Category: Architecture

Residents of Russia’s northwestern Leningrad region were fortunate to have a rare glimpse at the aurora borealis, the natural phenomenon also known as the northern lights.  The aurora could be seen in the parts of Lake Ladoga both on Monday and Tuesday night and was visible enough to be captured by local Instagrammers.  Resulting from…

Outdoor sports lovers from around the world arrived in Siberia last month for the annual Lake Baikal winter games. Each year, racers brave ice, wind and snow — not to mention bone-chilling temperatures — as they ski, bike and skate across the world’s largest freshwater lake. Here’s a look at some of the frozen feats…

Siberia is not generally known as a holiday resort.  In tsarist and Soviet times, Siberia was where criminals and political convicts were sent, and it was also a region of rich natural resources. In 1912 the Sheregeshev brothers discovered iron ore in the mountainous region of Gornaya Shoriya to the south of present-day Kemerovo. At…

I suffer intense performance pressure when I contemplate making Medovik, Russia’s beloved multi-layer honey cake. I’m cognizant that this is, hands down, every Russian’s absolutely favorite cake, ever since Alexander I’s wife, Empress Elizabeth, a confirmed honey hater, fell in love with a Medovik made by a new chef in the palace kitchen blissfully unaware…

While the first day of calendar spring is just around the corner, the brutal Russian winter has yet to ease its grip. This week, abnormally cold temperatures have been recorded across the country — with Russia’s second-largest city St. Petersburg battling one of the heaviest onslaughts of snow.  Within days, Russia’s imperial capital was covered…

Sand master Yelena Kadyrova touches sand on the table, and on a big screen, spectators see waves, a ship, and the Little Mermaid swimming on the waves. Each scene stays on the screen for no more than a couple of seconds. Actors, musicians, and a storyteller help to give life to the story unfolding and…

A ballerina from St. Petersburg’s renowned Mariinsky Theatre has filmed herself dancing on the ice of the Gulf of Finland in a move to save a local beach from development. Ilmira Bagautdinova is one of thousands speaking out against plans to construct a port terminal for grain shipments on Batareinaya Bay, a beach roughly 100…

As Kirill Serebrennikov steps down as the director of the Gogol Center this week, it will signal an end of an era for this theater. The dismissal was to be expected after Serebrennikov was found guilty of embezzlement last summer and got a suspended sentence on what most observers believe to be completely trumped-up charges.…

One hot day in August an older gentleman in rather poor health decides to celebrate the fine weather with a walk through his favorite forest on the outskirts of a European city. Tired from his walk, he wends his way to a small town, past a soaring old cathedral to an outdoor restaurant in the…

Defenders of the Fatherland Day is upon us, that most masculine of all holidays. Feb. 23 nominally celebrates the foundation of the Red Army in 1918, during a hastily organized rout of Kaiser Wilhelm’s forces in the waning months of World War I. No sooner was the Red Army founded than it locked horns with…

South African comedian Mamello Mokoena, better known by his stage name Mum-z, came to Russia to be with his girlfriend. A year later, he still finds himself in a pandemic-forced affair — with the country. Mum-z came to Moscow for the first time last February, planning to spend several months with his romantic partner.   “When…

Andrei Myagkov, an actor most famous for his role of Zhenya Lukashin in the 1975 New Year’s hit, “Irony of Fate,” directed by Eldar Rozanov, died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 82 at his home in Moscow. Myagkov was born in Leningrad in 1938 and graduated from the Moscow Art Theater…

The “Fabergé: Jeweler to the Imperial Court” exhibit at the Hermitage Museum finds itself at the center of a scandal about fakes. It began with an accusation by one Russian art dealer about another Russian art dealer. On Jan. 10 André Ruzhnikov, a London-based art and antiques specialist, wrote an open letter to the head…

Film lovers, particularly those who love films from the early golden age of Soviet films, are in luck. Two collections are now available online, and one modern series with a retro theme is about to air. Kino Klassika Kino Klassika was founded in 2015 as a U.K. charity to preserve and make available Soviet classical…

Independent journalism isn’t dead. You can help keep it alive. The Moscow Times’ team of journalists has been first with the big stories on the coronavirus crisis in Russia since day one. Our exclusives and on-the-ground reporting are being read and shared by many high-profile journalists. We wouldn’t be able to produce this crucial journalism…

