state more. If you smoke a pack of cigarettes – it means you contribute more money to solving social problems.”

Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, left, on the virtues of the excise tax. (Interfax)

“The essence of this project is to create a new concentration camp named ‘Russia,’ which will be managed by a united criminal group called either the militia or police, it’s not important which.”Duma Deputy Andrei Makarov at a roundtable discussion of the new law “On Police.” (Forbes Russia)

“In 30 years there won’t be any developing countries in the world. That’s what I think. There will only be devel-oped countries and eternally undeveloped ones.”

Opposition politician Grigory Yavlinsky. (Itogi)

“Dmitry Anatolyevich is doing a quality job in his post. Why would I interfere? It’s not a hobby. I don’t see anything that should evoke any sort of fear.”

Vladimir Putin, denying he intervenes in presidential matters. (Interfax)

“We are not responsible. You won’t find us anywhere in the Forest Code.”

Sergei Shoigu, left, on responsibility for fighting wildfires in Russia. (Prime-TASS)

“He has truly become a political animal, a real politician. How does a professional politi-cian differ from a non-professional? He makes everything into his personal public rela-tions… He wants very much to be loved. Of course, when women from Nizhny Novgorod cursed at him, it was very unpleasant for Vladimir Vladimirovich. Because Putin loves to be loved!”

Alexei Venediktov, chief of Echo Moskvy radio, on Putin and his PR stunts in a summer of wildfires, including in Nizhny Novgorod region. (Sobesednik newspaper)

“Putin, in some respect, has the mentality of a street ringleader, while I have always been a straight-A student, the best in the class.”

Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, left. (GQ Russia magazine)

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM

: ITAR-TASS, ALEKSEI FILIPPOV (ITAR-TASS), MAxIM

SHEMETOV (ITAR-TASS), DAVID URBANI (ITAR-TASS)


Alexander Pushkin during two years of internal exile. The small, decrepit wooden house Dovlatov rented was purchased by a group of friends from Moscow and St. Petersburg. They are planning to carefully repair the house to keep it from collaps-ing, in order to open a Dovlatov Museum.

Dovlatov based one of his most famous works, The Reserve, on his time in Pushkinskiye Gory. The nearly century-old house was owned by Muscovite Vera Khaziyeva for 17 years and everything was kept almost the same as it was when Dovlatov lived there in the 1970s. Khaziyeva occasionally let tour-ists see the house, but finally sold it because she was getting on in age. Due to Dovlatov’s popular-ity, Mikhailovskoye estate has also started giving Dovlatov tours.

Open Windows Microsoft to protect Russian NGOs

from police harassmentMicrosoft announced sweeping

changes to its anti-piracy efforts in Russia this summer, following a string of incidents in which police raided outspoken NGOs for alleged usage of pirated software, including Windows, paralyzing their activities.

Microsoft’s announcement, made on the company’s blog, came after a front page article in the New York Times claimed that Microsoft lawyers in Russia were in cahoots with police officers, testifying against NGOs instead of supporting them. Several NGOs, for example, Baikal Environmental Wave in Irkutsk, have seen their computers confiscated for months on grounds that they were using illegal software, despite having all their licensing documents in order.

Striving to protect its image, Microsoft promised that all NGOs would be granted free software licenses and offered legal aid, while an international law firm would investigate the corporation’s Russia operations.

Frontman Passes Coup spokesman and

Soviet chinovnikGennady Yanayev, who led the

1991 August coup against Mikhail Gorbachev, died in September of lung cancer. He was 73.

Yanayev was a longtime Soviet government official working with labor unions and youth groups before he was hand-picked by Gorbachev to be vice-president of the Soviet Union (a defiant parlia-ment voted Yanayev down for the post, and only accepted him after Gorbachev insisted). Yet Yanayev is remembered widely in Russia as “the man with shaking hands,” for when he announced during an August 19, 1991, televised press conference that he was taking over from Gorbachev (who was reput-edly stepping down for reasons of ill health), he was so nervous that his hands were trembling.

The coup, or “putsch,” was meant to end Gorbachev’s reforms, but thousands of Soviets took to the streets. The putsch-ists (led by mastermind Vladimir Kryuchkov, head of the KGB), declared a state of emergency, but decided against the widespread use of force, and their coup fell apart in just three days.

Mikhail Gorbachev, who had been held at a Crimean residence, flew back to Moscow, but never recovered his authority. A few months later, the Soviet Union fell apart.

Yanayev, who was accused of treason along with the other coup-plotters and imprisoned, was par-doned in 1994, and taught history in Moscow until his death, refrain-ing from political activity.

End of the KopekSmallest coins to disappear

The kopek’s days are numbered. Russia’s smallest denomination is likely to be phased out as inflation makes it irrelevant and costly. The Central Bank has proposed a halt to manufacture of one and five kopek coins, and rounding off prices at tenths of a ruble.

This is actually the third cancellation of the kopek. It was terminated once during the Revolution, and again in 1992, following 2600 percent inflation. The coinage was reintro-duced after 1998, when currency was re-denominat-

TAKE ME ASYOUR LEADERGennadyYanayev, coup plotter,during theAugust 19, 1991press conference.

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)“Let me say that Mikhail Gorbachev is now on vacation. He isundergoing treatment,himself, in our country.He is very tired afterthese many years and he will need some time to get better.”

ily. At the age of 24, he was killed during an attempted prison break from Shlisselburg fortress, during the reign of Catherine II.

A team of amateur archaeolo-gists claim that Ivan’s body was later taken north, to Arkhangelsk region, and buried along with his other

exiled family members in the town of Kholmogory. A body found in what appears to be a neglected necropolis fits all the characteristics of the “Russian Iron Mask,” as Ivan VI is unofficially called. Genetic testing would set things straight, but Vladimir Karanin, an Arkhangelsk

businessman who financed the long investigation, said he has run out of money and has turned to the gov-ernment for assistance.

Eighth Wonder Resurrecting a seventeenth

century castleIn September, the city of

Moscow unveiled the rebuilt Alexei Mikhailovich Castle (below and left). The original castle was built by Tsar Alexei in the 1660s, in Kolomenskoye, a tsarist residence in the south of Moscow that is now a park. The castle had 270 rooms, a throne with mechanized lions, and was reportedly hailed by amazed foreign guests as the “eighth wonder of the world.” The original structure was disassembled by Catherine II after it fell into disrepair follow-ing the relocation of the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg. The Moscow government invested a reported one billion rubles in the palace’s reconstruction, using archi-val documents and floor plans.


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Alexei Mikhailovich Castle, Moscow

The palace at Kolomenskoye was studied by prolific Russian architect Vasily Bazhenov in 1768. He recommended it be demolished, but William Brumfiled (A History of Russian Architecture) speculates that “its rambling and picturesque form stimulated the imagination of the architect,” who went on to create many landmark structures.

14 sportsRussian Life | November/December 2010

Kanayeva RepeatsYevgenia Kanayeva grabbed

the gold for Russia and defended her all-around title in September’s Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships, held in Moscow. Kanaeva rebounded after failing to qualify for the finals in the ribbon event. “I made a mistake,” Kanaeva said. “It is necessary to concentrate, to not be nervous, to do your best. I would like to perform better in my motherland.” She went on to please the crowd with her apparatus routine with the ball (getting a near-perfect score of 29.35) and won gold in that event and in the hoop event. “I’m very, very happy,” Kanaeva said. “I’m glad I didn’t let my coach down.” Daria Kondakova placed second overall (and took gold in the rope event), and Melitina Stanyuta from Belarus came third.

Tennis Holds StrongRussian tennis showed its mettle

at 2010 US Open. Vera Zvonareva

reached her second Grand Slam final in a row (after Wimbledon), succumbing in a lop-sided final to Belgium’s Kim Clijsters (6:1, 6:3). Mikhail Youzhny went through to the semis for the second year run-ning, losing to the eventual winner, Spain’s Rafael Nadal.

