1.
Moscow
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Moscow is the capital and most populous city of Russia, with 13.2 million residents within the city limits and 17.8 million within the urban area. Moscow has the status of a Russian federal city, Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as the largest city entirely on the European continent. Moscow is the northernmost and coldest megacity and metropolis on Earth and it is home to the Ostankino Tower, the tallest free standing structure in Europe, the Federation Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, and the Moscow International Business Center. Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia, the city is well known for its architecture, particularly its historic buildings such as Saint Basils Cathedral with its brightly colored domes. Moscow is the seat of power of the Government of Russia, being the site of the Moscow Kremlin, the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square are also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament also sit in the city and it is recognized as one of the citys landmarks due to the rich architecture of its 200 stations. In old Russian the word also meant a church administrative district. The demonym for a Moscow resident is москвич for male or москвичка for female, the name of the city is thought to be derived from the name of the Moskva River. There have been proposed several theories of the origin of the name of the river and its cognates include Russian, музга, muzga pool, puddle, Lithuanian, mazgoti and Latvian, mazgāt to wash, Sanskrit, majjati to drown, Latin, mergō to dip, immerse. There exist as well similar place names in Poland like Mozgawa, the original Old Russian form of the name is reconstructed as *Москы, *Mosky, hence it was one of a few Slavic ū-stem nouns. From the latter forms came the modern Russian name Москва, Moskva, in a similar manner the Latin name Moscovia has been formed, later it became a colloquial name for Russia used in Western Europe in the 16th–17th centuries. From it as well came English Muscovy, various other theories, having little or no scientific ground, are now largely rejected by contemporary linguists. The surface similarity of the name Russia with Rosh, an obscure biblical tribe or country, the oldest evidence of humans on the territory of Moscow dates from the Neolithic. Within the modern bounds of the city other late evidence was discovered, on the territory of the Kremlin, Sparrow Hills, Setun River and Kuntsevskiy forest park, etc. The earliest East Slavic tribes recorded as having expanded to the upper Volga in the 9th to 10th centuries are the Vyatichi and Krivichi, the Moskva River was incorporated as part of Rostov-Suzdal into the Kievan Rus in the 11th century. By AD1100, a settlement had appeared on the mouth of the Neglinnaya River. The first known reference to Moscow dates from 1147 as a place of Yuri Dolgoruky. At the time it was a town on the western border of Vladimir-Suzdal Principality
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Pedestrian street
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Pedestrian zones are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in which most or all automobile traffic may be prohibited. Converting a street or an area to use is called pedestrianisation. However, pedestrianisation can sometimes lead to reductions in business activity, property devaluation, in some cases traffic in surrounding areas may increase, due to displacement rather than substitution of car traffic. Pedestrian zones have a variety of approaches to human-powered vehicles such as bicycles, inline skates, skateboards. Some have a ban on anything with wheels, others ban certain categories, others segregate the human-powered wheels from foot traffic. Many Middle Eastern kasbahs have no wheeled traffic, but use donkey-driven or hand-driven carts for freight transport, the idea of separating pedestrians from wheeled traffic is an old one, dating back at least to the Renaissance. However, the earliest modern implementation of the idea in cities seems to date from about 1800, separated shopping arcades were constructed throughout Europe in the 19th century, precursors of modern shopping malls. The first pedestrianisation of an existing street seems to have taken place around 1929 in Essen and this was in a very narrow shopping street that could not accommodate both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Two other German cities followed this model in the early 1930s, by 1955 twenty-one German cities had closed at least one street to traffic, although only four were true pedestrian streets, designed for the purpose. At this time pedestrianisation was not seen as a traffic restraint policy, pedestrianisation was also common in the United States during the 1950s and 60s as downtown businesses attempted to compete with new suburban shopping malls. However, most of these initiatives were not successful in the long term, a car-free zone is different from a typical pedestrian zone, in that it implies a development largely predicated on modes of transport other than the car. A pedestrian zone may be more limited in scope, for example a single square or street being for pedestrians. A number of towns and cities in Europe have never allowed motor vehicles, archetypal examples are, Venice, which occupies many islands in a lagoon, divided by and accessed from canals. The city has been car-free for more than three decades, motor traffic stops at the car park at the head of the viaduct from the mainland, and water transport or walking takes over from there. However, motor vehicles are allowed on the nearby Lido, mount Athos, an autonomous monastic state under the sovereignty of Greece, does not permit automobiles on its territory. Trucks and work-related vehicles only are in use there, the medieval city of Mdina in Malta does not allow automobiles past the city walls. It is known as the Silent City because of the absence of traffic in the city. Sark, an island in the English Channel, is a zone where only bicycles, carriages
4.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
5.
Arbat District
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Arbat District is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. The district extends from central Mokhovaya Street west to Novoarbatsky Bridge over the Moskva River and its irregular boundaries correspond roughly to Znamenka Street and Sivtsev Vrazhek Lane in the south and Povarskaya Street in the north. Main radial streets are Vozdvizhenka Street, New Arbat Street and pedestrian Arbat Street, aeroflot has its head office in the district. Arbat Street Official website of Arbat District
6.
Fire of Moscow (1812)
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The fire destroyed almost the entire city of Moscow. The majority of Moscow residents left the city during August 1812, before leaving Moscow Count Rostopchin gave orders to have the Kremlin and major public buildings either blown up or set on fire. But this was not the foremost cause of the fire destroyed the city. As the bulk of the French army moved into the city and their cause has never been determined and both neglect as well as Rostopchins orders may be among possible reasons. Today, the majority of historians blames the initial fires on Russian sabotage and this version of events is confirmed by General Armand de Caulaincourt. He states that they had been in Moscow for three days and that evening a small fire had broken out but was extinguished and attributed to the carelessness of the troops. Later that evening Coulaincourt was woken by his valet with the news that for three quarters of an hour the city has been in flames, fires continued to break out in multiple separate points. Incendiarists were arrested and interrogated and declared that their commanding officer had ordered them to burn everything, houses had been designated to this end. I saw the fuses on the spot and many were taken to the Emperor and he goes on to write The examination of the police rank-and-file… all proved that the fire had been prepared and executed by order of Count Rostopchin. The catastrophe started as many fires, which promptly grew out of control. The fires spread quickly since most buildings in Moscow were made of wood, and although Moscow had a fire brigade, their equipment had previously either been removed or destroyed on Rostopchins orders. When Napoleon retreated to a castle outside the city, his troops finally lost their discipline and began to loot, even hard punishments could not prevent the plundering, beating or raping of Moscows citizens by French soldiers during the fire. The flames spread into the Kremlins arsenal, but the fire was put out by French Guardsmen, the burning of Moscow is reported to have been visible up to 215 km away. Some of those fires will inevitably get out of control, without an efficient firefighting action, these individual building fires will spread to become neighborhood fires, and ultimately a citywide conflagration. Dates in Gregorian calendar and numbers referenced to Clausewitz and Tarle September 8 - Russian army began retreating east from Borodino, September 12 - Russian army, followed by Joachim Murats vanguard, set camp at Fili, Russian vanguard lodged in Dorogomilovo. Peak of civilian flight from Moscow, next day, Russian military council at Fili agreed to abandon Moscow without fighting. September 14 - Russian army marched through Moscow into a road to Ryazan. French army crossed Moskva River in three columns in Fili, Dorogomilovo and Luzhniki, converging on the city center, main body of La Grande Armée counted less than 90,000 men, Murat with some 25,000 troops was dispatched east to follow Russian retreat
7.
Napoleon
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Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleons political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon was serving as an officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution, he rose through the ranks of the military. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents, in 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic and his ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805, in 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support, the Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army, the destruction of Russian cities, in 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power, however, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June, the British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51
8.
Gentrification
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Gentrification is a process of renovation of deteriorated urban neighborhoods by means of the influx of more affluent residents. This is a common and controversial topic in politics and in urban planning, conversations surrounding gentrification have evolved, as many in the social-scientific community have questioned the negative connotations associated with the word gentrification. Gentrification is typically the result of increased interest in a certain environment, early gentrifiers may belong to low-income artist or boheme communities, which increase the attractiveness and flair of a certain quarter. In addition to these benefits, gentrification can lead to population migration. The term gentrification has come to refer to a phenomenon that can be defined in different ways. Historians say that gentrification took place in ancient Rome and in Roman Britain, the word gentrification derives from gentry—which comes from the Old French word genterise, of gentle birth and people of gentle birth. In England, Landed gentry denoted the social class, consisting of gentlemen and this change has the potential to cause displacement of long-time residents and businesses. When long-time or original neighborhood residents move from an area because of higher rents, mortgages. Gentrification is a housing, economic, and health issue that affects a communitys history and culture and it often shifts a neighborhoods characteristics, e. g. racial-ethnic composition and household income, by adding new stores and resources in previously run-down neighborhoods. German geographers have a more distanced view on gentrification, actual gentrification is seen as a mere symbolic issue happening in a low amount of places and blocks, the symbolic value and visibility in public discourse being higher than actual migration trends. Gerhard Hard assumes that urban flight is more important than inner city gentrification. Volkskunde scholar Barbara Lang introduced the term symbolic gentrification with regard to the Mythos Kreuzberg in Berlin, Lang assumes that complaints about gentrification often come from those who have been responsible for the process in their youth. When former students and bohemians started raising families and earning money in better paid jobs, especially Berlin is a showcase of intense debates about symbols of gentrification, while the actual processes are much slower than in other cities. The citys Prenzlauer Berg district is, however, a child of the capitals gentrification. This leads to mixed feelings amidst the local population, the neologism Bionade-Biedermeier was coined about Prenzlauer Berg. It describes the milieu of the former quartier of the alternative scene. There are several approaches that attempt to explain the roots and the reasons behind the spread of gentrification, bruce London and J. John Palen compiled a list of five explanations, demographic-ecological, sociocultural, political-economical, community networks, and social movements. The first theory, demographic-ecological, attempts to explain gentrification through the analysis of demographics, population, social organization, environment and this theory frequently refers to the growing number of people between the ages of 25 and 35 in the 1970s, or the baby boom generation
9.
Moscow Kremlin
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It is the best known of the kremlins and includes five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Kremlin Wall with Kremlin towers. Also within this complex is the Grand Kremlin Palace, the complex serves as the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation. It had previously used to refer to the government of the Soviet Union. Kremlinology refers to the study of Soviet and Russian politics, the site has been continuously inhabited by Finno-Ugric peoples since the 2nd century BC. Vyatichi built a structure on the hill where the Neglinnaya River flowed into the Moskva River. Up to the 14th century, the site was known as the grad of Moscow, the word Kremlin was first recorded in 1331. The grad was greatly extended by Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy in 1156, destroyed by the Mongols in 1237, dmitri Donskoi replaced the oak walls with a strong citadel of white limestone in 1366–1368 on the basic foundations of the current walls, this fortification withstood a siege by Khan Tokhtamysh. Dmitris son Vasily I resumed construction of churches and cloisters in the Kremlin, the newly built Annunciation Cathedral was painted by Theophanes the Greek, Andrei Rublev, and Prokhor in 1406. The Chudov Monastery was founded by Dmitris tutor, Metropolitan Alexis, while his widow, Eudoxia and it was during his reign that three extant cathedrals of the Kremlin, the Deposition Church, and the Palace of Facets were constructed. The highest building of the city and Muscovite Russia was the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, built in 1505–08, the Kremlin walls as they now appear were built between 1485 and 1495. Spasskie gates of the wall bear a dedication in Latin praising Petrus Antonius Solarius for the design. After construction of the new walls and churches was complete. The Kremlin was separated from the merchant town by a 30-meter-wide moat. The same tsar also renovated some of his grandfathers palaces, added a new palace and cathedral for his sons, and endowed the Trinity metochion inside the Kremlin. The metochion was administrated by the Trinity Monastery and boasted the graceful tower church of St. Sergius, during the Time of Troubles, the Kremlin was held by the Polish forces for two years, between 21 September 1610 and 26 October 1612. The Kremlins liberation by the army of prince Dmitry Pozharsky. During his reign and that of his son Alexis, the eleven-domed Upper Saviour Cathedral, Armorial Gate, Terem Palace, Amusement Palace, following the death of Alexis, the Kremlin witnessed the Moscow Uprising of 1682, from which czar Peter barely escaped. As a result, both of them disliked the Kremlin, three decades later, Peter abandoned the residence of his forefathers for his new capital, Saint Petersburg
10.
