The road which has created Russia (part 2)

Neither Demidov’s botanical garden (now it is a place in the modern micro district) nor Steller’s tomb (nobody knows Steller’s exact burial place) have been saved. Despite this the destiny of the people connected with the Siberian route has become an important achy-typical components of the cultural landscape of those places through which it passed (see for example: 4, 19, and 22). In 1719, in the second part of the book issued about Robinson Crusoe, the route of adventures passed along the Siberian route. Under the assumption made by the historian Verevkin (4), the reference that inspired Daniel Defoe, was one of the first descriptions of the Siberian route – notes made by an unknown military foreigner who had proceeded with forty six officers from Moscow to Siberia in 1666 (14, 264). These notes written in German, long time remained unpublished ad were stored in Copenhagen. They were published in our country in 1936 in the magazine "Historical archive" by M.P. Alekseev - the author of books "Siberia in news of the West-European writers", "Siberia in Defoe's novel", etc. Other important documents about the Siberian route from the end of the XVII century are traveling diaries of Russian ambassadors to China Izbrant Idess and Adam Brandt who traveled in 1692 - 1695.

The Siberian route has left the bright trace on architecture and landscapes of cities through which it ran. One of the paramount goals of the "tsar’s road" of Solikamsk, Verkhoturye, Tyumen and Tobolsk was to leave on new, uninhabited lands the major attributes of Russian statehood and spiritual culture. In these cities at the end the XVII - the beginning of the XVIII centuries many outstanding samples of temple and civil architecture were constructed, the largest monasteries were founded which are seen today as original spiritual items of this historical-geographical phenomena.



The beginning of Babinov’s road was in the Cathedral area of Solikamsk that has become the heart of an architectural ensemble of the city and the "pearls" of it constructed mainly from the 80s of the XVII till the 20s of the XVIII centuries are: Trinity and Cross-Erection Сathedrals, Epiphanies and Resurrection Churches, the Cathedral Belltower and the House of Commander. One of the most impressive architecture monuments connected with the Siberian route is considered to be John Predtechi's Church founded in 1715 in the village of Krasnoye, near Solikamsk. Not only the symbolical lay-out of this church, but also its external shape brings to mind a tall sailing ship symbolizing the movement of Orthodoxy to the East. Most likely, John Predtechi's Church was the first temple with such an appearance. Later, in the second half of the XVIII century, similar architectural styles were widely applied by the masters of Totma whose inhabitants have played a significant role in the development of Russian America.



The so-called "Moscow baroque" influenced greatly the external shape of the majority of Solikamsk’s temples. This architectural style, extending from the center of the country to its remote boundaries, alongside other architectural tendencies, arts and crafts, underwent the change, adapted some spiritual and aesthetic research, quite often being enriched by the original traditions, and developed in local schools of architecture. As a result, in different regions you can meet different definitions of this style, such as "Northern", "Ural" or "Siberian" baroque. The influence of traditional architecture of Great Ustyug, Kargopol, and Totma is clearly seen in the architectural ensemble of Solikamsk. In fact, the first artels (cooperative associations) that erected stone temples arrived precisely from these cities. At the same time, the original stylistic features of the Solikamsk ensemble are distinguished. They have become typical for Solikamsk’s craftsmen who subsequently have taken part in the construction of many temples not only in the homeland, but also in a number of other cities of the Ural Mountains and Siberia. One such masterpiece of local temple architecture is the Trinity Cathedral in Verkhoturye, which was included amongst the most outstanding architectural monuments of the world in 1959 at the international conference in The Hague. The Trinity Cathedral, for which the construction began in 1703 with the blessing of the Siberian metropolitan Filofey Leschinsky, became the main dominant feature of Verkhoturye’s stone Kremlin, being erected at that time. By all means this architectural complex symbolized the main administrative and spiritual attributes of the Russian state. Besides the Trinity Cathedral, there were the House of the Commander, the Decrees chambers, the Granary barns, the exchequer and a number of other buildings in its territory.

Besides the administrative and trading functions which solved the problems of the Siberian colonization, Babinov’s road had also an important missionary function. First clerics and monks used that route to the East. In 1604 the priest Iona, who became the founder of the Saint-Nikolaev monastery arrived in Verkhoturye. Some decades later, on this road the future heavenly patrons of the Ural Mountains and Siberia - Sacred Just Simeon of Verkhoturye moved to the village of Merkushino which was situated 60 versts from Verkhoturye. After Simeon’s relics were transferred to the Saint-Nikolaev monastery of Verkhoturye in 1704 Babinov’s road in the minds of many people took on a new, sacral sense of a pilgrim’s route. Consideration of the spiritual value of the Siberian route is important in understanding how self-sacrifice and beliefs of separated people have changed these lands.