In the Open’s juniors category (under 18), the girls’ final was an all-Russian affair, with 16-year-old Daria Gavrilova (ranked #1) defeat-ing 15-year-old Yulia Putintseva (#21) 6:3, 6:2. Gavrilova won gold at the Youth Olympics in Singapore a fortnight prior and is the second Russian to win the US Open junior title in the past five years (after Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 2006).

Soccer ReboundsDick Advocaat, Russia’s new

head coach of the national soccer squad, set the team a goal of scoring six points in its first two qualifying matches in the UEFA Euro 2012 tourney. But the team came up

short, delivering a lackluster win (2-0) over Andorra, then losing to Slovakia (1-0).

But key wins against Ireland (3-2) and Macedonia (1-0) followed, pushing Russia to the top slot in its qualifier group. With an accu-mulated 9 points and a 3-1 record, the Russian team settles in for the winter break with hopes that its long national soccer nightmare may be over.

Sport is PoliticsKirsan Ilyumzhinov has been

re-elected president of FIDE (Federation Internationale des Echecs, “World Chess Federation”) by that body’s General Assembly. Ilyumzhinov received 95 votes to 55 for former World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov. Ilyumzhinov has been president of FIDE since 1995; his new term runs through 2014.

A few weeks prior to the FIDE vote, Ilyumzhinov announced he would be stepping down as president

sports by mikhail ivanov

YevgeniaKanayeva

VALERy SHARIFULIN (ITAR-TASS)

chess superpower: Since 1937, a Russian emigre, Russian or Soviet has been the world’s top chess player for all but 15 years: 1972-5; 2000-06; 2007-present.

sports 15russianlife.com | Russian Life

of Kalmykia, a Russian republic on the Caspian Sea. Ilyumzhinov, 48, has been president of Kalmykia since 1993. The announcement, made on the president’s website, originally said Ilyumzhinov had resigned, but then was changed to “Kirsan requests not to be nominated as President of Kalmykia, in order to focus on FIDE.” The face-saving move, observers specu-lated, was to avoid being ousted. Of late, the Kremlin has been cleaning its regional “Aegean stables,” forcing many long-time leaders of Russian republics to step down at the end of their terms, including Murtaza G. Rakhimov of Bashkortostan, Eduard Rossel of Sverdlovsk Oblast and Mintimer Shaimiyev of Tatarstan, to say nothing of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who was fired (see page 7). Presidents of republics within Russia are appointed and serve at the discretion of the Kremlin. Ilyumzhinov’s term was due to expire in October 2010.

As Ilyumzhinov’s replacement, President Dmitry Medvedev has proposed

Alexey Orlov, formerly the first deputy prime-minister of Kalmykia. Orlov is also, however, closely involved in the world of chess. He is the Honorary President of the World Chess Foundation, was the Co-Chairman of the Organizing Committee of matches such as Karpov-Kamsky and Kasparov-Deep Junior, was actively involved in organizing the 33rd World Chess Olympiad in Elista in 1998, the World Chess Championship in the Kremlin (2001), and the chess tournament RUS vs. rest of the World.

Hopes PinnedRussia won first place in Greco-Roman

and Freestyle wrestling, snagging 16 med-als at the World Championships held in Moscow in September. Of the 16, there were 5 golds, 3 silver and 8 bronze. Japan placed second, with 8 medals, and Bulgaria came third (3 medals). Japan won the most medals in women’s wrestling events, however (3 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medal), while Russia placed sixth.

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Treasure, defined. See this stunning, major exhibition of 37 paintings and artifacts from Moscow’s Andrey Rublev Museum, one of

the world’s foremost museums, named after the legendary icon painter and monk, Andrey

Rublev. You’ll experience rare icons—not previously shown in the U.S.A. and only at the Museum of Russian Icons—from this

prominent renowned gallery of early Russian Orthodox art. Exhibition now through

July, 25 2011. Visit soon.

Museum Admission • Adults - $5 • Students - Free• Seniors - Voluntary Donation

• Children >16 - Free • Tours - Groups - $4

Treasures from MoscowIcons from the Andrey Rublev Museum

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Nice TrainRussia’s rail monopoly Russian

Railways has launched service from Moscow to Nice, in the South of France. The 53-hour trip to the French Riviera passes through Belarus, Poland, Austria, and sev-eral other European countries, leav-ing Belorussky Train Station every Thursday afternoon. The cost of savoring such a journey ranges from €306-1,200, depending on class. Russian Railways claimed it sold 90 percent of its seats on the maiden journey to Nice, which was a popu-lar resort in tsarist times and is home to the largest Russian Orthodox cathedral outside of Russia.

Novgorod InnThe global hotel company

Rezidor Group has opened a new hotel under its Park Inn brand in Novgorod. The hotel was formerly known as the Beresta Palace Hotel, but was renovated and re-opened with additional restaurant and con-ference space. The four star hotel

has 225 rooms and is one of 25 in the Park Inn chain in Russia and the CIS.

Khakassia DrawingsA petroglyph museum opened in

Khakassia to showcase a large stone covered with drawings dating as far back as 2 BC. The stone, located

16 travel notesRussian Life | November/December 2010

CURRENTEXCHANGE RATE

R1 = $0.034

$1 = R29.93

travel notes by maria antonova

Ukraine’s Yasnogorodsky Ostrich Farm was the site in September

of a most unusual race, the ridiculous nature of which is

more or less evident.

VLADIMIR SINDEyEV (ITAR-TASS)

VLADIMIR ASTAPKOVICH (ITAR-TASS)

The first Moscow-Nice train arrives on the French Riviera.

come one come all: At press time, the Russian Ministry for Sport and Tourism indicated it wants to radically increase tourism to Russia over the next four years, from just over 2 million foreign visitors per year to 40 million.

travel notes 17russianlife.com | Russian Life

near Malye Arbaty, a village southwest of the regional center of Abakan, has turned into a major tourist attraction, with some visitors leaving handwritten wishes in the cracks of the stone, which damages the drawings, local museum worker Nadezhda Lukonina told Abakan Radio. Tourists will now be led about the site in a more organized fashion, and the stone will be protected from vandalism, she said.

Solovetsky DramaThe northern Solovetsky islands may

become increasingly difficult to access if a plan to restrict tourism in the area is enacted, Interfax reported. The governor of Arkhangelsk region has proposed a scheme whereby the islands, the site of an important monastery that is a World Heritage site, would only be open for day visits, and only pilgrims would be allowed to spend the night. The plan, which is supported by the monastery, has local island residents up in arms: most make their living by renting out flats and hotel rooms to summer tourists. The monas-tery has long argued that tourism has got-ten out of control on the island and has restricted passage to Anzer island, which is now only accessible after a blessing from the monastery. But locals living in Solovetsky village accuse the monastery of monopolizing tourism in their inter-ests. (See Russian Life Jan/Feb 2009)

Underground MuseumAn underground museum is open-

ing in November under what was for-merly Zachatyev Monastery in central Moscow. Archeologists have uncovered an entire former street of the monas-tery, along with foundations and nuns’ rooms, as well as pottery and other items. The dig lasted seven years, clear-ing the subterranean space of debris that accumulated through the Soviet period, when most of the monastery’s buildings above ground were razed. Zachatyev Monastery dates from the fourteenth century and was the first nunnery in Moscow. The city is also planning to rebuild some of the mon-astery’s cathedrals, though it is unclear how much they will resemble the origi-nal buildings.

Gear Up!Genuine Russian Life

t-shirts, hats,mugs and more!

