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Eyewitness
Russia

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 Icon of St. Nicholas

Flag of the Russian Soviet Federal

Socialist Republic from 1920 to 1954

18th-century festive
headdress for a
married woman

Silver samovar for

making tea

Yury Dolgoruky,
founder of Moscow
Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin

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 Eyewitness
Russia Wooden coat of arms
for Russia, 1882

Hat pin of
Cossack leader
Bodgdan
Khmelnitsky
Written by
KATHLEEN BERTON MURRELL
Photographed by
ANDY CRAWFORD

Civil War
saber owned
by General
Tulenov

Red Army shlam hat

Brightly painted
19th-century
cotton spinner

DK Publishing, Inc.

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 Alexander Pushkin’s
silver tea strainer

London, New York,

Melbourne, Munich, and Delhi

Project editor Melanie Halton

Strings of Art editor Vicky Wharton
dried mushrooms Senior managing editor Gillian Denton
Senior managing art editor Julia Harris
Production Lisa Moss 16th–17th
Picture research Monica Allende century Russian
DTP designer Nicola Studdart pole ax
This Eyewitness ® Book has been conceived by
Dorling Kindersley Limited and Editions Gallimard
© 1998 Dorling Kindersley Limited
This edition © 2000 Dorling Kindersley Limited
First American edition, 1998
Published in the United States by
Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc.
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All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Murrell, Kathleen Berton.
Russia / written by Kathleen Berton Murrell.
p. cm. — (Eyewitness Books; v. 74) Includes index.
Summary: An overview of the land, people, history, and
culture of Russia from its earliest days to the present.
1. Russia — History — Juvenile literature. 2. Soviet Union —
History — Juvenile literature 3. Russia (Federation) —
History — 1991 — Juvenile literature.
[1. Russia — History. 2. Soviet Union — History. 3. Russia
(Federation) History.] I. Title. Wooden
DK41.M965 2000 947 — dc21   97–38878 gingerbread
ISBN 978-0-7894-6623-5 (ALB)   ISBN 978-0-7894-5880-3 (PLC) mold
Color reproduction by Colourscan, Singapore
Printed in China by Toppan Printing Co. (Shenzhen) Ltd.

Discover more at

Catherine the
Great’s ivory
hunting gun

Cross-country
skis and poles Early 19th-century Russian ice skates

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 Vladimir Lenin’s
funeral train

Contents
8
Early Russia
10
A varied land
12
Peoples of Russia
14
Wealth of a nation
16
A life of serfdom
18 40
Orthodox religion Science pioneers
20 42
Rule of the tsars Media and communications
22 44
Empire building Famous writers
24 46
Life at court Art and icons
26 48
City of domes Music and dance
28 50
Palaces of St. Petersburg Crafts and traditions
30 52
Bolshevik Revolution Childhood
32 54
The Civil War National pastimes
34 56
The rise of Stalin Annual festivals
36 58
Soviet Russia The new Russia
38 60
Rail and industry Index

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 Early Russia
Modern russians originate from the eastern Slavs who settled in the
steppelands of European Russia in the 6th century. In the 9th century
Vikings, Varangians, sailed from the Baltic Sea along the Dnieper River
to establish the trade route from Scandinavia to Byzantium. One
of their chieftains, Rurik, founded the first dynasty of Russian
princes, and his successor, Oleg, established Kievan Rus, the first
Russian state. Catastrophe struck in 1237 when Tatar
(Mongol) forces raided many Russian cities, which then
remained under Tatar rule for 200 years.
Russia was split into many small
principalities, one of which,
Moscow, gradually gained
power and broke the
Tatar control.
LARGE AND WEALTHY
Prince Oleg founded Kievan
Rus in the 9th century. For
400 years it was one of the
largest and richest states in
Europe under great rulers
such as Vladimir I, Yaroslav Kievan 12th-century gold
the Wise, and Vladimir enamel pendants were used
Monomakh. But in 1237 Kiev, to adorn headdresses
weakened by internal feuding,
was destroyed by the Mongol
forces (Golden Horde) of Batu,
grandson of Genghis Khan.

Lake Onega
Baltic Sea
White Sea

Novgorod•
Suzdal• Siberia
Moscow• •Vladimir Muscovy
Kievan Rus 1598
1054 Don
Volga

Black Sea

Caspian Sea
FROM KIEV TO MUSCOVY
At its peak, in 1054, the Kievan state stretched from
the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea, and north to Lake
RURIK THE VIKING CHIEFTAIN
Onega. After the decline of Kiev, Russia’s center
The Varangians were Norsemen, or Vikings, who moved northeast, first to Vladimir and then to
in the 9th century penetrated from the Baltic Sea Moscow, capital of the principality of Muscovy.
into the land of the eastern Slavs, attracted by the Muscovy included lands as far north as the White
trade route between Scandinavia and Greek Sea and east beyond the Volga, to western Siberia.
Byzantium. The Slavs, plagued by enemies and
RULER OF THE MONGOLS
internal feuds, invited the Varangians to come and
rule over them. One of the Varangian chieftains, From his base in Asia, the remarkable Mongol
Rurik, took up the challenge to become prince of leader Genghis Khan conquered China, northern
Novgorod in 862. The few Norsemen were soon India, what is now Pakistan, and Central Asia.
absorbed by the Slavs and the House of Rurik Later, in 1222, he swept into southern Russia
reigned until the end of the 16th century. with his brilliant mounted troops, plundering
the land between the Volga and Dnieper rivers.
His grandson, Batu, completed the domination
of Russia in 1237, taking most of Kievan Rus and
the newer towns of Vladimir and Suzdal before
riding west to conquer Hungary and Poland.


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 Armor for a THE GOLDEN HORDE
14th–15th century The followers of Genghis Khan and his grandson,
Mongol warrior Batu, were skilled horsemen and archers well
protected by impressive armor. Batu established
the headquarters of his state, the Golden Horde,
at Sarai at the mouth of the Volga. The Mongol
overlords did not attempt to colonize the Russian
These flexible principalities but kept control with frequent raids
plates protect the and by demanding heavy annual payments.
neck and allow Although the Orthodox Church was tolerated
easy movement by the Mongols, their 200-year rule severely
retarded the development of Russian
cultural and social life.

Leather straps FIGHTING THE TATARS

fasten the upper Moscow gradually became the center of
part of the suit opposition to the Tatars (Mongols). In
1380 the Moscow prince Dmitry defeated
the Tatars on the River Don, and in 1480
another Moscow prince, Ivan III, tore up
Ribbon of the document demanding tributes. But it
St. Andrew was was not until the 16th century that Russian
the highest award forces, under Ivan the Terrible, succeeded
in tsarist Russia in recapturing land from the Tatars.

Scepter that was

originally held
by the eagle on
this wooden coat
of arms of 1882
has long since
disappeared Double-headed
eagle holds orb,
a symbol of
state power

COAT OF ARMS
The double-headed eagle, a
St. George popular symbol of state power
and the dragon in Byzantium and Europe, was
also adopted in 15th-century Muscovy,
The flexible armor together with the figure of St. George
came below the knee slaying a dragon. In 1672 the state coat of
for maximum arms was declared to be the double-headed
protection eagle wearing three crowns and holding the
orb and scepter, with St. George on a shield
Mongols relied at the center, surrounded by the arms of
on their accuracy major towns and Siberia. Later the arms of
with bow and Mongol warriors Finland, Poland, Georgia, and Taurida
arrow to bring slashed with the sword (Crimea) were added, together with the
down the enemy during close encounters ribbon of St. Andrew.


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A varied land
Russia is the largest country in the world, straddling the two
continents of Europe and Asia and crossing 11 time zones. Its three
geographical regions are European Russia in the west, up to the low-
lying Ural Mountains; the huge, flat expanse of Siberia; and the
mountainous far eastern region. The climate is extreme – average
temperatures range from -4°f (-20°c) in winter to 68°f (+20°c) in
summer. Russia’s mighty rivers include the Volga, Europe’s longest
river, and the Yenisei in Siberia. Huge Lake Baikal in eastern
Siberia is the deepest in the world and contains one fifth of the
world’s fresh water. Russia’s rich variety of animal life
includes tigers, reindeer, moose,
Reins attached to
sable, walrus, and the these notches are
unique Baikal seal. used to steer the
sleigh

SOLITARY TIGER
The magnificent Siberian tiger, the largest
tiger in the world, lives in solitude in the
forests and mountains of the far eastern SYMBOL OF A NATION
Ussuri region. Although the number The common brown bear, one of the national
of Siberian tigers fell disastrously to symbols of Russia, lives in the mountains and
about 20 in the 1940s, a policy of forests of the entire country from Europe to
protection has ensured their Siberia and the mountains of the Ussuri region, in
survival. By the mid-1990s, the far east. Such large creatures can sustain
about 300 were known themselves in semihibernation throughout the
to exist. winter on the fruits and berries of the forests; on
fish; and even on deer which they can bring down
by covering short distances at enormous speed.

Traditionally drawn by three Curved front

horses, a Russian sleigh is often shields passengers
called a troika, from the Russian from spray kicked
for “three” up by the horses
Animal furs make
snug blankets for
passengers

IN A COLD CLIMATE
Surprisingly, Russia’s severe
climate has not impeded
winter travel, for roads of
packed snow are smoother
than the ruts of summer or the
muddy tracks of spring and
autumn. Horse-drawn sleighs,
such as this one, can travel
rapidly over snowy highways
while passengers recline snugly
under the furs. In the past, when
sleighs traveled long distances, horses Step enables
were changed at government post passengers to
stations, placed at regular intervals along climb into and out
the main routes. Although most sleighs have of the sleigh easily
now been replaced by cars and trucks, they are
still used in some rural areas.

10
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 TUNDRA SUMMER
In June and July the warm sun thaws
the Arctic soil a few inches down to the
permafrost, permanently frozen earth
over 0.62 miles (1 km) thick. During
this time, the normally bleak landscape
is briefly transformed by brightly
colored flowers and green grasses.
SIBERIAN SURVIVAL
This ivory carving shows how the reindeer In Verkhoyansk, the coldest inhabited
makes it possible for people to live in the place in the world, temperatures can
isolated parts of northern Siberia. Indigenous drop to -96°f (-71°c)
(native) peoples, such as the Chukchi, rely
on domesticated reindeer herds to Arctic Ocean
provide transportation, meat, milk,
and hides for clothing
and tents.
Kamchatka
VEGETATION ZONES •Moscow Peninsula
Lena
Russia can be divided into Don Ural
broad horizontal bands of Mountains Siberia
Yenisei
vegetation: the treeless TAIGA FORESTS
tundra in the north, Volga Russian Federation The great taiga forests of larch,
which widens Ob pine, spruce, birch, and aspen
eastward to include the account for over half of the
far eastern region; the Lake world’s resources of softwood
taiga, the great forests Steppe Baikal and provide habitats for many
that dominate most of of Russia’s wide variety of
Russia; and the steppes, or Taiga animal species.
Vladivostok
•
meadowlands, in the south. Tundra
Cushioned
GRASSY PLAINS
backrest provides Handle is gripped
Steppes, or treeless grasslands, are
comfort on long by the coachman
distinguished by a thick layer of
journeys when the sleigh
extremely fertile black earth that is
is in motion
ideal for agriculture. The steppes
are found in the southern parts of
European Russia and Siberia.

Coachman sits on
leather stool during
journey

FRIEND OR FOE?
The villain of Russian fairy tales, the
large gray wolf is now found only in
the wilds of Siberia and the remoter
areas of European Russia. With its
thick fur, which whitens the farther
north it travels, it adapts admirably to life
Coat of arms in a cold climate. Its poor reputation is
indicates that this undeserved, for although it will kill sheep
sleigh belonged to and farm animals when in desperate hunger,
an important family attacks on human beings are very rare.

These shoe-shaped leather Distinctive

footrests protect the black-and-white RED-BREASTED GOOSE
coachman’s feet from wing markings Black, white, and chestnut red,
the harsh elements these most vivid of all geese
breed in the far northern
reaches of Siberia, bordering
on the Arctic Ocean. These
beautiful birds are living proof
that the huge, almost
uninhabited regions of Russia’s cold
Metal blades
north can support a colorful variety of
stabilize the
life during the warmer months of the
sleigh as it
year, June to August. But the number of
glides over ice
breeding pairs has declined by over two
thirds in the past century, mostly because
of indiscriminate hunting.

11
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 Peoples of Russia
Before the Revolution, Russia
was a truly multiethnic empire,
which included Ukrainians and
Belorussians; Kazakhs and other
peoples of Central Asia; Georgians,
Armenians, and Azerbaijanis in Soft
swansdown
the Caucasus region; Lithuanians, pom-pom
Latvians, and Estonians in the
north; Tatars; Germans; and
many others. Even present-day Russia, which COSSACKS
is much smaller, has over 100 nationalities Russians largely made up the
Cossack (p. 23) self-governing
among its 150 million people. But ethnically communities in the Kuban,
“Russian” Russians are the vast majority, Astrakhan, and Orenburg
provinces in the south.
at 82 percent of the population. Just over However, some Cossack
half the Soviet Union’s people were settlements were not
Russian but Kalmyk
Russian, and in the Russian empire and Buryat (Mongol
peoples), Bashkir
Russians were a minority. (Turkic-speaking),
and Tungus
(native Siberian).

KOKOSHNIK
Red velvet hats with gold
embroidery, like this one, were
Russian women’s everyday wear
for centuries. All but the highest
nobility wore the kokoshnik.

FAMILY HEIRLOOM
This festive 19th-century Ryazan designs
outfit with its delightful are typically
pom-pom hat comes geometric
from the Ryazan area,
south of Moscow. The
owner would have made
the blouse, skirt, apron,
and sleeveless jacket
herself. She would have
spun the linen thread
from flax, then woven the
material and sewn the Apron displays
clothes together. Finally fine crochetwork
she would have done all
the embroidery and
NATIONAL DRESS crochetwork. Such a
Along with the kokoshnik, fine outfit would have
Russian peasant and servant been handed down
women all over the country within the family.
wore a sleeveless dress (sarafan)
until the 20th century. The
decoration and color of the
sarafan differed greatly from
district to district.

