Travel Archives - Page 2 of 12 - Los Cuadernos de Julia

Qype: Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts

This is one of the central places to enjoy classical art in Moscow. In 2012 the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts marks its 100th anniversary. In these hundred years the museum hosted an impressive array of exhibitions of international artists – Andy Warhol, El Greco, Rembrandt, Salvador Dali, Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, and many others. There are currently exhibitions of Caravaggio and William Blake.

The permanent collection boasts true gems of world art. There are impressive rooms of antique sculpture and architecture, as well as a collection of Mesopotamian and Egyptian remains. A unique selection of early-Byzantine icons and mosaics morphs into Medieval and Renaissance European paintings, that later change to 17-18th cc. paintings and sculptures. Speaking of sculpture, in one of the halls you will see full-size copies of the famous interpretations of David: one by Donatello, and another by Michelangelo.

Still, the centrepiece of the collection at the Pushkin Museum is a selection of French Impressionists, painstakingly and lovingly assembled by the 19th c. Russian businessmen. These include Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Auguste Renoir, and Pablo Picasso. Speaking of Picasso, Ivan Morozov personally went to Paris to purchase the Portrait of Ambroise Vollard; and in the museum you can see The Girl on the Ball and several other “blue period” paintings.

The museum has long explored the connection between art and fashion. In the early 2000s they hosted an exhibition of sculptures by Gina Lollobrigida. Recently there was an exhibition of Christian Dior dresses.

The building in classical style can be reached from Kropotkinskaya or Borovitskaya metro stations; it stands right across the road from the rebuilt Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. It is flanked by the Museum of Private Collections where visitors are treated to a beautiful selection of engravings and etchings; the Gallery of the 20th c. art of Europe and America; and the State Nicholas Roerich Museum.

The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts has a cozy, if small, cafe, and a bookshop with a wide selection of exhibition catalogues, information booklets, art books, and souvenirs. The entry normally costs 300RUB (around 10EUR).

Unfortunately, for all the great things mentioned above, there is one drawback. Due to the ticketing system and the cloackroom size, the museum is notorious for serpentine queues around its building during the high-profile exhibitions. Such exhibitions tend to break visitor records: the recent Dali exhibition attracted nearly 300 thousand people. They also produce the mentioned serpentines that make the Russians appear no less fond of queueing that the Brits. Regardless, hundreds of people still mark time in the street for a chance to visit the museum. Back in 2002, I personally spent 5.5 hours in the February cold to see the Rouen Cathedral series by Claude Monet…

The Clash of Times in Post-Soviet Cities

Yekaterinburg: Komsomol and Cathedral

One of my vivid recollections of the visit to Yekaterinburg is the fact that many of its streets have not been renamed. As a result, the Cathedral on the Blood on the spot of Ipatyev House where the imperial family had been shot stands at the junction of Tolmachyov St and Karl Liebknecht St. Not far from there runs Rosa Luxemburg St, and there are plenty of streets and squares still carrying the names of October Revolution, the First Five-year Plan, and various professions and recreations, from Weavers to Mountaneers.

Similar situation stands true in other Russian cities. In Ivanovo, not only have the monuments to Lenin been preserved, and the streets still carry the names of Lenin and Stalin, there also stand monuments to other revolutionaries. The wave of renaming the streets and knocking down the statues only seriously affected Moscow and St. Petersburg. The other cities and towns get by without many changes, and the newly built cathedral stands face to face with the monument to the Komsomol of the Urals.

Yekaterinburg Posters: When a Picture Says a Thousand Words…

Coming to a new city, you (I) somehow manage to notice just about anything, most of which a lot of citizens would ignore. And even though a lot of you, dear readers, sit abroad and don’t read in Russian, fear not: you will be able to understand everything about the posters I am about to share with you.

1. This is an advertising poster for the concert of Butyrka band. Do you think those guys look like they’ve been through a lot together? You’re right: “Butyrka” is a short name for one of Moscow prisons. The concert offers “the best in 10 years” and “only for friends”. You can tell the guys mean business…. show business, that is.

2. Since when have the antique statues begun to hide behind the modern faces? Since when have the guys begun to wear antique bodies instead of their own? Apparently, it’s what women want on a Ladies’ Night. No comments.

3. Ah, look at that! I never thought this famous Russian stand-up comedien looked like the most repulsive person on Earth. I’m sure neither did Mikhail Zadornov know this.