Okay, bear with me on this one. I’m making vinegret for Valentine’s Day.  I’ve been so busy, with no time to bake something gooey, chocolate, and heart shaped. I can’t stop to schlep to the fishmongers for oysters. I opened the fridge and was disappointed but not surprised to discover that we were fresh out…

On Sunday the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture in Moscow will host the premiere of a documentary film about one of the world’s foremost specialists in ancient Russian architecture, the American professor at Tulane University, William Craft Brumfield. The film, “The Treasure of William Brumfield,” was written and directed by Irma Komladze, a renowned photographer,…

The romantic months of February and March begin with Valentine’s Day this coming Sunday (Feb. 14). Even though Russians traditionally celebrate men on Feb. 23 (Defender of the Homeland Day) and women on March 8 (International Women’s Day), they have happily joined their foreign friends and added this celebration of couples in honor of St.…

Much of Russia has been invaded by a blast of bitter winter weather this week — in the country’s northern regions, temperatures as low as minus 40 Celsius were recorded. Moscow, too, is experiencing some of the decade’s coldest weather, with temperatures plummeting to the low twenties. Here is a closer look at how Muscovites…

After many years in the making, the Joseph Brodsky Museum has finally opened in the apartment he shared with his parents on Liteiny Prospekt in St. Petersburg, 25 years after his death at the age of 56. The museum is divided into a modern section in a former flat that was adjacent to the one…

Since antiquity cooks have tucked meat and grains in vegetable leaves: wrapping food in pickled fig leaves was common in both Greece and Rome. The Byzantines used vine leaves as their primary wrapper, and this mania in Asia Minor for stuffing one food into another led to the ubiquitous dolmas, small vine leaf logs stuffed…

Thousands of Russians are posting photos of themselves in red clothing to social media in a show of support for jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia Navalnaya. During her husband’s court hearing Tuesday, Navalnaya was seen crying while the judge read out the verdict to convert his suspended sentence of 3.5 years…

The Moscow city department of culture announced on Wednesday that they would not be renewing Kirill Serebrennikov’s contract as the director of the Gogol Center theater. The previous day, on the theater’s eighth “birthday,” Serebrennikov had described some of the plans for 2021, which included not only theatrical productions but other artistic projects. His contract…

With snow set to be a fixture for much of next week, what’s needed now is an absorbing project to keep us inside — preferably one with delicious results. And for that, you can’t beat a babka! A savory babka with mushroom filling in this case: cake meets bread, and breakfast meets dinner in this…

HOLLYWOOD—If the last few months haven’t given you enough excitement in the U.S. and Russia, soon you can see them again on the big screen — only fictionalized with lots of action and a big dose of conspiracy. Unlike most moviemakers sidelined by the pandemic work stoppage, Russian actor-writer-producer Alexander Nevsky has been putting finishing touches…

When I decided to take advantage of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin’s widening of the list of professions eligible for the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to include journalists, reactions from my Russian friends ranged from shock to concern. “You’re more of a patriot than I am,” said one. Despite Russia’s proven track record of scientific breakthrough…

In 1703, Tsar Peter I captured in the Swedish fortress of Nyen, which guarded access to the River Neva. It was one of the ambitious Russian tsar’s early successes in the Great Northern War (1702 – 1721) in which Russia ultimately smashed Swedish hegemony. On the banks of the Neva, Peter began construction of a…

Russians celebrate the feast of the Epiphany every year on Jan. 19 by bathing in ice-cold lakes and rivers to celebrate the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan. The Orthodox Christian tradition is popular with believers and non-believers too, as a freezing ice bath is believed to be good for you. Here’s a look…

Chief Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny returned to Russia from Germany Sunday and was immediately detained. The 44-year-old opposition leader flew back to Moscow after spending several months in Germany recovering from a poisoning attack that he said was carried out on the orders of President Vladimir Putin. Amid heavy police presence, hundreds of his supporters…