Boulevard Ring
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The Boulevard Ring is Moscows second centremost ring road. The first of the boulevards, Tverskoy Boulevard, emerged in 1796 but the ring was developed in 1820s. The Ring replaced the walls of the White City in the 1820s. The wall itself was razed in 1760, and despite the royal decrees to keep the site clear, the Fire of Moscow destroyed many of those buildings, allowing the city planners to replace them with wide green boulevards. In the 20th century, the width of the Boulevard Ring was expanded, as the paved areas along the Pokrovsky Boulevard. Plans to complete the ring through Zamoskvorechye never materialized, however and these plans to properly terminate the ring through Yakimanka and Zamoskvorechye districts, proposed in 1935, periodically resurface in city planners discussions. Garden Ring in Moscow Third Ring Road in Moscow MKAD in Moscow
11.
Garden Ring
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The Ring consists of seventeen individually named streets and fifteen squares. It has a circumference of sixteen kilometres, at its narrowest point, Krymsky Bridge, the Ring has six lanes, at its widest, Zubovskaya Square, it has eighteen lanes. The Ring emerged in the 1820s, replacing fortifications, in the form of ramparts, Garden Ring is a direct descendant of the Skorodom and Earth Rampart fortifications, erected in the reign of Feodor I of Russia after a disastrous raid by Ğazı II Giray. Although Boris Godunov, de facto regent of Russia, prevented Crimeans from taking the city north of Moskva River, he anticipated future raids and arranged construction of another defence ring. When the Time of troubles ended, instead of rebuilding Skorodom, Mikhail Romanov government replaced it with a new, taller rampart known as Zemlyanoy Val and its name survives in present-day Zemlyanoy Val Street in the south-eastern segment of Garden Ring. Instead of towers, the Rampart had 34 gates for passage, as a defense measure, Streltsy slobodas were located next to these gates, especially in southern Yakimanka and Zamoskvorechye Districts. Effective against Tatar raiders, Streltsy were politically unstable, in 1683-1718, the Rampart served as Moscow customs border, traders, evading taxation, set numerous markets right outside of city gates, the last of these, Zatsepa Market, was closed in the 1970s. Eventually, Peter I lifted this taxation in 1722, but it resumed in the 1730s at the new city border, in the same 1775, local authorities entertained the idea of restoring the rampart but were set back by the number of state institutions that had to be demolished. The Fire of Moscow destroyed these properties, so nothing stood in the way of city development plans, instead of rebuilding the useless rampart, the city levelled it, census records set demolition date as 1818-1826. The new free land was developed according to social status, upper-class western segment of the Ring acquired central boulevards. Present-day streets in this segments are still called Boulevards, elsewhere, Garden Ring was set as a 10-20 sazhen wide street, unused side territories were allocated to existing homeowners on condition that they plant and maintain gardens at their own expense. These streets usually have a beginning with Sadovaya–, e. g. Sadovo–Triumphalnaya Street. By 1850, all buildings in this street were completely hidden from view by foliage, in south-eastern segment, the Ring was not as wide, thus Zemlyanoy Val name persisted. Largest square - actually, a combination of two market squares - was created at Red Gates in the north-eastern segment, in the 1830s-1862, Novinsky Boulevard has become a popular amusement park with cheap theaters and carousels. In 1841, local entrepreneurs set up a railroad with a real Mercury tank engine - a pleasure ride for the party crowds. Rails for horsecars were installed in Moscow since 1872, however, likewise, the first electrical tram was launched in 1899, but Garden Ring was electrified in 1907-1910. Circular line traversing the Ring was known as the B route, grand Stalinist buildings, envisioned on all the ring, were initially planned only for major squares like Kursky Rail Terminal Square and Triumphalnaya Square. However, one end-of-boulevard block survives, precisely on Triumphalnaya Square, the same plan required removal of tram tracks in line with Moscow Metro construction
12.
MKAD
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The Moscow Automobile Ring Road, or MKAD, is a ring road encircling the parts of the City of Moscow, the capital of Russia. The length of the road is 108.9 km, opened in 1961, the MKAD had four lanes of asphalt running 108.9 kilometres along the city borders. Although not yet a freeway, it featured interchanges at major junctions, very few traffic lights, for a long time the MKAD served as the administrative boundary of Moscow city, until in the 1980s Moscow started annexing territory outside the beltway. In December 2002 Bulvar Dmitriya Donskogo became the first Moscow Metro station that opened beyond the limits of MKAD, in 2001 all slow-moving vehicles were banned from entering the MKAD and the renovated road received a freeway designation from the mayors office. A view of the MKAD from a pedestrian bridge, a view of the MKAD from a helicopter
13.
M1 highway (Russia)
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The Russian route M1 is a major trunk road that runs from Moscow through Smolensk before reaching the border with Belarus. The highway runs south of Odintsovo, Kubinka, Mozhaysk, Gagarin, north of Vyazma, after crossing the border with Belarus, the highway continues to Minsk, Brest, and Warsaw. The entire route is part of European route E30 and AH6, during the 1980 Summer Olympics, a 50-kilometer stretch between the 23-kilometer mark and the 73-kilometer mark was used for the road team time trial cycling event
14.
Smolensk
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Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River,360 kilometers west-southwest of Moscow. The walled city in the center of Smolensk was destroyed several times throughout its history because it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk is noted for electronics, textiles, food processing, the name of the city is derived from the name of the Smolnya River. The origin of the name is less clear. One possibility is the old Slavic word смоль for black soil, an alternative origin could be the Russian word смола, which means resin, tar, or pitch. Pine trees grow in the area, and the city was once a center of resin processing, the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII recorded its name as Μιλινισκα. Within the city and its surroundings the river takes in small tributaries. In the valleys are stretched streets, high ridges, hills, Smolensk is situated on seven hills. The old part of the city occupies the high, rugged left bank of the Dnieper River, the area features undulating terrain, with a large number of tributaries, creeks and ravines. Smolensk is among the oldest Russian cities, the first recorded mention of the city was 863 AD, two years after the founding of Kievan Rus. According to Russian Primary Chronicle, Smolensk was located on the area settled by the West Slavic Radimichs tribe in 882 when Oleg of Novgorod took it in passing from Novgorod to Kiev, the first foreign writer to mention the city was the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. In De Administrando Imperio he described Smolensk as a key station on the route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The Rus people sailed from the Baltics up the Western Dvina as far as they could then they portaged their boats to the upper Dnieper. It was in Smolensk that they supposedly mended any leaks and small holes that might have appeared in their boats from being dragged on the ground and they used tar to do that, the Principality of Smolensk was founded in 1054. Due to its position in Kievan Rus, the city developed rapidly. By the end of the 12th century, the princedom was one of the strongest in Eastern Europe, numerous churches were built in the city at that time, including the church of Sts. Peter and Paul and the church of St. John the Baptist, the most remarkable church in the city is called Svirskaya, it was admired by contemporaries as the most beautiful structure east of Kiev. Smolensk had its own veche since the beginning of its history
15.
Minsk
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Minsk (Belarusian, Мінск pronounced, is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Belarus, situated on the Svislach and Nyamiha rivers. It is the centre of the Commonwealth of Independent States. As the national capital, Minsk has an administrative status in Belarus and is the administrative centre of Minsk Region. In 2013, it had a population of 2,002,600, the earliest historical references to Minsk date to the 11th century, when it was noted as a provincial city within the principality of Polotsk. The settlement developed on the rivers, in 1242, Minsk became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It received town privileges in 1499, from 1569, it was a capital of the Minsk Voivodeship in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was part of a region annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793, from 1919 to 1991, after the Russian Revolution, Minsk was the capital of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union. Minsk will host the 2019 European Games, Minsk is located on the southeastern slope of the Minsk Hills, a region of rolling hills running from the southwest to the northeast – that is, to Lukomskaye Lake in northwestern Belarus. The average altitude above sea level is 220 metres, the physical geography of Minsk was shaped over the two most recent ice ages. There are six smaller rivers within the city limits, all part of the Black Sea basin, Minsk is in the area of mixed forests typical of most of Belarus. Pinewood and mixed forests border the edge of the city, especially in the north, some of the forests were preserved as parks as the city grew. The city was built on the hills, which allowed for defensive fortifications. Minsk has a warm summer humid continental climate, owing to its location between the strong influence of the moist air of the Atlantic Ocean and the dry air of the Eurasian landmass. Its weather is unstable and tends to change often, the average January temperature is −4.5 °C, while the average July temperature is 18.5 °C. The lowest temperature was recorded on 17 January 1940, at −40 °C and the warmest on 29 July 1936 at 35 °C and this results in frequent fogs, common in the autumn and spring. Minsk receives annual precipitation of 690 millimetres, of one third falls during the cold period. Throughout the year, most winds are westerly and northwesterly, bringing cool, similar climatic regimes are found in Stockholm, Sweden and in Halifax, Canada. The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Centre of Radioactive and Environmental Control, during 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons
16.
Warsaw
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Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It stands on the Vistula River in east-central Poland, roughly 260 kilometres from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population is estimated at 1.750 million residents within a metropolitan area of 3.101 million residents. The city limits cover 516.9 square kilometres, while the area covers 6,100.43 square kilometres. In 2012 the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Warsaw as the 32nd most liveable city in the world and it was also ranked as one of the most liveable cities in Central Europe. Today Warsaw is considered an Alpha– global city, an international tourist destination. Warsaws economy, by a variety of industries, is characterised by FMCG manufacturing, metal processing, steel and electronic manufacturing. The city is a significant centre of research and development, BPO, ITO, the Warsaw Stock Exchange is one of the largest and most important in Central and Eastern Europe. Frontex, the European Union agency for external security, has its headquarters in Warsaw. It has been said that Warsaw, together with Frankfurt, London, Paris, the city is positioning itself as Eastern Europe’s chic cultural capital with thriving art and club scenes and serious restaurants. The first historical reference to Warsaw dates back to the year 1313, after the Third Partition of Poland in 1795, Warsaw was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars, the city became the capital of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. In accordance with the decisions of the Congress of Vienna, the Russian Empire annexed Warsaw in 1815, only in 1918 did it regain independence from the foreign rule and emerge as a new capital of the independent Republic of Poland. Warsaw gained the title of the Phoenix City because it has survived wars, conflicts. Most notably, the city required painstaking rebuilding after the damage it suffered in World War II. On 9 November 1940, the city was awarded Polands highest military decoration for heroism, the historic city-centre of Warsaw with its picturesque Old Town in 1980 was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Buildings represent examples of nearly every European architectural style and historical period, folk etymology attributes the city name to a fisherman, Wars, and his wife, Sawa. According to legend, Sawa was a living in the Vistula River with whom Wars fell in love
17.