In Tyumen the Siberian route passed close to the Trinity monastery. It should be mentioned, that unlike most other cathedrals often found in Siberia with Moscow and North Russian architectural elements, this cathedral had typical Ukrainian features. It can be easily explained by the fact that the Siberian metropolitan Filofey Leschinsky who took part in the construction of stone temples of the monastery was of Ukrainian origin. Unlike Verkhoturye and Tobolsk, there was no stone Kremlin in Tyumen. However, in the historical part of the town, which was the place of the first wooden jail, during the XVIII century the original architectural ensemble was built. In 1700, on the bank of the river Tura, stone barns for the storage of treasury were founded, above which the Annunciation church was built. Later, on the opposite bank of the river the church of Ascension-George was erected and was sanctified in 1789. In the 70s - 90s of the XVIII century was constructed the Nikolskaya (Cross-Erection) church which has become one of the most important dominant features of the historical Tyumen center. Owing to its placement on the «tsar’s road ", in Tyumen, as well as in Verkhoturye, a Coachmen’s village developed near the Trinity monastery.



The Tobolsk Kremlin became one of the most outstanding architectural complexes - symbols of power of the Tobolsk province during that time covering the huge territory from the Ural Mountains to the east suburbs of Siberia. In 1697 the architect and mapmaker Simeon Remezov received the commission to make the project of the stone Kremlin and make calculations of its costs. One of most difficult problems he faced was to unite the various buildings of the Troitsk cape in one architectural and military-defensive system. The Kremlin complex included: the house of the Bishop, a consistory, the monastic buildings, the Sofia cathedral, the Covering church, the Cathedral Belltower, the Chambers of Orders, the largest in Siberia, a court yard in which greater caravans with the overseas goods quite often stopped, and a number of other economic and administrative constructions.



In Tobolsk the main architectural frame of the Siberian route was the Dmitriy Gate of Renteriya. The Tobolsk regional specialist Boris Eristov wrote about it: "Many Siberian cities (Verkhoturye, Tyumen, Tobolsk) were called symbolically "the gate of Siberia", however there is such a gate in Tobolsk. The matter is that in the past the well-known route to Siberia went through Tobolsk. The Moscow path directly approached the "Dmitriy Gate» of the Tobolsk Kremlin, passed through it and then on the hilly part of the city went further to the east, to Omsk, Irkutsk, Kazakhstan and China. Here they are, real «Gates of Asia ". Through this gate passed the ambassadors of eastern lords, who did not manage to reach St. Petersburg, as Tobolsk played the major role in eastern policy of the state « (26, 196).

During the XVII and XVIII centuries Tobolsk was not only the largest administrative, spiritual and trading center of Siberia, but also one of the main transport units of the Siberian route. It was also the beginning of the overland Irkutsk route. Owing to the connection with the Ob-Irtysh basin, Tobolsk was given the key role in the development of Western Siberia. Probably, that is why Tobolsk is often called «the father of the Siberian cities ".

As for the region of the Ural Mountains, similar definitions are often applied to Solikamsk and Verkhoturye. These cities played an important role in the development of the land, situated to the south of the basic direction of the Siberian route. In the XVIII century the main agrarian and trading centers of this region became such cities as Kungur, Krasnoufimsk, Irbit, Kamyshlov, Yalutorovsk, Ishim, etc. In 1699 Peter the Great issued the decree concerning «The Establishment of the Verkhoturye iron factories ". During this period Verkhoturye became the important center, which was the beginning of the future «mining civilization «of Ural Mountains region. The mining era of the Ural region began with the construction of the Nevyansk factory in 1700 where one year later the first cast iron was produced. In 1720 the Nizhniy-Tagil factory was founded, soon to become one of the largest industrial centers of the Ural Mountains Region, and in 1723 the construction of Ekaterinburg began. In 1781 on the place of settlement of the Egoshihinsk factory the city of Perm was founded which later became the center of Perm Region. In the XVIII century these new economic centers of the Ural Mountains Region and Western Siberia more and more actively defined the character of the further development of this land, so that the first advanced posts of its development were involuntarily pushed aside into the background. The given process predetermined the displacement of the basic transport ways. So, in 1735 the new post route which went through Kungur and Ekaterinburg was opened. Despite its existence, all basic streams of cargoes continued to use Babinov’s road, because at that time it was forbidden to use other routes for trading purposes. However, in 1753 after the abolishing of collecting taxes for the goods transportation to Siberia and the closing of the Verkhoturye customs, artificial restraint of the development of new transport routes lost its meaning. For a very short period of time, Babinov’s road conceded its role to the Big Siberian route; its official opening took place in 1783.