A “Balkan cyclone” arrived in Moscow early Thursday, bringing the first heavy snowfall of the season and nearly paralyzing the city’s traffic. The flurries are expected to be replaced by temperatures as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius, bringing a quintessential Russian winter to the capital after the warm winters of recent years. Here is…

Independent journalism isn’t dead. You can help keep it alive. The Moscow Times’ team of journalists has been first with the big stories on the coronavirus crisis in Russia since day one. Our exclusives and on-the-ground reporting are being read and shared by many high-profile journalists. We wouldn’t be able to produce this crucial journalism…

In 2020 the independent Pop-Up Theater celebrated its five-year anniversary. Its founder and stage director Semyon Alexandrovsky told The Moscow Times that it began when his wife and producer Anastasia Kim was pregnant. He decided to spend more time at home and turned down offers to perform on tour. In his free time, he and…

The year 2020 was not a good year for the arts. In Russia, as elsewhere, it was a year of closures, cancellations, postponements, broken contracts, checkerboard seating, air scrubbing equipment, performers and personnel with Covid, self-isolation regimes, and catastrophic loss of both lives and income. Planning was often useless. As Yelena Kovalskaya, director of the…

From the Vikings through the first year of Soviet power, these seven films or series will keep you entertained as you are immersed in the pre-Russian, Russian and Soviet past. Start with Alexander Sokurov’s “Russian Ark” that takes you through several centuries of Russian history inside the ark of the Hermitage Museum. You can watch…

A Tale of Two Photographers Photography, since its inception, has provided an invaluable window into Russia’s turbulent past. The revolutions of 1917 irrevocably altered the course of Russia’s history with seismic political change, but also rendered an entire way of life not only obsolete but also taboo. Historians were left to pour over sepia-toned photos…

A Tale of Two Photographers Photography, since its inception, has provided an invaluable window into Russia’s turbulent past. The revolutions of 1917 irrevocably altered the course of Russia’s history with seismic political change, but also rendered an entire way of life not only obsolete but also taboo. Historians were left to pore over sepia-toned photos…

One of the first complaints students and lovers of literature have about Russian novels: “They’re so long!” That might be because they were written over long, long winters, or maybe just because the authors have a lot to say. In any case, that makes them perfect for long, multi-episode series that are great for holiday…

Since this year most museums, fairs, and theaters are closed and few families can travel, it’s the perfect chance to go back in time and celebrate the holidays the way Russian families did before electricity, and then before radio, television, the internet and modern gadgets. When you and your family get bored with online movies…

The year 2020 began as usual for the music world in Russia, but came to  screeching halt in March. Music lovers had to be content with live-streamed performances, musicians languished and the fate of large orchestras and their future contracts with soloists became uncertain. The Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, led by Valery Gergiev, was…

I’ve just finished celebrating what the Russians call “Catholic Christmas” with the usual cornucopia of rich foods: triple cream cheese, fresh oysters, beef, potatoes swimming in cream, chocolate sauce, ham, and more Christmas cookies than I care to count.  With Russian New Year and all its high cholesterol mayonnaise-based salads looming on the horizon, it…

When the pandemic hit Russia in the spring and the city went under an almost complete lockdown, communication and creativity did not stop. Cultural institutions launched in record time a huge variety of online activities that were different but not always worse than in-house events. And they had one great advantage: they had a rapt…

As the New Year quickly approaches, Russians around the country are getting ready for their most festive holiday of the year. Nowhere is this more evident than in Moscow, where the city is already gleaming with endless lights and decorations. Here’s a closer look at how Russia’s capital transforms for the holidays:

It’s a holiday! Finally! In the absence of friends and relatives, what better way to finally relax than to get cozy in front of the TV for some serious binge-watching? Here are seven fictional series or feature films about Russia and their neighbors that got the thumbs up from a highly opinionated, extremely demanding, multi-generational,…

The pandemic of 2020 may go down in history as one of the most devastating events for world ballet. In March, Russian theaters closed for what everyone thought would be a short quarantine, and most returned to work in the rehearsal studios only during the summer months (the Bolshoi in July and the Mariinsky in…

2020 was a difficult year for the Russian film industry. Many long-anticipated premieres were postponed when in-theater showings were halted. Other filmы skipped the theater and went straight to online platforms. Another problem, which will have a longer effect on the industry, was filming — or not filming — under various Covid-19 restrictions. Most of…