Only at:cafeshops.com/russianlife

18 events calendarRussian Life | November/December 2010

traveling

Russian National Ballet Theatre The Russian National Ballet presents fine works from the Russian repertoire at appearances around the US: Swan Lake: 01/08/11, Macomb Center for the Performing Arts, Clinton Township MI (586-286-2222), Tickets: $37-$42. macombcenter.com • Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet: 01/18/11 to 01/20/11, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Urbana IL (217-333-6280), Tickets: $39. KrannertCenter.com • 04/06/11, Osterhout Concert Theater, Binghamton NY (607-777-ARTS), Tickets: $41. anderson.binghamton.edu

midwest

m i n n e s o t a

Textiles of Old RussiaThis original exhibition presents over one hundred artifacts revealing the rich peasant culture of northern and central Russia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Featured are towels, bed skirts, area rugs, and pillow covers, along with spinning tools, garments, and costumes produced by peasant spinners, weavers and dressmakers. Designs and patterns were specific to regional centers of pro-duction, such as the Vologda, Riazan and Nizhnii Novgorod regions represented in this exhibition. In 19th century Russia, traditional textiles were made at home. From planting the flax from which thread was spun to sewing a dress, women produced most everything needed by a peasant household. Long Russian autumns and winters were spent spinning, knitting, weaving, sewing, and embroidering. An elaborate display demonstrates the use of textiles in a peasant household at the turn of the last century. The remarkable objects on display bring to life a peasant lifestyle long gone. Dates: Through 12/31/10, Lower Gallery, Minneapolis MN (612-821-9045), Tickets: $7.

tmora.org

east

m a s s a c h u s e t t s

Treasures from Moscow, Icons from the Andrey Rublev Museum

A stunning, major exhibition of 37 paintings and artifacts from Moscow’s Andrey Rublev Museum – most never shown before in the U.S. – opened to the public at the Museum of Russian Icons, the only venue for this show, on Saturday, October 23, 2010. The Andrey Rublev Museum, located in

the historic Spaso-Andronikov Monastery, is home to one of the most prominent collections of icons in Russia and is named after the legendary icon painter, Andrey Rublev, considered to be the great-est fresco painter of his era – as well as the great-est painter of Russian Orthodox icons. Perhaps the most dramatic showstopper in the exhibition is the monumental, 57’’ x 46’’, Old Testament Trinity, circa late 15th – early 16th century, originat-ing from the Trinity Church of the village in the Uglich region, Yaroslavl area. The subject matter of the icon is based on Chapter XVIII of the Book of Genesis, which describes how God appeared to Abraham in the form of three traveling angels. Dates: 10/23/10 to 07/25/11, Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton MA (978-598-5000), Tickets: $5.

museumofrussianicons.org

m a r y l a n d

Balalaikas Across the SteppesJoin the Washington Balalaika Society’s 60-piece Russian folk orchestra, led by Svetlana Nikonova, for a concert featuring guest artists Volodymyr & Natalia Marunych from Kiev, Ukraine. Also featured will be balalaika virtuoso Andrei Saveliev from St. Petersburg. Children under 12 free with paying adult. Dates: 11/20/10, F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre, Rockville MD (240-314-8690), Tickets: $18-25. • 11/21/10, Kenmore Center for the Arts, Arlington VA (703-549-2010), Tickets: $20.00.

balalaika.org

n e w y o r k

View the Beautiful Works of Robert Nizamov in Sensorial Perspectives

Born and trained in Russia, Robert Nizamov explores a variety of approaches to painting, from representational still lifes to more abstract landscapes that in many ways recall Impressionism and its analogous movements. Above all, Nizamov strives for the painterly painting, a re-dedication to the medium of paint and brushstroke, based nei-

ther on the current market nor modern trends, but born from the sacred act of putting brush to can-vas. Dates: 10/29/10 to 11/19/10, Agora Gallery, New York NY (212-226-4151), Tickets: Free.

agora-gallery.com

n e w j e r s e y

Four Perspectives Through the Lens: Soviet Art Photography in the 1970s-80s

More than sixty photographs by four major Soviet artists working with photography in 1970 –1980s. Photography was not officially considered an art in the Soviet Union at that time, and it was not taught in art schools. Soviet photographers made exceedingly canny, inventive, and highly individual use of the medium, expressing ideas that were both specific and universal in character. Dates: 10/03/10 to 03/28/11, The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick NJ (732-932-7237), Tickets: $3 Adult.

zimmerlimuseum.rutgers.edu

Also at the Zimmerli: The George Riabov Collection of Russian Art • The Norton & Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union (1956-1986)

international

l o n d o n , u k

Russian Film FestivalThe Fourth Russian Film Festival in London offers feature films, documentaries, animation, discus-sions with actors and directors. Dates: 10/29/10 to 11/07/10, Apollo Cinema, London (0871-220-6000), Tickets: Varies.

academia-rossica.org

s h e f f i e l d , u k Sheffield Documentary Festival

Now in its 17th year, Sheffield Doc/Fest is the UK’s premiere documentary film event. It is the place to see world and UK premieres of the best creative documentaries from the cinema, television and online arenas, and to hear from and meet filmmak-ers at Q&A sessions. Among the 130 films line are five feature documentaries focusing on aspects of Russia, Romania and Poland. Dates: 11/03/10 to 11/07/10, The Workstation , Sheffield S1 2BX (+44 (0)114 276 ), Tickets: 6 pounds.

sheffdocfest.com

events calendarmusic, art, theater

In Thee Rejoiceth, Circa 1575, Wood, egg tempera icon (12.5 x 10 inches) from the Treasures from Moscow Exhibit at the Museum of Russian Icons.

ICON PHOTO COURTESy MUSEUM

OF RUSSIAN ICONS

russian calendar 19russianlife.com | Russian Life

what kind of a city was Kiev in 1240? It had already passed the pinnacle of its tenth and eleventh century glory, but it was still one of the richest and grandest cities of ancient Rus.

This city, which grew up along what was then the most important European trade route, lead-ing “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” from Scandinavia to Byzantium, glistened with gold-en cupolas and was protected by mighty walls. Kiev was home to Slavs and Scandinavians, Turks and Khazars, and was frequented by travelers from Western Europe and the Arab caliphates. All were amazed by its magnificence and wealth.

By the thirteenth century, the main cen-ters of ancient Russian life had shifted to the northeast. Vladimir and Suzdal had emerged and blossomed, and ships were not traveling down the Dnieper to Byzantium, which had

also passed its prime, as often as they once had. Nevertheless, many still saw Kiev as the heart of Rus.

The princes of the region were still fighting for the right to possess this city, which remained Rus’ most important religious center. While, by 1238, northeastern Rus lay in ruins, destroyed by the Mongol hordes of Batu Khan, Kievan Rus, although it had suffered from princely in-fighting, had so far escaped devastation. However, in 1239 Batu again advanced into Rus. This time his target was its southern cities.

Mongol ambassadors arrived in Kiev demanding that the city surrender. The city responded by killing the entire embassy – one of the worst possible crimes according to the Mongol code of honor. The Kievans had cho-sen their fate.

In the fall of 1240, a huge Mongolian army

russian calendarby tamara eidelman

Mongols Sack Kiev December 5, 1240

Kiev was home

to Slavs and

Scandinavians,

Turks and Khazars,

and was frequented

by travelers from

Western Europe and

the Arab caliphates.

All were amazed by

its magnificence

and wealth.

Kiev’s famous Andreyevsky street today.

russian calendar translations: Nora Favorov

NATA

LIA

BRAT

SLAV

SKy

(DRE

AMST

IME.

COM

)


today it is hard to imagine someone who has never seen, for instance, the smile of the Mona Lisa, even among those who have not visited Paris or set foot in the Louvre. Works of art from all epochs and countries surround us. We see them on the internet and on televi-sion; we can easily buy postcards of famous paintings and art books with high quality reproductions. Even those artists just starting their careers already have their own websites, so that as many people as possible can see their work.