12
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 REPUBLIC OF TATARSTAN
Tungus Tungus town Men of Tobolsk
Turkic-speaking Tatars form nomad dweller
about 4 percent of the
population of Russia Hood prevents loss
– about 6 million people. of body heat and
Most live in the Republic keeps head and
of Tatarstan within the ears warm
Russian Federation. in sub-zero
They are descendants temperatures
of the Golden Horde
(p. 11) and many of
them are Muslims. In
1994 Tatarstan signed
a treaty giving it
special rights within
the Federation.

Hooded costume of NATIVES OF SIBERIA

Tatar women reflects Today Russians greatly outnumber the
the now rare many small groups of indigenous
custom of veil (native) Siberian peoples. The two
wearing native Siberians (above right) are
from the Tobolsk area, west of
the Urals. Those on the left
are Tungus from the Amur
district on the border of
China. The one in the
long fur-lined coat is a
town dweller and next
to him is a nomad,
who lives with his
reindeer herds.

Mittens are
sewn into
the sleeves
to keep out
biting winds

THE NORTHERN PEOPLE

This warm coat comes from
the Nganasan people, the
most northerly inhabitants
of Russia, whose way of life
resembles that of the Inuit.
There are only a few
thousand Nganasan; they
belong to the Samoyed-
Nenets group and live on
the Taimyr Peninsula in
northern Siberia. They lived
traditionally as nomadic
hunters, reindeer herders,
and fishermen, although in
the Soviet period many
were forced to settle on
collective farms.

13
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Wealth of a nation
Russia has vast reserves of natural resources, from
timber – about one fifth of all the world’s forests – to
a remarkable supply of rocks and minerals. These
include huge deposits of gold, diamonds, iron ore,
copper, nickel, lead, and zinc. There are also large
deposits of fossil fuels including coal – half the
world’s reserves – oil, peat, and natural gas. Fur
trapping, Russia’s earliest source of wealth,
is still practiced. Fishing, particularly for
DIAMOND DISCOVERY
sturgeon, is a highly developed industry, Until the 19th century diamonds, such as those in
and Russia’s long rivers are used to the imperial crown, above, were imported from
India. Russian diamonds were first discovered in
generate over 10 percent of the world’s 1955 in an isolated spot in north central Siberia.
hydroelectric power. Polished Within a year a new town, Mirny, had been built. It
has good links by air, but the nearest railroad is over
amber bead
600 miles (1,000 km) away. However, Mirny is now
Crystallized
a town of about 40,000 people, who are mostly
gold nugget
involved in diamond production.

ANCIENT AMBER
Amber is fossil resin – a thick, sticky
substance from extinct conifers. It is found
mostly along the Baltic Sea; for thousands of
years, people have polished it, traded with it,
and made it into jewelry. The Catherine
Palace (p. 29) had a famous room lined
with panels of amber.

MINING FOR MINERALS GOLD RUSH

Iron ore and other metals are especially Russia has some of the largest
abundant in Siberia. The northern gold reserves in the world. In
Siberian town of Norilsk (p. 39), beyond 1838 a discovery near the Yenisei
the Arctic Circle, was founded in the River in Siberia, followed by huge finds
1930s to extract rich deposits of nickel, near the upper Lena River, started a gold
copper, and cobalt, and now also rush. In 1923 another major find was
produces gold, silver, made at Aldan on the upper Lena.
and platinum.

Russian
nobleman in
fur-lined coat
and fur hat

Furry side
flaps untie to
cover ears in
especially
cold weather

Front flap
folds down to FUR TRADERS
cover forehead Early traders from central Russia headed north
FUR TRAPPING and east in search of the pelts of animals from
To combat the harsh cold of winter, most Russians wear fur hats and the Russian Arctic. By the 17th century fur was
coats with the fur on the inside. Animals are still trapped the most important item of foreign trade for
extensively in the wild, mostly by native peoples. There are also the merchants of Moscow. The annual fur
many fur farms where mink, sable, and fox are raised for their skins. auction in St. Petersburg is still considered the
But the fur of animals living in the wild is considered the best. most important fur market in the world.

14
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 NATURAL GAS
The leading producer of fossil fuels,
Russia has 40 percent of the
world’s natural gas. Deposits lie in
the northern Caucasus, Siberia,
and along the Arctic coast.
Deep green with Pipelines laid in the
pale green streaks, 1970s and 1980s, linking
malachite is a popular the Siberian gas fields
stone for carving into with European Russia,
objects, such as this made it much easier to
19th-century vase export the gas to other
from Yekaterinburg countries. Those exports
in the Urals help pay for imports.

Laying pipelines in northern

Russia is difficult and
expensive because of
permafrost (p. 11)

MIGHTY STURGEON
As the Volga and the Caspian Sea become polluted, the
huge sturgeon that provide caviar (fish eggs),
an expensive luxury dish, are becoming scarce.
Nevertheless, fishing is a major industry in Russia.
Russia’s modern fishing
fleet works both in
coastal waters and
out on the open seas of
the Atlantic and Pacific.

Arms move up
and down as
if washing
the bear in
the tub

MALACHITE
This beautiful HYDROELECTRICITY
green copper compound With its immense rivers,
occurs in only four places Russia has built many dams
in the world, including the to generate electricity. Stalin
Ural Mountains of Russia. favored huge hydroelectric
In the 19th century, malachite Traditional projects, such as reversing the
was used to make jewelry, Russian toy flow of rivers, but recently these
furniture, and beautiful objects, carved from have been rejected because they
such as this vase, for high wood would damage the environment.
society. The interior walls
of the Malachite Hall in
the Winter Palace
(p. 28), a room
for ceremonial
occasions, are
completely TIMBER
lined with Russia has about one fifth of the world’s forests and
the bright nearly half the world’s softwood (pine and other conifers). Siberian
green stone. forests are remote, so tree felling is concentrated nearer to markets
in central Russia and the Urals. The wood is used to make paper,
furniture, and village houses, and much is still used as firewood.

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A life of serfdom THE ARISTOCRATS
Until the end of the 17th century,
the aristocracy shared the same
culture, language, and religion as
the peasants. But as Peter the Great

Serfs were peasants bound to their landlord’s estates (pp. 20, 22) forced the nobles to shave
their beards and adopt Western dress,
and forced to work the land. They were virtually slaves, customs, and languages, the gap
between aristocrats and peasants
for they could do nothing without their lord’s approval widened immensely.
– not even marry. They could be bought Flail was used to beat
and sold, exiled to Siberia, or forced to crops to separate the
join the army. But the law forbade grain from the husks
and stalks
landlords to kill their serfs. Until the
17th century, on one day each year, serfs
were allowed to move to another estate.
In 1649, even this freedom was
abolished. Two centuries later, in 1861,
serfs were finally freed. The liberated
serfs provided labor for new
industry, which led to spectacular
Hand-crafted rake
economic growth. But peasants ESSENTIAL TOOLS
Peasants on Russia’s large used for gathering hay
were charged high prices for the estates continued to use and smoothing soil Wooden
wooden agricultural handle
land they believed was theirs by implements, scarcely improved
right; freedom brought little since medieval times, until well
into the 20th century. Most
improvement to their lives. landlords, with unlimited cheap Free-swinging
peasant labor, did little to wooden bar
improve the land or farming
methods. But some, such as the
writer Tolstoy, supported more
progressive farming techniques.

Pick has sharp

metal head for
breaking up
clumps of soil
and stones

LOG HOUSES
Villages with identical log houses,
called izbas, are still common all over
Russia, although straw roofs are now
rare. The izba has one large room for
the extended family, dominated by a
great stove that is also used as a warm
sleeping bench during the long winters. Peasants carried
their lunch and
personal belongings
CAPTURE OF PUGACHEV in bags woven from
Runaway serfs fled to the borderlands in the south birch bark
and became Cossacks, or free warriors, farming and
organizing their communities far from the heavy hand
of the tsar. In 1773 Yemelyan Pugachev, a Cossack
leader, declared himself Emperor Peter III, murdered
husband of Catherine the Great. Promising liberation
of the serfs, he led a popular revolt of peasants of
Russian and other nationalities in the Volga and Ural
regions. He was at first successful, capturing Kazan and
threatening Moscow, but was defeated at Tsaritsyn in
August 1774. Pugachev escaped, but was captured in
December and brought to Moscow in this specially
built cage, and publicly tortured and executed.

16
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 Loose linen blouse
with lace-up collar
kept peasants cool
on hot summer days

PEASANT LIFE
Before the Revolution of 1917,
four out of five persons in
Russia were peasants. Only
one fifth were literate, but
they were skillful craftspeople, Brightly colored
able to construct their own wool skirts were
houses, spin cloth, and make spun at home
all their own agricultural tools.
Peasants belonged to a tight­
knit village commune, or mir,
whose elders were responsible
for collecting taxes, settling
disputes, and allocating land.

The sickle’s curved

blade is used to cut
grass and crops,
such as wheat

Female serfs often

wore many layers of
skirts to keep them
warm in the winter

Traditional serfs’ TRADITIONAL ATTIRE

shoes, called lapti, Women’s everyday wear was a simple
were hand-woven blouse and skirt, or a sleeveless dress,
from birch bark called a sarafan. Men wore trousers,
linen shirts, and a caftan. In summer
peasants wore birch-bark shoes. In
winter they put on felt boots, or
valenki, and sheepskin overcoats with
the fur on the inside, to keep
FREEDOM TO THE PEOPLE themselves warm in the snow. More
In March 1861, serfs celebrated throughout Russia elaborate costumes were kept for
as news spread of Tsar Alexander II’s emancipation special occasions and handed down
law. About 50 million Russian people were thus from generation to generation.
freed from near slavery. However, the former serfs
were still bound to their commune and in debt for
what little land they received. Many felt cheated
and remained dissatisfied with their situation.

17
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 Orthodox religion
A lthough many religions, including Buddhism and Islam, are
found in Russia, most of the population identifies with Orthodox
Christianity. Adopted from Byzantium over 1,000 years ago by Prince
Vladimir, it was chosen for the splendor of its ceremonies. Rich in
ritual, Orthodox services are often long, elaborate, and colorful. Priests
chant and the choir sings without the accompaniment of musical
WEDDING CEREMONY instruments, because it is believed that only the human voice should
During an Orthodox marriage
service, ornate crowns, like the
be used in sacred music. Orthodoxy remained Russia’s
Slanted bar on
poet Pushkin’s, above, are held Russian Orthodox State religion until the Revolution in 1917. In the
over the heads of the bride and
groom. The couple drink wine
cross represents Soviet era many churches were
where Christ’s
three times from the same cup. feet were nailed destroyed; priests were shot or Oil lamp
for lighting
The priest then leads the
couple three times around the
imprisoned. Since 1990, up icons
center of the church. St. Nicholas,
the 4th-century
when official support was
Byzantine bishop renewed, the Church has Apostle
Matthew
rapidly revived.
Embossed metal covers this Apostle John
icon, revealing only the Angel tells Mary
hand and face of the she will bear
painted saint the son of
God

NIKON’S REFORMS
Patriarch Nikon was head of the
Church from 1652 to 1658. His
reforms to rituals, such as making
the sign of the cross with three
fingers instead of two, met with
strenuous opposition from a
group called the Old Believers,
who separated from the Church.
When Nikon tried to make the
Church more powerful than the
State, the tsar imprisoned him in
a remote monastery.

SACRED PICTURES
Sculptures were discouraged by the Church
for a long time because it was thought that
they might become objects of worship. But
icons – religious pictures painted on
wooden panels – could be venerated
(deeply respected) because they are not
lifelike images. Icons are found not only in
churches, but also in Russian homes.

MONASTERIES
Although most of the ancient monasteries
were forced to close after the Bolshevik Apostle Luke Apostle Mark
Revolution and were neglected or ROYAL DOORS
destroyed, many have been vigorously The royal doors are at the center of the iconostasis – the
revived in the new Russia. The most tall wall of tiered, religious paintings that screens the altar
important is the beautiful Trinity Lavra of from the rest of the church. The congregation stands
St. Sergius, founded in the 14th century. In throughout the service, facing the iconostasis. Only the
1689, its enterprising monks supported clergy are permitted to enter through the royal doors,
Peter the Great in his struggle for the which are opened at certain moments during services,
throne against his half-sister, Sophia. symbolically revealing heaven to the faithful.

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 Golden
CHURCH CLERGY chalice
At the head of the Church is
the patriarch. He, like all
senior ranks of the Orthodox Elaborately
Church – the metropolitans, bound Book
archbishops, bishops, and Miter is a of the
archimandrites – is drawn symbol of Gospels
from the unmarried “black” a bishop’s
clergy (monks). The more power
numerous priests, the
“white” clergy, are normally Bishop’s miter
married and often remain
parish priests all their lives.
Women are not permitted HOLY BOOK
to enter the clergy. The Bible was translated
into Old Church
Slavonic in the 9th
century by Saints Cyril
and Methodius. Church
The stole, omoforion, Slavonic is close to the
Orthodox is only worn by Russian language and is still
bishop bishops used today in church services.

Girdle

Cuffs are
laced
The palitza, which around
hangs from the right the wrist
hip, is worn by
bishops and some
senior priests

The sacchos, or
bishop’s vestment,
The sacchos symbolizes the
hangs down robe of Christ
to the mid-calf

CEREMONIAL ROBES
The robes for ceremonial
occasions in the Orthodox Church Staff, or crosier, signifies
are often magnificent and richly colored, like that the bishop is a
these bishop’s vestments. Each item of clothing has shepherd of his people
a special religious significance. Both bishops and Priestly stole,
priests normally wear a black cassock, or robe, and a black hat (skufya). epitrachelion,
For services, priests have their own special vestments, many of which hangs down
are similar to those of the bishop. More ornate robes are worn by almost to the floor
bishops and priests for Easter and other important festivals.