4. I remember reading an interview with the actor I mention here and there on this blog, and the journalist asked him: “Now, you say that you’re not a vegetarian, but animals are in pain when we use them for food” “So what?” the actor replied. “Fish are in pain, too“. The poor fish may be in pain, of course, but in his native city people are really concerned about little rabbits and such like. The poster reads: “Vegetarianism. Because I love animals”.

5. The art of love is nowadays taught at the private sessions, and surely, there is no better person to teach you “what men should not know” than a Geisha. The poster hangs across the road from the Circus.

6. “A Master today – a Minister tomorrow” reads the slogan of the Ural State Economic University. Which reminded me of a scene in The Twelve Chairs by Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov: “Money in the morning – chairs in the evening. Money in the evening – chairs in the morning”. Feel free to draw your own conclusions.

7. Finally… “Your child spends HOURS in front of the PC? Maybe he is a future HACKER?” If so, then a computer school is there just for you and your kid.

Yekaterinburg Arboretum: Chapel, Fountains, and Roses

My visit to Yekaterinburg was partly for work, and one of my tasks was to explore the public gardens in the city. Granted there were not too many of them, I still managed to identify a few places where one could go and enjoy the Nature, a bit of fresh air, and perhaps, some solitude.

Speaking of solitude, arguably there is no better place to enjoy it than in Yekaterinburg Arboretum. It is located at Geologicheskaya metro station, across the road from the Circus. The alley you can see in the photo oozes Surrealism (the way I see it at least). On the arboretum grounds stands the chapel of St. Alexander Nevsky, erected in 1881 and restored in 1993. It is very small but lovely inside.

Walking away from the chapel along different alleys you come to the fountain. It looks classical, especially when seen from the side, with sumptuous flowerbeds preparing the view. And just a few steps away is a beautiful rosary where I took immense pleasure photographing flowers. I give them all to you.

Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha and the End of the Romanovs in 1918

Grand Duke and Duchess

Some 15 years ago a teacher of Literature at my school lent me a book to read. In the wake of budding interest in the tragic history of the end of the Romanovs dynasty in Russia, the book was among the best ones, not least because it stayed away from presenting its main subject in the strictly political light.

Martha and Mary Convent, Moscow

It was a biography of the Holy New Martyr Grand Duchess Elizaveta Fyodorovna, a sister-in-law to Nicholas II of Russia. She married the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and eventually converted to Orthodox religion. Her husband was killed in a blast in 1905. Following this, the Grand Duchess became a nun and founded a well-known Martha and Mary Convent in Moscow that has survived to this day. However, in 1918 she and several Grand Dukes were taken to Alapaevsk, near Yekaterinburg, from where they were transported to Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha, pushed into a mineshaft, into which hand grenades were hurled.

A memorial cross at the mineshaft

The mineshaft

Hardly a Monarchist, I nevertheless wanted to see places associated with the demise of the Romanovs dynasty. So, when I found out that we’d be passing Alapaevsk and the unfortunate mineshaft on our way to and from the open-air museum of wooden architecture in Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha, I begged to make a stop at the place where the Grand Duchess had her life ended. The mine is now on the territory of a monastery, where there grow amazingly sweet apples, runs a clean spring, and stands a church to St. Elizabeth.

The icon of the Holy New Martyr

The chancel of St. Elizabeth

The monastery entrance

A service at the monastery

The monastery interior

Autumn Signs (Guillaume Apollinaire)

Autumn in Lake District, Cumbria

I am bound to the King of the Sign of Autumn
Parting I love the fruits I detest the flowers
I regret every one of the kisses that I’ve given
Such a bitter walnut tells his grief to the showers
My Autumn eternal O my spiritual season
The hands of lost lovers juggle with your sun
A spouse follows me it’s my fatal shadow
The doves take flight this evening their last one.

Je suis soumis au Chef du Signe de l’Automne
Partant j’aime les fruits je déteste les fleurs
Je regrette chacun des baisers que je donne
Tel un noyer gaulé dit au vent ses douleurs
Mon Automne éternelle ô ma saison mentale
Les mains des amantes d’antan jonchent ton sol
Une épouse me suit c’est mon ombre fatale
Les colombes ce soir prennent leur dernier vol.

Guillaume Apollinaire, Alcools.

Moscow Parks and Gardens: Biryulyovo Arboretum

An old bridge

Kid’s art

Biryulyovo Arboretum is located faily near to where I live: I only have to walk under the railway bridge, then take a bus, and in a few stops I will be near one of the best contemporary examples of park building.