The process of «displacement of accents« in the economic life of the Ural Mountains and Siberia during the XVIII century caused the loss of former transit value of the cities situated on the Siberian route, that finally predetermined the decrease of their administrative status. In 1781 the Perm Delegation was founded, which was transformed in 1796 into the Perm Region, with district cities of Solikamsk and Verkhoturye. The period of time, from the end of the XVIII till the beginning of the XX century was characterized by the gradual loss for Tobolsk of its former status of the «capital of Siberia ". At the beginning there was the division of Siberia into two Delegations: Tobolsk and Irkutsk in 1782. In 1838 Omsk became the administrative center of Western Siberia, and in 1918 the regional capital was moved from Tobolsk to Tyumen. This could be explained by the fact that, by that time Tyumen, through which passed the Trans Siberian route, began to play a more important role in the economic and political life of the region.

Despite the loss of the former administrative, economic and transport value, such cities as Great Ustyug, Cherdyn(?), Solikamsk, Verkhoturye and Tobolsk continue to play today the important role in the life of regions of the territory in which they are situated. These cities are the unique spiritual and cultural centers whose uniqueness cannot be defined only by the existence of outstanding monuments of architecture and fragments of historical architectural design in their territory. In some areas of the Russian North, far away from the large transit routes, it is still possible to meet certain norms of behavior and elements of daily culture linked to the vital things of people, typical for Old Russian people who since the olden days developed these lands. As was noted by the authors of "Sketches of history and culture of Verkhoturye city and Verkhoturye region", prepared by employees of the Ural State University: «last decades Verkhoturye is often called an open-air museum. It is absolutely incorrect: Verkhoturye is not a museum, this is a city and today the alive organism living by the rules, a little bit different from ours vain and momentary ". (16, 259).

Being cities played an important role in the first purposeful stage of development of Siberia, carried out during the end of the XVI up to the middle of the XVIII century and joined by the road not existing nowadays. Today they form the original historical and geographical route which stands out through a cultural landscape of modern Russia.

Reconstruction of similar historical and geographical routes opens a lot of new opportunities for a wide range of cultural-historical researches. In this case their object becomes not the space limited by administrative frameworks of separate regions, and an existential area of socio-cultural processes which are taken place in its territory. Their complex consideration allows more deep insight into the nature and essence of many historical phenomena.

Source:www.ikz.ru

The road which has created Russia (part 1)

Roman Fedorov
Translated by Enrico Sartori (Paris)

The presence of reliable overland routes was one of the necessary conditions for fixing the Siberian land to Russia as a result of Ermak’s campaign. Vishero-Lozvinsk’s overland route which had become official by that time had appeared very unsuitable to cope with the increased stream of people and cargoes. Beginning at the center of Perm Great Cherdyn’, it passed on the river Vishera and its affluent Velsu. Then travelers had to leave the vessels and go to the Ural Mountains by foot or on horse, then another part on water on the river Lozva. The route reached the small town Lozvinsk which played at that time a role of a reloading point, before further going deep into Siberia on the rivers Tavda, Tura, Tobol, Irtysh and Ob. In 1595 tsar Feodor Ivanovich published the decree to the "hunting people " to find a more direct and convenient way to Siberia. Artemiy Sofronovich Babinov was one of such people. We do not know a lot about his life. It is known, that Artemiy Babinov was a peasant by origin, was born between the 60s or 70s of the XVI century and lived in the village Verkh-Usloka located near Solikamsk (1). According to the legend, once he met Voguls (Mansi) near the Chan’vinsk caves, Where they were celebrating their pagan rites. Babinov unobserved proceeded behind them on a secret way, which went through the woods to the riverhead Tura. "He broke branches of trees, in order not to lose the way. So Artemiy Babinov found the way through the Ural mountains, and he reported to Moscow that he could lead directy on a land road which would reduce the way between Sol’-Kamskaya and Tobolsk, the capital city of Siberia. The highest consent was received." (13, 19).

Construction of the road began in 1595 and continued during two years. Under the imperial decree, Artemiy Babinov was given two Tselovalniks and forty peasants whose duties were to clear the road, and to build bridges over rivers encountered on their way. The road was about 260 versts (280 km) that was approximately eight times shorter than the former Vishero-Lozvinsk route. In 1597 the road reached the Voguls’ settlement Nerom-Kar located at the riverhead Tura. One year later on this place began the construction of the town Verkhoturye.