Pedestrian zone
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Pedestrian zones are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in which most or all automobile traffic may be prohibited. Converting a street or an area to use is called pedestrianisation. However, pedestrianisation can sometimes lead to reductions in business activity, property devaluation, in some cases traffic in surrounding areas may increase, due to displacement rather than substitution of car traffic. Pedestrian zones have a variety of approaches to human-powered vehicles such as bicycles, inline skates, skateboards. Some have a ban on anything with wheels, others ban certain categories, others segregate the human-powered wheels from foot traffic. Many Middle Eastern kasbahs have no wheeled traffic, but use donkey-driven or hand-driven carts for freight transport, the idea of separating pedestrians from wheeled traffic is an old one, dating back at least to the Renaissance. However, the earliest modern implementation of the idea in cities seems to date from about 1800, separated shopping arcades were constructed throughout Europe in the 19th century, precursors of modern shopping malls. The first pedestrianisation of an existing street seems to have taken place around 1929 in Essen and this was in a very narrow shopping street that could not accommodate both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Two other German cities followed this model in the early 1930s, by 1955 twenty-one German cities had closed at least one street to traffic, although only four were true pedestrian streets, designed for the purpose. At this time pedestrianisation was not seen as a traffic restraint policy, pedestrianisation was also common in the United States during the 1950s and 60s as downtown businesses attempted to compete with new suburban shopping malls. However, most of these initiatives were not successful in the long term, a car-free zone is different from a typical pedestrian zone, in that it implies a development largely predicated on modes of transport other than the car. A pedestrian zone may be more limited in scope, for example a single square or street being for pedestrians. A number of towns and cities in Europe have never allowed motor vehicles, archetypal examples are, Venice, which occupies many islands in a lagoon, divided by and accessed from canals. The city has been car-free for more than three decades, motor traffic stops at the car park at the head of the viaduct from the mainland, and water transport or walking takes over from there. However, motor vehicles are allowed on the nearby Lido, mount Athos, an autonomous monastic state under the sovereignty of Greece, does not permit automobiles on its territory. Trucks and work-related vehicles only are in use there, the medieval city of Mdina in Malta does not allow automobiles past the city walls. It is known as the Silent City because of the absence of traffic in the city. Sark, an island in the English Channel, is a zone where only bicycles, carriages
18.
Arabic language
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
19.
Crimean Khanate
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The Crimean Khanate was a Turkic vassal state of the Ottoman Empire from 1478 to 1774, the longest-lived of the Turkic khanates that succeeded the empire of the Golden Horde. The khanate was located in present-day Russia and Ukraine, Ottoman forces under Gedik Ahmet Pasha conquered all of the Crimean peninsula and joined it to the khanate in 1475. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Crimean Khanate was an important center of the slave trade. In 1774, it was released as a independent state, following the Russo-Turkish Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca. English-speaking writers during the 18th and early 19th centuries often called the territory of the Crimean Khanate, the name Little Tartary distinguished the area from Tartary - those areas of central and northern Asia inhabited by Turkic peoples or Tatars. The Khanate included the Crimean peninsula and the adjacent steppes, mostly corresponding to the parts of South Ukraine between the Dnepr and the Donets. The Crimean Khanate originated in the early 15th century when certain clans of the Golden Horde Empire ceased their nomadic life in the Desht-i Kipchak and decided to make Crimea their yurt. At that time, the Golden Horde of the Mongol empire had governed the Crimean peninsula as an ulus since 1239, the local separatists invited a Genghisid contender for the Golden Horde throne, Hacı Giray, to become their khan. Hacı Giray accepted their invitation and traveled from exile in Lithuania and he warred for independence against the Horde from 1420 to 1441, in the end achieving success. But Hacı Giray then had to fight off internal rivals before he could ascend the throne of the khanate in 1449, the khanate included the Crimean Peninsula as well as the adjacent steppe. The sons of Hacı I Giray contended against each other to succeed him, the Ottomans intervened and installed one of the sons, Meñli I Giray, on the throne. Menli I Giray, took the imperial title Sovereign of Two Continents, in 1475 the Ottoman forces, under the command of Gedik Ahmet Pasha, conquered the Greek Principality of Theodoro and the Genoese colonies at Cembalo, Soldaia, and Caffa. Thenceforth the khanate was a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman sultan enjoyed veto power over the selection of new Crimean khans. The Empire annexed the Crimean coast but recognized the legitimacy of the rule of the steppes. In 1475, the Ottomans imprisoned Meñli I Giray for three years for resisting the invasion, after returning from captivity in Constantinople, he accepted the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. Nevertheless, Ottoman sultans treated the khans more as allies than subjects, the khans continued to have a foreign policy independent from the Ottomans in the steppes of Little Tartary. The khans continued to mint coins and use their names in Friday prayers and they did not pay tribute to the Ottoman Empire, instead the Ottomans paid them in return for their services of providing skilled outriders and frontline cavalry in their campaigns. Later on, Crimea lost power in this relationship as the result of a crisis in 1523, during the reign of Meñlis successor and he died that year and beginning with his successor, from 1524 on, Crimean khans were appointed by the Sultan
20.
Tatar language
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The Tatar language is a Turkic language spoken by Volga Tatars mainly located in modern Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. It should not be confused with the Crimean Tatar language, to which it is remotely related, there are more than 7 million speakers of Tatar in the world. Tatar is also native for several thousand Maris, mordvas Qaratay group also speak a variant of Kazan Tatar. In the 2010 census, 69% of Russian Tatars who responded to the question about language ability claimed a knowledge of the Tatar language, in Tatarstan, 93% of Tatars and 3, 6% of Russians did so. In neighbouring Bashkortostan, 67% of Tatars, 27% of Bashkirs, Tatar, along with Russian, is the official language of the Republic of Tatarstan. The official script of Tatar language is based on the Cyrillic script with some additional letters, the Republic of Tatarstan passed a law in 1999, which came into force in 2001, establishing an official Tatar Latin alphabet. A Russian federal law overrode it in 2002, making Cyrillic the sole official script in Tatarstan since, unofficially, other scripts are used as well, mostly Latin and Arabic. All official sources in Tatarstan must use Cyrillic on their websites, in other cases, where Tatar has no official status, the use of a specific alphabet depends on the preference of the author. The Tatar language was made a de facto official language in Russia in 1917, Tatar is also considered to have been the official language in the short-lived Idel-Ural State, briefly formed during the Russian Civil War. One should note, however, that Bolshevist Russia did not recognize official languages as such, however, in the Soviet era, Tatar was such a language in Bashkortostan, Mari El and other regions of the Russian SFSR. The usage of Tatar declined from the 1930s onwards, in the 1980s, the study and teaching of Tatar in the public education system was limited to rural schools. However, Tatar-speaking pupils had little chance of entering university because higher education was available in Russian almost exclusively, as of 2001 Tatar was considered a potentially endangered language while Siberian and Crimean Tatar languages received endangered and seriously endangered statuses, respectively. Higher education in Tatar can only be found in Tatarstan, and is restricted to the humanities, in other regions Tatar is primarily a spoken language and the number of speakers as well as their proficiency tends to decrease. Tatar is popular as a language only in Tatar-speaking areas where schools with Tatar language lessons are situated. On the other hand, Tatar is the language in use in rural districts of Tatarstan. There are three dialects of Tatar, Western, Middle, and Eastern. All of these also have subdivisions. In the Western dialect Ç is pronounced and as, there are no differences between v and w, q and k, g and ğ in the Mişär dialect
21.
Kolomna
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Kolomna is an ancient city of Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated at the confluence of the Moskva and Oka Rivers,114 kilometers southeast of Moscow. Mentioned for the first time in 1177, Kolomna was founded in 1140–1160 according to the latest archaeological surveys, kolomnas name may originate from the Old Russian term for on the bend, especially as the old city is located on a sharp bend in the Moscow River. In 1301, Kolomna was incorporated into the Moscow Principality, like some other ancient Russian cities, it has a kremlin, which is a citadel similar to the more famous one in Moscow and also built of red brick. The stone Kolomna Kremlin was built from 1525–1531 under the Russian Tsar Vasily III, in front of the façade stands a statue of Dmitry Donskoy, celebrating the gathering of his troops in Kolomna prior to the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. The civic arms of Kolomna were granted by Empress Catherine II, hence, the similar appearance of the arms, despite there being no connection between the Roman family and the city of Kolomna. Due to sensitive military production of components, Kolomna was a closed city until 1994. It is still not listed as a city of the Golden Ring, despite its kremlin, within the framework of administrative divisions, Kolomna serves as the administrative center of Kolomensky District, even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as Kolomna City Under Oblast Jurisdiction—an administrative unit with the equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, Kolomna City Under Oblast Jurisdiction is incorporated as Kolomna Urban Okrug, Kolomna is located on the Ryazan line of the Moscow railroad,116 kilometers from Moscow. In Kolomna, there are five stations and one terminal. Two bus terminals are located in the city, public transport in the city is represented by tram and city bus lines. Kolomna is situated on three rivers, and has passenger and transport berths, most known one is the Bochmanovo berth. The Kolomna Speed Skating Center is an ice speed skating oval used for Russian. It hosted the 2008 European Speed Skating Championships and the 2016 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships, the Kolomna Speed Skating Center is considered as one of the most modern ice speed skating ovals in the world. Закон №11/2013-ОЗ от31 января2013 г, «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Московской области», в ред. Закона №72/2015-ОЗ от5 мая2015 г, Вступил в силу на следующий день после официального опубликования. Подмосковье, №24,12 февраля2013 г, Закон №153/2004-ОЗ от25 ноября2004 г. «О статусе и границе городского округа Коломна», в ред, Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования
22.
Golden Horde
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The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire after 1259 it became a functionally separate khanate and it is also known as the Kipchak Khanate or as the Ulus of Jochi. After the death of Batu Khan in 1255, his dynasty flourished for a century, until 1359. The Hordes military power peaked during the reign of Uzbeg, who adopted Islam, the territory of the Golden Horde at its peak included most of Eastern Europe from the Urals to the Danube River, and extended east deep into Siberia. In the south, the Golden Hordes lands bordered on the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, the khanate experienced violent internal political disorder beginning in 1359, before it briefly reunited under Tokhtamysh. However, soon after the 1396 invasion of Timur, the founder of the Timurid Empire, at the start of the 15th century the Horde began to fall apart. By 1466 it was being referred to simply as the Great Horde, within its territories there emerged numerous predominantly Turkic-speaking khanates. These internal struggles allowed the northern state of Muscovy to rid itself of the Tatar Yoke at the Great stand on the Ugra river in 1480. The Crimean Khanate and the Kazakh Khanate, the last remnants of the Golden Horde, in any event, it was not until the 16th century that Russian chroniclers begin explicitly using the term Golden Horde to refer to this particular successor khanate of the Mongol Empire. The first known use of the term, in 1565, in the Russian chronicle History of Kazan, applied it to the Ulus of Batu and its left wing was referred to as the Blue Horde in Russian chronicles and as the White Horde in Timurid sources. Western scholars have tended to follow the Timurid sources nomenclature and call the left wing the White Horde, the khanate apparently used the term White Horde to refer to its right wing, which was situated in Batus home base in Sarai and controlled the ulus. However, the designations Golden Horde, Blue Horde, and White Horde have not been encountered in the sources of the Mongol period. At his death in 1227, Genghis Khan divided the Mongol Empire amongst his four sons as appanages, Jochi was the eldest, but he died six months before Genghis. In 1235, Batu with the great general Subedei began an invasion westwards, first conquering the Bashkirs, from there he conquered some of the southern steppes of present-day Ukraine in 1237, forcing many of the local Cumans to retreat westward. The military campaign against the Kypchaks and Cumans had started under Jochi, by 1239 a large portion of Cumans were driven out of the Crimea peninsula, and it became one of the appanages of the Mongol Empire. The remnants of the Crimean Cumans survived in the Crimean mountains, moving north, Batu began the Mongol invasion of Rus and for three years subjugated the principalities of former Kievan Rus, whilst his cousins Möngke, Kadan, and Güyük moved southwards into Alania. Using the migration of the Cumans as their casus belli, the Mongols continued west, raiding Poland and Hungary and culminating in the battles of Legnica, in 1241, however, Ögedei Khan died in the Mongolia homeland. Batu turned back from his siege of Vienna to take part in disputing the succession, the Mongol armies would never again travel so far west
23.
