Category: Architecture

Victoria, 42 (Editor’s note: this co-traveller’s name has been changed on her request because she signed a non-disclosure agreement upon retirement) In my job one has to have good sense of humor, otherwise, I would go mad. I always wanted to work for the police. I can’t say my parents were happy about my choice.…

Somewhere in the early 2000s, it became okay to play with our food.  Not in the sense of rolling it up into balls and hurling it at one another, but to pair traditional ingredients with non-traditional methods of preparation or vice versa. Until then, everyone had dutifully stayed in his lane: sushi was sushi, but…

As Russia has battled the coronavirus pandemic, its doctors have been among the hardest-hit groups. Many Russian hospitals have become hotspots for coronavirus outbreaks. Russian doctors estimate that nearly 600 of their colleagues have died from the virus across the country. While Russians haven’t followed fellow virus epicenters like New York and Italy in applauding…

Protests against racial and other discrimination have engulfed half of the globe. In their quest for justice, demonstrators have targetted monuments of people associated with slavery, racial and other forms of discrimination. Authorities across the world have put demonstrators on a par with ordinary vandals, imposing enormous fines and even criminal penalties for destroying or…

Sometimes the most interesting places in Russia are a bit off the beaten path. Case in point: Lipetsk region. Lipetsk is 465 km from Moscow — almost six hours by car. Although the region is associated with Peter the Great, the writer Ivan Bunin, and other famous historical figures, it is not on the standard…

Night train Blagoveschensk – Khabarovsk. The Mesto47 team is heading to the dining car. We take a table across a group of miners with an empty bottle of vodka. From their conversation we figure that they are travelling from a corporate event on lake Baikal, a soccer competition commemorating Steel Miners’ Day. They are having…

Russian cuisine’s reputation as bland is infamous: from the beloved tongue-twister, which proclaims that “buckwheat kasha and cabbage soup are all we eat,” to the horror stories of Soviet-era stodge and deprivation. There are those (and, once upon a long time ago, I counted myself among their number) who maintain that only the imported flavors…

Oksana and her two-year-old daughter Sophia sit in a small lounge in Vnukovo airport in Moscow. They are one of several families with young children waiting together. Sophia, like the other children there, has retinoblastoma, an aggressive and rare form of retinal cancer that can render a child blind and cause death within a matter…

Anna, 33, calls herself “an extinct dinosaur in a modern society”. Indeed, it’s almost like she travelled here by time machine. Her job is a well-respected profession in 18th century: lacemaker. She lives with her husband in patriarchy, meaning that she obeys him all the time, thinks that her life mission is to be next…

Underground passengers engrossed in reading and chess players in a summer park, overcrowded beaches and demanding ballet rehearsals, a huge line to the Mausoleum and a divorcing couple in a court room, desperately trying to avoid each other’s eyes — these are just a few of the images in the new exhibition at the Manege…

If there is one thing worse than Moscow in the middle of a cold snap, it’s Moscow in the middle of a heat wave.  Summer took its own sweet time coming this year, but now seems to have settled in for the duration with the relentless baking heat that is so hard to coax off…

Moscow has a surprising number of beaches for swimming in lakes, canals and streams, which are just opening up after the long period of self-isolation and cool, rainy weather.  In Moscow city, the swimming zones are not officially open: the city is still on high alert mode in response to the coronavirus pandemic. So wait…

Moscow got a new monument this morning — one that may be the first of its kind. The monument is in honor of the more than 60,000 couriers whose work made it possible for Muscovites to self-isolate during the pandemic. The monument was commissioned by some of the companies most reliant on delivery workers: Ozon,…

MOROCCAN CUISINE WEEKEND This weekend stay home and have Morocco delivered to your door. The Hyatt Regency Petrovsky Park is offering a full Moroccan dinner for two (or more) Jult 4 and 5. Enjoy the fresh blend of Arabic, Berber and European culinary traditions! This dinner has a lot of dishes for vegetarians.  The set…

This summer, travel and vacations are not going to be like usual. If you are wary of crowds or flying, forget the Black Sea coast and consider some vacation options closer to Moscow. How about Kazan? The Republic of Tatarstan does not require visitors from other regions to self-isolate, and the capital is full of…

