In the early days of
sound cinema, among the various distinguished composers ready to try their hand at film music, Prokofiev was not an obvious choice for the commission. Based in Paris for almost a decade, he had a reputation for experimentation and
dissonance, characteristics at odds with the
cultural norms of the Soviet Union. By early 1933, however, Prokofiev was anxious to return to his homeland, and saw the film commission as an opportunity to write music in a more popular and accessible style. (Full article...)
The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a large
bear native to the
Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the
brown bear, and the two species can
interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear and land
carnivore, with adult males weighing 300–800 kg (660–1,760 lb). The species is
sexually dimorphic, as adult females are much smaller. The polar bear is white- or yellowish-furred with black skin and a thick layer of fat. It is more slender than the brown bear, with a narrower skull, longer neck and lower shoulder hump. Its teeth are sharper and more adapted to cutting meat. The paws are large and allow the bear to walk on ice and paddle in the water.
Polar bears are both terrestrial and
pagophilic (ice-living) and are considered to be
marine mammals due to their dependence on
marine ecosystems. They prefer the annual
sea ice but live on land when the ice melts in the summer. They are mostly carnivorous and specialized for preying on
seals, particularly
ringed seals. Such prey is typically taken by ambush; the bear may stalk its prey on the ice or in the water, but also will stay at a breathing hole or ice edge to wait for prey to swim by. The bear primarily feeds on the seal's energy-rich
blubber. Other prey include
walruses,
beluga whales and some terrestrial animals. Polar bears are usually solitary but can be found in groups when on land. During the breeding season, male bears guard females and defend them from rivals. Mothers give birth to cubs in
maternity dens during the winter. Young stay with their mother for up to two and a half years. (Full article...)
Although musically precocious, Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant as there was little opportunity for a musical career in Russia at the time and no system of public music education. When an opportunity for such an education arose, he entered the nascent
Saint Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1865. The formal Western-oriented teaching that Tchaikovsky received there set him apart from composers of the contemporary
nationalist movement embodied by the Russian composers of
The Five with whom his
professional relationship was mixed. (Full article...)
The region that formed the TDFR had been part of the
Russian Empire. As the empire dissolved during the 1917
February Revolution and a
provisional government took over, a similar body, called the
Special Transcaucasian Committee (Ozakom), did the same in the Caucasus. After the
October Revolution and rise of the
Bolsheviks in Russia, the
Transcaucasian Commissariat replaced the Ozakom. In March 1918, as the
First World War continued, the Commissariat initiated peace talks with the
Ottoman Empire, which had
invaded the region, but that broke down quickly as the Ottomans refused to accept the authority of the Commissariat. The
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russia's involvement in the war, conceded parts of the Transcaucasus to the Ottoman Empire, which pursued its invasion to take control of the territory. Faced with this imminent threat, on 22 April 1918 the Commissariat dissolved itself and established the TDFR as an independent state. A legislature, the Seim, was formed to direct negotiations with the Ottoman Empire, which had immediately recognized the state. (Full article...)
Euler is held to be one of the greatest mathematicians in history and the greatest of the 18th century. Several great mathematicians who produced their work after Euler's death have recognised his importance in the field as shown by quotes attributed to many of them:
Pierre-Simon Laplace expressed Euler's influence on mathematics by stating, "Read Euler, read Euler, he is the master of us all."
Carl Friedrich Gauss wrote: "The study of Euler's works will remain the best school for the different fields of mathematics, and nothing else can replace it." Euler is also widely considered to be the most prolific; his 866 publications as well as his correspondences are being collected in the Opera Omnia Leonhard Euler which, when completed, will consist of 81 quarto volumes. He spent most of his adult life in
Saint Petersburg, Russia, and in
Berlin, then the capital of
Prussia. (Full article...)
Image 7
Bezhin Meadow (Бежин луг, Bezhin lug) is a 1937
Soviet propaganda film, famous for having been suppressed and believed destroyed before its completion. Directed by
Sergei Eisenstein, it tells the story of a young farm boy whose father attempts to betray the government for political reasons by sabotaging the year's harvest and the son's efforts to stop his own father to protect the Soviet state, culminating in the boy's murder and a social uprising. The film draws its title from a story by
Ivan Turgenev, but is based on the (largely fabricated) life story of
Pavlik Morozov, a young Russian boy who became a political
martyr following his death in 1932, after he supposedly denounced his father to Soviet government authorities and subsequently died at the hands of his family. Pavlik Morozov was immortalized in school programs, poetry, music, and film.
