Home About us Products Services Contact us Bookmark
:: wikimiki.org ::
Red Gates

Red Gates

Red Gates in Moscow used to be a rare example of a triumphal arch built to an exuberantly baroque design. baroque The original gate, thought to be the first triumphal arch in Russia, was built in wood on behest of Peter the Great to commemorate his victory at Poltava in 1709. His wife Catherine I replaced it with a new structure in order to commemorate her own coronation in 1724. This arch burnt down in a great fire 8 years later and was restored in 1742, for Elizaveta Petrovna's coronation train, which proceeded from the Moscow Kremlin to the Lefortovo Palace through the edifice. In 1753 the wooden arch was demolished and replaced with a stone one. The design by Prince Dmitry Ukhtomsky faithfully followed that of Catherine I's architects. This was a refined specimen of baroque sensilibility, with red-blood walls, snow-white reliefs, golden capitals, and 15 bright paintings representing "Tsardoms of Russian Empire", coats of arms of Russian provinces, etc. A large portrait of Empress Elizabeth, surrounded by a lambent halo, was replaced with a double-headed eagle for Nicholas I's coronation in 1825. The structure was crowned by a golden statue of trumpeting angel. Around the gates, a spacious square was laid out. 1825 The Arch and a neighbouring church were demolished in 1928 when the avenue they were located on, Sadovoye Koltso was widened according to Lazar Kaganovich's Moscow redevelopment plan. The square that they stood upon was still known as Krasniye Vorota (Red Gates), and in 1935 a metro station of the same name opened. In 1953 one of the famous Stalin's skyscrapers was erected on the square. The square was renamed Lermontovskaya after the Russian author Lermontov in 1962 and was renamed back to Krasniye Vorota in 1986. Some decorative elements of the gate, such as the statue of angel, are exhibited in the Moscow City Museum. Whilst the question of rebuilding the arch has been raised several times, due to the traffic congestion of the square that seems unlikely. Category:Buildings and structures in Moscow Category:Destroyed landmarks Category:Triumphal arches

Moscow

Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva, IPA: ) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva. The urban area constitutes about 1/10 of the Russian population, thus making it the most populous city in Europe. The city is in the federal district located in the west of Russia. It was the capital of the former Soviet Union, and of Muscovite Russia, the pre-Imperial Russia. It is the site of the famous Kremlin, which serves as the center of the national government. Moscow is also well known as the site of the Saint Basil's Cathedral, with its elegant onion domes. The Patriarch of Moscow, whose residence is the Danilov Monastery, serves as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

History

Russian Orthodox Church at Red Square.]] The first reference to Moscow dates from 1147 when it was an obscure town in a small province inhabited mostly by Merya, speakers of a now extinct Finnic language. In 1156, Prince Yury Dolgoruky built a wooden wall and a moat around the city. After the sacking of 1237-1238, when the Mongols burned the city to the ground and killed its inhabitants, Moscow recovered and became the capital of an independent principality. Its favorable position on the headwaters of the Volga river contributed to steady expansion. Moscow was also stable and prosperous for many years and attracted a large numbers of refugees from across Russia. Under Ivan I the city replaced Tver as capital of Vladimir-Suzdal and became the sole collector of taxes for the Mongol rulers. By paying high tribute, Ivan won an important concession from the Khan. Unlike other principalities, Moscow was not divided among his sons but was passed intact to his eldest. In 1380, prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow led a united Russian army to an important victory over the Mongols in the Battle of Kulikovo. After that, Moscow took the leading role in liberating Russia from Mongol domination. In 1480, Ivan III had finally broken the Russians free from Tatar control and Moscow became the capital of an empire that would eventually encompass all of Russia and Siberia, and parts of many other lands. Siberia on the right]] Moscow ceased to be Russia's capital when in 1703 Peter the Great constructed St. Petersburg on the Baltic coast. When Napoleon invaded in 1812, the Moscovites burned the city and evacuated, as Napoleon's forces were approaching on September 14. Napoleon's army, plagued by hunger, cold, and poor supply lines, was forced to retreat. In January of 1905, the institution of the City Governor, or Mayor, was officially introduced in Moscow, and Alexander Adrianov became Moscow's first official mayor. Following the success of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Lenin, fearing possible foreign invasion, moved the capital from St. Petersburg back to Moscow on March 5, 1918. During the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet State Committee of Defence and the General Staff of the Red Army were located in Moscow. In 1941 16 divisions of the national volunteers (more than 160,000 people), 25 battalions (18,000 people) and 4 engineering regiments were formed among the Muscovites. In November 1941, German Army Group Centre was stopped at the outskirts of the city and then driven off in the course of the Battle of Moscow. Many factories were evacuated, together with much of the government, and from October 20 the city was declared to be in a state of siege. Its remaining inhabitants built and manned antitank defenses, while the city was bombarded from the air. On May 1, 1944 a medal "For the defence of Moscow" and in 1947 another medal "In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow" were instituted. On May 8, 1965 owing to the actual 20th anniversary of the victory in World War II Moscow was awarded a title of the Hero City. In 1980 it hosted the summer Olympic Games. In 1991 Moscow was the scene of a coup attempt by the government members opposed to the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev. When the USSR was dissolved in the same year, Moscow became only a capital of the Russian Federation. Since then, the emergence of a market economy in Moscow has produced an explosion of Western-style retailing, services, architecture, and lifestyles.

