1.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
2.
Novgorod Republic
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Citizens referred to their city-state as His Majesty Lord Novgorod the Great, or more often as Lord Novgorod the Great. The Republic prospered as the easternmost port of the Hanseatic League, in the middle of the 9th century Novgorod was only a name used to describe a staging post on the trade route from the Baltic Sea to the Byzantine Empire. It was populated by various Finnic and Slavic tribes that were constantly at war with one another for supremacy. However, these tribes came together during the beginning of the 9th century to try, Novgorod functioned as the original capital of the Rus people until 882 when Oleg transferred his administration to Kiev. From that time until 1019-1020 Novgorod was a part of Kievan Rus, Novgorod Princes were appointed by the Grand Prince of Kiev. Novgorod was sort of a center as by legend it was the first city of Rus. Novgorod still possesses relics of the beliefs that preceded Christianity and are now part of their pre-Christian Pagan/Norse/Slavic history. Novgorod continuously played a key role in the politics of Rus by assisting Vladimir the Great of Kiev, one of his first actions as Grand Prince was to grant loyal Novgorodians numerous freedoms and privileges. Thus the foundation for the Novgorod Republic was laid, while still a part of Kievan Rus, Novgorod eventually evolved into a powerful regional center that was largely independent. The Novgorod boyars began to dominate the offices of posadnik and tysyatsky, in 1136, the Novgorodians dismissed Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich and over the next century and a half were able to invite in and dismiss a number of princes. However, these invitations or dismissals were often based on who the dominant prince in Rus or Appanage Russia was at the time, cities such as Staraya Russa, Staraya Ladoga, Torzhok, and Oreshek were part of the Novgorodian Land. According to some accounts, a vicar of the archbishop ran the city of Staraya Ladoga in the 13th century, the city of Pskov, initially part of the Novgorodian Land, had de facto independence from at least the 13th century after joining the Hanseatic League. Several princes such as Dovmont and Vsevolod Mstislavich reigned in Pskov without any deference to or consultation with the prince or other officials in Novgorod, pskovs independence was acknowledged by the Treaty of Bolotovo in 1348. Even after this, however, the Archbishop of Novgorod headed the church in Pskov and kept the title Archbishop of Novgorod the Great, in the 12th–15th century, the Novgorodian Republic expanded east and northeast. The Novgorodians explored the areas around Lake Onega, along the Northern Dvina, in the beginning of the 14th century the Novgorodians explored the Arctic Ocean, the Barents Sea, the Kara Sea, and the West-Siberian river Ob. The Ugric tribes that inhabited the Northern Urals had to pay tribute to Novgorod the Great, losing them meant economic and cultural decline for the city and its inhabitants. Indeed, the failure of the Novgorodians to win these wars led to the downfall of the Republic. Soviet-era Marxist scholarship frequently described the system of Novgorod as a feudal republic
3.