For Artemiy Babinov investigation and construction of new roads became the issue of his life, subsequently continued by his descendants. Shortly, the new "tsar’s road" was built up to Tyumen and Tobolsk. During the XVII –and the first half of the XVIII century it was the only officially resolved route between the European part of the state and Siberia. First of all it was so because Verkhoturye’s customs opened in 1600, and all people going to Siberia and back were obliged to pass through it without any exception. During almost 150 years, the road named by the people "Babinov’s road", after its founder, played a main role in the development of the Siberian land. " Babinov’s road was as important as the world famous trading Great Silk Road from Varyag to Greece. It becomes clear if you imagine, as in the XVII century during the Russian development of the huge Siberian subcontinent, significant human carried weights, let alone immense volumes of cargoes, which arrived in Siberia through the narrow neck of Babinov’s road which had only a few meters in width... "(7, 147). Babinov’s road became one of the main links of the complex of the first Trans Siberian road laid by trailblazers to new, east boundaries of the Russian state.

Today, the majority of these routes cannot be seen on modern geographical maps. Many cities and jails that were basic centers for a long time have lost their former value, and some of them seem even to have disappeared. However, today as part of the cultural-historical heritage of Russia, these ways continue to carry out a role similar to the original geographical routes with some traces of bygone epoch life. On these routes they are presented by monuments of material culture, a historical memory in the form of print and oral legends, as well as original features of outlook and the vital way of people living here. All together these components form a unique interconnected environment which can be grouped under the term "a cultural landscape".

To understand the sense of separate historical phenomena or originality of the cultural traditions which still exist, it is first of all important to know about the inner world of the people who mastered east boundaries of Russia.



One of the major roles in the early stages of Siberian development was played by the inhabitants of the Russian North. The well-known historian of Siberia P.A. Slovtsov, wrote: "Siberia is searched, extracted, occupied, and formed all by Ustyug’s people. They are farmers, coachmen, they have built us temples and bell towers, they began fairs." (23, 140). Even by quick look on a map of the Ural Mountains and Siberia, you can see an abundance of names the same as the names of settlements, which modern Vologda and Arkhangelsk areas have. So, the village Pinyagino in the Verkhotursk district, was founded by the idle people who moved to these lands in the XVII century from the area of the river Pinegi. The Povarennoe and Usolye villages, situated near Pinyagino, were originally populated by natives from Sol’vuchegodsk (16, 126). Near to the Ust’-Nitsunsk large villages during the XVII - XVIII centuries, among others, the villages Kaygorodova and Dvinka appeared whose names lead to the assumption, that their founders were natives of Kaygorodov and Podvinye (9, 141). In the second half of the XVII century the village Arkhangelskoye appeared in the territory of the modern Isetskoye of the Tyumen region. It was named so as its founders were from the Michael-Arkhangelsk male monastery located in the Great Ustyug. At that time, in connection with colonization of Siberia, the monastery was obliged to deliver food and bread in Zauralye. Its delivery, carried out on the Siberian route, took a long time and faced considerable difficulties and deprivations. Some of Ustyug’s people left their homes, did not come back any more and stayed to live in Siberia. The prior of Michael-Arkhangelsk male monastery addressed to the Tsar with the request to give the monks some land beyond the Ural Mountains, specially intended to produce food. In 1667 the ancestral lands of 280 desyatins (1 desyatin = 2.9 acres = 1.1 hectare) on the river Iset’ were given to the monastery. A.L. Yemelyanov, in his book "History of the Arkhangelskoye settlement " (6), analyzed the data from the population censuses recorded in the patrol book of Tobolsk Sofia House, and found out that many surnames of the first generations of inhabitants of the village who moved to Zauralye from Ustyug, Sol’vuchegodsk and Belozersky districts, are often found in the modern area of the Isetskoye district. The actual data in Yemelyanov’s book is evidence that certificates not only toponymic, but also a patrimonial trace which was left by people who moved from the Russian North into the cultural landscape of Siberia.