19
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 Rule of the tsars
Russia has known two royal dynasties: the Rurikids (c. 860–1598)
and, following the Time of Troubles (c. 1605–13), the Romanovs
(1613–1917). The chaotic Time of Troubles was a period of civil strife
when many imposters fought for the throne, and unrest, famine,
and invasion plagued the country. Russian princes adopted the
title “tsar” from the Roman “Caesar” in the 15th century, as the
THE ROMANOV DYNASTY
In 1613, 16-year-old Mikhail
power and prestige of Moscow grew. The title “emperor” came
Romanov was elected to into use in the 18th century under Peter the
the throne. His family
continued to rule for Great. Tsars throughout Russian history
the next 300 years. ruled with absolute power.
The dynasty ended in
February 1917 when IVAN THE TERRIBLE
Nicholas II abdicated Ivan IV’s long rule (1533–1584) began
(gave up the throne). hopefully, with new laws, territorial
conquests, and commercial relations
with England. After the death of his
first wife, however, Ivan
began a reign of terror,
Gold crown even murdering his
studded own son.
with pearls,
garnets, and
turquoise

Sable-fur trimming
made crown more
comfortable to wear
CROWN OF KAZAN
Thought to have belonged to Ediger Mahmet,
this 16th-century crown is one of the oldest in
Russia. Mahmet was the last ruler of the Tatar
state of Kazan. He adopted Christianity and
became loyal to Ivan the Terrible.

Peter and Paul Fortress in

St. Petersburg, painted 1723
BORIS GODUNOV
Porcelain frame Unpopular Boris Godunov ruled at the
decorated with end of the Rurikid dynasty. He was
enamel on copper suspected of murdering the rightful heir,
Prince Dmitry. Godunov died suddenly in
1605, resulting in a prolonged battle
for a successor. The Time of
Troubles had begun.

PETER THE GREAT DECEMBRIST REVOLT

Peter I, who took the throne by Throughout Russian history,
force from his half-sister, Sophia, there were many peasant
ruled from 1689 to 1725. The most uprisings against tsarist
energetic of the tsars, he founded a rule. But the 1825 revolt
new capital city (pp. 28–29), against Nicholas I
established the navy (p. 22), by the aristocratic
initiated radical reforms in Decembrists shocked
education and government, and the regime. With little
was the first tsar to travel abroad. support, the revolt
soon died out. Five of Executed leaders
CATHERINE II the leaders were hanged of the Decembrist
Born a German princess, Catherine and the rest condemned Revolt
became empress of Russia in 1762 and to hard labor in Siberia. Ring made from
ruled for over 30 years. Known as chains that bound
Catherine the Great, she was the last of four Decembrists in Siberia
strong empresses to rule after Peter I.

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 Cupid holds the TSARS’ SECRET POLICE
orb and scepter, The notorious secret police of the tsars,
which are symbols the Third Department (later the Okhrana)
of state power infiltrated and suppressed revolutionary
organizations. But the organization’s
cruelty pales beside the brutality of
the Soviet secret police, the
NKVD (later the KGB).
Empress
Elizabeth’s Carved and gilded
monogram female head
Like all Russian
tsars, Alexander II
was an accomplished
horseman

Imperial coat of
arms – St. George
and the double­
headed eagle

ALEXANDER II
The highlight of Alexander’s reign
was the emancipation of the serfs
in 1861. But the reforming tsar
was killed by a terrorist’s bomb in
1881. His successor, Alexander
III, pursued harsh, reactionary
policies, reversing many of his
Golden Nicholas and father’s reforms.
embroidery Alexandra wear
on red 17th-century tsarist
velvet costumes for a
grand ball, 1903

STRONG EMPRESSES, WEAK EMPERORS

After the death of Peter I in 1725, the rest of the
18th century was dominated by strong empresses,
among them Peter I’s daughter, Elizabeth, and German-
born Catherine II. Assisted by elite guards, each took LAST IN LINE
the throne by force from weak emperors, and both Nicholas II celebrated the 300th anniversary
enjoyed the popularity of the general public. The ornate of the Romanov dynasty in 1913. Four years
decoration of Elizabeth’s gilded throne (above) is later, however, he abdicated on behalf of
typical of her extravagant taste. Both Elizabeth and himself and his hemophilic son following
Catherine were responsible for most of the opulent the catastrophe of war and civil rioting. The
palaces and royal estates in and around St. Petersburg. tsar and his family were murdered by the
Bolsheviks in 1918 (p.32).

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 Empire building
The history of Russia is one of
almost continual expansion. It has
been estimated that from 1600 to 1900
Russia grew at a rate of 50 square miles
(130 square km) a day! With no natural
barriers to the east or west, Russia lay open to
repeated invasions throughout its history. After
gaining strength, Russia expanded its frontiers,
partly to protect its vulnerable heartland. By
the end of the 18th century, Russia included
Siberia, western Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland,
and Tatar Crimea. In 1809, Finland was added,
and in the first half of the 19th century, the FOUNDER OF THE RUSSIAN FLEET
small countries of the Caucasus – Georgia, Peter the Great, the first tsar to interest himself in naval matters,
founded the Russian fleet after studying shipbuilding in Holland
Armenia, and Azerbaijan – and huge areas of and England. In the Great Northern War with Sweden (1700–21)
Central Asia became part of the empire. he expanded Russian territory to the Baltic Sea, gaining Swedish
territory in southern Finland, the marshes on which he built his
new capital, St. Petersburg, and what are now Estonia and Latvia.
Brass gun barrel Peter the Great also captured the long peninsula of Kamchatka
Hatpin of Ukrainian and the Kurile Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Cossack leader
Bogdan Khmelnitsky

Type of cannon
Porcelain cup employed at the
showing General Battle of Borodino
Bagration

BAGRATION AT BORODINO
Leading a French army half a
million strong, Napoleon
invaded Russia in June 1812. By
September, he had succeeded in
reaching Borodino on the
approaches to Moscow. A bloody
battle broke out in which many
were mortally wounded,
including one of the most
brilliant commanders of the
Russian army, a Georgian prince,
Pyotr Bagration. Afterward, the
Russians, led by the crafty, one-eyed
Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, retreated.
Napoleon took Moscow but was
driven out in October.

Wooden wheels
are strengthened
with metal

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IMPERIAL EMPIRE Arctic Ocean
By 1914 the Russian empire
was by far the largest in the •Finland
Baltic
world, stretching from the Sea
Arctic Ocean to the
•Estonia
Caspian Sea and from Lithuania• •Latvia
the Baltic Sea to the •Poland
Pacific. Within its Belarus• •Moscow Siberia Bering Sea
borders were
diverse nationalities •Moldava Russian Empire
ranging from the •Ukraine Kamchatka
Crimea• Pacific
northern ice-bound Black
Chukchi to the desert Ocean
Sea
nomads of Kazakhstan. •Georgia
The huge empire, •Armenia •Kazakhstan
which included Azerbaijan• China
Finland and Poland,
Caspian Sea Mongolia
was divided into •Uzbekistan
provinces and ruled
Turkmenistan•
from St. Petersburg. EXPLORING ALASKA
Fur-rich Alaska, separated from Siberia
Defense of Sevastopol by narrow straits, was first visited by
1854–55 Russians in 1741. In 1789 Joseph
Billings, an English sailor in Russian
service, led a secret expedition
to study Alaska’s peoples
and explore its coast. The
United States bought
Alaska in 1867.

CRIMEAN WAR
In the Crimean War (1853–56), Russia Letter of July 1791
fought against Britain, France, and carved on walrus
Turkey. Russia, badly led and poorly tusk, and sent to
supplied, was defeated despite the heroic Billings from
year-long defense of Sevastopol, on the RUNAWAY SERFS Siberia, documents
Black Sea, and a naval victory against The first Cossacks were runaway serfs and landings on
Turkey. Under the peace treaty, Russia outlaws who formed frontier settlements in Alaskan coast
kept the Crimea, but its power in the southern Russia and Ukraine. At first, Cossacks
Black Sea was weakened. opposed the Russian authorities, but by the 19th
century they had turned their settlements into prosperous Cossack
agricultural communities and were fiercely loyal to the tsar. shashka sword

CONQUEST OF SIBERIA
Ivan the Terrible opened the way to the
resources of Siberia when he defeated
the Tatars at Kazan on the Volga.
Yermak, a daring Cossack leader,
penetrated farther into fur-rich western
Siberia in 1581, as shown in Surikov’s
painting of 1895. With 840 men
he conquered the native
tribes and greatly
expanded Russia’s
borders.

MILITARY COSSACKS
Cannons were dragged to Cossacks wore distinctive uniforms, with tall fur
their battle positions hats and sheepskin cloaks; they carried a sword
by horses (like this shashka, right) and a long lance. All
Cossack men had to serve in Cossack military
units, which were famous for their loyalty,
bravery, and fine horsemanship.

DEFEAT OF NAPOLEON
In 1812, the French took
Moscow. But a terrible fire destroyed
most of the city, including winter supplies.
After just a month Napoleon, the conqueror of
Europe and Egypt, was forced to retreat. Frozen and starving,
90 percent of his men died or deserted. Two years later, the
Russians, under Alexander I, rode triumphantly into Paris and
Russia began to play a prominent role in European affairs.

23
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 Scepter is decorated
with the Orlov
diamond, one of
the largest in
Life at court
the world
In Muscovite times (pp. 8–9) the
royal court was at the Kremlin in
Moscow. Tsars were attended by
bearded boyars (nobles), wearing ornate
costumes. Elaborate court rituals, such SILVER SPECTACLES
as the deep kowtow (bow), were based Catherine the Great was
a prodigious reader,
on Byzantine customs and those of the correspondent, and writer
former Mongol overlords. The imperial of plays. She used these
elegant spectacles (with
court at St. Petersburg (1712–1917) adopted their enamel case) when
Western dress and manners, imitating French working at her desk.
King Louis XIV’s opulent court of Versailles.
CROWN JEWELS The Russian emperor or
The diamond-studded Grand
Imperial Crown of 1762, made for
empress was attended by
Catherine II’s enthronement, was French-speaking aristocrats.
used in all subsequent coronations.
The central band of diamond oak
leaves and acorns, symbols of state
Gilt cupids
power, begins with Empress
adorn the front
Elizabeth’s perfect diamond of 56
of the carriage
carats and ends with a magnificent
Chinese ruby of nearly 400 carats.

CORONATION CEREMONY
The crowning of Nicholas II in 1896,
shown above, took place at the
Assumption Cathedral, Moscow.
Coronations continued to be held
in the cathedral after the capital
moved to St. Petersburg.
Nicholas II’s coronation
celebrations were horribly
marred when 1,200 peasants were
killed in a stampede of people
waiting to receive royal gifts.

GRAND PALACE BALLS

From the elegant dances held by
Alexander I to the sumptuous
fancy-dress affairs of the fun-loving
Elizabeth, lavish balls were
the highlight of the winter
season in St. Petersburg.
Olga, Nicholas II’s eldest
daughter, made her debut
in 1913 at the last Two or three pairs of
glittering ball held before Wooden wheels matched horses would
the Bolshevik Revolution. with metal rims have drawn the carriage

24
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IVORY HUNTING GUN
Hunting was a favorite pastime of the court. The fine Steel barrel Flintlock
workmanship of Empress Catherine’s gun, made in about mechanism Gold-embossed
1780 at Tula, south of Moscow, is typical of the skill of Russian ivory grip
craftsmen. There is a famous legend that when English smiths Emperor Paul
gave Nicholas I a miniature dancing steel flea, the expert Tula
craftsmen responded by fitting it with tiny boots.
FANCIFUL FABERGÉ
Peter Carl Fabergé, a St. Petersburg jeweler of
Elegant wooden canopy French origin, made spectacular and intricate
decorated with gilt ornaments. Every year Nicholas II ordered
laurel and oak leaves Easter eggs for his wife and
mother. This egg, with 18
miniature portraits of the
tsars, was made in 1913
to celebrate the
Romanov dynasty.

Coachman sits on Peter the Great

velvet-draped box
while controlling
the horses

Carved golden
eagle acts as a Nicholas II
guardian

System of leather
straps supports the
body of the carriage Scenes of cupids and
goddesses are painted
on the side panels
CATHERINE’S CARRIAGE
Catherine the Great’s lover, Count Grigory Orlov,
organized the coup against her husband. He presented the
empress with this ornate summer carriage, made of gilded Back wheels are larger
wood and painted with scenes on the paneled back and than front wheels for
sides. On ceremonial occasions elegant horse-drawn easy turning
carriages would fill the streets leading to the Winter Palace
or the Kremlin in seemingly endless processions.

25
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 City of domes Central octagonal
tower is topped by
a small gold cupola

After the Tatars’ defeat in 1380, Moscow gained in

power and, by the 15th century, had become the leading
city of Russia. Although Peter the Great moved the
capital to St. Petersburg in 1712, Moscow, the “second
capital,” still played a major role. In 1812 Napoleon
captured Moscow. But the city was soon ablaze
– probably set on fire deliberately by its
citizens, who preferred to flee rather than
surrender. Napoleon’s starving army,
faced with the onset of winter, was then
forced to retreat. The rebuilt city
prospered, and became the capital
again in 1918, under the
Bolsheviks. Before the October
Revolution, Moscow was known for its
amazing domed churches, but half were
destroyed during the Soviet era. In the
new Russia, many are being rebuilt.
Kremlin W Red Square

CITY FOUNDER
Moscow was founded
by Prince Yury Dolgoruky.
It is first mentioned in early
Russian chronicles in 1147,
when Dolgoruky invited other
princes to a feast. The first ST. BASIL’S CATHEDRAL
wooden fortress was built in Dominating Red Square is the fantastic Cathedral
1156, on the hill where the of the Intercession, better known as St. Basil’s. It is
Kremlin now stands. S N named after a holy man who dared to stand up to
Ivan the Terrible. The cathedral was built between
1555 and 1561 to celebrate Ivan’s victory over the
Tatars. It consists of eight chapels topped by ornate
CITY BOUNDARIES domes grouped around the central church tower.
This 1605 map shows Ivan allegedly blinded the architects to ensure that
how Moscow developed this masterpiece could never be rivaled.
in a circular pattern.
Expanding eastward from
the Kremlin to embrace Red Ivan Veliky bell
All Saints Gate
Square, the city then widened tower, for many
guarding the
in a walled horseshoe around the years the tallest
E bridge across the
original core. Wooden palisades (fences) building in
Moscow River
and dirt ramparts (embankments) were built Moscow
in 1592 to circle the whole wooden town. Medieval palaces,
This old town center now makes up only 2 including the
percent of the modern city. tsars’ Terem
Palace
All Saints, or Great
Stone, Bridge, built
in 1692

VIEW OF THE KREMLIN

The Kremlin, the high-walled triangular
fortress on the Moscow River, shines with
33 golden domes and contains the great
cathedrals and former palaces of the tsars.
Italian Renaissance architects built the
walls and most of the churches between
1475 and 1505. After the 1917 Revolution,
Lenin, and then Stalin, lived and worked in
the Kremlin. Today it houses the office of
the Russian president.