Commissioned by a
communist youth group, the film's production ran from 1935 to 1937, until it was halted by the central Soviet government, which said it contained artistic, social, and political failures. Some, however, blamed the failure of Bezhin Meadow on government interference and policies, extending all the way to
Joseph Stalin himself. In the wake of the film's failure, Eisenstein publicly recanted his work as an error. Individuals were arrested during and after the ensuing debacle. (Full article...)
The
referee for the final, played in front of an attendance of 79,115 spectators, was
Arthur Holland from England. In the sixth minute,
Marcelino dispossessed
Valentin Ivanov and
crossed for
Chus Pereda, who scored to give Spain a 1–0 lead. Two minutes later,
Viktor Anichkin passed to
Galimzyan Khusainov, who equalised. With six minutes of the match remaining, Pereda beat Anichkin and played in a cross which
Viktor Shustikov failed to clear, before Marcelino headed the winning goal inside the near post. Spain won the match 2–1 to win their first European Championship title. (Full article...)
Image 9
Nikita Zotov,
rotogravure by Alexandr Osipov, 1882–1883
Not much is known about Zotov's life aside from his connection to Peter. Zotov left Moscow for a diplomatic mission to
Crimea in 1680 and returned to Moscow before 1683. He became part of the "Jolly Company", a group of several dozen of Peter's friends that eventually became
The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters. Zotov was mockingly appointed "Prince-Pope" of the Synod, and regularly led them in games and celebrations. He accompanied Peter on many important occasions, such as the
Azov campaigns and the torture of the
Streltsy after their
uprising. Zotov held a number of state posts, including from 1701 a leading position in the Tsar's personal secretariat. Three years before his death, Zotov married a woman 50 years his junior. He died in December 1717 of unknown causes. (Full article...)
The black stork (Ciconia nigra) is a large bird in the
stork family Ciconiidae. It was first described by
Carl Linnaeus in the
10th edition of his Systema Naturae. Measuring on average 95 to 100 cm (37 to 39 in) from beak tip to end of tail with a 145-to-155 cm (57-to-61 in) wingspan, the adult black stork has mainly black
plumage, with white underparts, long red legs and a long pointed red beak. A widespread but uncommon species, it breeds in scattered locations across Europe (predominantly in Portugal and Spain, and central and eastern parts), and east across the
Palearctic to the Pacific Ocean. It is a long-distance
migrant, with European populations wintering in tropical Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asian populations in the
Indian subcontinent. When migrating between Europe and Africa, it avoids crossing broad expanses of the
Mediterranean Sea and detours via the
Levant in the east, the
Strait of Sicily in the center, or the
Strait of Gibraltar in the west. An isolated, non-migratory, population occurs in Southern Africa.
Unlike the closely related
white stork, the black stork is a shy and wary species. It is seen singly or in pairs, usually in marshy areas, rivers or inland waters. It feeds on
amphibians, small
fish and
insects, generally wading slowly in shallow water stalking its prey. Breeding pairs usually build nests in large forest trees—most commonly
deciduous but also
coniferous—which can be seen from long distances, as well as on large boulders, or under overhanging ledges in mountainous areas. The female lays two to five greyish-white
eggs, which become soiled over time in the nest.
Incubation takes 32 to 38 days, with both sexes sharing duties, and
fledging takes 60 to 71 days. (Full article...)
Image 11
Oganesson is a
synthetic chemical element; it has
symbolOg and
atomic number 118. It was first synthesized in 2002 at the
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in
Dubna, near Moscow, Russia, by a joint team of Russian and American scientists. In December 2015, it was recognized as one of four new elements by the
Joint Working Party of the international scientific bodies
IUPAC and
IUPAP. It was formally named on 28 November 2016. The name honors the nuclear physicist
Yuri Oganessian, who played a leading role in the discovery of the heaviest elements in the periodic table. It is one of only two elements named after a person who was alive at the time of naming, the other being
seaborgium, and the only element whose
eponym is alive .
Oganesson has the highest atomic number and highest
atomic mass of all known elements . On the periodic table of the elements it is a
p-block element, a member of
group 18 and the last member of
period 7. Its only known isotope,
oganesson-294, is highly
radioactive, with a half-life of 0.7 ms and, only five atoms have been successfully produced. This has so far prevented any experimental studies of its chemistry. Because of
relativistic effects, theoretical studies predict that it would be a
solid at
room temperature, and significantly reactive, unlike the other members of group 18 (the
noble gases). (Full article...)
Image 12
Rostislav between 1907 and 1916.