Why did the inhabitants of Northern Russia become the main trailblazers of new, east boundaries of the country? What were the reasons? One of them is that during that time, Pomors-peasants, who were not serfs, had a freedom of movement and the right of an independent choice of residence (8, 136). The second reason was the high tension on the southern borders of the Siberian lands that is why a basic effort was devoted on developing the northern trading routes. And, lastly, it is important to consider that remoteness of Pomorze from Central Russia, with a small population and a severe environment of these places, which have predetermined their extensiveness of the development, the basic role which was played by the distant trading communications interfaced with a structure of new transport routes and the development of adjacent territories. "How would the people of Ustyug feel, entering into strange taiga’s depth! What qualities were required for people to survive and resist in such a place, where obviously there was no other support, than their own forces. What characters could be shaped here! And today several hours of dialogue with native Ustyug’s people is enough to understand that they are Russians of a special breed. They are quiet and self-confident. Ustyug’s people do not express readiness to agree to any change to a life imposed on them without ceremony. They can accept it, but will not reconcile themselves to their fate." (20).

Specific conditions of existence promoted the development of a special mentality, an original c outlook on life and a vital way of the inhabitants of the Russian North whose distinctive features were: independence, propensity to human mutual assistance and search of harmonious forms of coexistence with the surrounding environment. During many centuries the European North of Russia played a role of important "catalyst" of many original forms of national culture. In the involuntary image, their prototypes were transferred to the open spaces of the Ural Mountains and Siberia, mastered by numerous natives of Great Ustyug, Sol’vuchegodsk, Kargopol, Totma and others Pomorze towns. Many samples of culture of the Russian North have appeared to be the most comprehensible and durable in specific conditions of Siberia. You can just recollect the valenoks (felt boots) that are first of all associated with Siberia, but whose native land is considered to be Great Ustyug (27). As a matter of fact, the first waves of purposeful development of Siberia were the basis to form the new original "northern branch" of the Russian culture. Today it still exists in small historical cities and the rural settlements far bypassed by modern transit ways (Great Ustyug, Kargopol, Totma, Cherdyn’, Verkhoturye, etc.). It is much more difficult to distinguish its traces in regions, where the external shape and vital way have been considerably changed by the subsequent stages of economic development connected with new waves of migration to their territory. Finishing this theme, it would be desirable to mention a word about writer V. Rasputin who once told: " It would be fair to state and confirm somewhere on the open spaces of Siberia the grateful memory of Siberians to Great Ustyug ". (27)

A lot of the people who have become outstanding characters of domestic history have passed along Babinov’s road and other parts of the Siberian route. Among them - rebellious Abbakum, disgraced prince Menshikov, A.S. Pushkin's ancestor - Hannibal, outstanding scientists - members of expeditions of Vitus Bering, the first Siberian governors and metropolitans. In some cases, these historical figures have not simply passed on the Siberian route, but also have left their trace on it. In 1731 in the village Krasnoye, located in the vicinity of Solikamsk, Grigory Demidov established one of the first botanical gardens in Russia. In severe climatic conditions of the Northern Ural Mountains, in the greenhouses located in the grounds of a manor, strange cactuses and pineapples started to grow. "Owing to the unique position of Solikamsk on the Siberian path in an initial stage of opening and development of the Asian part of Russia, Grigory Demidov's botanical garden has helped a concentration of a scientific idea of that time not only with studying the vegetative riches of Russia that time, but also in defining the status of the most significant establishments of a science essentially advancing the time and cultures". (22, 27). Considerable aid was given to Grigory Demidov in forming this garden with members of the Second Kamchatka expedition of Bering - botanist I.Gmelin, S.Krasheninnikov and Steller. The life of the last of them came to the end on this road. In 1746 during a stop in Tyumen on his way to St.-Petersburg, George Steller caught a cold and died.

Darya Danylova."Sirin". (Vocalise)

Image from:www.rus-sky.com/danilova/songs.htm

RUSSIAN ENTREPRENEUR AND BOOK PUBLISHER IVAN SYTIN

A favorite publication of many Russians, the tear-off calendar began to be published in the beginning of the 19th century. Its popularity is due to the fact that it comprised interesting information on everything. It emerged thanks to a talented Russian entrepreneur and book publisher, Ivan Sytin.

Ivan Sytin was called a person of rare gifts. He came from a peasant family, and his only legacy was his father's blessing. At the age of 14 he came to Moscow to make a success of his life. Sytin began with joining the book shop of merchant Sharapov. “I was tall and sturdy. I could do any kind of work,” said Sytin later. “My duties were to clean my boss's shoes, lay the table for shop-assistants, bring food for them; in the morning I had to bring water and firewood to the house, buy provisions at the market. I did everything honestly, neatly and on time”.

Soon the boss came to appreciate the efforts of the bright and zealous teenager, and appointed him his own valet. He fostered the love for reading in him. At first Sytin read religious books, then the boss began to give him rare editions. For Sharapov book trade was an accidental undertaking, and so he knew little about it, relying mostly on his assistants.