26
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Onion domes King post would
Cupolas, or domes, first appeared in the north of Russia. have supported a
tall wooden cross
The familiar onion shape may have developed because it
sheds snow more easily than the shallow Byzantine
dome from which it was adapted. Highly Scarf joint bonds
decorated the two king posts
gables for maximum
An early helmet­ strength
shaped dome

Church of the Intercession, Church of St. Nicholas,

Bersenevka, 1657 KIZHI ISLAND CHURCH
Rubtsovo, 1626
The ultimate in northern wooden
INTO THE DOME architecture is the Church of the
Pine wood, readily available in northern Transfiguration, built in 1714. Its
Russia, was easily shaped by skillful 22 cupolas rise in elaborate tiers
axmen to make the dome. Supported to form a striking silhouette. In
by the king post and spindle beams, the flat landscape these
three-piece struts were slotted cupolas resemble the
together; nails were not used. pine trees of the
The framework was then surrounding forests.
linked with cross
boarding to mold the Wedges ensure
frame. Wedged outer sufficient
shingles were of tension
moist aspen,
which gives a
silvery glow.

Spindle beams, like

spokes in a wheel,
provide horizontal
support to the frame

The middle strut

makes the bend
necessary for the
onion shape

Three-piece struts –16

in all — run from the
drum to the top post

St. Basil’s in
Red Square Beklemishev Tower
peeps over defended the eastern
the Kremlin approaches on the
Moscow River

Overlapping
tongued shingles,
lemekhi, are made
of aspen wood

Cross boarding links

the vertical struts
forming the frame

Drum, or base,
of cupola

27
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 Palaces of St. Petersburg Alexander
Column is a
memorial to
the 1812
victory over

on the marshy banks of the River Neva, Peter Napoleon

the Great built his new capital, St. Petersburg.

Crossed anchors are He wanted to give Russia an outlet to the sea
St. Petersburg’s
coat of arms
and a “window to the west.” By 1712 he had
succeeded, but thousands had died of fevers
Gilded spire
and exhaustion in the process. St. Petersburg THE ARCHITECT RASTRELLI
The Italian Bartolomeo
Building began is a place of palaces and spires, reflecting the Rastrelli (1700–71) was
in 1712 but was
not completed European classical style of its many foreign court architect under
Empresses Anna and
until 1733 architects. During World War II over a Elizabeth. He built
million citizens died as a result of a nearly stunning royal palaces of
astonishing size and color,
Receding tiers
with volutes
three-year blockade by the German army. with lavish interiors. But his
(scrolls) like St. Petersburg became Petrograd between work fell out of favor with
Catherine II, who preferred
Dutch
buildings
1914 and 1924, then Leningrad until 1991, classical architecture.
when the original name was restored.
FROZEN FONTANKA
Lined by grand houses, the
Fontanka River is one of four
rivers and canals that emerge
from the Neva to loop
through the center of the old
city. In winter the Fontanka
freezes so hard that it is
able to support vehicles.

CITY LAYOUT
St. Petersburg is grouped around
narrow rivers and canals with the broad
Neva River at the center. Large islands
like the Vasilievsky on the left and Hare
Island, where the fortress stands, face
the mainland. Nevsky Prospekt is the
most important of the streets that
radiate from the Neva River.

WINTER PALACE
PETER AND PAUL FORTRESS The magnificent Winter Palace, begun in 1754 for Empress Elizabeth
The fortress, begun in 1703, was the first and completed in 1762, is Rastrelli’s crowning achievement. It is a
building constructed in the city. Rising from Top floor of the closed square with a spacious courtyard built on the banks of the
its center is the Cathedral of Saints Peter and palace was used Neva River. It burned down in 1837 but within a year was rebuilt
Paul. With its tall, slim spire, it symbolizes as servants’ almost exactly as before. Long the main residence of the tsars, the
the city as much as St. Basil’s does Moscow. quarters Winter Palace became the Hermitage Museum after the Revolution.

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 GRAND INTERIORS
Ornate cupolas Rich interiors like this palatial
can be seen from dining room are often found in
a considerable 18th- and 19th-century palaces,
distance not only of the tsars but also of
high-ranking members of the
aristocracy. Marble columns
are used in abundance in halls
based on Greek and Roman
architecture. Precious
materials such as amber
decorate the walls, and gold
leaf is found everywhere.

Elaborate window frames

CATHERINE PALACE are typical of Rastrelli
These gold cupolas belong to the
chapel of the Catherine Palace. This
royal summer residence stands at SMOLNY CONVENT
Tsarskoe Selo, on the outskirts of St. Rastrelli was responsible for Empress
Petersburg. It was designed by Elizabeth’s Convent of the Resurrection.
Rastrelli for Empress Elizabeth and Its first ornate buildings were completed
named after her mother. The in 1764, after Elizabeth’s death. In
palace’s landscaped gardens were contrast to the extravagant exterior, the
laid out during interior was left undecorated.
the reign of Catherine II confiscated the convent
Catherine to use it for Russia’s first girls’ school,
the Great. whose students were young
noblewomen. The school later
became the headquarters of Lenin’s
Bolsheviks; here he planned the
October 1917 Revolution.

Gold cupola
pinpoints
position of
the palace
cathedral
PETERHOF
Peterhof, on the Gulf of Finland, was Peter the Great’s favorite
summer residence. The palace, modeled on the French palace and Grand Cascade
gardens at Versailles, was begun in 1714 and was later added to by of fountains
Rastrelli. The Grand Cascade of fountains was adorned with many Catherine II’s
gilded statues. The palace and grounds were ruined during World rooms were on the
Gilt Peterhof War II but have been beautifully restored. second floor, in the
statue southeast corner

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Bolshevik Revolution
After riots in Petrograd (St. Petersburg
until 1914) in February 1917, Nicholas II
abdicated the throne and a Provisional
Government took over. The Revolution
had many causes. In 1905, widespread
discontent erupted in strikes, uprisings,
and mutinies. Food shortages, the tsar’s
weak leadership, and Russia’s disastrous
performance in World War I heightened
unrest. Failure to stop the war angered
soldiers and peasants, and in October 1917
the Bolshevik (Communist) Party, led by
Vladimir Lenin, seized power. Lenin
dissolved the Provisional Government and
made peace with Germany at the cost of
huge territories, including Ukraine.
GRIGORI RASPUTIN
The fake holy man Grigori
Rasputin gained huge
influence over Nicholas II
and Empress Alexandra
because of his apparent ability
to cure the hemophilia attacks
of their son and heir, Alexei.
While the tsar was at the front
during World War I, Rasputin
virtually ruled Russia. In
1916 the unpopular WORKERS UNITE
Rasputin was murdered In Moscow, the 1917 Revolution
by relatives of the tsar. was very violent compared to the
almost bloodless coup in Petrograd.
Peaceful Militant workers fought fiercely against the
demonstrators stronger forces of cadets loyal to the Provisional
slain by tsar’s Government. Only after ten days of furious
troops fighting around the Kremlin did the Bolsheviks
emerge triumphant in Russia’s second capital.

Blank shots fired

from the Aurora
signaled the start
of the Bolshevik
uprising

“Bloody Sunday”
On January 9, 1905, a young priest, Father Gapon,
led workers from St. Petersburg’s factories to the
Winter Palace to petition the tsar. Hundreds of
WWI Russian peaceful demonstrators, including women and
troops wear gas masks while children, were killed when soldiers opened fire.
fighting in the trenches The massacre shook the nation’s faith in the tsar.

WORLD WAR I
Russia, an ally of France and Britain,
entered World War I in 1914. Russia’s
troops fought bravely and at first won
important victories against Austria and SIGNAL FOR THE REVOLUTION
Germany. But her armies lacked The sailors of the cruiser Aurora mutinied against their officers in March
adequate supplies and later suffered 1917 and joined the Bolsheviks. Anchored on the River Neva in central
defeats, with heavy casualties and Petrograd, the Aurora fired a blank shot on October 25, 1917. The shot
desertions. Popular enthusiasm gave signaled the storming of the almost undefended Winter Palace, where the
way to disillusion and war-weariness. remaining members of the Provisional Government were meeting.

30
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LEON TROTSKY Official
The dynamic revolutionary Leon stamp making
Trotsky was imprisoned and then document legal
banished for his part in the 1905
Revolution. He escaped abroad
and joined the Bolsheviks in 1917.
Trotsky was the main organizer, Membership
with Lenin, of the October number
Revolution. He became
commissar (head) of
foreign affairs, and Issued to Comrade
then of war, and Andrei Andreev
went on to organize
and lead the Red
Army during
the Civil War. Joined the
Party on
September
2, 1912

COMMUNIST PARTY MEMBERSHIP

Lenin’s party was known as the Social Democratic Labor Party Member
until 1919, when it was renamed the Communist Party. Its members was most
were called Bolsheviks. This membership ticket belonged to Andrei likely exempt
Andreev, who joined the Party in 1912. He was a member of its top from monthly
policy-making committee, the Politburo, from 1932 to 1952. He was payments since
one of the few Old Bolsheviks to survive Stalin’s purges (pp. 35, 36). none are logged

BOLSHEVIK LEADER
Vladimir Lenin, a revolutionary since
student days, was banished to Siberia
in 1897. He believed that workers had
to rebel against the establishment to
create a fair society. In 1900 Lenin
went abroad, where he began a
ruthless campaign to gain total
control of the exiled Russian Social
Democratic Labor Party.
The party split: Lenin’s
group, the “Bolsheviks” TOPPLING OF THE TSARS
(majority), opposed the Many tsarist symbols were destroyed after the
“Mensheviks” (minority). Bolshevik Revolution. Nicholas II’s huge statue
In 1917 Lenin returned of his father, Alexander III, was toppled in 1918.
to Russia to lead the Lenin, who ordered it to be destroyed, never
Bolshevik Revolution. forgot that his elder brother had been executed
for plotting to assassinate Tsar Alexander.

Medal marks the

15th anniversary
of the Revolution
PETROGRAD GUARDS
The Red Guards were
armed units, mostly of
factory workers, who
played a key part in
seizing power for the
Bolsheviks. This medal
was awarded to Red
Guards who defended
Petrograd during the
Revolution and Civil
War (pp. 32–33).

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 The Civil War
The comparatively bloodless
Imperial
October Revolution (pp. 30–31)
was followed by a cruel civil war
helmet plate WAR BOATS
between the anti-Communist White Army and the Bolshevik River steamers like this one,
rechristened Vanya the
Red Army. The White forces lacked strong leadership but, aided by Communist, were taken over
for use in the Civil War. The
Western powers, enjoyed early successes. In 1920, however, the Red Army, boat was destroyed in a fierce
joined by many tsarist officers, was victorious. Although the Bolsheviks battle on the River Kama in
October 1918.
lost Poland, Finland, and the Baltic states, the rest of the Russian empire
remained within the new Communist state. The horror of civil war was Shield protects
followed by a terrible famine, relieved only by U.S. aid. In 1921, to machine-gun
restore the ruined country, Lenin announced the New Economic Policy. operator from
enemy bullets
This reintroduced private trade.
Execution of “Workers of all
Imperial Tsar Nicholas II countries unite! In
sword struggle you will
win justice!” Machine gun
mounted on a
former private
carriage

SLAUGHTER OF THE ROMANOVS

In July 1918, the White forces
threatened Yekaterinburg in Siberia,
where the Bolsheviks were holding
WORDS OF MARX
Nicholas II, the former tsar. Early
on July 17, 1918, by Lenin’s order, This Bolshevik banner quotes the words of
the tsar and his family were Karl Marx, who, in his Communist Manifesto
murdered. Their bodies, burned (statement of aims), urged the workers to
and buried in a pit in the unite since they had nothing to lose but
forest, were not their chains. After the October
discovered Revolution, however, power
until 1992. went not to the workers but
to the Communist
Party leaders.

Tsarist
Imperial
WHITES AGAINST REDS Army badge
White Army soldiers were against the
Communist takeover for a variety of reasons: some
still supported the tsarist regime; some wanted the
Provisional Government (p. 30) to be restored; while
others were completely opposed to Bolshevik ideas.

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 Flaps can be ARMY RECRUITMENT
turned down to Mass conscription (the draft)
keep ears warm meant that many army recruits
in winter came straight from the
countryside with little or no
military training. They were
reluctant soldiers: many
deserted the army
and returned to
their villages,
especially at
harvest time.
RED ARMY TROOPS
The ill-disciplined voluntary “I am a
Red Guards were transformed plowman on
into the Red Army by the brilliant guard, with my
commander Leon Trotsky. He rifle I stand,
appointed former tsarist officers I preserve
and reintroduced order and freedom and
distinctions between officers and my land”
soldiers. He kept close contact
with the army by traveling
quicklyto areas of conflict in
his armored train.

Red Army MARSHAL BUDYONNY

DRESSED TO KILL
cap badge, 1919 This pistol belonged to Red
Red Army uniforms were haphazard affairs. Many
Army commander Marshal
soldiers wore their own clothes, or captured White
Budyonny, a former officer
uniforms, and crude birch-bark lapti shoes instead
Sight aligns in the Imperial Cavalry. His
of boots. The pointed hat with the star, called a
eye with skilled horsemanship in
budyonovka after Marshal Budyonny, came to
target battle became legendary.
symbolize the Red Army soldier.
Order of the
Red Banner,
1921 RED COMMISSAR
Commissars were
Party members
attached to Red Army
Seat for soldiers units to ensure political
loyalty. They carried arms
and were better dressed
than most army members.

Document case
for paperwork

Carriage was
drawn by
horses

CIVIL WAR CARRIAGE

The tachanka, a horse-drawn carriage
with mounted machine gun, is typical
Metal-rimmed wooden of the makeshift methods of the chaotic
wheels made it difficult to Civil War. This tachanka was employed in
maneuver the carriage on a famous battle in which Germans, Poles,
rough terrain and Ukrainian nationalists fought for
control of the Ukraine before the Reds
finally won in 1920.