Birch alley

A pond near the entrance

It all started in 1932, when the first attempt to convert the soil previously used for pasture had been made. It wasn’t successful: all new plants were swarmed by grass. A more serious undertaking was initiated in 1938 by V. Polozov. This time the focus was on cleaning the territory and preparing the soil. After this Polozov suggested to plant more tree seeds into a furrow than was initially recommended. Two results were thus achieved. One, trees were supporting one another, whilst growing. Two, they were continuously dug out and taken to be replanted elsewhere in Moscow city. Only “necessary” trees would stay in their furrows.

Another pond

Sunshine

The park itself was conceived as a combination of a landscape park and a regular park. As a result, what may seem to be an orderly entwining of different alleys is in fact a carefully constructed maze of over 220 tree species. The park constantly evolves, and maple trees change linden and birch trees to give way to pines and larches. Thanks to this, while providing shelter from extreme heat in summer, in autumn the Biryulyovo Arboretum is a feast for eyes, with all its autumnal palette.

Shades of green

Conifers tops

The Arboretum’s selection of conifers is the best one in Moscow, comparable only to the one in the Botanical Gardens. 40% of plants come from North America; another large group originally grows in the Far East, including China and Japan. Typically Russian plants are also well presented, coming from the European part, Siberia, Caucasus, and Central Asian mountains. Most of these plants easily accommodate themselves in the Moscow suburb, adding more decorative elements to the park.

Conifer trees tops: another look

Trees and shadows

Naturally, the Arboretum in Biryulyovo attracts a lot of citizens who come here to enjoy Nature, solitude, fresh air, and lovely views. But this is also a unique schooling opportunity, and excursions to the Arboretum are regularly organised for pupils. This is the place where a child bonds with Nature and learns to appreciate its beauty, grace, and frailty.

As for me, I visited the Arboretum for the first time in my life a couple of months ago, just before the weather got really hot. One has to point out that, as with any other popular park, this place can get pretty crowded. Nonetheless, a walk up and down alleys, past changing tree species, is unforgettable, inspiring and kind of equivalent to a stroll along an embankment in a seaside town. The fresh air cleanses your head and emotions, the trees calm you down, and altogether this experience opens your eyes, and you quite literally begin to see both forest and its trees.

The Dream Journey on the Trans-Siberian Railroad: Map and Routes

Landscape near Irkutsk (by VChokan)

I hope to make one or two journeys along a part of the Trans-Siberian Railroad before the end of 2011. I’m not sure I’ll dare to go on a full journey in winter, but next summer everything is possible. I have not been outside Central Russia, and using a train is as reliable as it is affordable way of exploring the country and its people.

Anyway, here is the map of the Trans-Siberian, Trans-Mongolian, and Trans-Manchurian Railways. Only the first of them – Trans-Siberian – takes you from Moscow to Vladivostok without leaving Russia. Two others connect Moscow with Beijing, Trans-Mongolian going through Mongolia and the Gobi Desert, and Trans-Manchurian going via North-Eastern China.

Sergei Esenin Vagankovo Monument and Final Poem Translation

Esenin Memorial in Vagankovo

Esenin Monument in Ivanovo

I had a long walk in Vagankovo Cemetery today, the place where a lot of celebrated Russians were laid to rest. Among them is Sergei Esenin, famous for his village-inspired poetry, a romance with Isadora Duncan, and untimely suicide-murder in Astoria Hotel in St. Petersburg at the age of 30. Back in 2006, on a chilly autumn evening I translated his final poem that he scribbled in blood on a piece of paper.

Farewell, my friend, farewell to thou.
You’ll remain forever in my heart.
We shall meet again one day from now,
And for that we have been meant to part.
Farewell, my friend, see you in time.
Don’t frown in sadness or in grief.
There is nothing new about dying
In this life, like it’s not new to live.

Original Russian text:

До свиданья, друг мой, до свиданья.
Милый мой, ты у меня в груди.
Предназначенное расставанье
Обещает встречу впереди.

До свиданья, друг мой, ни руки, ни слова.
Не грусти и не печаль бровей.
В этой жизни умирать не ново,
Да и жить, конечно, не новей.

1928 г.

The Manege Square Fountain Photo Seen Over 12,000 Times

The Equestrian Fountain in the Manege Square, Moscow, Russia

Since I took this photo in early October 2010, it’s been included in Google Earth and viewed over 12,000 times. I’m astonished and grateful. I used it previously in a post, but I thought it deserved an encore. This is one of the fountains established in the Manezhe Square, to mark 850th anniversary of Moscow in 1997.