Primary Chronicle
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The Tale of Past Years or Primary Chronicle is a history of Kievan Rus from about 850 to 1110, originally compiled in Kiev about 1113. The work is considered to be a source in the interpretation of the history of the Eastern Slavs. Tradition long regarded the original compilation as the work of a monk named Nestor, Nestor worked at the court of Sviatopolk II of Kiev and probably shared Sviatopolks pro-Scandinavian policies. The early part of the Chronicle features many anecdotal stories, among them those of the arrival of the three Varangian brothers, the founding of Kiev, the murder of Askold and Dir, ca. 882, the death of Oleg in 912, the cause of which was reported forseen by him, and the thorough vengeance taken by Olga, the wife of Igor, on the Drevlians, who had murdered her husband. Her actions secured Kievan Rus from the Drevlians, preventing her from having to marry a Drevlian prince, in the year 1116, Nestors text was extensively edited by the hegumen Sylvester who appended his name at the end of the chronicle. As Vladimir Monomakh was the patron of the village of Vydubychi where Sylvesters monastery was situated and this second version of Nestors work is preserved in the Laurentian codex. A third edition followed two years later and centered on the person of Vladimirs son and heir, Mstislav the Great, the author of this revision could have been Greek, for he corrected and updated much data on Byzantine affairs. This latest revision of Nestors work is preserved in the Hypatian codex, because the original of the chronicle as well as the earliest known copies are lost, it is difficult to establish the original content of the chronicle. The two main sources for the text as it is known presently are the Laurentian Codex. The Laurentian Codex was compiled in what are today Russian lands by the Nizhegorod monk Laurentius for the Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich in 1377, the original text he used was a lost codex compiled for the Grand Duke Mikhail of Tver in 1305. The account continues until 1305, but the years 898–922, 1263–83, the manuscript was acquired by the famous Count Musin-Pushkin in 1792 and subsequently presented to the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg. The Hypatian Codex dates to the 15th century and it was written in what are today Ukrainian lands and incorporates much information from the lost 12th-century Kievan and 13th-century Halychian chronicles. The language of work is the East Slavic version of Church Slavonic language with many additional irregular east-slavisms. Whereas the Laurentian text traces the Kievan legacy through to the Muscovite princes, the Hypatian codex was rediscovered in Kiev in the 1620s and copy was made for Prince Kostiantyn Ostrozhsky. A copy was found in Russia in the 18th century at the Ipatiev Monastery of Kostroma by the Russian historian Nikolai Karamzin, numerous monographs and published versions of the chronicle have been made, the earliest known being in 1767. Aleksey Shakhmatov published a pioneering textological analysis of the narrative in 1908, Dmitry Likhachev and other Soviet scholars partly revisited his findings. Their versions attempted to reconstruct the pre-Nestorian chronicle, compiled at the court of Yaroslav the Wise in the mid-11th century
4.
Aleksey Shakhmatov
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Alexei Alexandrovich Shakhmatov was a Russian philologist and historian credited with laying foundations for the science of textology. Born in Narva, present-day Estonia, Shakhmatov was brought up by his uncle near Saratov and he went to a public school in Moscow and developed interest for Old Russian language and literature at an early age. At the age of 16, his articles started to appear in the most authoritative journal of Slavic studies of that time, Shakhmatov furthered his education at the Moscow University, later delivering lectures in the same institution. His first monograph, published in 1886, examined the language of ancient Novgorod charters, in 1891 he became so enthusiastic about zemstvo that he gave up his scholarly pursuits for three years and held a minor administrative office in his native village. In 1894, Shakhmatov returned to Moscow and won acclaim for his Ph. D. dissertation. Five years later, he was admitted to the Russian Academy of Sciences, in 1909, Shakhmatov moved to work at Saint Petersburg University as a professor. By that time, he had been elected doctor honoris causa by the Charles University, Berlin University, Polish Academy of Sciences, Shakhmatov participated in the Commission for the Study of the Tribal Composition of the Population of the Borderlands of Russia set up in February 1917. He also helped prepare sweeping reforms of Russian orthography, which would be implemented by the Bolsheviks in 1918, Shakhmatov refused to leave Petrograd for the West, a fatal decision that led to his premature death from malnutrition and exhaustion in 1920. The Academy subsequently cherished his memory and instituted a special Shakhmatov Prize, to be awarded for the best works in science, textology. Shakhmatov is best remembered for having pioneered textological research of early Russian chronicles and he established with a great degree of precision the stages of evolution of that key document, even attempting to reconstruct the postulated proto-version of Nestors chronicle. His research proved seminal for subsequent generations of historians, Shakhmatov was also responsible for publication and pioneering studies of minor or derelict Slavic languages. His studies of Slavic etymology revolved around the idea of close contacts, in particular, Shakhmatov was convinced that Prekmurje Slovene, spoken in Prekmurje and the Slovene March, contains Celtic elements due to its front rounded vowels ü and ö. In fact, Prekmurje Slovene is simply dialect of Slovene, hungarian nationalists employed this theory of Shakhmatov against the Slovenes as part of magyarization of the Slovene March
5.