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The rise of Stalin
When lenin died in 1924, the struggle was on to inherit the
leadership of the Communist Party. Trotsky, the most able candidate,
was soon outmaneuvered by Joseph Stalin, the devious secretary
general of the Party. Stalin joined with two other leaders to defeat DESTRUCTION OF CHURCHES
Churches were not only closed but,
Trotsky, then formed a new alliance to oust them as well. Trotsky by the late 1920s, began to be
destroyed in large numbers. The
was exiled in 1929. Stalin then strengthened his power by massive Cathedral of Christ the
launching rapid industrialization and agricultural collectivization. Savior (p. 58) in Moscow was
completed in 1883 as a memorial to
The Great Terror began in earnest with the murder in 1934 of the the Russian victory over Napoleon. It
leading Bolshevik, Sergei Kirov. The secret police, the NKVD was blown up in a huge explosion in
1931 to make way for the Palace of
(later the KGB), became all-powerful, directing mass arrests the Soviets (see below).
from their infamous headquarters in Moscow. All the famous
Old Bolshevik leaders were tried or shot. Train was made at
the Putilov factory in
LENIN’S FUNERAL TRAIN St. Petersburg, 1910
This 1920s cartoon
reflects Lenin’s wish When Lenin died in January 1924, his
to convert the world body was brought to Moscow by train
to Communism for a huge public funeral. His body was
embalmed (preserved) and placed in a specially Renovated in
built mausoleum (tomb) in Red Square, where 1923, the train
you can still see it today. The mausoleum also became a memorial
served as a platform for Soviet leaders to Lenin in 1937
viewing the annual parades on May Day
and November 7 (pp. 56–57).

LENIN AND WORLD REVOLUTION

This cartoon of Lenin sweeping the world clean
of priests, capitalists, and kings illustrates the
Communist hope that the Revolution would
spread around the world. But Communism was
not successful abroad. At home Lenin persecuted
merchants, monarchists, and priests, closed
churches, and nationalized trade and industry.

MONUMENTAL PALACE
This design for the Palace of the
Soviets was drawn in the 1930s.
It was to be the tallest building
in the world. But only the
foundations were laid since
building problems
and World War II
halted construction.

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 Motherhood RULE OF STALIN
award could Joseph Stalin became leader after Lenin’s
be attached to death by outmaneuvering Trotsky, Lenin’s
a chain and natural successor, and other leaders. In the late
worn proudly 1920s he introduced forced collectivization of
as a necklace agriculture and rapid industrialization, which
brought many hardships. Freedom of thought
in the arts was also suppressed. Any
remaining opposition was
eliminated in the mass
purges of 1937 (p. 36).

Hammer and
MOTHERHOOD AWARDS sickle were adopted
After the Bolshevik Revolution, as emblems of the
the government supported women’s new state
freedom, but by the 1930s traditional
roles of women as wives and mothers
were emphasized. To encourage a
higher birthrate, the Motherhood
Medal was granted to women with
five children; those producing ten
were declared Heroine Mothers.

COLLECTIVE FARMING
Collective farms combined small holdings
into single units, often including several
villages. Despite the invitation on this
poster, peasants had no choice. In Stalin’s real name
1929 Stalin launched forced was Dzhugashvili.
collectivization. The peasants Stalin comes from
resisted and millions died, or “stal,” the Russian
were shot or sent to labor for steel; he adopted
camps. Production fell, the name while he
causing a terrible famine. was working
By 1938 collectivization secretly for the
had spread throughout early Bolsheviks
the Soviet Union.

“Come to us in
the collective
farm!”

Soviet children were

cared for in state
crèches while their
mothers worked

WOMEN’S ROLE
The new Soviet state granted women full legal
equality. But by the 1930s the state became more
authoritarian and women were expected to
perform a dual role. They not only had to cook,
clean, and shop for the family, but also do heavy Stalin’s mustache,
manual labor on the farms or in the new simple clothes, and
factories. Childcare was organized to release high leather boots
women for work outside the home, but poor were copied by the
housing and lack of amenities other leaders
made their lives arduous.

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 Soviet Russia
During Stalin’s purges millions of innocent people were
executed or sent to remote labor camps (gulags). These horrors
were followed by the hardships of World War II. When the
GERMAN INVASION
Breaking the Nazi-Soviet peace pact, Germany
Soviet Union was invaded, Moscow nearly fell to the Germans
invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. Stalin and Leningrad suffered a long siege.
and the Red Army were taken by surprise and
much of the western Soviet Union was
After the war, good relations with STATE UNIVERSITY
The old Moscow
occupied. But the Germans were turned back Western allies deteriorated and the Cold University was expanded in
from Moscow, defeated at Stalingrad on the Soviet times, and a large
Volga in 1943, and pushed back to Berlin. They War began. After Stalin’s death in 1953, new university building
finally surrendered at Reims, France, on May 7, relations began to improve. But in 1962, was erected in the Lenin
1945. Two days later, Red Army soldiers Hills. The building is
gathered in front of the mausoleum in Red Khrushchev built missile launch sites in one of Stalin’s seven
Square, Moscow, and threw captured Nazi flags
before Stalin and other leaders.
Cuba, which led to a showdown with the ornate, tiered skyscrapers,
which changed the face of
U.S. Finally, after Gorbachev became Moscow in the early 1950s.

Dzherzhinsky,
Party leader in 1985 and introduced the They are popularly known
as wedding-cake palaces.
founder of the policies of glasnost (freer speech) and
Cheka, the
Soviet secret
perestroika (reform), the U.S.S.R. and Constructed 1949–53,
police the West grew friendly. the central tower is
36 stories high
Mass grave marking
from a gulag near
Karaganda in
Central Asia The vast building
contains not only
LABOR CAMPS departments and
Wooden grave lecture halls but
tablets recorded only living quarters
the burial sites – no for the staff
prisoner names or and students
numbers – of those who
died in Stalin’s labor camps
(gulags). An estimated 20
million people were
swallowed up in the huge
concentration camp system.

Building’s lower
wings extend out
from the center
in U shapes

FOUNDER OF THE SECRET POLICE

Felix Dzerzhinsky was the first head of
the Soviet secret police, then called the
Cheka, after the 1917 Revolution. His
hated statue (above), which stood on
Lubyanka Square opposite the KGB
headquarters in Moscow, was pulled down
after the failed coup of 1991 (pp. 58–59).
It now stands in a sculpture park in
Moscow, along with statues of other
leaders of the rejected Soviet regime.

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 Sickle symbolizes the
agricultural worker

Hammer signifies
the factory
worker

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

In 1962, during the long Cold War (period of hostility
between western countries and the Soviet Union),
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev placed missiles
in Cuba, within range of U.S. cities. Cuba, a
Communist state ruled by Fidel Castro, was a
strong supporter of the Soviet Union. U.S.
President John F. Kennedy immediately ordered a
naval blockade of Cuba. Six days later
Khrushchev backed down; the missiles were
removed. War had barely been avoided. The
Communist Party’s Central Committee
forced Khrushchev to retire in 1964.

CONTROLLING THE ARTS

Under Stalin, writing, art,
SOVIET SYMBOLS
and even music had to
Favorite themes for Soviet emblems were
praise Communism, Soviet
sheaves of wheat and the hammer and
life, and Stalin himself.
sickle used to decorate railings on one of
Worker and Peasant, a
Moscow’s bridges. Portraits of the Party
sculpture by Vera
leader, hung on the walls of every office
Mukhina, was made
and institution, were changed when that
for an exhibition in
leader fell out of favor. Instead of
Paris in 1937.
advertising, huge Party slogans
decorated city streets and buildings.

The figures, made of

stainless-steel panels, are
Worker and Peasant, young, strong, and attractive
“looking into the glorious
Communist future,” was
the symbol of Mosfilm, Anniversary meeting of the
the large U.S.S.R. film Bolshevik Revolution took place
studio here in 1941, as bombs fell outside
during World War II

MOSCOW METRO
The construction of the Moscow
subway was one of the
engineering feats of the Stalin era.
Its ornate stations were referred
to as “palaces for the people.” The
first line opened in 1935 and each
marble-lined station was
decorated with sculptures or
mosaics displaying a different
theme. Most large cities in Russia
now have a metro system. One of
the most beautiful stations is
Mayakovskaya (above).

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 Rail and industry
Although a late starter, by 1914 Russia had
become the fifth largest industrial power in the
world. After the Revolution and Civil War,
production of manufactured goods fell sharply
but rose again when Stalin launched his
Five-Year Plans. However, tight government control left little
room for new ideas, and Soviet Russia fell behind other modern
economies. Industry was in crisis when the Soviet Union broke up
in 1991, and production fell further when the new government
moved abruptly to a market economy. In such a large country, the
railroad network is vital. The first line, from Tsarskoe Selo to St.
Petersburg, opened in 1837. By 1899 it had been extended east,
“. . . TO WORK, COMRADES!” greatly helping to open up the vast mineral wealth of Siberia.
Propaganda posters called on people to
throw themselves into the work of the COLLECTIVE FARMING
new factories. In 1929 Stalin’s first Five- Industry was utilized to
Year Plan was approved, under which rapid manufacture mineral fertilizers
expansion of heavy industry was to be and farm machinery to meet the Early Soviet
achieved by setting monthly and annual needs of the new collective and tractors ran on
targets. In spite of tremendous hardships, state farms. Traditional wooden diesel and were
by 1937 the Soviet Union had farming implements (pp. 16–17) deliberately
become the second largest were cast aside in favor of large for the
industrial nation in the world. modern machinery. enormous fields

Powerful lights enabled

farmers to work
through the night

Only the first tractors

were fitted with
wheel studs; later
ones used
caterpillar
treads

FIRST SOVIET TRACTOR

This is the first tractor to roll off the
production line of the Soviet Union’s
first tractor factory, which opened in 1930. Farm
machinery was not kept on farms but at district
“machine and tractor stations” (MTS’s), which
decided when and where they would be used.
Until they were scrapped in 1957, MTS’s kept
the farms under tight political control.

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 Built in 1956,
this was the
last Soviet
steam train

PASSENGER TRAINS
Russian trains are all electrified or use diesel engines. They have a wider
gauge (track width) than European trains; the carriages – especially the
sleeping cars – are more spacious, but cause problems at border crossings
where the undercarriages have to be changed. There are no rapid trains as
in Europe. The 404-mile (650-km) journey from Moscow to St.
Petersburg takes five hours by express train.

RAILS ON PERMAFROST
It is very difficult to lay railroad lines
in northern and eastern Russia,
where the layer of permafrost (p. 11)
can be almost 3,300 feet (1 km) thick
and the earth is unstable during the
short summer thaw. Nevertheless,
rails have been successfully built
LAYING THE TRACKS beyond the Arctic Circle. They range
Russia’s first railroads were laid by thousands of workers using little as far as the coal-mining settlement
more than pickaxes. During World War I, German prisoners of war at Vorkuta and the copper and nickel
built the important line to the ice-free port of Murmansk, above the mines at Norilsk, where Stalin’s
Arctic Circle. The new line in eastern Siberia, the Baikal-Amur concentration camps supplied forced
Magistral (BAM), completed in the 1980s, was built largely by labor from the 1930s to the 1950s.
volunteers from the Komsomol (Communist youth group).

TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY
At 5,777 miles (9,297 km) the Trans-
Siberian is the longest railroad line in
the world. It runs from Moscow
through Siberia to the Pacific, with spur
lines to Mongolia and China. Building
began in 1891 and was finally
completed in 1916. Workers had to
overcome terrible problems of terrain
and climate as they laid tracks through
forest and around the southern edge of
huge Lake Baikal. The journey, which
lasts 11 days, brings home to travelers
the enormous expanse of Russia.

The Soviet T-34 was

regarded as the best tank
of World War II Tank is painted
white for camouflage
in the snow

MASS-PRODUCED WEAPONS
At the start of World War II, hundreds of factories were moved east to the
Urals and Siberia, beyond the reach of the invading German army. Tractor
factories were adapted to produce tanks, including the T-34, which played a
big part in Russia’s victory. After the war, Soviet industry continued to
mass-produce weapons – over 20 percent of the country’s budget was
spent on defense. In the new Russia, military spending has declined.

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 Kapitza’s lenses
Science pioneers Living quarters
on this model
spaceship are
above – control
Russia has a long record of outstanding scientific rooms below

achievement. In the 19th century Russian scientists Distillation

jar used in
made important advances in chemistry, experiments
radiotelegraphy, and mathematics. In the Soviet by Lomonosov

era, military science and space technology had

priority, but political interference and
unjustified arrests of scientists stifled
progress. In 1980 Andrei Sakharov, whose
theories enabled the Soviets to build a
hydrogen bomb, was exiled for
defending human rights. Russia
was first to send an artificial
satellite, and then a person,
into space.
FATHER OF AVIATION
Nikolai Zhukovsky (1847–1921) is often
called the father of Russian aviation. In
the early days of flying he pioneered
the study of aerodynamics. In 1905, ATOMIC THEORIST
he figured out how to calculate the Mikhail Lomonosov (1711–65) was the
lifting power of an airplane; later, he greatest scientist of his day. A pioneering
developed the whirlwind theory, on chemist and physicist, he anticipated part of
which helicopter flight is based. the atomic theory two centuries before it was
fully described. He was also a poet and a
founder of Moscow University.