But what was it like a hundred and fifty years ago? You could see paintings in muse-ums, but only in the few cities where museums existed. There was no such thing as a major collection of Russian art – the Moscow mer-chant Pavel Tretyakov was only just starting to assemble one. Most paintings were in private collections, so they could only be seen by those fortunate enough to receive an invita-tion from the owner. The only ways to learn about the world’s greatest masterpieces was to embark on a lengthy and expensive trip or to buy an etching or drawing that reproduced the canvas with some degree of accuracy.

Up to a certain point in time, artists were perfectly satisfied with this situation. The artist-client relationship somewhat resembled the relationship between servant and master (indeed, in pre-emancipation Russia, artists were often serfs or former serfs of the subjects of their portraits). But times were changing. Artists were developing self-respect and a growing sense of their audience.

In the mid-nineteenth century, artists – be they poets, musicians, or painters – no longer thought of themselves as servants entertaining their masters and, as an afterthought, their venerable public, but as Creators, prophets, who, in the words of Pushkin, “set people’s hearts on fire.” Alexander Ivanov, one of the best painters of the mid-nineteenth century, devoted several decades of his life to the cre-ation of a single canvas, The Appearance of Christ to the People, and was convinced that his painting would transform Russian life. This, alas, did not come to pass, but the painting did cause quite a stir.

All this was in the air during the formative years of the young artists who, in 1863, were so bold as to rebel against the seemingly omnipo-

The Itinerants art to the people

Above:All in the Past,by Vassily Maximov (1889)


of the party and government. Naturally, the fact that we were

all “supposed” to love the Itinerants wound up having the opposite effect. The sense that they were a bit dull became more intense, especially after, beginning in the 1960s, art lovers began to have some access to the amazing works of the early twentieth century Russian avant-garde, a move-ment the somewhat passé Itinerants were fated to oppose and by which they were superseded.

At some point the Itinerants were turned into laughingstocks, into kitsch, and were relegated to candy wrappers that showed Shishkin’s Morning in a Pine Forest or pendants featuring the face of Kramskoy’s Unknown Woman, who was mistak-enly perceived as symbolizing “the genius of pure beauty,” when actually the painter was depicting a “demi-monde” – not exactly a member of respectable society. In the 1970s and 1980s, there was hardly a worse faux pas you could make at a student party than admit to a love for the Itinerants. Anyone who did so would be dismissed as lacking all taste and knowing nothing of true art.

From today’s perspective, it is eas-ier to see that the Itinerants were in fact a diverse bunch. Some of them, such as Ge or Savrasov, were truly outstanding artists. Others (includ-ing, alas, the movement’s founder and talented organizer Kramskoy) were less impressive. And by the early twentieth century some truly dreadful artists were joining the Association of Itinerant Exhibitions. After the revolution, some of these relished the opportunity to exploit the move-ment’s state support to destroy per-sonal enemies in other artistic camps.

But today one thing is clear. Russian art would not be what it is today without the Itinerants. You cannot understand the entirety of Russian culture of the late nineteenth century, with its flashes of genius and occasional mediocrity, its strong and weak aspects, unless you understand the Itinerants. Like it or not, they are a part of us.

for russians, Alexander I is one of history’s best-known tsars. His reign provided the setting for Pushkin’s early years. It was a time of war against Napoleon, daring hussars, strapping cavalry officers, and lavish balls where high society danced the mazurka. Even the ardent efforts of the Decembrists to overthrow him lent Alexander’s era a certain romance. However hard Soviet schoolteachers and our dry textbooks strove to define the times in terms of the “crisis of serfdom” and “the struggle against autoc-racy,” they still seemed beautiful, thrilling, and poetic.

“Dusk. Nature. The nervous voice of a flute. Out for a late ride. On the lead horse sits the emperor in a sky-blue caftan.” Such was the beginning of Батальное полотно (Battle Canvas), a song by the popular bard Bulat Okudzhava. The captivating picture the song conjured of a pensive, melancholy emperor truly pulled at our heartstrings.

Вслед за императором едут генералы, генералы свиты,Славою увиты, шрамами покрыты, только не убиты.Следом – дуэлянты, флигель-адъютанты. Блещут эполеты.Все они красавцы, все они таланты, все они поэты.

Riding behind the emperor are his generals, the generals of the retinue,Covered in glory, riddled with scars, but still alive. Next ride the duelists, the aides-de-camp. Their epaulets shimmer.To a man they are charmers, talents, poets.

The Death of Alexander I November 19, 1825

Contemporaneous painting of Alexander’s death in Taganrog.

26 survival russianRussian Life | November/December 2010

i recently took part in a debate over the relative roles of two Mikhails in the War of 1812: the generals Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly. It got me thinking about Russian notions of patriotism.

First there is the extremist, jingoist type of patriotism, квасной, from the bread-based beverage квас. A good example of квасной патриотизм1 is the marketing slogan used by the квас brand «Никола»: “Квас – не кола, пей Николу!” (“Kvas is not cola, so drink Nikola”).

A synonym of квасной патриотизм is ура-патриотизм (hur-rah-patriotism) – выражение любви к отечеству не на деле, а на словах в форме настойчивых, шумных демонстративных заверений (expressing one’s love for homeland not in deeds but rather in persistent, noisy, demonstrative declarations).

At the other extreme are those who invariably желают поражения своему правительcтву – wish for their government’s defeat, mocking the country’s traditions, history and most ven-erated heroes, while claiming to have its best interests at heart. One name for such folk are “Иван, не помнящий родства” (Ivan Who has Forgotten His Roots). And their favorite quote is: “Патриотизм — последнее прибежище негодяя” (“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”), by which they mean all patriots are scoundrels.

Yet clearly they do not know the author the idiom or what he meant (слышали звон, да не знают где он – they “heard the bell ringing but knew not whence it came”). The quote is from Samuel Johnson, who in 1774 was urging British voters to elect a parliament of “true patriots.” And what he meant was that even the most inveterate scoundrel can still do something good as a patriot; it’s his last chance to resurrect and justify his life.

Back to Kutuzov. The квасные патриоты typically call him a genius of a commander (гениальный полководец) who dealt Napoleon a lethal blow (нанёс смертельный удар) at Borodino, but then opted to sacrifice Moscow in order to gather his forces

in the village of Tarutino (known as the Тарутинский манёвр Кутузова). The Иван не помнящий родства type, meanwhile, might allege that Kutuzov harbored a mortal fear of Napoleon (смертельно боялся Наполеона), and his only merit was his Rus-sian name – and that Barclay de Tolly was an unsung hero, ig-nored because of his foreign (Scottish) origins.

Both interpretations are erroneous. The ответственный патриот (responsible patriot) should admit that Kutuzov scored his victory over Napoleon at great cost, using a military strategy of attrition dating at least back to the Roman Emperor Fabian, but that he nonetheless brought Bonapart to his knees (поставил Бонапарта на колени), forcing him to beg for a truce (просить перемирия).

Russian writer Ivan Krylov brilliantly recounted this episode in his fable Волк на псарне (The Wolf in the Kennel). In it, the wolf (Napoleon) is hunting for sheep but blunders into the yard where the hunting dogs are sleeping. They wake and he tries to sue for peace. And this is the reaction he gets from the ловчий (master of the hounds, i.e. Kutuzov).

Тут ловчий перервал в ответ,—“Ты сер, а я, приятель, сед,И волчью вашу я давно натуру знаю;А потому обычай мой:С волками иначе не делать мировой,Как снявши шкуру с них долой”.И тут же выпустил на волка гончих стаю.