Rostislav was a
pre-dreadnought battleship built by the
Nikolaev Admiralty Shipyard in the 1890s for the
Black Sea Fleet of the
Imperial Russian Navy. She was conceived as a small, inexpensive
coastal defence ship, but the Navy abandoned the concept in favor of a compact, seagoing battleship with a displacement of 8,880
long tons (9,022
t). Poor design and construction practices increased her actual displacement by more than 1,600 long tons (1,626 t). Rostislav became the world's first
capital ship to burn
fuel oil, rather than coal. Her combat ability was compromised by the use of 10-inch (254 mm) main guns instead of the
de facto Russian standard of 12 inches (305 mm).
Her hull was launched in September 1896, but non-delivery of the ship's main guns delayed her maiden voyage until 1899 and her completion until 1900. In May 1899 Rostislav became the first ship of the Imperial Navy to be commanded by a member of the
House of Romanov, Captain
Alexander Mikhailovich. From 1903 to 1912 the ship was the
flagship of the
second-in-command of the Black Sea Fleet. During the
1905 Russian Revolution her crew was on the verge of mutiny, but ultimately remained loyal to the regime, and actively suppressed the
mutiny of the cruiser Ochakov. (Full article...)
Image 13
The Gurian Republic was an insurgent community that existed between 1902 and 1906 in the western
Georgian region of
Guria (known at the time as the
Ozurget Uyezd) in the
Russian Empire. It rose from a revolt over land grazing rights in 1902. Several issues over the previous decades affecting the peasant population including taxation, land ownership and economic factors also factored into the start of the insurrection. The revolt gained further traction through the efforts of
Georgian social democrats, despite some reservations within their party over supporting a peasant movement, and grew further during the
1905 Russian Revolution.
During its existence, the Gurian Republic ignored Russian authority and established its own system of government, which consisted of assemblies of villagers meeting and discussing issues. A unique form of justice, where trial attendees voted on sentences, was introduced. While the movement broke from imperial administration, it was not
anti-Russian, desiring to remain within the Empire. (Full article...)
Image 14
A Finnish
Maxim M/09-21 machine gun crew during the Winter War
The Winter War was a war between the
Soviet Union and
Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of
World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the
Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. Despite superior military strength, especially in tanks and aircraft, the Soviet Union suffered severe losses and initially made little headway. The
League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from its organization.
The Soviets made several demands, including that Finland cede substantial border territories in exchange for land elsewhere, claiming security reasons – primarily the protection of
Leningrad, 32 km (20 mi) from the Finnish border. When Finland refused, the Soviets invaded. Most sources conclude that the Soviet Union had intended to conquer all of Finland, and cite the establishment of the
puppet Finnish Communist government and the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact's secret protocols as evidence of this, while other sources argue against the idea of a full Soviet conquest. Finland repelled Soviet attacks for more than two months and inflicted substantial losses on the invaders in temperatures as low as −43 °C (−45 °F). The battles focused mainly on
Taipale along the
Karelian Isthmus, on
Kollaa in
Ladoga Karelia and on
Raate Road in
Kainuu, but there were also battles in
Salla and
Petsamo in
Lapland. (Full article...)
During World War I, she bombarded German fortifications during the
siege of Qingdao. The Japanese government sold Tango back to the Russians at their request in 1916. She was renamed Chesma (Чесма) as her former name had been given to a
new ship. En route to the
White Sea, she joined an
Allied force that
persuaded the Greek government to disarm their ships. Her crew declared for the
Bolsheviks in October 1917, but made no effort to resist when the British captured her during the
North Russia intervention in early 1918. In poor condition, the ship was used as a
prison hulk. Abandoned by the British when they withdrew in 1919 and recaptured by the Bolsheviks, she was
scrapped in 1924. (Full article...)
The Portrait of Chaliapin is an oil-on-canvas painting by
Boris Kustodiev, produced in 1921.
Feodor Chaliapin was a Russian
opera singer; possessing a deep and expressive
bass voice, he enjoyed an important international career at major opera houses. He is depicted here wearing an expensive fur coat, which had come from a Soviet warehouse containing items confiscated from rich people during the
Russian Revolution, and which he had received in lieu of payment for a performance. The background shows festivities at the traditional folk holiday of
Maslenitsa. Dressed in a smart suit and holding a cane, Chaliapin is portrayed as having risen above his contemporaries. His favourite dog is at his feet and, at the bottom left, his two daughters stroll on the festive square in front of a poster promoting his concert. This copy of the painting is in the collection of the
Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg.
Maslenitsa, a 1919 painting depicting the carnival of the same name, which takes place the last week before
Great Lent. The painting encompasses a broad range of things associated with
Russia, such as snowy winter weather, a
troika, an
Orthodox church with
onion domes. Painted in the aftermath of the
October Revolution, the canvas was intended as a farewell to the unspoilt "Holy Russia" of yore.