PAVLOV’S SALIVATING DOGS

As a physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) studied
the brain, the nervous system, and digestion. By
repeatedly sounding a bell at meal times, he trained
a dog to salivate at the sound of the bell, rather than
at the arrival of food. Through this study, Pavlov
developed the theory of conditioned reflexes, which
he later applied to
humans. He won a Metal filings in the coherer
Nobel Prize in 1904. detect electrical waves and
send signals via wires to coils

FIRST RUSSIAN RADIO

Alexander Popov (1859–1905),
a physicist, invented the
antenna (aerial). In 1895 he
made his first radio, right, on
which a message could be sent VISIONS OF SPACE TRAVEL
via an antenna to a receiver. The Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857–
protoype still works. The 1935), a schoolteacher, was regarded
invention greatly improved as a dreamer for imagining space
communications between ship travel nearly a century before it
and shore and assisted in the happened. In 1903 Tsiolkovsky
development of the telephone. designed this spaceship and
Also, telegrams could now be correctly wrote the theory of rocket
sent by radio waves instead of power. In the 1920s, Tsiolkovsky
over cables. The Italian developed the idea of jet engines,
physicist Guglielmo Marconi, and proposed that rockets propelled
who knew of Popov’s by liquid fuel could be used to send
experiments, patented a radio ships into space. But the technology
at about the same time. that would make space travel a
reality was not available
during his lifetime.
Electrical coils
connect to a large Bell sounds when tapped by
battery at the back the stimulated electrical coils

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 KAPITZA’S PHYSICS
Pyotr Kapitza (1894–1984)
won a Nobel Prize in 1978
for his work on low-
temperature physics.
Kapitza worked in England
in the 1920s and 1930s. On
a visit home in 1934, Stalin
made him stay in the Soviet
Union. From 1946 until
Stalin’s death, Kapitza was
under house arrest for
refusing to work on the
atomic bomb. But he kept
up his research using
handmade apparatus.
Cartoon of
Kapitza, 1971

This tiny thermos

could hold liquid
helium at the low
temperatures needed
Balloon for Kapitza’s research
basket in which
Mendeleyev
watched an eclipse Four extendable
of the sun aerials protrude from
aluminum sphere

Aluminum sphere
SOVIET SATELLITE contains a radio
On October 4, 1957, to the transmitter
astonishment of the world,
the Soviet Union launched
Sputnik I. Designed by the
brilliant rocket and engine
scientists Sergei Korolev and
Valentin Glushko, Sputnik was the
first artificial satellite; it made one
full orbit of the earth. The Space Age
had begun; ultimately people landed
on the moon, and unmanned probes
reached Mars, Venus, and Jupiter.

FIRST IN SPACE
MENDELEYEV’S BALLOON Only four years after the launch of Sputnik I, the
Dmitry Mendeleyev (1834–1907) was an unusual combination of a great Russian Yuri Gagarin (1934–68) became the first
scientist and a successful businessman. He drew up the periodic table of person in space. On April 12, 1961, he was launched
chemical elements, fundamental to the study of chemistry. He also did into orbit aboard the capsule Vostok I, and made one
pioneering work in crystallography and on petroleum, gases, and liquids. circuit of the globe in 1 hour and 48 minutes before
Among his main interests were meteorology and astronomy. When an eclipse ejecting from the capsule and returning to earth by
of the sun occurred over Russia in 1887, Mendeleyev went up alone in this parachute. Gagarin died a few years later, when his
balloon basket to closely observe and take notes on the phenomenon. jet plane crashed during a training flight.

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Media and communications
Contemporary Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet, which was
developed in the 9th century to provide a written language for Slavic
people. Largely based on the Greek script, Cyrillic also shares many POSTAL SYSTEM
letters with the Latin alphabet. The first Russian book was printed in Russia had a primitive postal
system as early as the 13th
1563. Shortly afterward, moralizing tales in comic-strip form (lubok) century. By the 17th century the
were printed. These were the earliest form of popular newspapers; mail was better organized, with
post stations providing fresh
they remained popular until the 19th century. At the beginning of horses at stages along major
routes. In 1874 Russia joined the
the 20th century, as more people learned to read, regular newspapers International Postal Union. The
became common and book publication greatly expanded. Soviet modern system
serves the whole
Russia made great efforts to develop radio, cinema, and television – vast country
partly because of their value in spreading state propaganda. using air, rail,
and water
transport.

BIRCH-BARK TABLET Amplifier for

By the 13th century the northern city-state of Novgorod broadcasting
enjoyed a high standard of literacy, and even a form of sound
democracy. Paper was not yet in common use, so
messages were sent on pieces of birch bark, such as this
one which conveys greetings to a citizen of Novgorod.
These ancient letters were dug up by archaeologists
from the University of Moscow in 1960.

Although buried Birch bark is

for centuries, flattened for
the writing is ease of writing
still legible

Large wooden
box containing
receiver circuits

CYRILLIC SCRIPT
The Russian alphabet is known as Cyrillic after St.
Cyril. He and his brother, St. Methodius, adapted
the Greek alphabet in the 9th century to provide a
written language for Slavic people. Cyrillic’s 33
letters match all the vowels and consonants used in
Russian speech. This means the language is written
just as it is spoken and is very easy to spell and
pronounce correctly. PROMOTING LITERACY
Before the reforms of Alexander II (p. 17), most Russians
could not read or write. The opening of new schools
meant that by 1917 over 40 percent of the nation was
literate. This poster was part of the Bolshevik campaign
of the 1920s to achieve 100 percent literacy.

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GOING TO PRINT
Ivan Fyodorov, who printed the first
Russian book in 1563, was run out of
Moscow by the scribes, who were afraid of
losing their jobs. In the early years of the
20th century, as people became more
literate, a great expansion took
place in book and
newspaper printing.

SPREADING THE WORD

Knob for The phototelegraph, a technological advance in
adjusting the 1975, meant newspaper proofs could be sent
picture quickly to every major city for simultaneous
printing. It aided the centralized Soviet system as
Party and government newspapers could appear at
the same time in every city of the Soviet Union.

COMMUNIST NEWS
Viewing screen The increase in literacy at the beginning of the
is just 1.18 in 20th century led to the widespread availability of
(3 cm) wide newspapers. Pravda began publication in a very
small way in 1912 but reached a circulation of over
5 million during the Soviet era. Although its name
On/off button means “truth,” Pravda reported only what the
Communist Party wanted the people to know, and
Volume control facts were often ignored or distorted. The main
mouthpiece of the Communist Party, the
newspaper has survived in the new Russia but
with a much reduced circulation.

EARLY TELEVISION
In 1931 the first Soviet television set was produced; it had
only a tiny round screen. Transmissions began that year
and by 1938 regular programs were being broadcast in
Moscow and Leningrad. But only in the 1960s did
television become available throughout the country. Like
other areas of Soviet life, television was highly controlled
and focused on the capital, with the same programs
being relayed nationwide.

DOCUMENTING HISTORY
Sergei Eisenstein’s films of the 1920s and 1930s are
among the world’s greatest. The scene above is from
October (1927), about the Bolshevik Revolution. Under
Stalin, filmmaking was rigidly controlled, but after his
death exceptional films appeared again. These
included Andrei Tarkovsky’s Rublev (1966), about a
famous icon painter, and Tengiz Abuladze’s Repentance
(1987), which deals with Stalinist terror.

(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Famous writers
Russia’s first-recorded literature was
the 12th-century heroic poem, The Song of
Igor’s Campaign, about the capture of a
Russian prince. But it was in the 19th
century that Russian writing became
world-famous. Pushkin and Mikhail
Lermontov wrote fine romantic poetry
and stories. Gogol’s biting stories and the
great novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky
continued the Pushkin tradition. The last
of the great 19th-century masters was
Chekhov, who wrote brilliant plays and
short stories. This great literary tradition
continued in the 20th century with novels
by Mikhail Bulgakov, Pasternak, and
Solzhenitsyn, and the poetry of
Anna Akhmatova and Osip
Mandelstam, as well as new
works by women writers, such Quill pen
as Lyudmila Petrushevskaya with which
Gogol wrote
and Tatiana Tolstaya. Dead Souls

Script of
Gogol’s story “A
NIKOLAI GOGOL Terrible Vengeance,”
Gogol (1809–52) was a dramatist, novelist, about a woman who falls
and short story writer. His works were a under the spell of her
mixture of fantasy, horror, and humor. father, a wizard
Gogol wrote about Cossacks and of life in
the Ukraine. But his greatest works were
The Inspector General, a play that made fun
of provincial officials, and Dead Souls, a
witty novel about serfs and landowners.
Gogol burned his second volume of Dead
Souls after a fanatical priest convinced him
that the work was evil. Gogol died several
days later – perhaps depriving the world
of another masterpiece.

FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY
ALEXANDER PUSHKIN Dostoevsky (1821–81) is one of the
Pushkin (1799–1837) is considered world’s greatest novelists but was
Russia’s greatest poet. He was often very poor. He was arrested in
banished in 1824 for revolutionary 1849 for belonging to a secret
and anti-religious writings. While intellectual group, and sentenced
barred from the capital, Pushkin to death. While standing
was looked after by his nanny, before the firing squad,
about whom he wrote the poem Dostoevsky was
“Companion in My Austere pardoned and sent to
Days.” Among his greatest Siberia. His terrible
works are the historical play experiences are reflected
Boris Godunov; a long poem, The in his account of prison
Bronze Horseman, about a tragic life, The House of the Dead.
flood in St. Petersburg; and many He also wrote Crime and
wonderful lyrical poems, which Punishment, a novel
most Russians know by heart. about a murder.
Pushkin died, aged 37, fighting a duel,
Silver tea strainer like the one in his greatest work,
given to Pushkin Eugene Onegin, against one of his
by his nanny beautiful wife’s admirers.

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 ANTON CHEKHOV
Chekhov (1860–1904), the grandson of a serf, was
trained as a doctor but became a full-time writer of
marvelous short stories; some are highly comic,
others touching accounts of people’s dreary
lives. One of the best is “The Lady with a
Dog,” set in the resort of Yalta, where
Chekhov, suffering from tuberculosis, lived
for a time. Chekhov is best known for his
great plays, such as The Seagull Scene from
and The Cherry Orchard. the 1965 film
Dr. Zhivago
Sculpture of BORIS PASTERNAK
Chekhov and “The During the long period of Stalinist
Lady with a Dog” repression, Pasternak (1890–1960) translated
Mandelstam’s Shakespeare and Goethe. He won the Nobel
satirical poem Prize for his novel about the Civil War, Dr.
comparing Zhivago. Published abroad in 1957, it caused
Stalin to insects anger in the Kremlin. Pasternak was expelled
from the Soviet Writers’ Union.

The Cyrillic
alphabet
contains
33 letters OSIP MANDELSTAM
Among Russia’s remarkable writers of the early 1900s was
the gifted poet Mandelstam (1891–1938), whose poems reflect great
knowledge of the classical world. Banned from publishing in the
1930s, he was twice arrested and sent to concentration camps. He
died in Siberia in 1938, his crime a satirical poem about Stalin.
LEO TOLSTOY
Tolstoy (1828–1910) was a great novelist
who wrote highly acclaimed novels, ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN
among them the epic War and Peace, Solzhenitsyn (b. 1918) was
about Napoleon’s invasion, and Anna arrested at the end of World
Karenina, a tragic love story. He founded War II for criticizing Stalin.
his own moral religion, based on His experiences are reflected in
Christianity, in which he rejected One Day in the Life of Ivan
wealth. His ideas attracted Denisovich. Published in 1962, it
followers from around the was the first story about Soviet
world, but he was attacked camp life to be printed.
by the church and state. He
died at a railway station, Film still from
aged 82, having fled from One Day in the Life of
home after family diputes. Ivan Denisovich (1971)

45
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Art and icons
In architecture, painting, and sculpture Russians
throughout the ages have shown special feeling for
color and shape. Religious art (icons, frescoes, and
mosaics) dominated until the 17th century, when
other subjects – portraits and landscapes – became
popular. In the 19th century the Wanderers (a society
of artists who portrayed the realities of life), led by
Ilya Repin, painted ordinary people and scenes from
Russian history. In the early 1900s, Mikhail Vrubel’s
unique style of painting influenced modern artists
like Malevich, Kandinsky, and Chagall. At first vivid
and daring, Soviet art was soon forced to portray
positive images of
Soviet life. Modern
abstract art was
forced underground
but is free in the
new Russia.
DISCOVERY
OF BLACK GEORGE
Icons of St. George and the
dragon were popular, but
usually the horse was white,
not black. This rare 14th­­
century icon was discovered
in 1959 in a northern village
near Arkhangelsk. It was
being used as a shutter for a
barn and was hidden by a
thick layer of paint. The
icon was spied as the shutter
was being stripped for
repainting. Moscow restorers
carefully cleaned the shutter
to reveal this delightful, well­
preserved icon. HISTORY OF ICON PAINTING
In Byzantium, icons painted by formal rules were usually
Pestle for grinding solemn and severe. But in Russia icon painting gradually
pigments to a took on a gentler, more emotional character. Andrei Rublev
fine powder NATURAL PIGMENTS (c. 1360–1430) was one of the greatest Russian icon painters.
Pigments (colors) used in icon painting are He composed this beautiful picture, The Old Testament Trinity,
derived from the natural world. White comes of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in
from lead, black from ash. From clay comes disguise, as guests of Abraham.
ocher. Bright red is from vermilion, a
mercury compound; gold occurs naturally. Bright blue lapis lazuli
comes from silica rock

Vermilion Ground
Red ocher Gold (cinnabar) lapis lazuli

46
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 Icon restoration Gold halo is a symbol
of divine light
Restoration of ancient icons is a
painstakingly slow process. In the Faces and hands
past, darkened icons were repainted are often painted
by specialist
– the new image on top of the old. icon restorers
In Soviet times restorers devised
methods of preserving each layer.

Icons are
blackened
over time by
candle smoke

Glue is applied with

a brush; a syringe
may be used to
inject glue into
surface cracks

STRENGTHENING
Icon is strengthened by soaking with fish
glue until supple. Glued transparent paper is
then ironed onto surface to stick down any
FINISHING TOUCHES
peeling paint and left for up to six months.
Finally, even with the old paint
secure and clean, there are usually
CLEANING THE SURFACE fragments where the image has
Glued paper is removed by wetting. entirely disappeared. To repaint
After careful testing, the icon is cleaned these sections, some Russian icon
with ether. It can take an hour or more restorers use watercolors and not
to scrape away dirt from a small the egg tempera paint of the
segment. Care is taken not to overlap a original artists. They want future
previously cleaned section. Oil and restorers to know from the type of
turpentine complete the cleaning. paint where the icon has been
restored, and where the original
painting has survived.