As a result of ten years of assiduous work Sytin acquired extensive experience and earned some money. With the help of his master he opened a small lithographic business, which paved the way for an enormous book and magazine publishing enterprise. When he worked at Sharapov's shop he listened to tradesmen's stories and came to the conclusion that ordinary people needed good books whose value was accessible to them. That is why he began his undertaking with printing books by the famous Russian novelists Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy, Alexander Pushkin and others. Inexpensive and well published, his books were in great demand. In addition Sytin began to print the “Popular Calendar”, a kind of handy encyclopedia that found its way to virtually every Russian family. By printing inexpensive but necessary edition he defeated his competitors and soon became the boss of Russia's book publication. For Sytin commerce was a means, not a goal. However, as an entrepreneur he had to abide by the laws of the book market with its free prices and competition. To compensate for the publication of inexpensive books Sytin printed costly editions, such as encyclopedias in luxury book covers meant for well-to-do people.

The success of Sytin's enterprise was based not only on his business grasp and willingness to take the risks, but also on his use of advanced printing equipment and ability to organize an excellent system of marketing.

His dream was to build near Moscow a publishing town equipped with the latest machinery, with excellent houses for the workers, with schools, hospitals and theaters, all in the name of books.

However that dream was not to come true. After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution his publishing house was nationalized and Sytin lost his business. His attempts to engage in publishing books under the Soviet government ended in failure. The last years of his life he in poverty and obscurity. Sytin died in 1934. However history has preserved the memory of the man who did so much to promote enlightenment in Russia.

Source:The Voice of Russia

Marina Tsvetaeva-the poetry of russian Silver age

Marina Tsvetaeva was born in Moscow. Her father, Ivan Tsvetayev, was a professor of art history and the founder of the Museum of Fine Arts. Her mother Mariya, née Meyn, was a talented concert pianist. The family travelled a great deal and Tsvetaeva attended schools in Switzerland, Germany, and at the Sorbonne, Paris. Tsvetaeva started to write verse in her early childhood. She made her debut as a poet at the age of 18 with the collection Evening Album, a tribute to her childhood.

In 1912 Tsvetaeva married Sergei Efron, they had two daughters and one son. Magic Lantern showed her technical mastery and was followed in 1913 by a selection of poems from her first collections. Tsvetaeva's affair with the poet and opera librettist Sofiia Parnok inspired her cycle of poems called Girlfriend. Parnok's career stopped in the late 1920s when she was no longer allowed to publish. The poems composed between 1917 and 1921 appeared in 1957 under the title The Demesne of the Swans. Inspired by her relationship with Konstantin Rodzevich, an ex-Red Army officer she wrote Poem of the Mountain and Poem of the End.

After 1917 Revolution Tsvetaeva was trapped in Moscow for five years. During the famine one of her own daughters died of starvation. Tsvetaeva's poetry reveal her growing interest in folk song and the techniques of the major symbolist and poets, such as Aleksander Blok and Anna Akhmatova. In 1922 Tsvetaeva emigrated with her family to Berlin, where she rejoined her husband, and then to Prague. This was a highly productive period in her life - she published five collections of verse and a number of narrative poems, plays, and essays.

During her years in Paris Tsvetaeva wrote two parts of the planned dramatic trilogy. The last collection published during her lifetime, After Russia, appeared in 1928. Its print, 100 numbered copies, were sold by special subscription. In Paris the family lived in poverty, the income came almost entirely from Tsvetaeva's writings. When her husband started to work for the Soviet security service, the Russian community of Paris turned against Tsvetaeva. Her limited publishing ways for poetry were blocked and she turned to prose. In 1937 appeared MOY PUSHKIN, one of Tsvetaeva's best prose works. To earn extra income, she also produced short stories, memoirs and critical articles.

In exile Tsvetaeva felt more and more isolated. Friendless and almost destitute she returned to the Soviet Union in 1938, where her son and husband already lived. Next year her husband was executed and her daughter was sent to a labor camp. Tsvetaeva was officially ostracized and unable to publish. After the USSR was invaded by German Army in 1941, Tsvetaeva was evacuated to the small provincial town of Elabuga with her son. In despair, she hanged herself ten days later on August 31, 1941.


Prayer



Christ and the Lord! I thirst for marvel
Now, here, as the day would start!
The life is like a book to me,
So let me die. Let me depart.

You're wise, and sternly "Now be patient,
Your time's not ripe" you will not say.
Yourself you gave me - too much now!
I thirst at once - for every way!