Administrative divisions

:Main article: Administrative divisions of Moscow.

Culture


- (See also Moscow tourist attractions for links and Views of Moscow) Moscow and St. Petersburg have for centuries been the sites of much of the country's internationally known history and culture, and the residences of most of its famous personalities.

Architecture

The city was once known as 'sorok-sorokov' ('forty-times-forty'), in reference to the many Orthodox spires making up the city's skyline. The look of the city was changed drastically during Soviet times, mostly due to Stalin, who oversaw a large scale effort to modernize the city by, on the one hand, introducing very broad avenues and roadways, some of them over ten lanes wide, and on the other, destroying a great number of historically significant architectural works such as the Sukharev Tower and numerous mansions and stores lining the major streets, and various works of religious architecture, such as the Christ the Saviour Cathedral. The latter was demolished to make way for a huge skyscraper that was never built, and reconstructed in the mid to late 90s. Stalin did build seven other skyscrapers however, allegedly inspired by the Municipal Building in New York. They form a series of huge, cathedral-like structures with intricate exteriors, and are given various labels: 'The Seven Sisters', 'Stalinist Gothic', 'wedding cake architecture' and so on. They are among the tallest constructions in central Moscow and can all be seen together from most elevations in the city, apart from the Ostankino Tower which, when it was built in 1967, was the tallest free-standing structure in the world, before the title was taken by the CN Tower. The Soviet policy of providing mandatory housing for every citizen or their family, and the rapid growth of the huge Moscow population in Soviet times, also lead to the construction of large, monotonous housing blocks, which can often be differentiated in age, sturdiness of construction, or 'style' according to the neighbourhood and the materials used. Most of these date from the post-Stalin era and the styles are often named after the leader then in power - Brezhnev, Krushchev, etc, and they are usually ill-maintained. The Stalinist-era constructions, usually in the central city, are massive and usually ornamented with Socialist realism motifs that imitate Classical themes. However, small churches - almost always Orthodox - that hint on the city's past still dot various parts of the city. The Old Arbat, a popular tourist street that was once the heart of a bohemian area, preserves most of its 19th century or older buildings. Many buildings found off the main streets of the inner city (behind the Stalinist facades of Tverskaya Ulitsa, for example) are also examples of the bourgeois decadence in Tsarist times. Large estates just outside Moscow belonging to nobles from the Tsarist era, and some convents and monasteries both inside and outside the city, are open to Muscovites and tourists. Attempts are being made to restore many of the city's best-kept examples of pre-Soviet architecture, and these are easily spotted by their bright new colours and spotless facades. There are a few examples of notable, early Soviet avant-garde work too, such as the house of the architect Konstantin Melnikov in the Arbat area. Later examples of interesting Soviet architecture are usually marked by their impressive size and the semi-Modernist styles employed, such as the Novy Arbat project, designed by Mikhail Posokhin. Like in London, but on a broader scale, plaques on the house exteriors will inform passer-by that a well-known personality once lived there. Frequently the plaques are dedicated to Soviet celebrities not well-known to the outside world. There are also many 'house-museums' of famous Russian writers, composers, and artists in the city.