Russia opened its domestic tourist season Wednesday as it continues to grapple with the deadly coronavirus pandemic that has seen it record the world’s third-highest number of infections. The country closed its borders and grounded most international flights in late March to slow the spread of the outbreak, allowing only special evacuations of its own…

Last summer journalist Marina Dmukhovskaya and photographer Georg Wallner took a trip on the Trans-Siberian from Moscow to Vladivostok. For 28 days and almost 10,000 kilometers, they talked to dozens of people in “Seat 47” (Mesto 47) riding next to them. When they returned, they turned 38 conversations into first-person stories. My husband was a…

It’s a rare thing for me to advocate toning down spice notes or flavor accents in a Russian dish — I am the gal who puts sumac, ginger, and horseradish in borscht — but with Morkovcha, it was beyond time for an intervention.   Morkovcha is a spicy carrot salad better known in Russia as “Korean…

A Moscow court has handed a suspended sentence to prominent theater director Kirill Serebrennikov, a surprise legal victory in a fraud case his supporters say was politically motivated and a test of artistic freedom in Russia. Suspended sentences are widely seen as the lightest punishment in Russia’s legal system, which rarely issues not-guilty verdicts. The sentencing…

This Saturday and Sunday our friends and neighbors at the Hyatt Regency Petrovsky Park are celebrating the end of lock-down — or almost the end of lock-down — with a fabulous Chinese dinner for two — or many more! (The portions are generous, to say the least!) The dinner includes Guan Tang bao with prawns…

Finally, summer cafes, libraries and museums are expected to reopen in Moscow. Starting from June 16, exhibition halls and museums are gradually opening all over Moscow. In almost every museum, visitors will only be able to buy electronic tickets, and everyone, including guests and exhibition staffers, are required to wear masks and practice social distancing.…

Have you ever looked at the lit windows of random homes and wondered, who is living inside and what their life is like? Kazan’s hospitality had no borders, so here’s a twist to our usual approach: we didn’t meet people in the street or the train this time, we were invited into their homes. Meet…

One thing the Covid-19 lockdown has reinforced for me is that venerable adage, “Waste not want not.” When you write about food and develop recipes for a living, there is always a certain amount of food waste involved — rather more than your already very obliging family can consume. Though regrettable, you learn to live with…

On Friday the non-governmental organization Zhivi Seichas (Live Now) is holding a 10-hour marathon to gather 2 million rubles for Russian patients with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). All day on their YouTube channel or VKontakte page some of Russia’s finest athletes, actors, singers, dancers and many others will be working hard to entertain, enlighten, and even hold some dance…

For everyone who has become addicted to a weekend feast delivered to your door, June 19-21 our friends at the Hyatt Regency Petrovsky Park are offering a Peruvian dinner. Peruvian cuisine combines local traditions with Spanish, African, Japanese, Chinese, and Italian influences to create fresh, brightly flavored dishes. The set menu for two (or more,…

Moscow’s outdoor restaurant verandas opened to diners Tuesday as the Russian capital continues to gradually reopen following a two-and-a-half-month coronavirus lockdown. While the patios packed with people dining in the sunshine might look like a sign that the coronavirus pandemic is grinding to a halt in Russia, cases have continued to rise in the thousands…

If you’ve ever wanted to put your Russian to the test by listening to one of the world’s most difficult novels in Russian, today is your lucky day. Prominent Russian cultural figures are reading Irish writer James Joyce’s famous novel “Ulysses” in a marathon broadcast Tuesday to help raise money for Russian doctors who are…

Last summer journalist Marina Dmukhovskaya and photographer Georg Wallner took a trip on the Trans-Siberian from Moscow to Vladivostok. For 28 days and almost 10,000 kilometers, they talked to dozens of people in “Seat 47” (Mesto 47) riding next to them. When they returned, they turned 38 conversations into first-person stories. Stolbi nature sanctuary is…

When I think about Russian pantry staples, my mind automatically pivots to images of hearty grains such as buckwheat or hardy root vegetables like beets.  But a crucial staple throughout Russia’s lengthy history has always been fish. Russians became creative experts in finding ways to preserve fish, as anyone who has enjoyed a lavish zakuska…