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) has named the Russian movie “Beanpole” as the best foreign language film. “Beanpole,” which was directed by Kantemir Balagov, also won second place for best production design.  The film is set in the Soviet city of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) right after WWII. The narration focuses on the tragic relationship between two young women veterans, Iya…

As the year 2020 comes to an end, many expats are staying in Moscow, some for the first time, as the coronavirus makes travel abroad impossible or impractical.  Without the usual holiday fairs, parties and activities — and without widespread celebrations on Dec. 25 — it’s easy to put off planning. And now Christmas is…

The prestigious French gastronomic guide Michelin said Monday that next year it would launch its first selection of Moscow restaurants, which have recently experienced a renaissance. “The Russian culinary scene has seen new trends appear over the past 30 years, embodied by talented chefs who are committed to enhancing the quality of local products,” Michelin…

Alexander Kurlyandsky, creator of the “Nu, Pogodi!” (“Just You Wait!”) cartoon series and dozen of other popular animated films, died on Dec. 20 at the age of 82. There was no information about cause of death. Kurlyandsky created the cartoon series about the Wolf chasing after the much more clever Hare in 1969. The cartoons…

Maxim D. Shrayer was born in Moscow in the family of a writer and medical scientist, David Shrayer-Petrov, and a translator, Emilia Shrayer. His family applied to emigrate, and after more than eight years as refuseniks, they left for the U.S. in 1987 when Shrayer was 20 years old. In the U.S. Shrayer attended Brown…

HOLLYWOOD–Theaters in the U.S. are closed. Studios are on hiatus. The film industry is in freefall. But in Russia, movie fans will be the beneficiaries of Hollywood’s troubles. Theatrical blockbusters like the James Bond franchise, Disney-branded films and “Star Wars” remakes will skip the movie houses and will be available on streaming platforms in Russia…

“Two times a month, Tuesday is my favorite day of the week, because when I come home from school, the newspaper Zolotoi Klyuchik (Golden Key) is waiting for me in the mailbox. The sound the paper makes and the way it feels, the smell… Nothing can replace print newspapers and magazines!” That’s the opinion of…

Just two weeks have passed since the official start of the winter season, but most areas of Russia are already covered in snow. In the northern republic of Sakha, temperatures went below minus 50 degrees Celsius last weekend. Living in a country where winters can last for up to seven months, those who live in…

Popular Soviet and Russian actor Valentin Gaft died on Saturday at the age of 85 after suffering a long illness. His wife, actress Olga Ostroumova, told Russian media that Gaft had suffered a serious stroke in 2019 and had been in a medical center for long-term care and rehabilitation. Valentin Gaft was born in 1935…

Ready or not, here come the holidays!  Hanukkah has begun, bringing with it a most welcome celebration of light, faith, and hope (and latkes), and Western Christmas, New Year and Orthodox Christmas are not far behind. This year the celebrations have a more muted quality; it’s hard to go wassailing all over the town with…

Tripadvisor has ranked Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad as the No. 1 emerging tourism destination in the world for 2020.  Sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland, the Kaliningrad region’s German heritage and influence make it unique from Russia’s mainland and its Baltic coastline draws surfers, swimmers and sunbathers in the summer.  The region’s capital, also named…

‘Cecil Beaton: Celebrating Celebrity,’ the first major show of one the greatest photographers of the 20th century in the Hermitage’s General Staff building brings together about 100 photographs and sketches by, highlighting his role as a herald of celebrity culture and its dedicated advocate. The display is a collaboration with Cecil Beaton’s Studio Archive and…

“75 Days, 80 Stories, Jan. 15.”That is the number of days Muscovites were in quarantine in the spring, the number of personal stories the Museum of Moscow and Triumf Gallery have collected, and the date that the on-site part of this exhibition will open (hopefully). The on-site show has four sections of works by artists…

Held amid the Arkhangelsk region’s harsh Nordic landscapes, the annual Arctic Open is one of Russia’s least glamorous film festivals. It is also one of the few cinema events in the world dedicated to the unique culture of the Arctic peoples and intended to foster closer cooperation within the region’s artistic community.   The open air…