Category: Architecture

“I hope to watch a film tonight, and this spring I’m going to watch films by Andrey Tarkovsky,” the self-taught and award-winning film director Dmitry Davydov told The Moscow Times. “I find some information on the internet, and I watch a lot of films so I can focus on the work of the directors. I…

The Non/Fiction international book fair has scrapped a scheduled presentation of a novel authored by jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh, the book’s publisher said Monday. Yarmysh is currently under house arrest alongside nine other Navalny allies and local opposition deputies for calling on supporters to join nationwide protests in his support earlier…

Russia’s Turkic and Persian communities on Sunday marked the first day of the astrological year with the celebration known as Nowruz, or Persian New Year. The ancient holiday marks the time of renewal and new beginnings. Nations that traditionally mark Nowruz believe that a lavish celebration can bring a successful and prosperous year. Largely forgotten…

In its 874-year history, Moscow has grown from an obscure twelfth-century military outpost into a world-class capital city of over 20 million inhabitants. Along the way, the city has been reinvented over and over to suit the needs of its rulers. Ivan the Great made Moscow “The Third Rome” after the fall of Constantinople in…

There is no greater culinary contrast in Russia than the transition from Maslenitsa — the weeklong Shrovetide festival — to the somber beginning of Lent, the long fast which precedes Easter. From buttery pancakes with thick cottage cheese filling, fistfights, and a round-the-clock carnival atmosphere, the mood becomes far more contemplative and the diet positively…

This week the Dal State Literature Museum held the opening of a new project and exhibition. The museum is opening a new section on the history of 20th century literature, which they launched with an exhibition called Osip and Nadezhda Mandelshtam Street. The exhibition was made in collaboration with the Mandelshtam Center at the Higher…

Russian investigators said Thursday they will examine the lyrics of the country’s entry to this year’s Eurovision song contest after it angered conservative groups. Manizha Sangin, known as Manizha, is set to perform the song “Russian Woman” at the annual competition in The Netherlands during May.  It praises the strength of Russian women, urging them…

A Siberian pianist sparked an uproar Tuesday with a speech against “state repression” at a concert honoring Italian-born French concert pianist Vera Lotar-Shevchenko, who spent eight years in a Soviet gulag prison camp in Siberia. Timofey Kazantsev was nearly hauled offstage at the Novosibirsk Philharmonic after urging attendees to sign a petition demanding the release…

Moscow-based artist Yevgeniy Naumuv aims to breathe new life into the city’s gloomy urban landscape by turning them into Renaissance-inspired artworks.  A resident of the Vykhino neighborhood located in Moscow’s outskirts, Naumov defines his art style as “Vykhino Renaissance,” saying it reveals the romantic side of life in gray residential apartment blocks.  The young artist…

New materials meet new technology, street art and personal dreams at the new exhibition at the State Russian Museum devoted — for the first time in its history — exclusively to the works of Gen Y artists. Called “Millennials in Contemporary Russian Art” and hosted by the museum’s Marble Palace, the exhibition is an attempt to create…

Russia’s only active female cosmonaut has inspired the latest astronaut Barbie doll from Mattel’s campaign to inspire women, the country’s space agency announced Tuesday. Anna Kikina, 36, is set to become the fourth Russian woman to go into space with a fall 2022 mission to the International Space Station a decade after her admission to…

In Russia, the last week of the pre-Lenten season is traditionally marked by the Maslenitsa folk festival. Best known for its signature food, bliny (thin pancakes), Maslenitsa week signifies the bridge between winter and spring and culminates with weekend open-air festivals in cities and villages across Russia. Here is a closer look at how Russians…

Kazakh DJ Imanbek Zeikenov has snagged a Grammy for Best Remixed Recording for “Roses,” a chart-topping remake of rapper SAINt JHN’s melodic hit that went viral on TikTok and racked up over 1 billion plays on Spotify. The 20-year-old self-taught producer and ex-rail transport worker from northern Kazakhstan became the first artist from a post-Soviet…

It has been an unprecedentedly long, unrelentingly cold, and oppressively dark winter. And while spring may still be a ways away, this week I caught subtle hints of its eventual arrival: an unexpected shaft of amber afternoon light; optimistic early morning birdsong; and a slight softening of the air on my face, as if I’d…

On Tuesday Russia’s best-selling novelist Guzel Yakhina presented her third novel, “Train to Samarkand” (Eshelon na Samarkand), in an online press conference. Yakhina took Russia’s literary world by storm in 2015 with the publication of her first novel “Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes.” It won the Yasnaya Polyana and Big Book awards, was translated into over…

Russian movie distributors have self-censored a gay sex scene from “Supernova,” a British love story starring Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth that was released in Russia on Thursday, media reported. Citing viewers who had also watched the original edit, the DTF culture and tech platform said “at least one scene where the characters try to have sex…

At the end of 2020 just before all museums were closed in Moscow to contain the second wave of the coronavirus, the Museum of Moscow opened “100 Years Old: VKHUTEMAS, School of the Avant-Garde.”  Lauded as one of the most important cultural events in the capital, it  immediately had to close until a few weeks…

A Kyrgyz ballet troupe’s refusal to perform in a show featuring stars from Russia is shining light on the woeful condition of state-funded culture. On March 6, local performers who had been due to support Russian leads in a production of Swan Lake took to the stage of the State Opera and Ballet Theater in Bishkek…

International Women’s Day remains one of Russia’s most beloved holidays, even though its popular meaning has evolved over the years. In the Soviet era, the holiday celebrated the revolutionary struggle for equality, a far cry from today’s flowery celebration of womanhood and femininity. Though the holiday’s critics blame it for re-enforcing harmful gender stereotypes, March…

“The Charmed Wife,” Olga Grushin’s fourth novel, is not easy to categorize. It isn’t a fantasy, although certainly much of it is fantastical. It isn’t a parody of fairy tales, although it does poke fun at the Disney-like sweetness of “happily ever after.” It isn’t the story of women’s lives, although it does follow the…

“How’s March 8 shaping up,” I asked my Russian husband on our morning walk. “Just fine,” he said, “absolutely fine.” “Because,” I said, “we’re still sort of in lockdown, you know, and we aren’t expecting anything over the top — “ “It’s fine!” he hollered, which stopped me from offering to help him shop for…

International Women’s Day may have started out as a way to support women workers, but it has morphed into a day to fete, celebrate, and treat the favorite women in your life. The Hyatt Regency in Petrovsky Park offers to ways to share some love — while enjoying great food, music and ambiance. Heritage Restaurant Brunch…

Four Russians and one Ukrainian photographer have been shortlisted for this year’s prestigious Sony World Photography Awards. Works by Sasha Bauer, Fyodor Savintsev, Alexey Pavlov and Igor Kryukov of Russia, as well as Maryna Masel of Ukraine, were selected from a record-breaking number of over 300,000 entries from 220 countries. Another notable entry, a portrayal…

At the end of the 19th century, the director of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, had an idea for a ballet based on a tale by Charles Perrault called “La Belle au bois dormant.” Vsevolozhsky wrote the scenario and sketched the costumes for the ballet, which would be called “Sleeping Beauty,” and…

Gulag History Museum The Gulag History Museum has been awarded the 2021 Council of Europe Museum Prize. The prize, which has been awarded since 1977, is given yearly to a museum that has made a significant contribution to understanding the European cultural heritage and has promoted respect for human rights and democracy. Speaking on behalf…

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…