The master of the hounds broke in,“Now listen, friend, you cannot win.Your pelt is gray, my hair is white as rime I’ve known my share of wolves in my lifetime.With them there’s only one sure truce.With that he let his dog pack loose.2

Perhaps we need a new type of patriotism to reconcile ура-патриоты and forgetful Ivans. I would label it пивной патриотизм (beer patriotism), as this beverage is now gladly consumed by pa-triots of all stripes (патриоты всех мастей).

Moscow’s Badayevsky brewery has created a tasty янтарный напиток (amber brew) branded “Кутузовское,” capitalizing on the field-marshall’s mega-popularity. So what we need is for an-other local brewery to come out with a “Барклайское” brew, perhaps a dark porter with undertones of peat and single malt scotch… As a result, as per the Russian proverb (but unlike in Krylov’s fable), “the wolves would be fed and the sheep safe” – и волки сыты, и овцы целы.

CARTOON: VIKTOR BOGORAD

survival russian by mikhail ivanov

Kvas v. Cola

1. The phrase was actually coined by the poet Pyotr Vyazemsky, who fought at Borodino and strongly disagreed with the version of events Tolstoy presented in War and Peace. 2. Translated by Lydia Razran Stone.

f statistics are to be believed, or even half believed, the Russian Orthodox Church has a problem. Almost eight out of ten Russian adults are now baptized Christians – the same number who, by their own admission,

don’t pray, fast or celebrate feasts. Russians may identify themselves as Orthodox in surveys, but are little interested in participating in the life of the Church. And yet there is an interesting dynamic that has all but passed unnoticed. Believers might not be keeping the Sabbath by stepping out to church – but they are on the march all the same.

Like the rest of Europe, Russia is witnessing a curious and marked rise in pilgrimage. The rise is most noticeable in mass walking pilgrimages, called krestnye khody, “proces-sions of the cross.” These pilgrimages may last hours, days, even months, and unite hundreds, sometimes thousands of believers in symbolic journeys often perceived as help-ing to rebuild Russia, or to cleanse the nation of Soviet sins. The reunion of the Russian Orthodox Church with the Church Abroad, for example, was celebrated by a “spiritual-educational program ‘Under the Star of the Mother of God,’” in which processions from eight distant corners of Russia (two of which began in Athos, Greece and Jerusalem) walked to Moscow, inscribing an eight-pointed star across the country. Some participants walked for more than a year.

On the Marchthe Orthodox Church revives mass pilgrimages

By Stella RockPhotography by Sandra Reddin

I

28Russian Life | November/December 2010

Tolstoy’s Flightpavel basinsky’s new book, Lev Tolstoy: Flight from Paradise (Бегство из рая. Москва, АСТ, Астрель) is a calm, thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding Lev Tolstoy’s departure from Yasnaya Polyana.

One hundred years ago, on the night between October 27 and 28, the 82-year-old writer, accompanied by Doctor Makovitsky, secretly left his estate. Tolstoy fled without really understanding where he was headed, yet he was driven by one clear desire: to never return home again. Alas, this desire was destined to be fulfilled. En route, Tolstoy fell ill from pneumonia and soon thereafter died at Astapovo train station.

Pavel Basinsky is a writer and liter-ary critic, the author of a superb biog-raphy of Maxim Gorky in Molodaya Gvardiya’s series, Lives of Extraordinary People, and also the author of the exper-imental Russian Novel. In his research he plumbed various archival sources, including newspapers, correspondence, journals and memoirs of those who par-ticipated directly in the events: Tolstoy’s wife Sofia Andreyevna, his children, relatives, close friends, allies and antago-nists. Basinsky sought the truth in the places where these various accounts intersected. As a result, he very accurate-ly and subtly conveys the emotional atmosphere that reigned on the eve of Tolstoy’s flight – an atmosphere that was highly strained, electrified by the collision of various interests and wills.

Describing the life of a family that is not your own, about which you have discovered so many new details in the course of your investigations, is a dangerous endeavor: it is too hard to maintain emotional distance,

to easy to start feeling as if you are a close relative of the genius. Yet Basinsky happily avoids any sort of familiar-ity and always maintains his distance; he discusses the most intimate details of Tolstoy family life with unfail-ing tact. It is a tact strengthened by a deep empathy for all the main participants in the drama. In fact, Basinsky is as objective as one could be expected to be 100 years after the fact. For this reason, you trust his interpreta-tion; when you read his narrative you become certain that surely everything was just as he describes.

Basinsky is not shy about being fascinating or popu-list – in the good sense. As a result, he often prefers liv-

ing images over distracting arguments.And so we have a description of

the nightmare of his night flight – the helpless old man hurries into the pitch darkness of the stable, drops his hat and cannot find it, and so his head gets cold. He blunders about in his own apple orchard and finally, trembling, huddles into a coach. The next day he is on board the train, purposely traveling third class, and he preaches to the people who, of course, have recognized him. Next he arrives at Optina Pustin; he walks along its walls but cannot make himself enter. The Elder Iosif, learning of this, immedi-

ately summons him, but it is too late. Tolstoy has gone. Then we are at the nunnery of Shamordino, where Lev Nikolayevich enters his sister’s cell and cries, complain-ing of the dissension in his family.

In the book, the chronicle of Tolstoy’s flight is inter-spersed with flashbacks: excursions through his “sin-ful” youth, the day of his marriage to Sonechka Bers, the period of familial bliss, which lasted 15 years and,

By Maya Kucherskaya

Some places to buy the book online: vasha-kniga.com, kniga.com, russia-on-line.com.36Russian Life | November/December 2010

of the nineteenth century, three trim gentlemen stepped out of the first-class carriage and onto the station platform in the ancient Russian town of Serpukhov, located just a bit less than 60 miles south of Moscow. The gentlemen glanced around, appreciated the three-story railway station building, and, finding nothing more of note, proceeded to a very important meeting. Later, it would become known that two of the gentlemen were representatives of the American company Singer, Mr. Georg Neidlinger and Mr. Frederick Brown, and the third was the U.S. Consul in Moscow, Mr. Smith.

The year 1899, when this scene occurred, was a time when ladies had just abandoned the bustles that caused them so much trouble when walking, the first automobile had been imported to Petersburg, and rural doctors had begun to spout revolutionary ideas when they made their rounds of typhus- and cholera-plagued villages. The vast Russian world had begun to stir, very slowly, into motion, urged on by the hum and thunder of change.

Singer’s enterprise in Russia was part of this change, and by the 1890s the scope of the company’s operations

An Unfortunate Misunderstanding

By Natalia Beskhlebnaya

{ a railroad tale }

One day, at

the very end

translation: Nina Shevchuk-Murray


naPoleoncode

By Anna Dymkovets

the


Six months ago, a French document containing the key to a lost treasure fell into

the hands of Alexander Seregin and Vladimir Poryvayev. This unpublished document

led Seregin and Poryvayev to conclude that 80 tons of gold and valuables hauled out of

Moscow in 1812 by Napoleon’s retreating soldiers had been carefully buried in a secret

location.

In October 1812, while Napoleon’s army was fleeing Moscow, his soldiers became

walking treasure chests: each carried no less than ten kilograms of gold. Approximately

200 wagons were used to transport the booty. But they never made it to France…

Old Smolensk Road, along which the French retreated, had been destroyed. The French

themselves were responsible for making it impassable by the course of their invasion.

Then the frost struck. Hungry and freezing soldiers ate fallen horses. Russian troops

and partisans repeatedly harassed the retreating army. The weight of the stolen treasure

slowed the army’s retreat. Wagons fell apart even as they rolled. They had to get rid of

the loot: dump it in water or bury it along the way…

translation: Brendan Kiernan

ITAR

TAS

SS

Napoleon’s Retreat from Moscow, October 6.by Nikolai Samokisha

47russianlife.com | Russian Life

The Mayan calendar’s abrupt end on December

21, 2012 may be the stuff of Hollywood block-

busters, but it is far from the only premonition

of a world cataclysm. For its part, the medi-

eval Russian Orthodox Church was certain that

Judgment Day would arrive in March of 1492.