I want it all: with soul of gypsy
To run to plunder with a song,
To suffer for all near an organ,
To run to war, an Amazon;

To divine stars in a black tower
The kids through shadows to lead...
That yesterday would be a legend,
That each and every day be mad!

I love the cross, the silk, the helmet,
The minute's trace of soul of mine..
You gave me childhood - better than fiction
Now let me die at seventeen!


Contact through Dreams



All's for a moment, that people create,
Glimmer of new things dims,
But yet unaltered, like sorrow, remains
Contact through dreams.

Calming.. If but to forget.. but to sleep..
Sweetness of eyelids over eyes..
Dreams open fates of the future, and bind
For centuries.

All that I stealthily thought, is to me
Clear like a crystal clean.
Us, with a timeless and endless riddle,
United the dream.

I do not pray, "O God, make to vanish
Torment of coming day!"
Oh no, "Oh God, send to him about me
A dream," I pray.

May I get pale at the meeting with you -
Sorrowful is it to meet!
Secret is one: The contact through dreams. We are
Powerless before it.


Source:www.poemhunter.com,www.lib.ru/POEZIQ/CWETAEWA/sbornik_engl.txt

Arkaim-the Russian Stonehenge

By Andrei Ptashnikov


«Аркаим» на Яндекс.Фотках

Sometimes referred to as the Russian Stonehenge, the ancient town of Arkaim is one of the most mysterious places on our planet. It is situated on the outskirts of the city of Chelyabinsk, a large industrial center in the Urals. Arkaim was discovered quite by chance in the summer of 1987. Scientists believe it is at least 4,000 years old. It is older than the legendary Troy and the Egyptian Pyramids and is close to being the same age as Stonehenge.

According to one theory, Arkaim was built by the Aryans, representatives of one of the most ancient Indo-European civilizations, and the forefathers of many Europeans.

Arkaim is a settlement within a fortress, some 20 square kilometers in size, which has a distinctly circular shape. On the outside there is an external ring of a massive fortified wall up to four meters thick and six meters tall and a deep moat filled with water.

Within the external wall there is another ring of a smaller diameter but fortified equally well. In the space between the walls were residential quarters and shops. Artifacts found there indicate the wide use of copper smelting furnaces. Why copper is still unclear. Today there are no traces of the raw material for copper in the vicinity, which means that it either was there at the time or it was brought there from afar. But why they needed copper is still a mystery. Many experts believe that it was in Arkaim that the first copper smelting furnace in the world was built. It was there too that the horse was first domesticated and the two-wheeled chariot was invented.

The residential area of the fortress boasted advanced amenities considering the time it was built in. The pavement made of thick logs hid a sewage system. Two round one-storey houses positioned along the perimeter between the two fortified walls comprised separate apartments, a hundred or more square meters each. In addition to several rooms, each apartment had a hearth and a well. In the very center of the city-fortress was a square where religious rites were performed.

Why did Arkaim have a circular layout which was so unusual for a city of the time? Such a shape is considered very convenient during military defense operations — no corners, therefore the enemy is clearly seen from all sides. According to another theory, a circle resembles the shape of the sun, and the people living there worshipped the Sun god.


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Yet another hypothesis has it that certain installations found by archeologists indicate that they were intended to be used for star watching. Some scientists believe that the entire city was nothing other than a huge well-equipped ancient observatory. Therein lies the similarity between Arkaim and Stonehenge.

It's interesting that both places are not just of roughly the same age, they are also located at the same latitude. Both were designed to be precisely oriented on stars. Both were constructed in very similar locales — valley at the foothill. Are these mere coincidences, or is there a link between the two? The question remains unanswered as yet.

Unlike Stonehenge that is relatively well-preserved, not much is left of Arkaim — mostly defense moats, earth banks and building foundations. Archeological excavations that have been going on for 20 odd years indicate that the city was destroyed well-nigh entirely by a massive fire. Fascinating finds like ceramic utensils, work implements, smelting furnaces and other artifacts make it possible to visualize what the city was like 4,000 years ago. Oddly enough, among the archeological finds there are no human remains or bones of domestic animals. No valuables, no jewellery, no religious objects. Could it be that they have disintegrated over the millennia gone by? But why then have similar items survived in ancient burial places outside the fortress walls? Why has time spared them?

Two hypotheses address the issue. According to one of them, the residents of Arkaim knew for certain that the city would be destroyed shortly by a calamitous event and evacuated everybody including domestic animals ahead of time. The other hypothesis suggests that having abandoned the city, the residents themselves set it on fire. When and why they did it is yet another mystery.