State Historical Museum
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The State Historical Museum of Russia is a museum of Russian history wedged between Red Square and Manege Square in Moscow. Its exhibitions range from relics of prehistoric tribes that lived on the territory of present-day Russia, the total number of objects in the museums collection comes to millions. The place where the now stands was formerly occupied by the Principal Medicine Store. Several rooms in that building housed royal collections of antiquities, other rooms were occupied by the Moscow University, founded by Mikhail Lomonosov in 1755. The museum was founded in 1872 by Ivan Zabelin, Aleksey Uvarov and several other Slavophiles interested in promoting Russian history, the board of trustees, composed of Sergey Solovyov, Vasily Klyuchevsky, Uvarov and other leading historians, presided over the construction of the museum building. After a prolonged competition the project was handed over to Vladimir Osipovich Shervud, the present structure was built based on Sherwoods neo-Russian design between 1875 and 1881. The first 11 exhibit halls officially opened in 1883 during a visit from the Tsar, then in 1894 Tsar Alexander III became the honorary president of the museum and the following year,1895, the museum was renamed the Tsar Alexander III Imperial Russian History Museum. Its interiors were decorated in the Russian Revival style by such artists as Viktor Vasnetsov, Henrik Semiradsky. During the Soviet period the murals were proclaimed gaudy and were plastered over, the museum went through a painstaking restoration of its original appearance between 1986 and 1997. The library boasts the manuscripts of the Chludov Psalter, Svyatoslavs Miscellanies, Mstislav Gospel, Yuriev Gospel, the museums coin collection alone includes 1.7 million coins, making it the largest in Russia. In 1996, the number of all articles in the collection reached 4,373,757. A branch of the museum is housed in the Romanov Chambers Zaryadye, in 1934 The Museum of Womens Emancipation at the Novodevichy Convent became part of the State Historical Museum. Some of the churches and other buildings are still affiliated with the State Historical Museum. Official website Photo Google Maps satellite photo
6.
Laurentian Codex
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The codex was copied by the Nizhegorod monk Laurentius for the Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich in 1377. The original text he used was a lost codex compiled for the Grand Duke Mikhail of Tver in 1305, the account continues until 1305, but the years 898–922, 1263–83 and 1288–94 are for some reason omitted. The manuscript was acquired by the famous Count Musin-Pushkin in 1792 and subsequently presented to the Russian National Library in St Petersburg
7.
Yuriev Monastery
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The St. Georges Monastery is usually cited as Russias oldest monastery. It stands in 5 kilometers south of Novgorod on the bank of the Volkhov River near where it flows out of Lake Ilmen. The monastery used to be the most important in the medieval Novgorod Republic and it is part of the World Heritage Site named Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings. A later veche held the Archimandrite Esif overnight in the Church of St. Nicholas on the Marketplace in 1337, the chronicle does not say how the crisis was resolved, but the next year Esif was elevated to the Archimandrite of St. George after the death of Lavrenti. In 1342 he was sent to Koporye on a mission to secure Posadnik Fedor Danilovich who was detained there, Russian monasteries at various times became guard-houses for prisoners of state. Also, in 1345, the church of St. George was renovated, the archimandrites of the Yuriev Monastery were often called Archimandrite of Novgorod, as in 1270, when Varlaam Hegumen of St. Georges and Archimandtire of Novgorod died. A listing of the Archimandrites of Novgorod, is included in the back of the Novgorodian First Chronicle, archbishop Spiridon was a monk and deacon at the monastery before he was elected archbishop of Novgorod. Prince Dmitry Shemyaka was also buried there. The monastery played the role of Novgorodian princes burial place, in 1198 two sons of Yaroslav the Wise, Izyaslav of Luki and Rostislav, are buried in the Church of Saint George. In 1233 the elder brother of Great Prince Alexander Nevsky called Фёдор, almost 200 years afterwards, when Swedish intervents had unearthed graves looking for lucre while invading the monastery during the Ingrian War, the remains of prince Theodor were found imperishable. They put him out of grave and stand him leaned at wall, as the result, the great prince Theodor was canonized in Novgorod and is the local saint. The monastery was an important source for information on medieval Novgorod. The Church of St. George is one of the largest in Novgorod and it is a tall white-stone church 85 feet long by 75 feet wide with three silver domes, which is somewhat unusual for Russian churches which usually have five. Some remnants of the frescoes remain, but most of the church was refrescoes in 1902. The monastery also has the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross in the corner of the monastery, with five blue domes and gold stars on it. The gateway into the monastery is crowned by a tall gold-domed tower which is visible from the city centre, the monastery was ravaged during the Soviet rule. Five of its six churches were destroyed by 1928, the monastery was closed in 1929, during the World War II, the buildings were occupied by the German and Spanish armed forces, and were seriously damaged. In 1991 the monastery was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, however the western part, including a church there, are still in ruins
8.