When the end failed to arrive on schedule,

a feeling that doom was imminent pervaded

Muscovy, reigniting fears of heresy while even-

tually justifying, promoting and reinforcing

the notion of Moscow as the “Third Rome.”

By Mark Nuckols

NYETapocalypse


T o understand the Church’s apocalyptic reason-ing, one must first understand the difference between the Anno Mundi and Anno Domini calendars.

Anno Mundi, which was in use in Russia up until the time of Peter the Great,* marked time from the creation of the world. By adding up the time between the “begats” in the book of Genesis and comparing the time elapsed between major events in ancient history, Orthodox churchmen concluded that the world was created 5,508 years before the birth of Christ. This “Alexandrian” calcu-lation dominated in Russia, although several others, most differing by only a few years, were also used at different times in the Orthodox Christian world.

Anno Domini, devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus, counted from rather inexact calculations of the year of Christ’s birth. Thus, Anno Domini 01 corresponds to Anno Mundi 5509. And the year Anno Domini 1492 corresponds to Anno Mundi 7000.

The year 7000 was considered portentous for several reasons. The biblical book of Revelation contains repeated

* After Peter returned from his “Great Embassy” to Europe, he changed New Year’s Day from September 1 (a legacy of the Roman and Byzantine empires) to January 1 (as used in the West), and adopted the Anno Domini system. Thus did January 1, 7208 become January 1, 1700. Peter did not, however, adopt the Gregorian calendar, but retained the Julian calendar, which was still widely in use throughout Europe, which confounds historians to this day.

Sixteenth century icon depicting The Final Judgement

55russianlife.com | Russian Life

60 cuisineRussian Life | November/December 2010

konstantin makovsky painted Boyarina Bearing a Tray as a study for his monumental 1883 canvas, Boyar Wedding. This lovely por-trait of a demure woman with eyes downcast, berouged in the medieval Russian fashion, represents Makovsky’s attempt to capture the essence of the Russian past, a past that many feared was being lost with industrialization, massive urban migration, and railroads that were changing the face of the Russian coun-tryside. Like other iconic paintings from the 1880s, Makovsky’s work idealizes Russia’s distant past. But unlike such artists as Viktor Vasnetsov and Ilya Repin, Makovsky chose to portray not heroic scenes from his country’s history or mythology, but domestic, intimate moments, particularly those recalling the era of Muscovy (thirteenth to sixteenth centuries), when Moscow was ascendant.

In depicting scenes of everyday life, Makovsky paid great attention to detail; his use of color and brushwork deftly convey the intricate patterning of the boyarina’s dress. Here is the richly ornamented style of old Russia: the elaborate kokoshnik (headdress) is decorated with semi-precious jewels and pearls, while the gown is made of brocade and embellished with gold embroidery. Makovsky shows the boyarina resplendent in her wealth, an impression reinforced by his careful render-ing of the finely wrought goblet of silver and gold that is borne on a hammered silver tray.

Makovsky was deeply interested in Russia’s material culture, and it is likely that he painted the goblet after an object in his own collec-tion. Other paintings of his, such as A Cup of

cuisine by darra goldstein

Boyarina with a Trayby Konstantin Makovsky (1883) Vodka with a Kiss

Vodka with a Kiss

cuisine 61russianlife.com | Russian Life

Mead (Charka myodu, from the early 1880s), depict additional specialized drinking vessels from old Russia that were used until being displaced by Western-style glassware under Peter the Great’s eighteenth-century reforms. The goblet shown here is a kubok, a ceremo-nial vessel reserved for special occasions and especially for the regalement of guests. The kubok varied in form: some had a broad base, others none at all; sometimes the bowl of the vessel was affixed to a pedestal. The wealthiest boyars ordered their kubki from skilled silver-smiths, who decorated them through ham-mering or adornment with precious stones, jewels, or even tiny silver chains. Many of the best silversmiths were associated with mon-asteries. The vessels known as Troitskie sudy,1 crafted at the Trinity Monastery of St. Sergiy outside of Moscow, were especially prized.

Makovsky’s painting is more than just a pretty picture, however. Boyarina Bearing a Tray actually depicts a curious cultural practice from medieval Russia, known as the “kissing custom.” This practice is described in some detail in the travelogue of Adam Olearius, secretary to the mid-seventeenth-century embassy sent to Persia via Russia by Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. Olearius writes:

The highest mark of respect and friendship they show a guest at a feast or in the course of a visit, to convey that he is welcome and that they approve of him, is as follows. After the guest has been fed, the Russian has his wife, richly dressed, brought out to the guest to present him with a

cup of vodka from her own hand. Occasionally, as a mark of particular favor to the guest, he is permitted to kiss her on the mouth. This great honor was rendered me personally by count Lev Aleksandrovich Shliakhovskii, when I was last in Moscow, in 1643.

After a sumptuous dinner he called me away from the table and the other guests. He ushered me into another room and said that the greatest honor and favor anyone can be given in Russia is for the mistress of the house to come out and render homage to the guest as to the master…[H]is wife came forth. She had a very lovely, but berouged face, and was dressed in her wedding costume.2

Modern visitors to Russia frequently comment on Russian hospitality, which can seem excessive at times. But based on Olearius’s description, contemporary prac-tices pale in comparison to those of the past. While I won’t go so far as to recommend a revival of the ancient ways, I do encourage you to bring out your finest goblet for an honored guest, place it on a tray, and fill it with some excellent homemade, flavored vodka. Even without a kiss, the gesture will be memorable.

1. sudy is an archaic form of the modern noun for dishes, posudy. 2. From The Travels of Olearius in Seventeenth-Century Russia, transl. Samuel H. Baron (Stanford University Press, 1967 [orig. pub. 1647]).

Coriander VodkaCoriander seed was much prized in Russia for its digestive properties. Added to vodka taken in judicious amounts, it was believed to help settle the stomach.

1 pint good-quality plain vodka2 teaspoons coriander seed, slightly crushed

Place the crushed coriander seed in the vodka and allow to infuse at room tem-perature for 24 hours. Strain. Chill the vodka before serving.

Adapted from A Taste of Russia.

62 under reviewRussian Life | November/December 2010

Stalin’S Romeo SpyEmil Draitser (Northwestern, $35)

This extraordinary biography of one of Soviet Russia’s most flamboy-ant and successful illegals, Dmitry Bystrolyotov (whose last name liter-ally means “son of a fast flyer”), is gripping, entertaining and immense-ly informative.

Bystrolyotov contacted Draitser back in the 1970s, just before the author emigrated from the Soviet Union. Thirty years later, Draitser decided to follow up on the spy’s amazing story, and ended up being handed a cache of Bystrolyotov’s personal documents by a family rela-tive. From these records and from extensive archival research, Draitser has reconstructed an era and a per-sonality that is without equal.

From Bystrolyotov’s youthful adventures around the Black Sea coast, to his pre-WWII travels back and forth across Europe as a “night of cloak and dagger,” to his term in Norillag, one of the worst of Sta-lin’s slave labor camps, this is the sort of thoroughly engrossing espi-onage tale worthy of a Hollywood epic. The access to Bystrolyotov’s thinking and actions provided by his personal documents, and the care Draitser takes in reconstruct-ing his astounding life (always hav-ing his B.S. meter close at hand), make this an invaluable memoir for understanding the workings of So-viet intelligence and Soviet foreign policy.

loSt and Found in RuSSiaSusan Richards (Other Press, $15.95)

Early in her marvelous book, Su-san Richards observes that, “When a society starts falling apart, the surface of things remains deceptively tran-quil…” The rest of the book seems somehow designed to show that the opposite is also true.