Film is weighted
down over ether to
prevent evaporation
Rublev’s figures, bowed in
thought, are painted in Ether is dabbed on to
soft, luminous colors icon through material

Lighter sections
have already been
cleaned BEGINNINGS OF REALISM
Dirt is removed Ilya Repin (1844–1930) came from a peasant
carefully with a family; he painted not only portraits but also
sharp knife controversial political and historical scenes.
His Religious Procession in Kursk shows the
poverty and blind faith of the people, and
the hostility of the mounted police.

SOVIET ART
By the 1930s artists had to obey the Communist Party policy ABSTRACT ART
that all art should reflect a positive view of Soviet life. Stalin The burst of creativity in Russia in all the arts
and other Soviet leaders were portrayed as wise and kind by at the beginning of the 20th century was
artists like Alexander Gerasimov (1881–1963). His namesake, reflected in the appearance of a modern
Sergei Gerasimov (1885–1964), in his Collective Farm Festivities Malevich used these abstract art. The uneducated but immensely
presents a false view of jolly life on the farm. It was painted in shapes in textile and talented Kasimir Malevich (1878–1935)
1937, the worst year of the Great Terror, when hundreds of pottery designs experimented with color and geometric
thousands, including farmers, were arrested. during the 1920s shapes to suggest force, motion, and space.

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 Music and dance
The origins of St. Petersburg’s Kirov Ballet go back to the
18th century. In 1776, the Moscow Bolshoi ballet began, using
orphan children as dancers. At the end of the 19th century,
THE BUFFOON
ballet choreographer Marius Petipa created Sleeping Beauty
A most original and witty composer of the and Swan Lake, ballets written to music by Tchaikovsky, the first
20th century, Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)
wrote vivid and exciting music for the ballet
of many great Russian composers, including Stravinsky and
Romeo and Juliet. This brilliant scenery was for Prokofiev, to write for the ballet. From 1909 on, Sergei
his comic 1915 ballet The Buffoon.
Diaghilev, founder of the Ballets Russes,
sponsored radical ballets that
burst like bombshells onto the
world. The best new ballets of
the Soviet era include Romeo
and Juliet, Spartacus, and The
Golden Age. Pavlova, Nijinsky, Ulanova,
and Nureyev are some of Russia’s
greatest dancers.

DIAGHILEV’S GENIUS
Sergei Diaghilev (1872–1929),
manager of the Ballets Russes,
attracted talented composers,
choreographers, and artists,
who together created
outstanding ballets. He
employed Mikhail Fokine
as choreographer
(creator of dance) to
devise most of the
company’s famous
ballets, including
Narcissus. This
brilliant costume for
A SHOCKING COMPOSER Narcissus was designed
An original composer, Igor Stravinsky by Russian artist Léon
(1882–1971) shocked the public with his Bakst, who excelled in
modern rhythms. He composed ballets for the use of extravagant
Diaghilev, such as the popular Petrushka style and color.
(score sheet above). Stravinsky left
Russia during World War I, but his
work continued to be
inspired by Russian
folk music.

“GOD OF DANCE”
After studying ballet, Vaslav PRIMA BALLERINA
Nijinsky (1889–1950) became a Anna Pavlova (1882–1931) was prima
leading dancer of the Maryinsky ballerina at St. Petersburg’s Maryinsky
Theater in St. Petersburg. Joining Theater for several years before joining
Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, he not the Ballets Russes in 1909 and starring
only danced such roles as in Fokine’s Les Sylphides. She finally
Petrushka but also choreographed left Russia during World War I and
daring ballets like The Rite of settled in London, where she formed
Spring and The Afternoon of a Faun. her own small company. Pavlova was
But Nijinsky’s relationship with a superb classical ballerina with
Diaghilev deteriorated and by wonderful technique. She is
1917 he had grown paranoid shown here dancing in
and withdrawn. From 1918 on Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.
he spent his life in a mental Nijinsky as
hospital. His career had lasted Armida’s page in Pavlova dancing
just 10 years. Le Pavillon d’Armide the Dying Swan

48
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 REVOLUTIONARY BALLET
The Rite of Spring had music by
Stravinsky, choreography by Nijinsky,
and lyrics and costumes by the artist
Nikolai Roerich. The wild drumming
music was considered so outrageous
at its first performance in Paris in
1913 that a near-riot broke out. The
Paris performance, however, was
followed by a successful London Cap by Roerich PAGAN RUSSIA
debut in the same year. The Rite for a young The subject of The Rite of Spring was pagan Russia
of Spring is now considered a man in The before it became Christian. The ballet is divided into
landmark in 20th-century ballet. Rite of Spring two parts: the first celebrates the adoration of the
earth, while in the second, a chosen maiden dances
herself to death as a sacrifice to the earth.

Squares, circles,
waves, and dots
are the basis of
the design for
the maiden’s
costume in The
Rite of Spring

FOLK MUSIC
Russian folk music grew out of the pagan Slavs’
ritual songs used in festivals and ceremonies. In
medieval times people sang epic ballads, playing a
one-string instrument, the gusli.
Jesters entertained with comical
songs and satires. Here, a
19th-century accordionist
plays as peasants dance. The balalaika
normally has
three strings
and a fretted
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS fingerboard
In early Russia the domra, a 3-
or 4-stringed instrument with
a rounded soundboard, and
the balalaika with 3 strings The triangular
and a triangular soundboard soundboard is
were popular. Among wind often painted
instruments the rozhok with mythical
(shepherd’s horn) and figures
dudka (pipe) were played.
The balalaika is still
widely played,
especially in
villages and folk
music bands.

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Crafts and traditions
In the past the isolation of Russian villages and the long,
snowbound winters allowed peasants much free time to
engage in craftwork. The abundance of wood encouraged
carving; delightful wooden toys and domestic utensils,
including the traditional drinking dippers (kovsh), were
made in nearly every village. Some, like the colorful distaffs
(prialki) for spinning, were brightly painted. Intricate
embroidery and handmade lace are still produced in the
northern towns. Icon painters, forbidden by the Bolsheviks
in 1922 to pursue their craft, began to make lacquer boxes
decorated with illustrations of fairy
tales. Metal and pottery ware and clay
figurines also have a long tradition.

SPINNING FLAX
Until recently, spinning and
weaving took place in nearly
every peasant home, and
distaffs (prialki) were part of
the essential household
equipment. The women
above, sitting on the porch of
a large wooden house in
northern Russia, are spinning
flax using traditional distaffs.

COLORFUL EMBROIDERY
In medieval times, when Russian women were confined WOODEN SPINNER
to the home, they occupied themselves by establishing The distaff, made of pine or birch, is a long
workshops. Here they not only fashioned their family’s board with a base on which the spinner sits.
clothes but also embroidered elaborate cloths and robes The wool or flax is held by the round
for church purposes. Humbler people decorated their linen projections at the upper end and pulled by
towels, wall hangings, and dresses with embroidery or the spinner to make a thread. Distaffs are
drawn-thread designs of ancient origin. The 19th-century usually gaily painted with designs of flowers Brightly painted
linen towel (above) embroidered with red thread (kumach), or animals – or, as here, the lion and the distaff is carved
comes from the Vologda region, north of Moscow. unicorn. It was common for a husband to out of pine
present a distaff to his new bride.

DIPPING DUCK
In medieval Russia, the handled dipper, kovsh, was
commonly used as a bowl for holding drinks. Dippers made Seat for
from precious metals were often presented to important spinner, who
people by the tsars. The ancient form of the dipper is based holds the board
on the shape of a duck or the prow of a boat. in place with
her weight

This painted wood

dipper, carved with a
duck’s head and tail,
was made in the
early 19th century
Duck’s head makes
a useful handle to
hold the bowllike
Wooden dippers are dipper
mostly made from
pine, but sometimes
birch is used

50
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Brocade embroidered GINGERBREAD TREAT
with gold thread In Russian villages, crisp
gingerbread was customarily
baked in carved wooden
molds to celebrate weddings,
funerals, and church
holidays, and is still
considered a great treat. The
molds have a long history,
but by 1800 traditional
designs of animals, birds,
and the flowering bush – a
sign of rebirth – began to
change as new patterns from
news sheets, (lubok, p. 42),
with their cartoonlike
illustrations, became more
widespread. This mold,
made in the early part of the
19th century, depicts a
Ribbons were tied bearded peasant dressed up
in a large bow at for a festive occasion.
the back of the head
Mother-of-pearl
geese and flowers
decorate the The water carrier
headdress is a favorite
subject among
FESTIVE HEADDRESS clay modelers
This beautiful bonnet, or The rooster is a
kokoshnik, comes from popular figure
northern European in all types of
Russia, near Arkhangelsk. Russian folk art
Made at the end of the
18th century, it is open
at the back, which
means it is for an
unmarried girl:
married women had
to cover all their hair.
Glass stones and
mother-of-pearl are
sewn on to a brocade
background, which is
stiffened with canvas.
The headdress would
have been worn for CLAY FIGURINES
weddings and other Homemade clay figurines were once part of a pre-Christian magic
important festivals, and ritual, but by the 19th century were used as toys. They are still
was handed down from made at Dymkovo, now part of the city of Kirov, on the Vyatka
mother to daughter. River. The toys are shaped from potter’s clay mixed with river sand.
They are then fired, whitened with chalk, and painted in strong
colors. The craft, which was dying at the end of the 19th century,
was revived during the Soviet period.

Bread and salt Salt is placed in a

are offered on an pot or in a dent on
embroidered towel the top of the loaf

Pink silk
ribbons stream
out at the back

BREAD-AND-SALT GREETING
Russians traditionally greet important guests by
offering bread and salt on an embroidered towel
held by the hosts’ youngest daughter. The guest
breaks off a piece of bread, dips it in salt, and
eats it. Salt was considered such a luxury in old
Russia that it was stored in a strong warehouse
in Moscow on the Solyanka, or Salt Street.
Russians are very hospitable to this day,
and welcome and offer food to guests,
however unexpected.

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 Childhood
Children are well looked after in Russian society. Day
care is provided for children whose parents work outside the
home. Children start school at age 6 and finish by the age of 14
(16 if they continue their secondary education). Some schools
still use Soviet school uniforms, which resemble those of
tsarist times: girls wear brown dresses with white pinafores,
boys wear blue tunics and trousers. Soviet children
belonged to organizations
BABY SWADDLING that emphasized
It is customary in Russia to
wrap babies up tightly in Communist ideals.
swaddling clothes for the
first few months of life.
Russia’s children’s
Some people believe that literature and
this helps to straighten a
baby’s bones. Left swaddled
theater are
for long periods of time, among the
the babies are only
occasionally unwrapped for best in
a bath and a romp. Outside the world.
the hospitals, swaddling is
gradually becoming less
fashionable. DRESSED LIKE MOTHER
This outfit from Orel
province, southwest of
Moscow, was typical of
everyday wear for a little
peasant girl in 19th-century Russia.
It imitates her mother’s clothes in
that it consists of a jumper, or
sarafan, with a long-sleeved blouse
underneath. The printed cotton
would have been bought in a store, Strips of lace and
but the outfit was sewn at home. other material
decorate the dress

Felt boots are

surprisingly
waterproof
on the ice

OUTDOOR GEAR
Children need to dress warmly in the cold
Russian winter. This little boy, gliding
down an ice slide, wears a warm coat,
scarf, mittens, a fur-lined shapka
cap with flaps to cover the
forehead and ears, and felt
boots, valenki, that are very
warm in the snow.
Matryoshka peasant dolls fit
WOODEN TOYS inside one another – the biggest
Until the 20th century, one in the set holds the rest
Russian toys were made at
home out of wood, the These dolls are meant to
cheapest and most readily be a family, with the
available material. Wood baby as the smallest
was made into puppets
and all sorts of animals,
from cows to bears.
Colorful matryoshka
nesting dolls were a
favorite toy; now they are
popular tourist souvenirs.

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 SUMMER CAMPS
During their three-month summer vacation, many
Russian children enjoy the green countryside at a
summer camp or country home (dacha). This is an
important respite from the cities’ crowded
and noisy apartment complexes.
Summer camps are organized
through schools, or parents’
employers, and are often
held in the country
houses of the
former nobles.

COMMUNIST YOUTH GROUPS

Nearly all Soviet children between the ages of 7 and 10
belonged to the Octobrists; those ages 10 to 14 belonged
to the Young Pioneers, while young people aged 14 to 28
joined the Komsomol (Young Communist League). These
groups, which taught loyalty to the Communist Party, also
provided hobby clubs the way Girl and Boy Scouts do. In the
1930s, however, Soviet brainwashing of children was so intense
that some even betrayed their parents to the authorities. After
14-year-old Pavlik Morozov informed on his parents for helping
kulaks (rich peasants), his father was shot. Pavlik was then
murdered by his angry uncle, but became a Soviet hero.

The bear is a favorite

character in Russian
fairy tales

Girl Pioneers wore

a blouse and skirt
and, like the boys,
red scarves

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Russia is rich in children’s literature.
Traditional fairy tales (skazky) were collected
and vividly illustrated in the early 20th
century. A famous character is the terrifying
witch Baba Yaga, who has iron teeth and
lives in a hut that stands on chicken’s legs.
Two recent children writers are Samuel
Marshak, who wrote fairy tales, and
Kornei Chukovsky, who wrote a
Russian version of Dr. Dolittle called
Dr. Aibolit (“Dr. Ouchithurts.”)

SCHOOLS FOR THE GIFTED

The Soviets established special schools in the
cities to encourage those talented in
mathematics, languages, music, and sports. This
little girl is studying dance in a ballet school.
Only a few children get into the school; they
have to show great talent. Along with learning
ballet, they take the usual school courses.

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 National pastimes
In summer russians enjoy swimming,
long walks in the countryside, and
Russians are
fishing. Winter activities include skating,
world-champion
cross-country skiing, and ice fishing. In
ice hockey players

autumn people of all ages love to go mushroom

picking in the woods. Popular sports include soccer
and ice hockey, at which Russia is a world leader.
Tennis is rapidly becoming popular. Russians are also
fond of gymnastics and perform well at many sports in
the Olympics. Favorite games include chess and
dominoes; older people can often be seen playing
these in city parks. Even though most people have
modern bathrooms, the weekly steam bath is still a
regular custom in both the city
and the countryside. CHESS CHAMPIONS
The game of chess came to Russia from China
1,000 years ago. After the 1917 Revolution, chess
was strongly encouraged, and clubs were
organized in schools and factories. Many
recent world champions have been Russian.