When an older man became ill and was quarantined, volunteers brought food and medicine, but no one could care for his two dogs. So, for a month, a distant relative became one of Russia’s growing ranks of animal volunteers. Volunteer organizations to aid animals have existed in Russia for a long time, but this year…

This weekend our friends and neighbors at the Hyatt Regency Petrovsky Park are offering a Thai set, a magical mix of spicy, sweet, sour, coco and creamy flavors to take you away from Moscow and set you down on a Thai beach — in your kitchen, that is. The set menu includes:  Som Tam (traditional green…

Channel One devoted Sunday evening to airing director Alexei Balabanov’s movies “Brat” and “Brat 2” (“Brother” and “Brother 2”) on the twentieth anniversary of the second film’s release. The home audience across the country was, however, puzzled by new footage showing unrest across the United States in place of the final film credits.  While the famous”Nautilus Pompilius” song…

Last summer journalist Marina Dmukhovskaya and photographer Georg Wallner took a trip on the Trans-Siberian from Moscow to Vladivostok. For 28 days and almost 10,000 kilometers, they talked to dozens of people in “Seat 47” (Mesto 47) riding next to them.  When they returned, they turned 38 conversations into first-person stories. Here is one of…

June 6 is the birthday of Alexander Pushkin, Russia’s “everything” – the person who captured Russian language in prose and poetry and gave life to the literature and national sense of self for centuries to come. So June 6 is celebrated as Russian Language Day, too.  What better way to celebrate the language than with…

Photographer Jason Guilbeau, who was born in Niort, France and now lives in Strasbourg, is known for his landscapes of Switzerland, Germany and Eastern Europe, in particular the relationship between form and landscape. In “Soviet Signs and Street Relics” he has taken Google Street View images of the sculptural signs so familiar to anyone who…

This weekend, June 6-8, the annual Red Square Book Fair is going to be held, albeit in more modest dimensions and with a lot of hurdles to keep people safe. Because quarantine is not officially over, it can be attended by book lovers and readers older than seven and younger than 65, who have registered…

This weekend you can pretend it’s summer by ordering in a Mexican meal from the Hyatt Regency Petrovsky Park. A big variety of meaty and meatless dishes for two (or many more) is 3,500 rubles, which includes free delivery within the Third Ring Road and Horchata Blanca (a traditional Mexican rice drink). For the “do-it-yourself”…

In 2012 the Moscow City Government issued a rule, calcified into law in 2019, which caused a certain amount of buzz amongst the creative classes. The rule was a stern reminder to “respected Muscovites and guests of the capital” that roasting meat on the city’s residential balconies was neither allowed nor encouraged. That it came around the…

“Sacred Talisman” Online Theatrical Premiere The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center joined with Teatr Predmeta (Object Theater) to produce an online performance of “Sacred Talisman” in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII. The play is about a little boy who survives the horror of war by hiding under his bed and…

This weekend, May 29-31, our friends and neighbors at the Hyatt Regency Petrovsky Park are offering an Indian feast for their delivery dinner. Prepared by their executive chef Ashwani Vyas, who knows something about Indian cuisine — he grew up on it! — the meal for two actually feeds at least a family of four!…

The Russian Youth Architecture Biennale is the only competition for young architects in the world. First held in 2017 and now on its second run, the Biennale gives young architects a chance to reimagine the urban environment of Russia and to merge the old with the new.  This year after the first cut, 30 finalists from…

Every year on May 25, Russia’s high school seniors close out the last day of classes with the ringing of the “Last Bell.” In addition to the nationwide ringing of the “Last Bell,” the soon-to-be graduates typically celebrate the day by dancing, wearing traditional school uniforms, giving and receiving flowers and hugging their classmates goodbye.…

Oscar-nominated Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky has announced a new television series based on the real-life story of a group of LGBT activists who visited the Soviet Union on a mistaken invitation. The comedic series will portray the Homosexuelle Aktion Westberlin (HAW) activists’ 1978 trip to Moscow after a high-ranking Soviet official mistook their gay liberation…

For my generation of American Slavists, born in the 1940s, Joseph Brodsky’s appearance on our shores in 1972 was as startling as Nabokov’s. There was no hint of aristocratism or nostalgia for a lost Russia, of course, only this huge poetic gift, attested to by legendary Russian poets, and that stupendously idiotic court trial, at…