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Arkaim doesn't cease to excite interest and attention. Not only among scientists and experts. Tourists from Russia and abroad have been visiting there in droves every year. There are no hotels in Arkaim, so those wishing to spend the night on this enigmatic soil have to do so in tents. In summer time most visitors prefer to spend the night under the open sky on one of the three neighboring hills: the Hill of Repentance, the Hill of Love, or the Hill of Reason. Everyone is free to choose the priority area of their life, and hope and pray that their wish comes true.

Source:The Voice of Russia

PRASKOVIA ZHEMCHUGOVA

Walking amid the plush tombstones hiding the remains of some Imperial Russia’s high nobility of old, all resting in peace inside the imposing Saint Alexander’s Cathedral in St.Petersburg you will hardly fail to notice the family vault of the once rich and famous Counts Sheremetev. One of these vaults contains the remains of the great Russian actress Praskovia Zhemchugova, born Praskovia Kovalyova who was also knows as Countess Sheremeteva. Let’s take a closer look at the glittering and at the same time tragic life of this outstanding woman…

One of the many serfs owned by the Sheremetevs, Praskovia, then an 8-year-girl joined the Count’s private theater — a passion that was very much in vogue among the late 18th century Russian nobility. The Sheremetev’s all-serf household company and orchestra were among the very best this country could offer back in those days. The actors were trained to be real professionals. Early in their life these serf children were taken in to be schooled in foreign languages, music, dancing, good manners and, of course, acting. Among those lucky ones was the little Praskovia Kovalyova whose father was a farrier it the Count’s household. Skinny, with big eyes giving her face a little scared look, the girl immediately stood out from the rest with her wonderful voice, perfect musical ear and exceptionally good memory. These talents were not lost on the young Count Nikolai Sheremetev who immediately appreciating the girl’s unique talent just could not wait to start training her as a future actress.

At the age of 12, Praskovia made her debut on stage where she appeared as the main character and under a different name. Unsatisfied with Praskovia Kovalyova’s common-sounding surname, the Count decided to change it for Zhemchugova, a name he thought was more appropriate for an actress.

Praskovia was a born actress and this, combined with her inimitable voice, had the cream of the Moscow nobility swarming in to see the performances by this former serf girl whose regal carriage and noble manners were so amazing. It all seemed like a dream come true for this semi-literate serf-girl who in no time turned into an opera singer, an actress, spoke fluently French and Italian and played the harpsichord and harp. The downside of it all was that all that happiness could evaporate the very moment the young Count lost interest in the young protégé. Praskovia was scared and, at the same time, strangely exhilarated by her young master’s attention…

Meanwhile, Nikolai Sheremetev was getting increasingly enamored of his young trainee who also seemed to have fallen in love with the Count…

The love affair between Count Sheremetev and his serf actress set the rumour mill rolling with the high society really shocked to see the Count to be so madly in love with his servant and even preparing to build a theatre for her in his Ostankino estate just north of Moscow. And still, this public criticism of his choice was really playing on the young Count’s nerves who realized all too clear that the society would never forgive him if he ever married a common girl.

In the meantime Praskovia the actress was making strides on stage and her theatre’s biweekly performances always played to a full house. And then, as the very height of her professional career something terrible happened… Praskovia went down with tuberculosis and her doctors told her to stop singing for a while. The performances were all cancelled and Praskovia, to whom theatre was everything, was pained by this forced inactivity. Frustrated, she just idled around playing the harpsichord.

Meanwhile, the disease was taking its toll, and so the Count finally made up is mind to make Praskovia his wife – a painful decision which he had been mulling all those years. The couple were wed in secrecy, but Praskovia’s fate was already sealed. On February 3, 1803 she gave birth to a son and 20 days later, weakened by her illness and the painful delivery, she died.

The Count then rushed to announce his marriage to Praskovia Zhemchugova and the birth of their son – and you had to be a really audacious person to do something like that back in those days!

Unrivaled as she was as an actress, Praskovia Zhemchugova still remained a “comedian” whose art was largely looked down on as lowly entertainment. She was the pride and glory of the Sheremetev theater, applauded by the royals and still, the society refused to treat her as their equal.

Praskovia was happily in love but she knew all too well how flimsy and legally vulnerable her happiness was… Count Sheremetev was madly in love with her, he even made her his wife, but on the outside world she still remained her master’s mistress. You can hardly find any other Russian actress who was so happy and unfortunate all at the same time…

Source:The Voice of Russia