This photo of the Nilov Monastery on
Stolobny Island in
Tver Oblast,
Russia, was taken by
Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky in 1910 before the advent of colour photography. His process used a camera that took a series of
monochrome pictures in rapid sequence, each through a different coloured filter. By projecting all three monochrome pictures using correctly coloured light, it was possible to reconstruct the original colour scene.
A map detailing the events of the 2008 South Ossetia war, which began one year ago today, when
Georgia launched an operation in the disputed region of
South Ossetia. Ossetian,
Russian, and
Abkhazian forces ejected the Georgian forces after five days of heavy fighting. All parties reached a ceasefire agreement on August 12, and Russian troops remain stationed in Abkhazia and South Ossetia to this day.
Lenin, a Soviet
nuclear-powered icebreaker, was both the world's first nuclear-powered surface ship and the first nuclear-powered civilian vessel. The ship entered operation in 1959 and worked to clear sea routes for cargo ships along Russia's northern coast. Nuclear power proved to be an ideal technology for a vessel working in such a remote area, as it obviated the need for regular replenishment of fuel. From 1960 to 1965, the ship covered over 85,000 mi (137,000 km) during the Arctic navigation season, of which three-quarters was through ice. After being decommissioned in 1989, the vessel was subsequently converted into a museum ship and is now permanently based at
Murmansk.
Saint Michael's Castle is a former royal residence in the historic centre of
Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was built for Emperor
Paul I between 1797 and 1801, and named after
Saint Michael, the patron saint of the royal family. Constructed like a castle around a small octagonal courtyard, the four facades were built in different architectural styles, including
French Classicism,
Italian Renaissance and
Gothic. The emperor was assassinated in the castle forty days after taking up residence. After his death, the imperial family returned to the
Winter Palace and the building was transferred to the Russian Army's
Main Engineering School. In 1990, it became a branch of the
Russian Museum, and now houses its portrait gallery.
Alexis (1629–1676) was the
tsar of Russia from 1645 until his death. Born in
Moscow on 29 March 1629, the son of
Tsar Michael and
Eudoxia Streshneva, the sixteen-year-old Alexis acceded to the throne after his father's death.
Boris Morozov, a shrewd
boyar open to Western ideas, took charge of Russia in the early years of Alexis's reign, but was exiled from Moscow following
a popular uprising. Alexis responded to the uprising with
a new legal code. His reign saw wars
with Poland and
with Sweden,
a schism in the Russian Orthodox Church, and the major Cossack revolt of
Stenka Razin. Alexis was married twice and had sixteen children, including tsars
Fyodor III;
Ivan V;
Peter the Great; and
Sofia, who ruled as regent for her brothers from 1682 to 1689.
This oil painting, made by an unknown artist in the 1670s, is now located in a museum in
Ptuj, Slovenia.
This photograph of Skudina, taken in 2009, is part of a collection of 500 images of Russian sportspeople released to
Wikimedia Commons by Bolshoi Sport.
Maxim Gorky (1868–1936) was a Russian political activist and writer who helped establish the
Socialist Realism literary method. This portrait dates from a trip Gorky made to the United States in 1906, on which he raised funds for the
Bolsheviks. During this trip he wrote his novel The Mother.
Although
James Clerk Maxwell made the first color photograph in
1861, the results were far from realistic until Prokudin-Gorsky perfected the technique with a series of improvements around
1905. His process used a camera that took a series of monochrome pictures in rapid sequence, each through a different colored filter. Prokudin-Gorskii then went on to document much of the country of Russia, travelling by train in a specially equipped
darkroomrailroad car.
Sadko is a character in the Russian medieval epic Bylina. An adventurer, merchant and gusli musician from
Novgorod, Sadko becomes wealthy with the help of the
Sea Tsar, but is thrown in the sea when he fails to pay the Sea Tsar his due respects. This story was widely adapted in the 19th century, including in a poem by
Alexei Tolstoy and
an opera by
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
Shown here is Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom, an 1876 painting by
Ilya Repin. It depicts Sadko meeting the Sea Tsar under the sea.
Dressed herring, colloquially known as herring under a fur coat or furry herring (Russian: "сельдь под шубой",
tr."sel'd pod shuboy" or "селёдка под шубой", "selyodka pod shuboy"), is a layered
salad composed of diced
spekesild covered with layers of grated boiled eggs, vegetables (
potatoes,
carrots,
beetroots), chopped
onions, and
mayonnaise. Some variations of this dish include a layer of fresh grated
apple while some do not.