Grand Duchy of Moscow
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The Grand Duchy of Moscow, or Grand Principality of Moscow, was a late medieval Rus principality centered on Moscow and the predecessor state of the early modern Tsardom of Russia. The state originated with Daniel I, who inherited Moscow in 1283, eclipsing and it later annexed the Novgorod Republic in 1478 and the Grand Duchy of Tver in 1485. After the Mongol invasion of Rus, Muscovy was a vassal to the Mongol ruled Golden Horde until 1480. By his marriage to the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, he established Muscovy as the state of the Roman Empire. Ivans successor Vasili III also enjoyed success, gaining Smolensk from Lithuania in 1512. Vasilis son Ivan IV was an infant at his fathers death in 1533 and he was crowned in 1547, assuming the title of tsar together with the proclamation of Tsardom of Russia. As with many states the country had no particular official name. The Duke of Moscow or the Sovereign of Moscow were common short titles, in rivalry with other duchies Moscow dukes also designated themselves as the Grand Dukes, claiming a higher position in the hierarchy of Russian dukes. During the territorial growth and later acquisitions, the title became rather lengthy. Since the 14th century various Moscow dukes added of all Rus to their titles, after the title of Russian metropolitans, Dmitry Shemyaka was the first Moscow duke who minted coins with the title the Sovereign of all Rus. Under the Polish-Lithuanian influence the country began to be called Muscovy in Western Europe, the first appearances of the term were in an Italian document of 1500. Initially Moscovia was the Latinized name of the city of Moscow itself, not of the state, later it acquired its meaning and has been used alongside of the older name. The term Muscovy persisted in the West until the beginning of the 18th century and is used in historical contexts. When the Mongols invaded the lands of Kievan Rus in the 13th century, the first ruler of the principality of Moscow, Daniel I, was the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky of Vladimir-Suzdal. He started to expand his principality by seizing Kolomna and securing the bequest of Pereslavl-Zalessky to his family, daniels son Yuriy controlled the entire basin of the Moskva River and expanded westward by conquering Mozhaisk. He then forged an alliance with the overlord of the Rus principalities, Uzbeg Khan of the Golden Horde, the Khan allowed Yuriy to claim the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir-Suzdal, a position which allowed him to interfere in the affairs of the Novgorod Republic to the north-west. Yuriys successor, Ivan I, managed to retain the title of Grand Duke by cooperating closely with the Mongols and by collecting tribute and taxes from other Rus principalities on their behalf. This relationship enabled Ivan to gain regional ascendancy, particularly over Moscows chief rival, the city of Tver
24.
Ivan IV of Russia
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Ivan IV Vasilyevich, commonly known as Ivan the Terrible or Ivan the Fearsome, was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547, then Tsar of All the Russias until his death in 1584. The last title was used by all his successors, during his reign, Russia conquered the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan and Sibir, becoming a multiethnic and multicontinental state spanning approximately 4,050,000 km2. Ivan exercised autocratic control over Russias hereditary nobility and developed a bureaucracy to administer his new territories and he transformed Russia from a medieval state into an empire, though at immense cost to its people, and its broader, long-term economy. In one such outburst, he killed his son and heir Ivan Ivanovich and this left his younger son, the pious but politically ineffectual Feodor Ivanovich, to inherit the throne. Ivan was a diplomat, a patron of arts and trade. He was popular among Russias commoners, except possibly the people of Novgorod and surrounding areas, the English word terrible is usually used to translate the Russian word grozny in Ivans nickname, but this is a somewhat archaic translation. The Russian word grozny reflects the older English usage of terrible as in inspiring fear or terror, dangerous, powerful and it does not convey the more modern connotations of English terrible, such as defective or evil. Vladimir Dal defines grozny specifically in archaic usage and as an epithet for tsars, courageous, magnificent, magisterial and keeping enemies in fear, other translations have also been suggested by modern scholars. Ivan was the first son of Vasili III and his wife, Elena Glinskaya. When Ivan was three years old, his father died from an abscess and inflammation on his leg that developed into blood poisoning, Ivan was proclaimed the Grand Prince of Moscow at the request of his father. His mother Elena Glinskaya initially acted as regent, but she died of what many believe to be assassination by poison, the regency then alternated between several feuding boyar families fighting for control. According to his own letters, Ivan, along with his younger brother Yuri, on 16 January 1547, at age sixteen, Ivan was crowned with Monomakhs Cap at the Cathedral of the Dormition. He was the first to be crowned as Tsar of All the Russias, prior to that, rulers of Muscovy were crowned as Grand Princes, although Ivan III the Great, his grandfather, styled himself tsar in his correspondence. Two weeks after his coronation, Ivan married his first wife Anastasia Romanovna, a member of the Romanov family, who became the first Russian tsaritsa. By being crowned Tsar, Ivan was sending a message to the world and to Russia, he was now the one and only ruler of the country. The new title symbolized an assumption of powers equivalent and parallel to those held by former Byzantine Emperor, the political effect was to elevate Ivans position. The new title not only secured the throne, but it also granted Ivan a new dimension of power and he was now a divine leader appointed to enact Gods will, as church texts described Old Testament kings as Tsars and Christ as the Heavenly Tsar. The newly appointed title was passed on from generation to generation
25.
Oprichina
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The oprichnina was a state policy implemented by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in Russia between 1565 and 1572. The policy included institution of secret police, mass repressions, public executions, the term oprichnina, which Ivan coined for this policy, derives from the Russian word oprich. In 1558, Tsar Ivan IV started the Livonian war after the Livonian Confederation refused to pay tribute to Russia, a broad coalition, which included Poland, Lithuania and Sweden, were drawn into the war against Russia. The war became drawn-out and expensive, raids by Crimean Tatars, Polish and Lithuanian invasions, famines, a trading blockade and escalating costs of war ravaged Russia. In 1564, Prince Andrei Kurbsky, who had defected to the Lithuanians, led the Lithuanian army against Russia, Tsar Ivan began to suspect that other aristocrats were also ready to betray him. Veselovskii explained the oprichnina in terms of Ivan’s paranoia and denied larger social aims for the oprichnina, however, historian Sergey Platonov argued that Ivan IV intended the oprichnina as a suppression of the rising boyar aristocracy. Professor Isabel de Madariaga has expanded this idea to explain the oprichnina as Ivan’s attempt to subordinate all independent social classes to the autocracy, on December 3,1564, Ivan IV departed Moscow on pilgrimage. While such journeys were routine for the throne, Ivan neglected to set the arrangements for rule in his absence. Moreover, a large personal guard, a significant number of boyars. After a month of silence, Ivan finally issued two letters from his fortifications at Aleksandrova Sloboda on January 3, the first addressed the elite of the city and accused them of embezzlement and treason. Further accusations concerned the clergy and their protection of denounced boyars, in conclusion, Ivan announced his abdication. The second letter addressed the population of Moscow and claimed “he had no anger against” its citizenry, divided between Sloboda and Moscow, the boyar court was unable to rule in absence of Ivan and feared the wrath of the Muscovite citizenry. A boyar envoy departed for Aleksandrova Sloboda to beg Ivan to return to the throne, Ivan IV agreed to return on condition that he may prosecute people for treason outside legal limitations. He demanded that he execute and confiscate the land of traitors without interference from the council or church. To pursue his investigations, Ivan decreed the creation of the oprichnina and this region included many of the financial centers of the state, including the salt region of Staraia Russa and prominent merchant towns. Ivan held exclusive power over the oprichnina territory, the Boyar Council ruled the zemshchina, the second division of the state. Until 1568, the oprichnina relied upon many administrative institutions under zemshchina jurisdiction, only when conflict between the zemshchina and oprichnina reached its peak did Ivan create independent institutions within the oprichnina. Ivan also stipulated the creation of a personal guard known as the oprichniki, originally it was a thousand strong
26.
Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy
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Count Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, often referred to as A. K. He also gained fame for his works, published under his own name. His fictional works include the novella The Family of the Vourdalak, The Vampire, Aleksey was a member of the Tolstoy family, and a second cousin of Leo Tolstoy. Due to his mothers closeness with the court of the Tsar, Aleksey was admitted to the future Alexander IIs childhood entourage, as a young man Tolstoy traveled widely, including trips to Italy and Germany, where he met Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Tolstoy began his education at home under the tutelage of his uncle the writer Antony Pogorelsky, under whose influence he first became interested in writing poetry, in 1834 Tolstoy enrolled in the Moscow Foreign Ministry State Archive as a student. In December 1835 he completed exams at the University of Moscow, throughout the 1840s Tolstoy led a busy high society life, full of pleasure trips, salon parties and balls, hunting sprees and fleeting romances. He also spent many years in service as a bureaucrat and diplomat. In 1856, on the day of his Coronation, Alexander II appointed Tolstoy one of his personal aide-de-adjutants, Tolstoy served as an infantry major in the Crimean War. He eventually left state service in the early 1860s to pursue his literary career and he died in 1875 of a self-administered lethal dose of morphine at his Krasny Rog estate in the Chernigov Governorate. Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy was born in Saint Petersburg to the family of Tolstoy. His father, Count Konstantin Petrovich Tolstoy, a son of the general, was a Russian state assignation bank councilor. His mother, Anna Alekseyevna Perovskaya, was a daughter of Count Aleksey Kirillovich Razumovsky. A. K. Tolstoys uncle was Fyodor Tolstoy and his uncle on his mothers side was Aleksey Perovsky, an author known under the pen name of Antony Pogorelsky. Aleksey Konstantinovich was a cousin of Leo Tolstoy, Count Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy was their common great-grandfather. Konstantin Tolstoy and Anna Perovskayas marriage was short-lived, they divorced in October 1817 and it was under the latters influence that Aleksey started to write poetry, as early as 1823, inspired by some old books he found at home. Aleksey had good teachers and at the age of six he fluently spoke French, German, later he learned Italian as well. As for the Tolstoys, Anna Perovskaya stopped seeing them altogether, only sending them postcards on major dates and holidays. Remembering those happy years, Aleksey later wrote, I was brought up by Aleksey Perovsky… I spent the first years of my life at his estate and my childhood, which was very happy, left me the most cloudless memories
27.
Tsar
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Tsar /zɑːr/ or /tsɑːr/, also spelled tzar, csar, or czar, is a title used to designate certain Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, occasionally, the word could be used to designate other secular supreme rulers. Simeon II, the last Tsar of Bulgaria, is the last person to have borne the title Tsar, the title Tsar is derived from the Latin title for the Roman emperors, Caesar. In the history of the Greek language, basileus had originally meant something like potentate and it gradually approached the meaning of king in the Hellenistic Period, and it came to designate emperor after the inception in the Roman Empire. Thus, tsar was not only used as an equivalent of Latin imperator but was used to refer to Biblical rulers. From this ambiguity, the development has moved in different directions in the different Slavic languages, thus, the Bulgarian language and Russian language no longer use tsar as an equivalent of the term emperor/imperator as it exists in the West European tradition. Currently, the term refers to native sovereigns, ancient and Biblical rulers, as well as monarchs in fairy tales. The title of king is sometimes perceived as alien and is by some Russian-speakers reserved for European royalty, foreign monarchs of imperial status, both inside and outside of Europe, ancient as well as modern, are generally called imperator, rather than tsar. Biblical rulers in Serbian are called цар and in Croatian kralj, in the Polish language however tsar is always used as imperator, never as king. The term tsar is very used to refer to the Russian rulers after Peter the Great. In 705 Emperor Justinian II named Tervel of Bulgaria Caesar, the first foreigner to receive this title, the sainted Boris I is sometimes retrospectively referred to as tsar, because at his time Bulgaria was converted to Christianity. However, the tsar was actually adopted and used for the first time by his son Simeon I. Since in Byzantine political theory there was place for two emperors, Eastern and Western, the Bulgarian ruler was crowned basileus as a spiritual son of the Byzantian basileus. In Latin sources the Emperor of Bulgaria is sometimes designated Emperor of Zagora, various additional epithets and descriptions apart, the official style read Emperor and autocrat of all Bulgarians and Greeks. During the five-century period of Ottoman rule in Bulgaria, the sultan was referred to as tsar. This may be related to the fact that he had claimed the legacy of the Byzantine Empire or to the fact that the sultan was called Basileus in medieval Greek, after Bulgarias liberation from the Ottomans in 1878, its new monarchs were at first autonomous prince. With the declaration of independence, Ferdinand I of Bulgaria adopted the traditional title tsar in 1908. However, these titles were not generally perceived as equivalents of emperor any longer, in the Bulgarian as in the Greek vernacular, the meaning of the title had shifted
28.
