This Wednesday evening at 8:30 p.m. Moscow time (1:30 p.m. in New York, 5:30 p.m. in London) the Vozenesensky Cultural Center is hosting an online performance based on the book “Amerikanki” by Zoya Boguslavskaya. The book, which came out in 1991, was a compendium of Boguslavskaya’s essays and descriptions of meetings with a wide variety…
The head of Russia’s renowned Hermitage Museum said on Tuesday the government should ensure the survival of museums which are struggling during a coronavirus lockdown. Since the introduction of a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people in mid-March, museums across Russia have gradually closed their doors to the public. President Vladimir Putin then declared April a…
As we approach the 75th anniversary of the end of what is called in Russia the Great Patriotic War, how about experiencing the pre-war years through diaries, books, films, stories, archival material and other sources? Alyona Alyokhina and Anna Yevsyukova had the idea of creating a site that was a portal to that time period,…
Mos-kino has upped their game this week to present an entire week of films, lectures, talks, excursions and videos about Moscow, from an online excursion with Airat Bagautdinov, the founder of the excellent Moscow From the Eyes of an Engineer tours, to short films about the city and videos of and by some of our…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
Easter looms as I write this, and I’m wondering if the Russian Orthodox Church is going to embrace technology and hold massive Zoom sessions for the traditional blessing ritual. I will certainly miss the actual event, which draws photographers and foodies alike to it like moths to a searchlight. I love watching the faithful bring…
Timofei Kulyabin is one of Russia’s most celebrated young theater directors, and his version of Alexander Pushkin’s verse “Yevgeny Onegin” has been equally celebrated – with sell-out performaces and two Golden Mask Awards, Russia’s highest theater prize. Kulyabin’s “Onegin” is set in today’s world – albeit a very sparsely inhabited and decorated world – and…
With flights grounded, buses delayed and strolling heavily discouraged, it’s a difficult time for adventurers. For now, however, you can enjoy this virtual tour of some of Russia’s most stunning vistas, perhaps inspiring you to hit the road when quarantine measures are lifted. Located in every corner of Russia, with location names that reflect countless…
Millions of Russians will celebrate Orthodox Easter this Sunday amid the coronavirus pandemic that has infected more than 32,000 people and shut down all large gatherings nationwide. Despite strict lockdowns in most regions, the Russian Orthodox Church has largely resisted government recommendations to close places of worship to the public throughout the Holy Week and…
Go to the library, flip through the books, smell the paper, choose a book… That pleasure is denied to us now since libraries, like other cultural institutions in Russia, have been closed and can only work online. An online regime is tough for libraries everywhere, but especially hard for libraries located in towns and villages,…
This week Rossiya1 channel has been airing the series “Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes,” based on the novel of the same name written by Guzel Yakhina and published in 2015. The book, which tells the story of a Tatar peasant woman who is exiled to Siberia after her husband is killed during a “dekulakization” campaign in…
One of the great tricks of the Moscow Kremlin — architecture-wise — is that as you walk around it on the outside, you don’t really understand the bit about it being built on a high promontory surrounded by water. But when you are inside the Kremlin looking out, you see how high up you are…
A huge tent stands in the courtyard of St. Petersburg Hospital No. 2 — an extra emergency ward if the hospital receiving ward can’t cope with a surge of coronavirus cases. The hospital, one of the city’s largest, has 1,200 beds. At the end of March, the director was told to get ready to receive…
Leonid Parfyonov is a one-of-a-kind television producer, host, writer, creator. His shows about recent history, “Namedni,” remain a landmark in Russian television, followed by films about the Pushkin Museum, The Russian Empire, and his three-part series, “Russian Jews. Parfyonov has planned a trilogy of trilogies, as it were, about three national groups that became part…
Dozens of employees at Moscow’s famous Bolshoi Theater have tested positive for coronavirus and have been quarantined at home, the theater’s director Vladimir Urin said Monday. The 34 infected Bolshoi staffers were asymptomatic but were banned from working on a star-studded live concert in an empty theater that aired on state television Saturday, Urin said.…
This week the Voznesensky Cultural Center has a full program of online activities that will keep you happy and busy almost every night. The Center was founded at the end of 2018 by Andrei Voznesensky’s widow, the writer Zoya Boguslavskaya, and her son Leonid. This small 19th century manor house in the Zamoskvorechye part of…
If you have a dining room table, chances are that in the last ten days, it’s been hijacked by your local branch of ZGU (Zoom State University). Mine certainly has, which is why I’ve diverted dinner to the coffee table until the semester ends. This is no bad thing. The season for hearty roasts and…
When the Vakhtangov Theater premiered its version of Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” as a contemporary dance production, viewers and critics were skeptical. But their skepticism lasted just a few minutes. The unorthodox production in Moscow was a hit. It is directed by Lithuanian choreographer, Anzelika Cholina, with music by Alfred Schnittke. Don’t miss this very…
lt all started with a tweet from the Department of Russian and Czech at the School of Modern Languages at the University of Bristol – or perhaps with a certain @fyodor76, who got a hat tip. The challenge: improve a book by changing one letter of the title in Russian or English. And a hundred bored…