A final layer of grated boiled beetroot covered with mayonnaise is what gives the salad its characteristic rich purple color. Dressed herring salad is often decorated with grated boiled
eggs (whites, yolks, or both). (Full article...)
Lazar Markovich Lissitzky (Russian: Ла́зарь Ма́ркович Лиси́цкий, listen; 23 November [
O.S. 11 November] 1890 – 30 December 1941), better known as El Lissitzky (Russian: Эль Лиси́цкий;
Yiddish: על ליסיצקי), was a Russian artist, designer, photographer,
typographer,
polemicist and architect. He was an important figure of the
Russian avant-garde, helping develop
suprematism with his mentor,
Kazimir Malevich, and designing numerous
exhibition displays and propaganda works for the
Soviet Union. His work greatly influenced the
Bauhaus and
constructivist movements, and he experimented with production techniques and stylistic devices that would go on to dominate
20th-century graphic design.
Lissitzky's entire career was laced with the belief that the artist could be an agent for change, later summarized with his edict, "das zielbewußte Schaffen" (goal-oriented creation). Lissitzky, of
Lithuanian Jewish оrigin, began his career illustrating
Yiddish children's books in an effort to promote Jewish culture in Russia. When only 15 he started teaching, a duty he would maintain for most of his life. Over the years, he taught in a variety of positions, schools, and artistic media, spreading and exchanging ideas. He took this ethic with him when he worked with Malevich in heading the suprematist
art groupUNOVIS, when he developed a variant suprematist series of his own,
Proun, and further still in 1921, when he took up a job as the Russian cultural ambassador to
Weimar Germany, working with and influencing important figures of the
Bauhaus and De Stijl movements during his stay. In his remaining years he brought significant innovation and change to
typography, exhibition design,
photomontage, and book design, producing critically respected works and winning international acclaim for his exhibition design. This continued until his deathbed, where in 1941 he produced one of his last works – a
Soviet propaganda poster rallying the people to construct more tanks for the fight against
Nazi Germany. In 2014, the heirs of the artist, in collaboration with
Van Abbemuseum and leading worldwide scholars on the subject, established the Lissitzky Foundation in order to preserve the artist's legacy and to prepare a
catalogue raisonné of the artist's oeuvre. (Full article...)
... that in August 2022, Igor Mangushev spoke on a stage in a Russian nightclub with what he said was the skull of a Ukrainian soldier killed in the
Azovstal Iron and Steel Works?
In my view, the composer, just as the poet, the sculptor or the painter, is in duty bound to serve Man, the people. He must beautify human life and defend it. He must be a citizen first and foremost, so that his art might consciously extol human life and lead man to a radiant future. Such is the immutable code of art as I see it.
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![Image 1 Makhno in 1921 Nestor Ivanovych Makhno (Ukrainian: Нестор Івaнович Махно, pronounced [ˈnɛstor iˈʋɑnowɪt͡ʃ mɐxˈnɔ]; 7 November 1888 – 25 July 1934), also known as Batko Makhno (батько Махно, lit. 'Father Makhno'), was a Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and the commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine during the Ukrainian War of Independence. He established the Makhnovshchina (loosely translated as "Makhno movement"), a mass movement by the Ukrainian peasantry to establish anarchist communism in the country between 1918 and 1921. Initially centered around Makhno's home province of Katerynoslav and hometown of Huliaipole, it came to exert a strong influence over large areas of southern Ukraine, specifically in what is now the Zaporizhzhia Oblast of Ukraine. Raised by a peasant family and coming of age amid the fervor around the 1905 Revolution, Makhno participated in a local anarchist group and spent seven years imprisoned for his involvement. With his release during the 1917 Revolution, Makhno became a local revolutionary leader in his hometown and oversaw the expropriation and redistribution of large estates to the peasantry. In the Ukrainian Civil War, Makhno sided with the Soviet Russian Bolsheviks against the Ukrainian nationalists and White movement, but his alliances with the Bolsheviks did not last. He rallied Bolshevik support to lead an insurgency, defeating the Central Powers's occupation forces at the Battle of Dibrivka and establishing the Makhnovshchina. Makhno's troops briefly integrated with the Bolshevik Red Army in the 1919 Soviet invasion of Ukraine, but split over differences on the movement's autonomy. Makhno rebuilt his army from the remains of Nykyfor Hryhoriv's forces in western Ukraine, routed the White Army at the Battle of Perehonivka, and captured most of southern and eastern Ukraine, where they again attempted to establish anarchist communism. (Full article...)](/info/en/?search=File:Blank.png)
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