I took some photos at my dacha (i.e. country house) recently and I’d like to share them with you. Finally, snow’s gone (it was an extremely snowy winter in Moscow). Moles are digging holes, birds are tweeting… Sun is shining, the weather is sweet (around +25-27 ºC).
P.S. Here’s a video of my dacha surroundings in the evening: https://vimeo.com/66053867
The Colors of the Battle: Spring vs. Winter. Part 2.
I decided to make the second part of the “Colors of the battle: Spring vs. Winter” post. Finally, spring is in the air:
The colors of the Battle: Spring vs. Winter.
Here are the photos I took for the “Weekly Photo Challenge: Color“. These are the colors of the post-winter but still proto-spring Moscow:
UPD. The second part of the “Colors of the battle: Spring vs. Winter” post is devoted to snow, trees, trams and trains.
The Soviet Pyramid.
![A poem says: "And our efforts were rewarded by [the fact] / That having defeated injustice and gloom / We have forged the fiery wings / For our / Country / And our epoch". Below: "This monument was constructed in commemoration of the Soviet people's outstanding achievements in space exploration".](http://russianuniverse.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/sam_0215.jpg?w=112&h=150)
If you ask people what symbol comes to their mind when they think of Moscow most of them (including both foreigners and Russians) would name Saint Basil’s Cathedral or the Kremlin, some would recall the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman sculpture or the Peoples Friendship Fountain. It is impossible to disagree that all of these magnificent constructions, especially the first two, are symbols of the city (or even of Russia itself) which are accompanied by such stereotypical cultural brands like ‘matryoshka‘, ‘balalaika‘, ‘samovar‘, ‘banya‘, ‘ushanka‘, ‘vodka‘ (sic!), etc. Many of these ‘brands’ are sold near the heart of the city, Red Square, thus, strengthening the association. Don’t get me wrong – there’s nothing bad about these products but the combination and the positioning of them gives me the right to call it ‘klyukva‘ (cranberry). This word is often used in Russia in a non-literal meaning to describe foreign (negative) stereotypes concerning Russia and Russians or some specific Russian cultural products (films, books, music videos, etc.) which are ‘klyukved’ on purpose by their creators in order to be appreciated by the Western media and public.
I’ve chosen the Monument to the Conquerors of Space as an iconic symbol of Moscow (and not only Moscow), an embodiment of the cultural and historical heritage of the Soviet space program. Until the middle of 2006 very close to the monument there used to be Zvezdny Ryad which started from the VDNKh metro station first entrance and ended near the main entrance to the All-Russia Exhibition Centre. As poetic was its name (‘Zvezdny Ryad’ literally means ‘Star Row’) as miserable was it in reality: a bunch of casinos, one-armed bandits, sex-shops and bars with loud ‘popsa‘ (how we call tasteless low-quality pop-music in Russia), filled with zhuliki (crooks) of all kinds: gamblers, sellers of the stolen mobile phones and watches, thieves, etc. This whole scene could be perfectly described by one specific Russian word – poshlost’ - which Vladimir Nabokov introduced to the Western public in the form of ‘poshlust‘, i.e. “the falsely important, the falsely beautiful, the falsely clever, the falsely attractive”.
As for me this monument is a representation of people’s will and human capabilities, the-sky-is-not-the-limit approach and per-aspera-ad-astra attitude. One can also view the monument as a Soviet pyramid: the kingdom and the dynasty are gone, the people who built it and who it was devoted to are dead but the monument remains as a reminder of the past victories of a mortal man over time and space. It stands against the klyukva & poshlost’ of nowadays.
I found out that the RussianUniverse WooRank score equals 56.7 and the number of backlinks is 150. Thus, among the top priorities for me is to write more content for my website, promote RussianUniverse.org on social media, build more backlinks pointing to my blog, etc. Like we say in Russia “nachat’ i konchit’” (literally: to start [doing smth.] and finish [doing smth.]), which means that ‘there’s so many things to do‘. Exploring my Woorank Pro account possibilities I was happy to know that in relation to the ‘Russian universe‘ and ‘Soviet architecture‘ keywords my website (which is less than a month old) ranks higher than those of my competitors. Way to go!.. Russian way 
“The Mythmaking of Maks Haase”.
Exhibition of the Russian painter of German descent Maks Haase (1938-1998) took place in Moscow at the end of January/beginning of February at Kino Gallery. Besides paintings, the exhibition included the so-called ‘goreliens‘ (made of wool and acrylic) – Haase derived this word by combining the words ‘gorelief’ (‘high relief’ in Russian) + ‘gobelen’ (tapestry). Due to Haase’s strong interest in the unconscious, mythology, archetypes, etc., which was reflected in his works, and some similarities in his artistic manner with that of Salvador Dali I heard several people label him as the Russian Dali. Do you agree with this statement?
My memories of the last Russian Revolution. Part 1.
God forbid we should ever witness a Russian revolt, senseless and merciless. Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), The Captain’s Daughter.
One evening in the summer of 2012 I was coming back home by tram. I left several stops before to take a walk across the All-Russia Exhibition Centre (also known as VDNKh). The Moscow sky was filled with clouds illuminated purple by the setting Sun and calmness after day heat finally fell on the city. I came in through the main entrance of VDNKh and walked towards the Lenin sculpture and the House of Russia’s Peoples rising above it (by the way, the Peoples Friendship Fountain is situated besides the latter). I turned left from the central alley without saying ‘hi’ to Vladimir Ilyich (i.e. Lenin) and stepped into the garden where luckily I found an outdoor photography exhibition from the archives of the Izvestia newspaper. The exhibition was devoted to the milestones of the Soviet and post-Soviet Russian history. Among the photos there were two which drew my particular attention. These were the photos of the Moscow White House after tank shelling in October 1993 and I took several photos of them on my mobile phone. The memories of the Autumn 1993 events were vivid in my mind.
At that time I was 9 years old, so I didn’t follow the roller-coaster of then-current political situation in Russia. Thus, there wasn’t anything special about the Autumn of 1993 for me until October 3. October 3 was a sunny Sunday in Moscow. The surroundings of the Ostankino TV centre turned out to be the battle scene between Yeltsin’s and the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation (Russian Parliament) supporters. In short, the pro-parliament crowd and some armed people approached the Ostankino TV Centre in the evening and attempted to take it by storm but failed. Many people were killed including passers-by and journalists. I lived near the TV Centre so my parents told me that I should sleep in another room with windows looking out into the courtyard because they were afraid of random bullets. The night sky above the buildings was lit by tracer bullets and the strong smell of burnt gunpowder was in the air. Several days later we went to the battle scene with my father who came to the conclusion that expanding bullets were used (probably by the Interior Ministry units that defended the TV Centre) judging by the bullet holes in the fence which looked like a sieve. I came to the TV Centre yesterday to take some photos of those bullet holes and discovered that now the fence is colored blue (it used to be grey) and most of the bullet holes are fixed.
The next day (October 4, 1993) the storming of the Moscow White House happened.
P.S. Here’s the video of the football TV broadcast interrupted by the news presenter. He says: “Dear TV viewers, due to the armed siege of the Ostankino TV Company we have to stop the broadcasting”. Videos from the TV Centre surroundings: one and two.
P.P.S. To be continued.