Veliky Novgorod
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It is situated on the M10 federal highway connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg. The city lies along the Volkhov River just downstream from its outflow from Lake Ilmen, UNESCO recognized Novgorod as a World Heritage Site in 1992. At its peak during the 14th century, the city was the capital of the Novgorod Republic, the Charter of Veliky Novgorod recognizes 859 as the year when the city was first mentioned. Archaeological dating is fairly easy and accurate to within 15–25 years, as the streets were paved with wood, and most of the houses made of wood, allowing tree ring dating. The Varangian name of the city Holmgård/Holmgard is mentioned in Norse Sagas as existing at a yet earlier stage, originally, Holmgård referred only to the stronghold southeast of the present-day city, Rurikovo Gorodische. First mention of this Nordic or Germanic etymology to the name of the city of Novgorod occurs in the 10th-century policy manual De Administrando Imperio by Byzantine emperor Constantine VII, in 882, Ruriks successor, Oleg of Novgorod, conquered Kiev and founded the state of Kievan Rus. Novgorods size as well as its political, economic, and cultural influence made it the second most important city in Kievan Rus, according to a custom, the elder son and heir of the ruling Kievan monarch was sent to rule Novgorod even as a minor. When the ruling monarch had no son, Novgorod was governed by posadniks, such as the legendary Gostomysl, Dobrynya, Konstantin. Of all their princes, Novgorodians most cherished the memory of Yaroslav the Wise and his son, Vladimir, sponsored construction of the great St. Sophia Cathedral, more accurately translated as the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, which stands to this day. In Norse sagas the city is mentioned as the capital of Gardariki, four Viking kings—Olaf I of Norway, Olaf II of Norway, Magnus I of Norway, and Harald Hardrada—sought refuge in Novgorod from enemies at home. No more than a few decades after the 1030 death and subsequent canonization of Olaf II of Norway, the town of Visby in Gotland functioned as the leading trading center in the Baltic before the Hansa League. At Novgorod in 1080, Visby merchants established a trading post which they named Gutagard, later, in the first half of the 13th century, merchants from northern Germany also established their own trading station in Novgorod, known as Peterhof. At about the time, in 1229, German merchants at Novgorod were granted certain privileges. In 1136, the Novgorodians dismissed their prince Vsevolod Mstislavich, the year is seen as the traditional beginning of the Novgorod Republic. One of the most important local figures in Novgorod was the posadnik, or mayor, the tysyatsky, or thousandman, originally the head of the town militia but later a commercial and judicial official, was also elected by the Veche. Another important local official was the Archbishop of Novgorod who shared power with the boyars, archbishops were elected by the Veche or by the drawing of lots, and after their election, were sent to the metropolitan for consecration. While a basic outline of the officials and the Veche can be drawn up. The boyars and the archbishop ruled the city together, although where one officials power ended, throughout the Middle Ages, the city thrived culturally