Dmitry Pozharsky
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Dmitry Mikhaylovich Pozharsky, a Rurikid prince, led Russian forces against Polish invaders in 1611-1612 towards the end of the Time of Troubles. He obtained from Mikhail I of Russia the unprecedented title Saviour of the Motherland, Pozharsky was descended from a dynasty of sovereign princes which ruled the town of Starodub-on-the-Klyazma near Suzdal. At one point in the 15th century their family patrimony burned to the ground, the family was never particularly prominent, and Pozharskys early career was not documented until he took part in the Zemsky sobor which elected Boris Godunov to the throne in 1598. Four years later, he was attested as a stolnik, when the Time of Troubles broke out upon Godunovs death, he was present at the defense of Kolomna and helped Vasily IV during the Siege of Moscow in 1609. Later that year, he routed the Bolotnikov Cossacks at the Pekhorka River, by that time, the popular indignation against abuses of the Polish aggressors had gained momentum. After Prokopy Lyapunov rallied the first Volunteer Army in Ryazan, Pozharsky promptly joined the cause of rebels, the prince agreed on condition that he would be assisted by Kuzma Minin, a representative of the Nizhegorod merchants. Although the volunteer corps aimed at clearing the Polish invaders out of Moscow, Pozharsky, there they resided for half a year, vacillating until the opportunity for rapid action was gone. A man of devout disposition, Pozharsky fervently prayed before Our Lady of Kazan, one of the holiest Russian icons, the very next day Pozharsky advanced to the Arbat Gate of the city and two days later he engaged with Chodkiewiczs contingent in a four-day battle. The outcome was in no small part due to actions of Pozharskys assistant, Prince Dmitry Trubetskoy. As a result, a famine broke out among the Poles and they had to surrender to Pozharsky and Trubetskoy in October, after being guaranteed safe passage, nonetheless, most of the Poles were slaughtered upon exiting the Kremlin and few survived captivity. The Time of Troubles was now over, but minor risings couldnt be subdued for a period of time. He governed Novgorod in 1628-30 and fortified Moscow against an attack of the Crimean Tatars in 1637. Pozharskys last taste of battle came during the ill-fated Smolensk campaign, as soon as peace had been restored, Pozharsky was given some enviable posts in the Muscovite administration. Among other positions, he managed the Prikaz of Transport in 1619, the Prikaz of Police in 1621–28 and he was summoned by the tsar to confer with the English ambassadors in 1617 and with the Polish ones in 1635. One such tent-like church survives in his estate of Medvedkovo. Another was the Kazan Cathedral in Moscow, adjoining Red Square from north-east, Pozharskys family became extinct in 1672, upon the death of his granddaughter, who was married to Prince Yury Dolgorukov, the most famous Russian commander of the time. Yet his memory would be cherished by the Romanov dynasty which to a great extent owned the crown due to his prowess, when patriotic feelings were on the rise during the Napoleonic wars, a bronze Monument to Minin and Pozharsky was erected on Red Square. The day when Pozharsky and Minin entered the Moscow Kremlin as liberators was declared a holiday in 2005
29.
Jan Karol Chodkiewicz
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His coat of arms was Chodkiewicz, as was his family name. His most famous victory was the Battle of Kircholm in 1605 and he died on the front lines during the battle of Chocim, in the besieged Khotyn Fortress, a few days before the Ottomans gave up on the siege and agreed to negotiate. He visited Padua before returning to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1590 and he started his military career soon after returning to the Commonwealth, raising a rota of 50 to 100 men. He gained military experience in the fight against the rebellious Cossacks during the Severyn Nalyvaikos uprising under Field Crown Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski, during that conflict he participated in the battle of Kaniów on 14 April 1596, and in the siege of the Cossack tabor near Lubny. In 1599, he was appointed the Elder of Samogitia, Chodkiewicz subsequently assisted Chancellor and Great Crown Hetman Jan Zamoyski in his victorious Wallachian campaign, in which Chodkiewicz participated in the battle of Ploiești on 15 October 1600. For that campaign, he was given that year the office of the Field Lithuanian Hetman. He oversaw the fighting in the Livonia theater after Zamoyskis return to Poland in 1602, in April 1603, he captured Dorpat and defeated the Swedish forces at Biały Kamień on 23 September 1604. For that feat he received letters of congratulation from Pope Paul V, most of the Catholic royalty of Europe, and even the sultan of Turkey and the shah of Persia. Soon afterward, he was rewarded with the rank of Grand Lithuanian Hetman, in addition to a number of land grants. Yet this great victory was virtually fruitless, owing to the domestic dissensions, Chodkiewicz was one of the magnates who remained loyal to king Sigismund III, and helped him to defeat the Sandomierz rebellion in 1606–1607. A fresh invasion of Livonia by the Swedes recalled him once more. He improvised a small fleet and dealt a blow to the Swedish Navy at the Battle of Salis. Meanwhile, the Dimitriad wars with Muscovy broke out, eventually their differences subsided, and Chodkiewicz was sent against the Muscovites, operating first near Smolensk and Pskov. Chodkiewicz was tasked by the king with an advance on Moscow, however, the Sejm neglected to pay for the maintenance of the Army once more, with the result that some units mutinied. Chodkiewicz fought several battles against the Muscovites in the fall of 1611. Disappointed with that outcome, he once again estranged from the king. Over the next few years, in the period of 1613–15, Chodkiewicz defended the Commonwealth gains in the Smolensk area, not till the crown prince, Władysław arrived with tardy reinforcements did the war could assume a more offensive character once again. The army, nominally commanded by Władysław, but in practice under the command of Chodkiewicz
30.
Streltsy
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For the similarly-named Polish units, see Chorągwie strzelcze Streltsy were the units of Russian guardsmen from the 16th to the early 18th centuries, armed with firearms. They are also known as Marksman Troops. These standing forces reinforced the mounted nobility militia mobilized during wartime, the first streltsy units were created by Ivan the Terrible sometime between 1545 and 1550 and armed with arquebuses. During his reign, Russia was fighting wars almost continuously, including the Livonian War in the North and they first saw combat at the Siege of Kazan in 1552. Initially, the streltsy were recruited from among the free tradespeople, subsequently, military service in this unit became lifelong and hereditary. Thus, while earlier in the 16th century they had been a force, their effectiveness was reduced by poor training. Streltsy were subdivided into vyborniye, or electives and gorodskiye, or municipal, the streltsy of Moscow guarded the Kremlin, performed general guard duty, and participated in military operations. They also carried out police and fire-brigade functions in Moscow. The municipal streltsy performed garrison and border duty and carried out orders of the local administration, Streltsy came under the control of the Streltsy Department, however, in times of war they came under their superiors. The municipal streltsy were also under the jurisdiction of the local voevodes, the largest military administrative unit of the streltsy forces was pribor, that would later be renamed into prikaz and in 1681 – into regiment. Commanders of the Streltsy unit and colonels in charge of regiments were chiefs of prikazi and they had to be nobles and appointed by the government. The regiments were subdivided into sotni and desyatki and they could be mounted and unmounted. Streltsy had identical uniforms, training and weapons, uniforms consisted of red, blue or green coats with orange boots. Their primary weapon was an arquebus or musket, and they carried poleaxes or bardiches, the longer weapons were also used to support the arquebus or musket while firing. The Muscovite government was short of cash and so did not often pay the streltsy well. While entitled to an estimated four rubles a year in the 1550s and this reduced their combat effectiveness and often their desire to go on campaigns. Streltsy and their families lived in their own neighborhoods or districts settlements and received money, in certain locations, Streltsy were granted strips of land instead of money. The Streltsy settlement in Moscow was located near where the campus of Moscow State University now stands
31.
Vasily Polenov
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Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov was a Russian landscape painter associated with the Peredvizhniki movement of realist artists. A native of St. Petersburg, Polenov studied under Pavel Chistyakov and he was a classmate and close friend of Rafail Levitsky, a fellow Peredvizhniki artist and famous photographer. Their letters, which are now stored in the Polenovs House museum, are an account of the many art exhibitions. As bachelors, Polenov and Levitsky lived and worked together in Deviche Pole and this house is illustrated by Polenov in his painting “Grandmothers Garden”. Polenov took part in the Russo-Turkish War as a war artist, returning from the war, he joined the Peredvizhniki, taking part in their mobile exhibitions. His works won the admiration of Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, who acquired many of them for his gallery, in the late 1870s, Polenov concentrated on painting landscapes in the realist tradition of Aleksey Savrasov and Fyodor Vasilyev. He attempted to impart the silent poetry of Russian nature, related to human life. He was one of the first Russian artists who achieved a plein air freshness of color combined with artistic finish of composition, the principles developed by Polenov had a great impact on the further development of Russian landscape painting. Polenovs sketches of the Middle East and Greece paved the way for his masterpiece, Christ and the Sinner, in his works of the 1880s, Polenov tended to combine New Testament subjects with his penchant for landscape. From the 1870s, Polenov also turned to stage design, most notably, he decorated Savva Mamontovs mansion in Abramtsevo and his Russian Private Opera. In 1910-1918, Polenov was involved in a theatre project. Polenov was elected a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of arts in 1893, for many years, he coached young painters in the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. His pupils included Abram Arkhipov, Isaac Levitan, Konstantin Korovin, Emily Shanks, Polenovs former home in Borok has been designated a national art museum, and the village was renamed Polenovo to commemorate his name. The coordinates of his home/museum approximately two hours south of Moscow are, 54°4453. 19N - 37°148. 46E He died at Polenovo, near Tarusa, media related to Vasiliy Polenov at Wikimedia Commons
32.
Boulevard Saint-Germain
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The Boulevard Saint-Germain is a major street in Paris on the Left Bank of the River Seine. It curves in a 3½ kilometre arc from the Pont de Sully in the east to the Pont de la Concorde in the west, at its midpoint, the Boulevard Saint-Germain is traversed by the north-south Boulevard Saint-Michel. The boulevard is most famous for crossing the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter from which it derives its name, the Boulevard Saint-Germain was the most important part of Haussmanns renovation of Paris on the Left Bank. The Boulevard Saint-Germain derives its name from the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés which dates back to the Middle Ages and this area around the boulevard is also referred to as the Faubourg Saint-Germain which developed around the abbey. In the 17th century, the Saint-Germain quarter became a site for noble town houses. From the 1930s on, Saint-Germain has been associated with its nightlife, cafés, after the Second World War the Boulevard Saint-Germain became the intellectual and cultural site for Parisian life. Philosophers, authors and musicians filled the night clubs and brasseries that line the boulevard, the Boulevard Saint-Germain today is a thriving high-end shopping street with stores from Armani to Rykiel. The cafes continue to be sites for intellectual and political gatherings, nearby is the Institut détudes politiques, one of the finest political science schools in Europe, or the College des Ingenieurs, a leading graduate school of management. At 184 Boulevard Saint-Germain is the Société de Géographie, the worlds oldest geographical society, founded in 1821 by von Humboldt, Chateaubriand, Dumont d’Urville and it has had its headquarters here since 1878. The entrance is marked by two caryatids representing Land and Sea. It was here, in 1879, that the construction of the Panama Canal was decided, nowadays the building accommodates Ipag - école supérieure de commerce. Some vestiges of the streets removed to make way for the Boulevard still remain today, another example is the south side of the boulevard just east of the rue des Ciseaux, which extends the current rue Gozlin, formerly rue Sainte-Marguerite. The north side of the rue Gozlin and this short section extending it represent exactly how much further south the abbey extended before the creation of the Boulevard Saint-Germain. For example, the buildings on the side of the boulevard between the rue de Buci and the rue de Seine are the original north side the former rue des Boucheries. At 175 Boulevard Saint-Germain at the corner of the rue des Saint-Peres stands a building built in 1678
33.