Moscow’s legendary Bolshoi Theater has warned that it is at risk of closing down if the city’s coronavirus lockdown doesn’t end by September, its director Vladimir Urin said in an interview published Thursday. The Bolshoi canceled all performances, concerts and tours until April 30 due to the pandemic that has infected more than 10,000 people…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
The costume makers behind the acclaimed television series “Chernobyl” have announced that they will donate face masks, protective robes and other stock to those on the front lines of the global fight against the coronavirus. Spain’s Peris Costumes company, announcing its donation Saturday as the number of confirmed global cases passed 1 million, said “we…
Is all this great #quarantineculture inspiring you? As you sit at home in isolation, have you begun painting, sculpting, drawing or performing? Are you an artist who has lost your audience? Terrific. We’ve got a project for you. The InGallery in Moscow has announced an international open call for artworks created during the coronavirus pandemic.…
A Russian Facebook project called ART-ISOLATION has art enthusiasts across the country tapping into their quarantine creativity by recreating iconic paintings from art history. The rules are simple: no photoshop, post only your own creations done during self-isolation with materials you already have at home, and no commentary. The creative challenge has quickly become a…
The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts has an excellent virtual museum on their site – actually, it’s five virtual museum collections and seven separate exhibitions. You can wander through the main building of the Pushkin Museum, spend time in the Museum of Private Collections, expand your perception of late 19th and early 20th century European…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
This Friday at noon, the venerable Polytechnic Museum is hosting #ПолитехLive, a poetry marathon of more than 50 poets and readers that will last until midnight. Aired here on the museum’s YouTube channel, it will hosted by the poet and dramatist Andrei Rodionov. Among the poets whose work will be read: Dmitry Vodennikov, Linor Goralik,…
Zaryadye Hall, Moscow’s newest and perhaps best hall accoustically, is shuttered like every other public building in the city. But that doesn’t mean their program has been halted. There are plenty of concerts and performances that were taped and are available online on the hall YouTube channel. But some of the musicians who had planned…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
“This is your chance to help people who need to stay at home now to be safe,” says Russian actor Nikita Kukushkin in a video watched by more than 300,000 people. Kukushkin shows what he’s doing to help his neighbors: leaving canned and packaged food in a bag for anyone to take, asking them to…
The Moscow city site has dedicated a new section to “Museum Moscow” where almost 40 museums in the city have uploaded images of part of their collections. The museums range in subject matter from several major art museums, such as the Moscow Museum of Conteporary Art and the Glazunov Gallery, to house museums of writers…
Many of us have heard of Sergei Bondarchuk’s sweeping adaptation of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” but few of us have watched it in its (admittedly enormous) entirety. With the days of quarantine stretching out before us, what better way to spend 7 hours than indulging in one of the most groundbreaking feats of Soviet cinematography? …
Last week St. Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov asked Russians to stay out of the city. “Movie theaters, theaters and other venues are closed. There is nothing to do here,” he said on March 21 during his visit to the coronavirus information center in St. Petersburg. Despite his warnings and quarantine measures, street life last week…
Yevgeny Vakhtangov was one of the great lights of the Russian theater world, a good friend of Mikhail Chekhov, and influenced by both Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vsevolod Meyerhold. From Vladikavkaz, the son of an Armenian father and Russian mother, he came to Moscow and attended Moscow State University before joining the Moscow Art Theater in…
Today marks the 153rd anniversary of the Alaska Purchase, in which Russia sold Alaska to the United States for 7.2 million USD, or roughly 2 cents per acre. Russians are speculated to have first reached Alaska in the 1600s, when commercial fur trappers traversed Siberia and arrived on the North American continent. Regular trapping expeditions…
People will do astonishing things for a bowl of lentil soup. Take Esau, the son of Isaac and Rebekah in the Biblical Book of Genesis, who sells his birthright to his brother Jacob for a dish of red lentils. And without much hesitation either. “…Esau came from the field, and he was faint And Esau…
The Bolshoi Theater, like every other theater in Moscow, has had to close its doors until mid-April (if not longer). But to keep up the spirits of all ballet and opera lovers, they are putting up six of their best performances on YouTube for free, starting with “Swan Lake” this Friday. All the performances from…
Renowned Soviet singer Lev Leshchenko has tested positive for the coronavirus, the head doctor at the Moscow hospital treating coronavirus patients confirmed Friday. Leshchenko, 78, is one of the most high-profile Russian celebrities to test positive for the virus and is best-known for his rendition of “Den Pobedy (Victory Day)” and the closing ceremony song…
The Moscow Philharmonic has launched “armchair concerts” — concerts held in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall to an audience on one: the host. The hosts introduce the performers, composers and music, and then you sit back in your armchair, or desk chair, or dining room chair and enjoy a beautifully filmed and recorded concert. On Thursday at…