It is difficult to know what to call this book: a travelogue, a social his-tory, a study in microeconomics or sociology? A probing of mysticism and theology perhaps? At a loss, I’ll just call it a great read.

The work spans a decade and a half of the author’s travels about Russia, pursuing an optimistic bent that, despite the turmoil at the top, one could find tranquility and wis-dom in Russia’s villages, an answer to what makes Russia tick.

Focusing on the town of Marx, near Saratov, Richards follows her interest and leads us on something of a cross-country vaudeville show, where we meet everything from Old Believers to successful entrepreneurs, religious fanatics to gangsters to fol-lowers of an obscure nineteenth cen-tury philosopher. But there are also loving, friendly, normal sorts who have been ground up by the changes roiling Russian society, people who take in a vagabond writer and share their lives.

Richards writes beautifully and delivers a colorful, complex tableau of Russia that will spark memories in those who have traveled there over

the last two or three decades, and fill in the blank spots of history – mean-ing how the Collapse affected real people – for all the rest.

RuSSia againSt napoleonDominic Lieven (Viking, $35.95)

Recently, a general discussion I had with a Russian colleague about the history of the War of 1812 turned into a rather heated exchange on the relative roles of Generals Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly. It reminded me that this war, even though 200 years removed in history, still sits just be-low the surface of Russian conscious-ness, a central pillar in the historical argument that Russia has repeatedly been besieged by hordes, imperialists and racists. And one challenges the Conventional Wisdom only at one’s peril.

What Lieven does in this monu-mental, two-pound tome, subtitled “The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace,” is take on much of Western Conventional Wisdom (as well, it might be said, as Tolstoyan and Soviet C.W.) about this war. What we know about Napoleon’s war against Russia, Lieven asserts, tends to be that written by British and French historians. To counter this, he dove into the Russian mili-tary archives and surfaced with a ful-some new account of the war as seen from the Russian perspective.

Most specifically, Lieven seems to want to counter the prevailing

under review by paul e. richardson

our review shelves are groaning! We can’t fit in these pages all our reviews. For more, visit blog.russianlife.com

under review 63russianlife.com | Russian Life

notion that somehow Napoleon lost the war, whether due to win-ter conditions, disease among his troops, and the whims of Fate. In-stead, he argues, Russia won it. Not because of some Tolstoyan rising of the people, and not because of the monumental efforts of some singular hero like Kutuzov. Instead, it was because Russian leaders out-thought and out-spied their French counterparts, because Russia’s pro-fessional military was highly meri-torious and better trained, and be-cause Russia was far superior when it came to light cavalry. The horse was key.

Yet Lieven also wants in this his-tory to focus attention away from just 1812, and onto 1813-1814, when Russia really finished off Na-poleon, when it achieved the mon-umental task of securing supply lines all the way to Paris (something Napoleon failed at).

This is a superb history and not just for military historians who rev-el in battle details. On the contrary, Lieven focuses on the home front and on the wider context in a way that makes his history both read-able and essential for understand-ing this complex and portentous conflict. Includes loads of excellent illustrations and nearly two dozen pages of helpful maps.

andRoid KaReninaLeo Tolstoy and Ben H. winters (Quirk, $12.95)

Somehow, you can almost see Lev Nikolayevich looking out over the pond at Yasnaya Polyana and spinning out this line:

“The young princess Kitty Shcherbatskaya was eighteen. It was the first winter that she had been out in the world, and shortly she would at last receive her very own beloved-companion robot.”

Almost.In this aridly funny mashup of

what many have called “the great-est novel ever written,” the timeless tale of infidelity and social mores has been infused (like a fine vodka, perhaps) with groznium – a miracle metal that has allowed Russia to create a Rube Goldbergian mecha-nized society on the backs of robot servants.

Tolstoy’s tale has been spiced up with loads of sub-plots, includ-ing renegade scientists and alien invaders, terrorists and the hella-cious fury of a scorned cyborgian husband. And in what may be a tip of the hat to Phillip Pullman, the heroes’ personal robots take on the characteristics of their human mas-ters, giving the twisting plot some-thing of a double edged helix.

As if a send-up of this sacred text in the classic canon is not enough, there is the hilarious “Reader’s Dis-cussion Guide,” which takes aim at the popularity of book clubs. Ques-tion 4:

“Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin’s ‘Face’ is a trusted technological de-vice that slowly takes over his brain and makes him evil. Was Tolstoy merely creating an interestingly di-chotomous villain, or anticipating people who check their messages too much? How often do you check your messages?”

Put this one in the guilty plea-sure column and enjoy.

the new nobilityAndrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan (Public Affairs, $26.95)

For those looking for yet more evidence that the security services are pulling the strings in modern Russia, look no further than this extraordinary new book from the fearless journalists at agentura.ru. Soldatov (who has written for

Russian Life) and Borogan have com-piled a history of FSB activities and operations over the past decade that paint a very vivid picture of a security service that has become Russia’s new ruling class.

Today’s FSB, the authors show, is careerist, clannish, suspicious and

inward looking. Oh, and ruthless and absolutely unaccountable to any democratically governed body.

With amazing accounts of some of the most significant security cri-ses and counter-terrorist activities of the past decade, Soldatov and Borogan offer insights into FSB op-erations that have not been offered anywhere to date, outside perhaps the FSB and the CIA. Certainly the Russian press has offered little in this realm since Putin, Edinaya Rossiya and the FSB stepped in to fill the power vacuum left behind when the Communist Party was sucked out into space. A must read.

purchase information Russian Life does not sell the items reviewed in this column. To purchase any of these items, visit our website’s Book Reviews section for quick and easy links to purchase online.

RuSSian muSic FoR cello & pianowendy warner and Irina Nuzova (Cedille)American cellist Wendy Warner and Russian pianist Irina Nuzova, who have been performing together for a few years as the WarnerNuzova duo, present a warm, and satisfying recording in this collection of works by Miaskovsky, Prokofiev, Scriabin, Schnittke and Rachmaninov. Cedille specializes in recordings of music that is rarely performed in public, but should be, by artists that are not widely known, but should be. The sound quality on this disc is simply superb, and there is a line of grace and sweet melancholy running through every piece, as one would expect on a cello collection that explores the Russian soul.

64 postscriptRussian Life | November/December 2010

Dueling Calendars

postscript by maria antonova

In response, another group of students from the same journalism department quickly organized an opposing calendar, where girls dressed in black pose with their mouths taped shut, next to much less playful questions like “Who killed Politkovskaya?”, “When is the next act of terror?”, and, above, “Freedom of assembly anytime and anywhere?” “We have a few questions, and we have posed them,” wrote Elizaveta Menshikova, who came up with the idea, “We will not let them disgrace the honest name of our school,” she said on her blog:

liz-anderson.livejournal.com

A group of journalism students from Moscow State University posed for a risqué calendar created as a birthday present for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who turned 58 on October 7, 2010. Clad in lacy lingerie, the models pout at the camera, with captions like “How about a third time” and (above) “You’ve put out the fires, but I’m still burn-ing.” The wall calendars briefly went on sale for R260 at Auchan supermarkets in Moscow, but the chain denied ever selling them and withdrew them from their aisles after the calendars stirred a riot in the press.

ITAR-TASS

УALExANDER UTKIN

учитесь 65russianlife.com | Russian Life

1. Проведите стрелки от слов к предметам на картине. {Connect the words to the objects on the painting.}

фрукты нос

окно глаза

стул волосы

стол брови

нож руки

тарелка рот

блузка шея

скатерть губы

листья пальцы

персики лицо

This unit consists of three parts united by the theme ofthePeredvizhniki (Itinerants). Part I features the paintingA Girl with Peaches byValentinSerov and assignments based on the painting.InPartII,learnerswillworkwithtwopaintingsbyIlyaRepinandreadtheartist’sbiography.PartIIIisbasedonthisissue'sarticleaboutthePeredvizhniki(page21)andcontainsseverallexicalandgrammatical

exercises. Parts I and II can be usedwith studentswho achieved anovice-highlevelofproficiencyinRussian.PartIIIisformoreadvancedlearners.Theunitcanbeeasilyadaptedforindividualstudy.Akeyisprintedonthefinalpage.