Tolstoy family
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Tolstoy, or Tolstoi, is a prominent family of Russian nobility, descending from Andrey Kharitonovich Tolstoy, who served under Vasily II of Moscow. The wild Tolstoys, as they were known in the society of Imperial Russia, have left a lasting legacy in Russian politics, military history, literature. The family first reached prominence in the late 17th century, on account of its connections with the Miloslavsky clan to which Tsar Alexis first wife belonged and it was Okolnichi Peter Andreevich Tolstoy who decided the family fortune by casting his lot with the party of Peter the Great. He gradually gained in Peters confidence serving first as the Russian ambassador to Constantinople, although detested by contemporaries, Tolstoy was made a count for his part in securing the throne for Catherine I. He later clashed with the mighty Prince Menshikov, who stripped him of his titles, the titles and estates were restored to his grandchildren 30 years later. The most famous of 19th-century Tolstoy politicians was Count Dmitri Andreevich, successively the Minister of Education, Minister of Interior, during his term in office, he put into effect a vigorous Russification program in Poland and Ukraine, for which he is chiefly remembered. Two members of the family were active during the Napoleonic wars and he served as the governor of St Petersburg and Kronstadt from 1828 until his death. Alexander Ivanovich Tolstoy, stemming from a branch of the family, inherited the committal title and estates of his childless uncle. He first distinguished himself in the battle of Charnova where his regiment held out for 15 hours against the army commanded by Napoleon. One of the most admired generals of the coalition, he was rewarded for his courage in the battles at Pultusk. At Guttstadt he was wounded so seriously that they feared for his life, in the great battle of Borodino he brilliantly commanded the key positions until he was shell-shocked and taken away from the battlefield. Ostermann-Tolstoy was once again wounded in the battle of Bautzen but didnt give up command of his force and his crowning achievement was the victory at Kulm, which cost him amputation of the left arm. When the war was over, he quarreled with the Emperor, resigned, Count Feodor Petrovich Tolstoy, sympathetically mentioned by Pushkin in Eugene Onegin, was one of the most fashionable Russian drawers and painters of the 1820s. Although he prepared illustrations for Bogdanovichs Dushenka, his genuine vocation was wax modeling. As he gradually went blind he had to give up drawing and started writing ballets and he was appointed Vice-President of the Academy of Arts in 1828. Many of his works may be seen in the Russian Museum, Count Feodor Ivanovich Tolstoy was a notorious drunkard, gastronome, and duellist. It is said that he killed 11 people in duels, in 1803 he participated in the first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth. After he had his body tattooed at the Marquesas and debauched all the crew, when he returned to St Petersburg, Count Fedor was nicknamed Amerikanets
34.
Galitzine
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The Golitsyn family, one of the largest and most princely of the noble houses of Russia, originated in the Duchy of Lithuania. Since the extinction of the Korecki family in the 17th century, notable members include Vasily Vasilyevich Golitsyn, Boris Alexeyevich Golitsyn and Dmitry Mikhaylovich Golitsyn. Alternative transliterations of the include, Galitzine, Galitzin, Galitsin, Golitsin, Golitsyne. The family descends from a Lithuanian prince George, son of Patrikas and he immigrated to the court of Vasily I and married Vasilys sister. His children and grandchildren, Vassian Patrikeyev, were considered premier Russian boyars, one of them, Prince Mikhail Bulgakov-Golitsa, earned the nickname Golitsa for an iron glove he wore in the Battle of Orsha in 1514. His younger brother, another Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn was general admiral of the Russian fleet, and Mikhails son Alexander Mikhailovich was a diplomat and soldier, who likewise rose to be field-marshal and governor of St. Petersburg. Another son of Mikhails, Dmitry Mikhailovich, was the Russian ambassador in Vienna during the reign of Catherine the Great, primarily remembered for the splendid Golitsyn Hospital he opened in Moscow, he should also be noted as a great friend and patron of Mozart. He is currently under investigation for possible Sainthood, his current title is Servant of God, Prince Dmitri Vladimirovich Golitsyn fought bravely during the Napoleonic wars, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General and governed Moscow for 25 years. Prince Alexander Nikolayevich Golitsyn was a minister of education in the government of Alexander I. He headed an investigation into masonic involvement in the Decembrist uprising of 1825, Princess Yelizaveta Alexeyevich Golitsyna Roman Catholic nun. Prince Nikolay Borisovich Galitzin was an amateur cellist who commissioned Beethoven to write his last string quartets, Prince Alexei Vasilyevich Golitsyn was a friend of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Like the composer, Golitsyn was homosexual, but unlike the composer, he lived openly with his lover, Prince Grigory Sergeyevich Golitsin was a general and the Governor of Transcaucasia in 1897-1904. Prince Lev Sergeyevich 24 June 1845–8 January 1916 was one of the founders of winemaking in the Crimea, in his Crimean estate of Novyi Svet he built the first Russian factory of champagne wines. In 1889 the production of this won the Gold Medal at the Paris exhibition in the nomination for sparkling wines. He became the surveyor of imperial vineyards at Abrau-Dyurso in 1891, Prince Boris Borisovich was a prominent physicist who invented the first electromagnetic seismograph in 1906. Prince Nikolai Dmitriyevich Golitsyn was the last Tsarist prime minister of Russia, Prince Leo Golitsyn escaped from Soviet Russia during World War I and came to settle in Canada by 1929 in Edson, Alberta. He and his wife purchased 420 acres of land, one-quarter section from M. Silva, most of the property bordered the McLeod River. Other than the 110 acres of land, they owned 5 pairs of foxes, poultry, horses
35.
French invasion of Russia
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Napoleon hoped to compel Tsar Alexander I of Russia to cease trading with British merchants through proxies in an effort to pressure the United Kingdom to sue for peace. The official political aim of the campaign was to liberate Poland from the threat of Russia, Napoleon named the campaign the Second Polish War to gain favor with the Poles and provide a political pretext for his actions. The Grande Armée was a large force, numbering 680,000 soldiers. Napoleon hoped the battle would mean an end of the march into Russia, plans Napoleon had made to quarter at Smolensk were abandoned, and he pressed his army on after the Russians. As the Russian army fell back, Cossacks were given the task of burning villages, towns and this was intended to deny the invaders the option of living off the land. The actions forced the French to rely on a system that was incapable of feeding the large army in the field. Starvation and privation compelled French soldiers to leave their camps at night in search of food and these men were frequently confronted by parties of Cossacks, who captured or killed them. The Russian army retreated into Russia for almost three months, the continual retreat and the loss of lands to the French upset the Russian nobility. They pressured Alexander I to relieve the commander of the Russian army, Alexander I complied, appointing an old veteran, Prince Mikhail Kutuzov, to take over command of the army. However, for two more weeks Kutuzov continued to retreat as his predecessor had done, on 7 September, the French caught up with the Russian army which had dug itself in on hillsides before a small town called Borodino, seventy miles west of Moscow. The battle that followed was the bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars until that point, involving more than 250,000 soldiers, the French gained a tactical victory, but at the cost of 49 general officers and thousands of men. The Russian army was able to extricate itself and withdrew the following day, Napoleon entered Moscow a week later. In another turn of events the French found puzzling, there was no delegation to meet the Emperor, the Russians had evacuated the city, and the citys governor, Count Fyodor Rostopchin, ordered several strategic points in Moscow set ablaze. Napoleons hopes had been set upon an end to his campaign. The loss of Moscow did not compel Alexander I to sue for peace, Napoleon stayed on in Moscow looking to negotiate a peace, his hopes fed in part by a disinformation campaign informing the Emperor of supposed discontent and fading morale in the Russian camp. After staying a month Napoleon moved his army out southwest toward Kaluga, the French advance toward Kaluga was checked by a Russian corps. Napoleon tried once more to engage the Russian army for an action at the Battle of Maloyaroslavets. Despite holding a position, the Russians retreated following a sharp engagement
36.
Joachim Murat
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Joachim-Napoléon Murat was a Marshal of France and Admiral of France under the reign of Napoleon. He was also the 1st Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808 and he received his titles in part by being Napoleons brother-in-law through marriage to his younger sister, Caroline Bonaparte, as well as personal merit. He was noted as a daring, brave, and charismatic cavalry officer as well as a flamboyant dresser and was known as the Dandy King. In 1789, an affair forced him to resign, and he returned to his family, by 1790, he had joined the National Guard, and when the Fête of the Nation was organized on 14 July 1790, the Canton of Montaucon sent Murat as its representative. Then he became reinstated into his old regiment, an ardent Republican, Murat wrote to his brother in 1791 stating he was preoccupied with revolutionary affairs and would sooner die than cease to be a patriot. This garnered for him the support of the Republicans, for he rejoined his regiment and was promoted to Corporal in April of that year. By 19 November 1792, he was 25 years old and elated at his latest promotion. As a sous-lieutenant, he thought, his family must recognize that he had no tendency for the priesthood. One of the Ministers had accused him of being an aristocrat, confusing him with the family of Murat dAuvergne. In the autumn of 1795, three years after King Louis XVI of France was deposed, royalist and counter-revolutionaries organised an armed uprising, on 3 October, General Napoleon Bonaparte, who was stationed in Paris, was named commander of the French National Conventions defending forces. This constitutional convention, after a period of emergency rule, was striving to establish a more stable. Bonaparte tasked Murat with the gathering of artillery from a suburb outside the control of the governments forces, Murat managed to take the cannons of the Camp des Sablons and transport them to the centre of Paris while avoiding the rioters. The use of these cannons – the famous whiff of grapeshot – on 5 October allowed Bonaparte to save the members of the National Convention, for this success, Joachim Murat was made chef de brigade and thereafter remained one of Napoleons best officers. Murat then went with Bonaparte to northern Italy, initially as his aide-de-camp and these forces were waging war on France and seeking to restore a monarchy in revolutionary France. Thus, Murats skills in no small part helped establish Bonapartes legendary fame, Murat commanded the cavalry of the French Egyptian expedition of 1798, again under Bonaparte. The expeditions strategic goal was to threaten Britains rich holdings in India, however, the overall effort ended prematurely because of lack of logistical support with the defeat of the French fleet due to British sea power. After the sea battle, Napoleon led his troops on land toward Europe, the remaining non-military expedition staff officers, including Murat, and Bonaparte returned to France, eluding various British fleets in five frigates. A short while later, Murat played an important, even pivotal, role in Bonapartes coup within a coup of 18 Brumaire, along with two others, Napoleon Bonaparte set aside the five-man directory government, establishing the three-man French Consulate government
37.