The physical Tretyakov Gallery is, of course, closed, but it has a wealth of online excursions and films, and is starting a series of concerts, films, excursions and lectures with the hashtag #ТретьяковкаДома, which can be found here. Most are in Russian, but upcoming concerts held in the halls of the museum don’t require any…
Flipping through the film catalog… looking for something relevant… Oh! Here’s something: the 1937 film “Bílá nemoc” (The White Plague), directed by and starring Czech director Hugo Haas and based on a play by Czech writer Karel Čapek. It’s about a bellicose, nationalist leader whose plans to invade a smaller country are complicated by a…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
Today marks what would be the 143rd birthday of Prince Felix Yusupov. Although the aristocrat is most often remembered as the assassin of Grigory Rasputin, his hedonistic yet charitable nature made him a notable character among his royal contemporaries. Yusupov was born in Saint Petersburg to a princess and a count. The family was wealthier…
One of Russia’s most distinguished opera and ballet companies has an innovative solution to prohibitions on public gatherings over the coronavirus: playing to an audience of one. The Perm Opera and Ballet Theater, a Urals city company famed for its cutting-edge projects, said it would be launching the “One on One” performances from the end…
So, you’ve cornered the grechka market. Well done. Now what? You picked an excellent grain to stockpile. Buckwheat packs an incredible nutritional punch: it promotes heart health and is a superb source of many key vitamins and minerals (including thiamin, niacin, and folate) as well as protein and fiber. Buckwheat is one of those foods…
Russian museums are not just museums; they are hubs of culture, lectures, tours, films, plays, concerts and other special events. One of the most active is the Marina Tsvetayeva house museum, founded in 1992. For decades one of the residents, Nadezhda Katayeva-Lytkina, fought to preserve the house and legacy of the poet. Marina Tsvetayeva had…
Today marks the 98th birthday of art historian Irina Antonova, former director of the Pushkin Museum and the longest-serving director of any major museum to date. In her directorial stint from 1961 to 2013, Antonova was responsible for bringing the works of major artists to Soviet and Russian audiences. A native Muscovite, Antonova graduated from…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art is launching a series of online events and activities today with an unusual concert. The St. Petersburg group Verevka Ensemble will give an online concert of microtonal improvisation. The 90-minute concert, which begins at 7 p.m. Moscow time, will be performed on acoustic guitars with bows. It’s part of the…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
On March 17, writer and political activist Eduard Limonov died in Moscow of cancer at age 77. It was reported on the site of the political party, The Other Russia, that Limonov headed. Limonov was born Eduard Veniaminovich Savenko in 1943 in Dzerzhinsk. He began to write poetry in 1958 and took part in his…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
As concert halls, museums, galleries, theaters, and movie theaters close their doors in Moscow until April 10 (or longer), a few are moving to online or virtual tour formats. Zaryadye Concert Hall is marking it’s first “day of silence” by not being silent at all. The hall will livestream “The Seasons” tonight at 7 p.m.…
On this day in 1890, Solomon Mikhoels, ne Shloyme Vovsi, was born in a small town in Lithuania. After studying in a Jewish religious school, he went to a secular school in Riga and then moved to Kiev to study at the Kiev Commercial Institute. After his expulsion for political activity, he moved north to…
Moscow has traditionally been a magnet for the best and brightest. People move to Moscow for career advancement, better opportunities and high salaries. According to the Federal Service for State Statistics (Rosstat), at the end of 2019 the average salary in the capital was 89,129 rubles. But, of course, that is just the average, and many salaries are…
Today marks the 80th anniversary of the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty, an agreement which signaled the end of the “Winter War” between the Soviet Union and neighboring Finland. Although the agreement required Finland to cede 11% of its territory, it was a rare instance of a small country successfully resisting Soviet conquest. The…
During his 1959 visit to the United States, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was famously denied a visit to Disneyland. Upon returning home, he vowed that the Soviet Union would have its own theme park, and set about designing an elaborate fantasy kingdom large enough to compete with Disneyland. The plan was abandoned after Khrushchev’s ouster,…
In the late Soviet period, urban children played a game called sekretiki — little secret treasures. Children — mostly little girls — would gather little objects: flowers, leaves, pretty candy wrappers, ribbons and the like. Then they would search for a nice piece of glass —part of a broken bottle, green, pale blue or transparent.…
Everyone knows Maria Sharapova and Catherine the Great, but what about some of the singers, scientists, artists, and other brilliant women who have left an indelible mark on Russian and Soviet history? This Women’s Day, we bring you five lesser-known Russian women whose legacies continue to inspire. Anna German, 1970s TASS Anna German (1937-1982) One…
Restive Russian-speaking minorities, contentious memory politics, and turbulent Europeanization. No, we are not talking about Ukraine, but the Baltic states: Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, and these are just some of the themes that Aliide Naylor covers in “The Shadow in the East: Vladimir Putin and the New Baltic Front.” In this riveting debut, Naylor combines…