Audiorecordingsforthislesson,aswellasPDFsandmaterialsforallpastlessonsareatwww.russianlife.com/uchites

Russian LifeNovember/December 2010У 09

читесь

Учитесь is a co-production of Russian Life magazine and TeachRussian.org. The creation of Учитесь and its distribution together with Russian Life to students of Russian is underwritten by a grant from the Russkiy Mir Foundation and private donations. Lesson design, exercises, and activities by Evgeny Dengub (Amherst College and Mount Holyoke College) and Susanna Nazarova (Mount Holyoke College).

ПЕРЕДВИЖНИКИ

Часть 1

Девочка с персикамиВалентинСеров(1887)

66 учитесьRussian Life | November/December 2010

2. Соедините прилагательные с существительными справа. {Match adjectives below with the nouns on the right.}

Белая блузкаСеребряный листьяЖёлтые глазаОсенние ножЧёрные шеяБольшие носДлинная персикиПрямой лицоКрасные волосыРозовая девочкаКруглое губыКрасивая скатерть (fem.)

3. Где что? Составьте предложения о картине из слов в трёх колонках. {Compose sentences about the painting using words from each column. Follow the example.}

Пример: Девочка сидит за столом.

4A. Прочитайте текст о картине и ответьте на вопросы после текста. {Read the text about the painting and answer the questions.}

«Девочка с персиками» Валентина Александровича Серова – одна из самых известных картин в русском искусстве. Когда художник её написал, ему было только 22 года. Серов стал мастером очень рано. Ему было только пятнадцать лет, когда он поступил в Императорскую Академию художеств. Другой известный русский художник Илья Репин был его преподавателем.

На картине «Девочка с персиками» мы видим Веру Мамонтову. Это дочь Саввы Мамонтова, известного русского предпринимателя (как сейчас говорят, бизнесмена) и мецената. Многие русские художники жили и работали в его доме в селе Абрамцево.

Все очень любили Веру. «Это был тип настоящей русской девушки по характеру, красоте лица, обаянию», — говорил, вспоминая её, Виктор Михайлович

Васнецов, другой известный русский художник. Когда Серов нарисовал её портрет, ей было двенадцать лет. Художник очень долго рисовал эту картину. Картина – не просто портрет Веры, а символ радости, счастья и светлого детства.

Серов стал очень знаменитым художником, когда написал «Девочку с персиками» . Он даже получает заказы на портреты из семьи императора Николая II.

4Б. Ответьте на вопросы по-английски. {Answer the ques-tions in English.}

1. What is the name of the girl in the painting?2. How old is she?3. What is her relation to the great Russian merchant

Savva Mamontov?4. Who painted the picture?5. How old was the artist when he painted the pic-

ture?6. How old was he when he was admitted to the

Royal Academy of Arts?7. What happened to him after he completed the

painting?

4В. Ответьте на вопросы по-русски полными предложениями. {Answer the questions in Russian in full sentences.}

1. Как зовут девочку на картине?

2. Сколько ей лет?

3. Какие у неё волосы?

4. Какие у неё глаза?

5. Где она?

6. Что лежит на столе?

7. Это зима или осень? Почему?

8. Кто написал картину?

9. Сколько ему было лет?

10. Кто такой Савва Мамонтов?

5. Напишите подробное описание картины «Девочка с персиками». {Write a description of the painting «Девочка с персиками». Give as many details as you can.}

Нож стоять на стол

Тарелка лежать за стена

Девочка висеть у стул

Стул сидеть в окно

Персики скатерть

Стол окно

Скатерть комната

May 1996: The Russian Military • Literary Insert: Viktor Nekrasov • Russia’s Tall Ships February 1997: The Art of War • Civil War Cavalry • Lyube Rock Group • International Calling April 1997: Judaism in Russia • Aron Buch’s Art • Stolypin’s Reforms • Driving the Lena River in Winter • Adventure TravelJune/July 1999: Pushkin at 200 • A New Cold War? • Images of Pushkin • Pushkin’s Estates • St Dmitry Church Aug/Sept 1999: Feature on Karelia • Cartoonist to the Commissars • Paarnajarvi • Kizhi • Sewn Icons Oct/Nov 1999: Lermontov • Russian Prisons • Torzhok • Annual Vodka Taste-Off • Royal Road Rally Jan/Feb 2000: Santa Claus and New Year’s • Karl Bryullov • Masha and the Bears • Perm Mar/Apr 2000: 8 Russian Women’s Stories • Yeltsin’s Legacy • Yekaterinburg • Eduard Rossel • Verkhoturye • BlinyMay/June 2000: Baseball in Russia • Annual Travel Buyer’s Guide • Anton Chekhov • General Alexander Suvorov • Tyumen & Tobolsk July/Aug 2000: Pyotr Tchaikovsky • Savior’s Cathedral • Olympic Hopefuls • Klin • Justice in Russia Sep/Oct 2000: Bering Strait • Omsk • Potatoes • 3rd Annual Vodka Taste-Off • National Hotel • Sasha ChyornyNov/Dec 2000: Marat Safin • Russia’s Gold Medalists • Sleigh Builders • Annual Gift Buying Guide • Alexander Blok • Novosibirsk • Alexander Simonov • Reader Photo ContestJan/Feb 2001: 100 Young Russians to Watch (I) • Nikolai Roerich • Airplane Dacha • Decline of Russian • Krasnoyarsk & IrkutskMar/Apr 2001: 100 Young Russians to Watch (II) • Nikolai Ge • Kayaking Kamchatka • Summer Travel Guide May/June 2001: 100 Young Russians to Watch (III) • Riding the TransSiberian • Tsar Paul • Annual Travel Buyer’s Guide Jul/Aug 2001: 100 Young Russians to Watch (IV) • Mikhail Bulgakov • The Translator’s Art • Master & Margarita • Digging up your Russian Roots Sep/Oct 2001: Shostakovich • Andronikov Monastery • Children of Russian-American Marriages • 100 Young Russians (part 5) • Tea EmpireJan/Feb 2002: Kamchatka Reindeer • What to Do With a Russian Degree • Vodka Taste-Off • Russia 10 Years New • Fiction Insert • 100 Young Russians to Watch (VII)Mar/Apr 2002: The Izba • 100 Young Russians to Watch (VIII) • Abramtsevo • Russian San FranciscoMay/June 2002: US-Russian Relations • 100 Young Russians to Watch (IX) • Russia’s Magazine Boom • Man of Birch • Annual Travel Guide • Candid CameraJuly/Aug 2002: St. Petersburg Tercentennial & Travel Guide • Alexei Nemov • Honey in Bashkiria • Art of the Russian Con • Mikhail Nesterov • Day in the Life: Milk Vendor

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join the conversation

russianlife.org

Anyone have a good

reading list of fa

vorite

Russian short st

ories?

I had a great experience at this

Moscow hotel last week

Is it just me, or are US-Russian relations on the wrong track?

How long should I expect it to take for my visa to arrive?

I’m cruising the Volga next summer

with my wife. It’s my first

Russian cruise. Tips, anyone?

I would love to create a Blog and

write about Russian history

...everyone who was looking for places to

buy Russian food online, check out these links.

{ where Russophiles gather online }

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Russian Life: Nov/Dec 2010 issue (sample extract)

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Transcript of Russian Life: Nov/Dec 2010 issue (sample extract)