Muslims across Russia on Sunday celebrated the Eid al-Fitr holiday, a feast marking the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan. Authorities in Moscow and Russia’s Muslim-majority regions have canceled prayer gatherings and ordered mosques to remain closed to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Take a look at how the celebrations included social distancing and…

Today would have been the 80th birthday of Joseph Brodsky, who was born in Leningrad and died in New York at the age of 55 in 1996. He is buried on the island of San Michele in Venice. Although the memorial museum where he and his family lived in “a room and a half” in…

This weekend, why not go to the theater and see works by some of Russia’s most innovative and celebrated directors?. For 24 hours starting at 9 p.m. in Moscow on Saturday (2 p.m. in New York and 7 p.m.in London) you can see  “Love and Intrigue (Kill)” by Frederich Schiller, directed by Timofei Kulyabin in…

Yeast has always eluded me. Not in the current sense of “I can’t find any yeast,” a cry heard these days from Montana to Myanmar.   My problem is that I have never been able to master yeast.  Recipes that begin, “proof the yeast” in my hands end up sagging like a three-day-old birthday balloon.…

This evening, Fri. May 22, the writer Maxim Osipov is giving a reading at Corpus Online. He’ll be reading an essay and two short stories in Russian: “Свента”, “Добрые люди” and “Фантазия”. Maxim Osipov is a doctor living in Tarusa and the author of five collections of short stories in Russian published by Corpus. His…

“Four million people were dispossessed. Two and a half million kulaks [rich peasants] were sent into exile…” These grim historical facts from the Stalinist period began the 8-part television series “Zuleikha,” aired by one of Russia’s main channels and watched by a record number of viewers. But even though the series was shown last month,…

The Russian movie theater company Karo plans to open at least six drive-in cinemas across Russia, the RBC broadcaster reported Wednesday. “We plan to open about six drive-in theaters in the near future. We want people to have chance to watch movies on the big screen, so we are now at the final stage [of…

The Russian movie theater company Karo plans to open at least six drive-in cinemas across Russia, the RBC broadcaster reported Wednesday. “We plan to open about six drive-in theaters in the near future. We want people to have chance to watch movies on the big screen, so we are now at the final stage [of…

Hyatt Regency Petrovsky Park is continuing its weekend gastronomic world tour with a stop in Singapore. This weekend’s set menu is Singaporean street food, but you don’t have to go outside to get it. It will be delivered to your apartment May 22-24. The set includes Popiah (something like spring rolls) with chicken, beef and…

If there is a good side to this pandemic, it’s charitable efforts: the generosity of performers, arts figures and organizers who give their time to raise funds for the neediest, and the generosity of people at home who tap into their bank accounts to support these projects. Today from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Moscow…

If you are interested in Russian and Soviet history — or architecture, or culture — you will surely be very interested in this film. “I Am The Hall” tells the story of the Hall of Columns in the House of Unions, from its first life as a ball and meeting room for the Moscow Assembly…

Night in the (Online) Museum One of Moscow’s hands-down, favorite yearly events is Night in the Museum, when you get to experience the transgressive thrill of being in a place and time that is usually forbidden, or hearing talks, going on excursions, watching films and theatrical events, and taking master classes in the dark and…

If your household’s lockdown dynamics are anything like mine, eating habits have probably changed dramatically over the past seven weeks. An informal straw poll of my cyber chums from around the world suggests that almost everyone has abandoned conventional mealtimes or the traditional components of breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Snacking is on the rise, as…

The legendary Bolshoi Theatre, whose dancers and singers are currently under virus lockdown, hopes to hold its first performances in September, the general director Vladimir Urin told AFP on Friday. Under his “optimistic scenario,” rehearsals will begin in late July, allowing performers enough time to limber up their skills, Urin said. “I very much hope…

Moscow residents were treated to a magnificent sunset after Thursday evening’s springtime rain that could still be enjoyed from one’s window.  The golden-pink sky and rainbow brought a much-needed burst of color into our lives — no filter required. And while Muscovites are technically restricted from non-essential trips outside, some people just couldn’t resist the urge…