Leo Tolstoy
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Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. Born to an aristocratic Russian family in 1828, he is best known for the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, often cited as pinnacles of realist fiction. He first achieved acclaim in his twenties with his semi-autobiographical trilogy, Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth. Tolstoys fiction includes dozens of stories and several novellas such as The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Family Happiness. He also wrote plays and numerous philosophical essays, in the 1870s Tolstoy experienced a profound moral crisis, followed by what he regarded as an equally profound spiritual awakening, as outlined in his non-fiction work A Confession. His literal interpretation of the teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him to become a fervent Christian anarchist and pacifist. Tolstoy also became an advocate of Georgism, the economic philosophy of Henry George. Tolstoy was born at Yasnaya Polyana, a family estate 12 kilometres southwest of Tula, the Tolstoys were a well-known family of old Russian nobility, tracing their ancestry to a mythical Lithuanian noble Indris. He was the fourth of five children of Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy, a veteran of the Patriotic War of 1812, Tolstoys parents died when he was young, so he and his siblings were brought up by relatives. In 1844, he began studying law and oriental languages at Kazan University and his teachers described him as both unable and unwilling to learn. Tolstoy left the university in the middle of his studies, returned to Yasnaya Polyana and then spent much of his time in Moscow, in 1851, after running up heavy gambling debts, he went with his older brother to the Caucasus and joined the army. It was about time that he started writing. Others who followed the path were Alexander Herzen, Mikhail Bakunin. During his 1857 visit, Tolstoy witnessed an execution in Paris. Writing in a letter to his friend Vasily Botkin, The truth is that the State is a conspiracy designed not only to exploit, henceforth, I shall never serve any government anywhere. Tolstoys concept of non-violence or Ahimsa was bolstered when he read a German version of the Tirukkural and he later instilled the concept in Mahatma Gandhi through his A Letter to a Hindu when young Gandhi corresponded with him seeking his advice. His European trip in 1860–61 shaped both his political and literary development when he met Victor Hugo, whose literary talents Tolstoy praised after reading Hugos newly finished Les Misérables, the similar evocation of battle scenes in Hugos novel and Tolstoys War and Peace indicates this influence. Tolstoys political philosophy was influenced by a March 1861 visit to French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
38.
War and Peace
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War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, which is regarded as a central work of world literature and one of Tolstoys finest literary achievements. The novel chronicles the history of the French invasion of Russia, portions of an earlier version, titled The Year 1805, were serialized in The Russian Messenger from 1865 to 1867. The novel was first published in its entirety in 1869, newsweek in 2009 ranked it first in its Top 100 Books. In 2007, Time magazine ranked War and Peace third in its poll of the 10 greatest books of all time while Anna Karenina was ranked first, Tolstoy said War and Peace is not a novel, even less is it a poem, and still less a historical chronicle. Large sections, especially the later chapters, are a philosophical rather than narrative. Tolstoy also said that the best Russian literature does not conform to standards and hence hesitated to call War, instead, he regarded Anna Karenina as his first true novel. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, no single English novel attains the universality of Leo Tolstoys War, War and Peace is perhaps best known as one of the longest novels ever written. Tolstoy began writing War and Peace in the year that he married and settled down at his country estate. The first half of the book was written under the name 1805, during the writing of the second half, he read widely and acknowledged Schopenhauer as one of his main inspirations. However, Tolstoy developed his own views of history and the role of the individual within it, the first draft of the novel was completed in 1863. In 1865, the periodical Russkiy Vestnik published the first part of this draft under the title 1805, Tolstoy was dissatisfied with this version, although he allowed several parts of it to be published with a different ending in 1867. He heavily rewrote the novel between 1866 and 1869. Tolstoys wife, Sophia Tolstaya, copied as many as seven separate complete manuscripts before Tolstoy considered it again ready for publication, the version that was published in Russkiy Vestnik had a very different ending from the version eventually published under the title War and Peace in 1869. Russians who had read the serialized version were anxious to buy the complete novel, the novel was translated almost immediately after publication into many other languages. It is unknown why Tolstoy changed the name to War and Peace and he may have borrowed the title from the 1861 work of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, La Guerre et la Paix. The title may also be reference to Titus, described as being a master of war and peace in The Twelve Caesars. The completed novel was then called Voyna i mir, the 1805 manuscript was re-edited and annotated in Russia in 1983 and since has been translated into English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Albanian, Korean, and Czech. The existence of so many versions make this one of the best insights into the mental processes of a great novelist
39.
Empire style
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From France it spread into much of Europe and the United States. The style originated in and takes its name from the rule of Napoleon I in the First French Empire, when it was intended to idealize Napoleons leadership and the French state. The style corresponds in that intent to the Biedermeier style in the German-speaking lands, Federal style in the United States, the previous style in France was called Louis XVI style. Conventionels saw themselves as antique heroes, children were named after Brutus, Solon and Lycurgus. The festivals of the Revolution were staged by David as antique rituals, even the chairs in which the committee of Salut Publique sat were made on antique models devised by David. In fact Neo-classicism became fashionable. The Empire style turned to the opulence of Imperial Rome. The abstemious severity of Doric was replaced by Corinthian richness and splendour, two French architects, Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine, were together the creators of the French Empire style. The two had studied in Rome and in the 1790s became leading furniture designers in Paris, where they received commissions from Napoleon. Architecture of the Empire style was based on elements of the Roman Empire and its archaeological treasures. The preceding Louis XVI and Directoire styles employed straighter, simpler designs compared to the Rococo style of the eighteenth century, Empire designs strongly influenced the contemporary American Federal style, and both were forms of propaganda through architecture. It was a style of the people, not ostentatious but sober, the style was considered to have liberated and enlightened architecture just as Napoleon liberated the peoples of Europe with his Napoleonic Code. The Empire period was popularized by the designs of Percier and Fontaine. The designs drew for inspiration on symbols and ornaments borrowed from the glorious ancient Greek, buildings typically had simple timber frames and box-like constructions, veneered in expensive mahogany imported from the colonies. Biedermeier furniture also used ebony details, originally due to financial constraints, ormolu details displayed a high level of craftsmanship. General Bernadotte, later to become King Karl Johan of Sweden and Norway, introduced the Napoleonic style to Sweden, the Karl Johan style remained popular in Scandinavia even as the Empire style disappeared from other parts of Europe. France paid some of its debts to Sweden in ormolu bronzes instead of money, leading to a vogue for crystal chandeliers with bronze from France, after Napoleon lost power, the Empire style continued to be in favour for many decades, with minor adaptations. There was a revival of the style in the last half of the century in France, again at the beginning of the twentieth century. Stalinist architecture is referred to as Stalins Empire style
40.
Art Nouveau
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Art Nouveau is an international style of art, architecture and applied art, especially the decorative arts, that was most popular between 1890 and 1910. A reaction to the art of the 19th century, it was inspired by natural forms and structures, particularly the curved lines of plants. English uses the French name Art Nouveau, according to the philosophy of the style, art should be a way of life. For many well-off Europeans, it was possible to live in an art nouveau-inspired house with art nouveau furniture, silverware, fabrics, ceramics including tableware, jewellery, cigarette cases, artists desired to combine the fine arts and applied arts, even for utilitarian objects. By 1910, Art Nouveau was already out of style and it was replaced as the dominant European architectural and decorative style first by Art Deco and then by Modernism. Art Nouveau took its name from the Maison de lArt Nouveau, in France, Art Nouveau was also sometimes called by the British term Modern Style due to its roots in the Arts and Crafts Movement, Style moderne, or Style 1900. It was also sometimes called Style Jules Verne, Le Style Métro, Art Belle Époque, in Belgium, where the architectural movement began, it was sometimes termed Style nouille or Style coup de fouet. In Britain, it was known as the Modern Style, or, because of the arts and crafts movement led by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow, as the Glasgow style. In Italy, because of the popularity in Italy of designs from Londons Liberty & Co department store, in the United States, due to its association with Louis Comfort Tiffany, it was often called the Tiffany style. In Germany and Scandinavia, a style emerged at about the same time, it was called Jugendstil. In Catalonia the related style was known as Modernisme, in Spain as Modernismo, Arte joven, in Russia, it was called Modern, and Jugendstil, and Nieuwe Kunst in the Netherlands. Some names refer specifically to the forms that were popular with the Art Nouveau artists, Stile Floreal in France, Paling Stijl in the Netherlands. The new art movement had its roots in Britain, in the designs of William Morris. Early prototypes of the include the Red House of Morris. In France, the style combined several different tendencies, in architecture, it was influenced by the architectural theorist and historian Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, a declared enemy of the historical Beaux-Arts architectural style. For each function its material, for each material its form and this book influenced a generation of architects, including Louis Sullivan, Victor Horta, Hector Guimard, and Antoni Gaudí. The French painters Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard played an important part in integrating fine arts painting with decoration, I believe that before everything a painting must decorate, Denis wrote in 1891. The choice of subjects or scenes is nothing and it is by the value of tones, the colored surface and the harmony of lines that I can reach the spirit and wake up the emotions
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Apartment building
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An apartment or a flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building, correctly, on a single level without a stair. In Scotland it is called a block of flats or, if its a traditional building, a tenement. Apartments may be owned by an owner/occupier, by leasehold tenure or rented by tenants, the term apartment is favoured in North America. In the UK, the apartment is more usual in professional real estate and architectural circles where otherwise the term flat is commonly. Technically multi-storey apartments are referred to as duplex indicating the number of floors within the property, usage generally follows the British in Ireland, Singapore, Hong Kong and most Commonwealth nations. In Malaysian English, flat often denotes a housing block of lesser quality meant for lower-income groups, while apartment is more generic, in Australian English, the term flat is traditionally used, but the term unit is frequently used. More recently, the apartment is being used. Tenement law refers to the basis of permanent property such as land or rents. It may be combined as in Messuage or Tenement to encompass all the land, buildings. Most apartments are in buildings designed for the purpose, but large older houses are divided into apartments. The word apartment denotes a unit or section in a building. In some locations, particularly the United States, the word connotes a rental unit owned by the building owner, in the England and Wales, some flat owners own shares in the company that owns the freehold of the building as well as holding the flat under a lease. This is commonly known as a share of freehold flat, the freehold company has the right to collect annual ground rents from each of the flat owners in the building. The freeholder can also develop or sell the building, subject to the usual planning and this does not happen in Scotland, where long leasehold of residential property was formerly unusual, and is now not possible. In some countries the word unit is a general term referring to both apartments and rental business suites. The word unit is used only in the context of a specific building. This building has three units or Im going to rent a unit in this building, but not Im going to rent a unit somewhere, in Australia, a unit refers to flats, apartments or even semi-detached houses. An industrial, warehouse, or commercial space converted to an apartment is called a loft
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Wagonway