Buckets of this sort are

used in steam baths for
washing, or to throw
water on the stove to
create more steam
MUSHROOM PICKING
In the damp late summer and
early autumn, thick clusters of COUNTRY REFUGE
mushrooms spring up in the Birch twig bunches In summer it is customary for city
woods and fields. Armed with for beating dirt out people to stay at a dacha, or country
baskets and buckets, of one’s pores are sold retreat. Children swim and play at
people scour the at the entrances to the dacha, while adults fish, swim,
countryside, and even steam baths tend the garden, walk in the woods,
city parks, for the many and enjoy a life in complete contrast
varieties of edible STEAM BATHS to the bustle of the busy city.
mushrooms. They Russians delight in their
take their trophies weekly steam bath (banya).
home to eat right Many villages have their
away, or to dry for own steam baths, while in
future use. the cities baths are found
in every district. Friday and
Saturday nights are the
busiest, the traditional
times for a good scrub.
People steam their bodies
Mushrooms are to extreme temperatures,
strung together, lash themselves with birch
hung up, and dried twigs (venik), then plunge
in a warm kitchen; into a cold bath or, if in
they last a long time the countryside in winter,
roll in the snow.

54
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 Teapot rests conveniently
on top for a quick refill of
hot water when needed

TEA DRINKING
Russians love to drink
weak black tea all day long.
To have the tea readily
available, they use a samovar
(“self-boiling”) urn. The water in
this traditional samovar is heated
by a central tube that is filled with
SLIPPERY SLOPES pine cones and kindled by charcoal.
In the deep cold of winter, ice slides can be made The tea in the pot on top of the
quickly on any slope, gentle or steep. Water samovar can then be continually
poured down the slopes freezes rapidly. Children refreshed with the boiling water.
all over Russia enjoy such slides; some use sleds, Nowadays, samovars are usually
but many just slither down in their thickly heated by electricity.
padded clothes (p. 52). Elaborate wooden
slides like this one were built in places
with few hills, such as St. Petersburg.

Top opens
here and pine
cones are placed
in the central tube

Chess is a popular game

among children, who are
usually encouraged to
learn while still at school

These wooden
shutters keep
out draughts
during the
long, harsh
winters

Ornate air vents

A dacha can be anything provide an inlet
from a small wooden cottage for the oxygen Fine samovars, such as
to a sizable villa. Even a Screws attached needed to keep the this silver one, were
single room in a humble these 1820s ice pine cones alight made in the metal
country cottage skates to warm workshops of Tula,
can be a dacha boots south of Moscow

ON FROZEN PONDS
Outdoor ice-skating has long been a Hot water to
national pastime in Russia for people fill the teapot
of all ages. In winter, frozen ponds or is obtained by
flooded artificial rinks attract crowds turning the tap
of skaters who glide gracefully to
piped music. The ice is regularly
swept free of snow, and heated
cabins allow skaters to put on their
skates in comfort. These elegant
skates belonged to Pavel Nakhimov,
a famous Russian admiral, who in
1853 defeated the Turkish fleet
during the Crimean War.

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Annual festivals
The important festivals of the year in Russia
begin with New Year’s, which is celebrated like
the Western Christmas. Grandfather Frost and
the Snow Maiden distribute presents, and on
New Year’s Eve families gather around a
decorated fir tree for dinner and gift opening.
Christmas is celebrated on January 7, because the
EASTER SERVICE
Russian Orthodox Church follows the Julian The service begins late on the eve of Easter and
calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian continues all night. At midnight the congregation,
carrying lit candles, follows the priest around the
calendar used elsewhere. Easter, the main outside of the church; this commemorates the
religious festival of the year, remained popular, women who came to the tomb of Christ and found
it empty. At the doors of the church the priest
even in Soviet times. proclaims, “Christ is risen.” The worshipers joyfully
Military parades on reply, “He is risen indeed,” and kiss their neighbors.

May Day and the BREAKING THE FAST

As dawn breaks, the Easter service finishes, and the
anniversary of the worshipers disperse to their homes to break their
Revolution are no long fast with special Easter foods and colored
eggs. The Easter cake (kulich), and the paskha (a
longer celebrated. sweet made of curd cheese) contain ingredients
forbidden during Lent. Guests, who stop by all
day, are offered the cakes.

On the side of the paskha Men dress up in red

Golden-domed is a cross, or “XB,” which robes and pass out
monastery stands for “Christ has risen” pancakes to the crowds

CELEBRATION OF LENT
The eve of Lent is traditionally
the time of the butter festival,
PAINTED EGGS maslenitsa, when pancakes are
In the week before Easter, everyone is eaten in large amounts. With
busy painting eggs. Some are just boiled snow still thick on the ground,
with onion skins, making lovely mottled some hardy people celebrate
brown and yellow colors. Others, with the This amusing painting by breaking holes in frozen
yolk and white blown out through small shows a brown bear, lakes and rivers and diving
pinholes in the end, are painted elaborately one of Russia’s into the icy water.
with religious or festive scenes. The eggs are national symbols,
eaten at the feast after the long Easter service. enjoying a sleigh ride

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 MAY DAY FESTIVAL
In sympathy with the violent strike in
Chicago on May 1, 1886, annual workers’
demonstrations began in many countries,
“Long live
on May 1, 1890. In the Soviet Union (the
the workers’
workers’ state) it was celebrated by large
festival”
parades of workers carrying
huge banners and
portraits of political
leaders. In the
new Russia this
festival has become
an ordinary holiday.

This Orthodox
church, complete
with five onion
domes, is carved
out of ice

Athletes march
through Red
Square in
the May Day
parade of 1969

SOVIET PARADES
In the Soviet Union, military parades were held
twice a year: on May Day (May 1), and on the
anniversary of the Revolution (November 7, or
October 25 by the old calendar). Soviet leaders
stood on top of Lenin’s mausoleum in order of
rank to watch the military march through Red
Square. Infantry tanks and giant rockets filed in
awesome procession across the square,
followed by gymnastic displays.

ICE FESTIVAL
The dead of a Russian winter is enlivened
by a festival in which sculptures are carved
out of ice; a competition is held for the best
one. Russians have long enjoyed making ice
buildings. In 1740 Empress Anna, known
for her cruel jokes, ordered an ice palace
built on the Neva River for the enforced
marriage of her court jester.

Huge sculptures are built in city

parks, and some can last until the
start of the thaw in early spring

57
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The new Russia
In august 1991 hardline Communists staged a coup (overthrow)
against President Gorbachev and his reforms. The newly elected
president of the Russian Republic, Boris Yeltsin, occupied the White
House (Parliament building), in Moscow, and opposed the coup. Moscow
citizens rallied behind Yeltsin and within three days the coup collapsed.
At the end of 1991, the Soviet Union fell apart and the Russian
Federation, led by Yeltsin, was born. In October 1993, Yeltsin dissolved
the hardline parliament, which fiercely opposed his reforms. Again the
parliament was occupied, this time by Communists and nationalists.
Yeltsin used force; about 150 people died, but the hardliners were
defeated. Since then, Russia has kept moving toward a market economy.
Despite crime and corruption, life is improving for many people.

NEW ECONOMY
In 1992 Russia attempted
to change abruptly from a The Communist
state-owned economy to a hammer and sickle
free-market system. At first flag came down
there was confusion and on Christmas
huge price rises as the Day, 1991
ruble (Russian currency)
crashed in value. The
economic reforms were
then slowed down, and
gradually the value of the
ruble, which had never
before operated in a free Cathedral of Christ
market, settled to about the Savior was
5,000 to the U.S. dollar. rebuilt in 1997 on
its original site,
where a swimming
In 1912, a workman or RESTORING THE PAST pool had stood
shopkeeper would earn Russian cities are taking on a fresh look as since 1958
500 rubles a year new businesses start and buildings are
restored. Some important historic
buildings destroyed during Soviet times
– including the grand staircase of the
Kremlin palaces, the Resurrection
Gate on Red Square, and the
In the 1990s, Cathedral of Christ the Savior
500 rubles can (p. 34) – have been rebuilt
only buy one egg exactly as they were.

LAST LEADER OF THE SOVIET UNION

In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev, the new Soviet leader, introduced
a policy of openness (glasnost) followed by cautious reforms
(perestroika). But he came under attack both by Communists
opposing reform and radicals who wanted more democracy.
After the failed coup of August 1991, Gorbachev was freed
but found Yeltsin now in control and resigned four months
later. But his reforms had made possible the new Russia.

58
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 OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW
The four months from the August coup to December 31,
1991, were one of the most eventful periods in the history of
Russia. In that time the Communist Party was dissolved, the
republics that made up the Soviet Union broke away to form
the loose grouping of the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS), and Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, resigned.
On December 25, 1991, the red Soviet flag was lowered from
the Kremlin. The new flag of Russia was raised in its place.
The democratic Russian Federation was born.

New flag marked the

end of Communism and the
beginning of a democratic state
The red, white, and blue
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania tsarist flag is now the flag
are collectively known as the of the Russian Federation
Baltic States
Arctic Ocean

•Belarus

•Moldova •Moscow
•Ukraine Russian Federation

POPULAR PRESIDENT Republics of the

A construction engineer, Boris Yeltsin became Caucasus Republics of Central
Party boss in the Urals city of Sverdlovsk during Asia
the 1960s, and then of Moscow in the 1980s,
under Gorbachev. Gorbachev fired him in 1987.
Four years later, however, he became president NEW RUSSIA Mongolia China
of the Russian republic, the largest of the Soviet The Russian Federation,
republics. Yeltsin was the first Russian leader in without the other 14 republics
history to be popularly elected. In democratic that made up the Soviet Union, is still the largest
elections in June 1996, Yeltsin, although unwell, and potentially one of the most wealthy countries in the world. Of the 15
was reelected president. former Soviet republics, 12, including the Russian Federation, belong to the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The Commonwealth’s main
aim is to promote economic and political cooperation between its members.
The three remaining former Soviet republics – Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia
– have chosen not to join the Commonwealth of Independent States.

59
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Acknowledgments
Dorling Kindersley would like Picture credits Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow: John Massey Stewart: 28c, 29c.
to thank: The publisher would like to thank Tsar Ivan IV (1530–84) Vitor Novosti Photo Library: 15tr,
Tamara Igumnova, Lyudmila the following for their kind Mikhailovich 20cr; Religious 18cl, 23cl, 26-27cb, 30cb, 30-
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Irina Poltusova, Tatiana Sizova, photographs: Efimovich Repin 47cbr. 47br, 50c, 53c.
Yelena Smirnova, Yulia E.T. Archive: 20c, 48cl. Planet Earth Pictures: William
Gudovich, Lyudmila Mary Evans Picture Library: 9tr, P. Paton 11b.
(a = above, c = center, b = below,
Dementieva, and Luiza Yefimova 12bl, 16t, 17tl, 17bl, 19tl, 21br, Nikolai Rakhmanonov: 14t,
l = left, r = right, t = top) 18tl, 21c, 24tl, 25tr, 25c.
at the History Museum, 33br, 39tl, 45l, 48br.
Rex Features: Sipa Press 58bl,
Moscow; Pavel Rubinin of the AISA, Barcelona: 22t, 23cb, 44c, Hulton Getty: 8tl, 8b, 37t, 57.
58b.
Kapitza Museum, Moscow; 44b, 48bl. Giraudon: 23c; Lauros 19tr, Ellen Rooney: 18bl, 28-29b, 29tl,
Professor Roman Shatalov and Bridgeman Art Library, 21cra. 29ca.
Tatiana Susorova at the London/New York: The Fine The Ronald Grant Archive: Oxford Scientific Films:
Polytechnic Museum, Moscow; Art Society, London 48 cr; 43br, 45tr, 45b. Martyn Colbeck 11cr; Mark
Alexander Nikonov at the Hermitage, St. Petersburg: Natural History Picture Agency: Hamblin 11bra; Zig
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Irina Orlova at the Museum of Catherine I (1729–96) Feodor The Hutchison Library: 52cl, Topham Picturepoint: 24b.
Rokotov 20b; Kremlin
the Revolution, Moscow; Museums, Moscow 20cla; 55t; © Andzey 56t, 56br. Trip: M. Jenkin 27tr; B. Turner
Alexander Chepurnoi; Sergei Lords Gallery, London 39c; The Interior Archive: 29tl. 26-27ca; N. & J. Wiseman 37br.
Romaniuk; Yevgenia Grishina; Bibliotheque de L’Opera, Paris Michael Jenner: 28cl, 29cl, 36r, Victoria & Albert Museum:
Kate Cook; Zoya Yevgenyevna of 48tl; Musée d’Orsay, Paris: 37l. 49tl, 49l.
Red Square Publications; Ella Coronation of Nicholas II David King Collection:
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Petit Palais, Geneva: Russian Jacket: all DK special
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Orthodox Church; David Peasants (1869–1940) 34cl, 35tl, 35cl, 35bl, 36t, 38tl, 38c,
Andreevich Malyavin 49cr; exception of:
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Cornelissen & Son, London; Paul Russian Museum, St. Petersburg: 57tr, 58br. back tr; Giraudon: front c;
Cornish, Andy Hutcheson, and Portrait of Rastrelli (1700–71) Frank Lane Picture Agency: Novosti Photo Library: back
David Fearon at the Imperial Pietro Rotari 28tr; Stapleton 10tr. bl; Ellen Rooney: front r;
War Museum; The Britain-Russia Collection 28ca; Mander & Mitchenson: 49tr, 49tr. Trip: back br.
Centre, London; The Earl of
Pembroke and Trustees of the
Wilton House Trust; and
photographers Ian Jackson and
Andy Brown.

Consultant: Geoffrey Murrell

Researcher: Robert Graham

Illustrator: John Woodcock

Modelmaker: Peter Griffiths

Index: Marion Dent

Jacket: Chris Branfield

Design and editorial assistance:

Susila Baybars, Goldberry Broad,
Maggie Tingle, Darren
Troughton, and Jake Williamson

61
(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley, Inc. All Rights Reserved.