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Wagonways consisted of the horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded steam-powered railways. The terms plateway, tramway and in places, dramway are also found. The advantage of using wagonways was that far bigger loads could be transported with the same power, the wooden tubs, known as hunds ran on two wide boards or rails and were used to move ore within the mines. These hunds used a guide pin system, utilising the slot between the two rails to keep them on course. The first true railways, using a flange to keep the wheel on a rail, were developed in the early 17th century. In 1604, Huntingdon Beaumont completed the Wollaton Wagonway, built to transport coal from the mines at Strelley to Wollaton Lane End, just west of Nottingham, England. Wagonways have been proven to exist between Broseley and Jackfield in Shropshire from 1605, used by James Clifford to transport coal from his mines in Broseley to the River Severn and it has recently been suggested that these are somewhat older than that at Wollaton. Wagonways improved coal transport by allowing one horse to deliver between 10 to 13 long tons of coal per run— an approximate fourfold increase. Wagonways were usually designed to carry the fully loaded wagons downhill to a canal or boat dock, in time, it became a common practice to cover them with a thin flat sheathing or plating of iron, in order to add to their life and reduce friction. However, the iron sheathing was not strong enough to resist buckling under the passage of the loaded wagons, as a result, in 1767, they began to cast iron rails. These were probably 6 ft long, with four projecting ears or lugs 3 in by 3 3⁄4 in to them to be fixed to the sleepers. The rails were 3 3⁄4 in wide and 1 1⁄4 in thick, later, descriptions also refer to rails 3 ft long and only 2 in wide. Subsequently, to increase the strength, a similar flange might be added below the rail, the wheels of flangeway wagons were plain, but they could not operate on ordinary roads as the narrow rims would dig into the surface. Another form of rail, the rail, was first used by William Jessop on a line which was opened as part of the Charnwood Forest Canal between Loughborough and Nanpantan in Leicestershire in 1789. This line was designed as a plateway on the Outram system. This difficulty was overcome by paving or causewaying the road up to the level of the top of the flanges, in 1790, Jessop and his partner Outram began to manufacture edge-rails. Another example of the edge rail application was the Lake Lock Rail Road used primarily for coal transport and this was a public railway and opened for traffic in 1798. The route started at Lake Lock, Stanley, on the Aire & Calder Navigation, near Wakefield, and ran to Outwood, edge-rails were also used on the nearby Middleton-Leeds rack railway
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Intelligentsia
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The intelligentsia is a status class of educated people engaged in the complex mental labours that critique, guide, and lead in shaping the culture and politics of their society. As a status class, the intelligentsia includes artists, teachers, and academics, writers, journalists, historically, the political role of the intelligentsia varies between being either a progressive influence or a regressive influence upon the development of their societies. The intelligentsia status-class arose in the late 18th century, in Russian-controlled Poland, in practice, the status and social function of the intelligentsia varied by society. Whereas in Western Europe, especially in Germany and Great Britain, the Bildungsbürgertum, in Europe, the Intelligentsia existed as a status class before the coinage of the term intelligentsia in the 19th century. As people whose professions placed them outside the places and functions of the town-and-country monarchic social-classes of the time. In 1860s Russia, the writer Pyotr Boborykin made the term intelligentsiya popular, 20th century After the Invasion of Poland, by Nazi Germany and the Soviet union, in occupied Poland each side proceeded to eliminate any possible resistance leader. The concept of intelligentsia must not be confused with the notion of intellectuals. ”Moreover, in 1860 there were 20,000 professionals in Russia and 85,000 by 1900. Originally composed of educated nobles, the intelligentsia became dominated by raznochintsy after 1861, in 183378.9 per cent of secondary-school students were children of nobles and bureaucrats, by 1885 they were 49.1 per cent of such students. The proportion of commoners increased from 19.0 to 43.8 per cent, in fear of an educated proletariat, Tsar Nicholas I limited the number of university students to 3,000 per year, yet there were 25,000 students, by 1894. Similarly the number of periodicals increased from 15 in 1855 to 140 periodical publications in 1885, the third element were professionals hired by zemstva. By 1900 there were 47,000 of them, most were liberal radicals, in Russia, the Bolsheviks did not consider the status class of the intelligentsiya to be a true social class, as defined in Marxist philosophy. As a status-class, the intelligentsia grow by recruiting members of the working class, hence, the intelligentsia merely are an ideological illusion, a class of lackeys of the bourgeoisie and the landowners. Despite being a de facto oppressed status-class, the intelligentsia lack revolutionary drive, in the creation of post-monarchic Russia, Lenin dismissed the intellectuals and managers, because the “intelligentsia is not the ‘brain of the nation’, it is the ‘faeces of the nation. ”. The Russian Revolution of 1917 divided the intelligentsia and the classes of Tsarist Russia. The members of the Tsarist-era intelligentsia who remained in Bolshevik Russia were tentatively integrated to Soviet society, although the Bolsheviks recognised the managerial importance of the intelligentsia to the future of soviet Russia, they distrusted their ideological commitment to Marxist philosophy. The Soviet intelligentsiya arose from the commitment of the Communist government for the education of Russia. In the late Soviet Union the term acquired a formal definition of mental and cultural workers. There were subcategories of scientific-technical intelligentsia and creative intelligentsia, between 1917 and 1941 there was a massive increase in the number of engineering graduates, from 15,000 to over 250,000
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Alexander Pushkin
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Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. Pushkin was born into Russian nobility in Moscow and his matrilineal great-grandfather was Abram Petrovich Gannibal, who was kidnapped from Eritrea and raised in the household of Peter the Great. Pushkin published his first poem at the age of fifteen, and was recognized by the literary establishment by the time of his graduation from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. While under the surveillance of the Tsars political police and unable to publish, Pushkin wrote his most famous play. His novel in verse, Eugene Onegin, was serialized between 1825 and 1832, Pushkins father, Sergei Lvovich Pushkin, was descended from a distinguished family of the Russian nobility that traced its ancestry back to the 12th century. Pushkins mother, Nadezhda Ossipovna Gannibal, was descended through her grandmother from German and Scandinavian nobility. She was the daughter of Ossip Abramovich Gannibal and his wife, Abram wrote in a letter to Empress Elizabeth, Peter the Greats daughter, that Gannibal was from the town of Lagon. Largely on the basis of a biography by Gannibals son-in-law Rotkirkh. Vladimir Nabokov, when researching Eugene Onegin, cast serious doubt on this origin theory, after education in France as a military engineer, Gannibal became governor of Reval and eventually Général en Chef in charge of the building of sea forts and canals in Russia. Born in Moscow, Pushkin published his first poem at the age of fifteen, after school, Pushkin plunged into the vibrant and raucous intellectual youth culture of the capital, Saint Petersburg. In 1820 he published his first long poem, Ruslan and Ludmila, amidst much controversy about its subject, Pushkin gradually became committed to social reform and emerged as a spokesman for literary radicals. This angered the government, and led to his transfer from the capital in May 1820 and he went to the Caucasus and to Crimea, then to Kamianka and Chișinău, where he became a Freemason. Here he joined the Filiki Eteria, an organization whose purpose was to overthrow Ottoman rule in Greece. He was inspired by the Greek Revolution and when the war against the Ottoman Turks broke out he kept a recording the events of the great national uprising. He stayed in Chișinău until 1823 and wrote two Romantic poems which brought him acclaim, The Captive of the Caucasus and The Fountain of Bakhchisaray. In 1823 Pushkin moved to Odessa, where he clashed with the government. In Mikhaylovskoye, Pushkin wrote nostalgic love poems which he dedicated to Elizaveta Vorontsova, then Pushkin continued work on his verse-novel Eugene Onegin. In Mikhaylovskoye, in 1825, Pushkin wrote the poem To*** and it is generally believed that he dedicated this poem to Anna Kern, but there are other opinions
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Andrey Bely
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Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, better known by the pen name Andrei Bely, was a Russian novelist, poet, theorist, and literary critic. His novel Petersburg was regarded by Vladimir Nabokov as one of the four greatest novels of the 20th century, Boris Bugaev was born in Moscow, into a prominent intellectual family. His father, Nikolai Bugaev, was a mathematician who is regarded as a founder of the Moscow school of mathematics. His mother was not only highly intelligent but a society beauty. Young Boris was a polymath whose interests included mathematics, biology, chemistry, music, philosophy and he would go on to take part in both the Symbolist movement and the Russian school of neo-Kantianism. Bugaev became friendly with Alexander Blok and his wife, he fell in love with her, Nikolai Bugaev was well known for his influential philosophical essays, in which he decried geometry and probability and trumpeted the virtues of hard analysis. Despite—or because of—his fathers mathematical tastes, Boris Bugaev was fascinated by probability and particularly by entropy and it was Mikhail Solovyov who gave Bugaev his pseudonym Andrei Bely. Belys symbolist novel Petersburg is generally considered to be his masterpiece, the book employs a striking prose method in which sounds often evoke colors. The novel is set in the hysterical atmosphere of turn-of-the-century Petersburg. At one point, Nikolai is pursued through the Petersburg mists by the hooves of the famous bronze statue of Peter the Great. In his later years Bely was influenced by Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy and he spent time between Switzerland, Germany, and Russia, during its revolution. He supported the Bolshevik rise to power and later dedicated his efforts to Soviet culture and he died, aged 53, in Moscow. Bely was one of the influences on the theater of Vsevolod Meyerhold. The Andrei Bely Prize, one of the most important prizes in Russian literature, was named after him, fyodor, poet and main character, praises the system Bely created for graphically marking off and calculating the half-stresses in the iambs. Bely found that the diagrams plotted over the compositions of the great poets frequently had the shapes of rectangles, nabokovs essay Notes on Prosody follows for the large part Belys essay Description of the Russian iambic tetrameter. Robert A. Maguire and John E. Malmstad, Indiana University Press,1978, the Silver Dove George Reavey, Grove Press,1974. John Elsworth, Northwestern University Press,2001, Kotik Letaev Gerald Janecek, Ardis,1971. The Complete Short Stories Ronald E. Peterson, Ardis,1979, selected Essays of Andrey Bely Steven Cassedy, University of California Press,1985
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Tverskaya Street
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Tverskaya Street, known as Gorky Street between 1935 and 1990, is the main and probably best-known radial street in Moscow. The street runs Northwest from the central Manege Square in the direction of Saint Petersburg, the route continues further as First Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street, Leningradsky Avenue and Leningradskoye Highway. Tourists are told that Tverskaya Street existed as early as the 12th century and its importance for the medieval city was immense, as it connected Moscow with its superior, and later chief rival, Tver. At that time, the crossed the Neglinnaya River. The first stone bridge across the Neglinnaya was set up in 1595, in the 17th and 18th centuries, Tverskaya Street was renowned as the centre of Moscows social life. The nobility considered it fashionable to settle in this district, among the Palladian mansions dating from the reign of Catherine the Great are the residence of the mayor of Moscow, and the English Club. The mayors residence among a number of historic buildings was moved about 14 meters for the widening of the Gorky Street during Stalins time. On the square before it stands a statue of the founder of Moscow, Yuri Dolgoruky. Several triumphal arches were constructed to commemorate coronation ceremonies, in 1792, the Tverskaya Square was laid out before the residence of the governor of Moscow as a staging ground for mass processions and parades. In 1947, the square was decorated with a statue of Prince Yury Dolgoruky. During Pushkins time, the Tverskaya was lined with five churches, towards the end of the 19th century, the street was reconstructed, with stately neoclassical mansions giving way to grandiose commercial buildings in an eclectic mixture of historical styles. A characteristic edifice of the time is the eclectic Hotel National, Moscow, the Society gave its last performance there on 3 January 1891 and the building burnt down on the night of January 10. Further expansion occurred in line with Joseph Stalins 1935 master plan, arkady Mordvinov, who handled this ambitious project, retained some historical buildings, like the ornately decorated Savvinskoye Podvorye by Ivan Kuznetsov. This building was moved to a new foundation North from the new street line, the project was only partially completed before World War II, more Stalinist blocks appeared in the 1940s and 1950s, still leaving a lot of 19th-century buildings. Most of them were torn down later, with a few exceptions like Yermolova Theatre still standing, intourist Hotel, a 23-story tower built in 1970, has been demolished in 2002 and replaced with an equally controversial hotel block. Tverskaya Street runs from the Manege Square through the Tverskoy District and its extension, First Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street, continues further on Northwest right up to Belorussky Rail Terminal, changing its name again into Leningradsky Prospekt. It keeps the same direction before diverging into Volokolamskoye Shosse and Leningradskoye Shosse, Tverskaya Street is the most expensive shopping street in Moscow and Russia. According to an index published by global real estate company Colliers International in 2008, it is now the third most expensive street in the world and it is the center of the citys nightlife and entertainment
Арба́т (help·info)), mainly referred to in English as the Arbat, is a pedestrian street about one kilometer long in the historical centre of Moscow, Russia. The Arbat has existed since at least the 15th century, which makes it one of the oldest surviving streets of the Russian capital, it forms the heart of the Arbat District of Moscow. Originally the street formed part of an important trade-route and was home to a large number of craftsmen.
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Media related to Arbat Street at Wikimedia Commons