Views of Moscow

Image:sk334.jpg|Presidium of Russian Academy of Sciences. Image:sk331.jpg|Moscow International Music-Hall. Image:sk302.jpg|Paveletsky Tower Business Center. Image:sk328.jpg|Triumphal arch on Kutuzovsky prospekt. Image:sk280.jpg|Bogdan Khmelnitsky bridge. Image:sk388.jpg|Riverside building. Image:sk337.jpg|Old Andreevsky bridge. Image:sk345.jpg|Christ the Saviour Temple. Image:sk225.jpg|Ministry of foreign affairs. Image:sk55.jpg|Moscow International Business Center, Tower 2000. Image:eur.jpg|Square of Europe Image:Kotelincheskaya Naberezhnaja Moscow.hires.jpg|Stalinist Skyscraper at Kotelnicheskaya Naberezhnaja.

Visual, Performing and Other Arts

There are many museums and galleries in Moscow with collections that can be compared to those of the best museums in the West. Frequent art exhibitions thrive on both the new and the classic, as they once did in pre-Revolutionary times, and from their diversity in every branch of the arts - painting, photography, sculpture and so on - it would appear that the Muscovite art world is steeped in many traditions: Russian, Western, Oriental, both old and new. Two of the most notable art museums in Moscow are the Tretyakov Gallery, founded by Paul Tretyakov, a wealthy and generous patron of the arts who accumulated a very large private collection before donating it to the State, and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, which was founded, among others, by Marina Tsvetaeva's father. Currently there are two Tretyakovs. The Old Tretyakov, the original gallery in the Tretyakovskaya area on the south bank of the Moskva, houses the works of the classic Russian tradition, with famous pre-revolutionary painters such as Ilya Repin, going all the way back to early Russian icon painting with exhibits of rare originals by Andrei Rublev. The New Tretyakov, created in Soviet times, mostly houses the work of Soviet and a few contemporary artists, but there is some overlap between the two for early 20th century art. The latter includes a small reconstruction of Vladimir Tatlin's famous Monument to the Third International and a mixture of other avant-garde works by artists like Kazimir Malevich or Wassily Kandinsky, and Soviet propaganda. The Pushkin Museum is like The British Museum in that its halls are a cross-section of world civilizations, with many plaster casts of ancient sculptures, but it also hosts famous paintings from every major Western era of art - the work of El Greco, Monet, Cezanne and so on can all be sampled there. Moscow is also the heart of Russian performing arts, including ballet. Theatres and ballet studios are very common in Moscow. The most famous of these are the Bolshoi (Big) and Malyj (Small) theatres, a centerpiece of Moscow; the Bolshoi is usually closed during the summer, but in 2005 it closed semi-permanently for reconstruction work. Ticket prices were as low as $1 in the Soviet era, but have increased dramatically since. The repertories in a typical Moscow season are exhaustive and modern interpretations of classic works, whether operatic or theatrical, are quite common. Soviet films are integral to film history, and the Mosfilm studio was at the heart of many classics, both artistic and more mainstream productions. However, despite the continued presence and reputation of internationally renowned Russian filmmakers, the once prolific native studios are much quieter, and there are fewer independent cinema theatres in Moscow than there were around the end of the Soviet Union, having given way to multiplexes and recent Hollywood productions. The overall maintenance and condition of theatres has improved, though ticket prices are much higher and increase every year.

Everyday life

Although less than a quarter of Russians live in the countryside, Muscovites, like other urban dwellers, are still attached to the country. Many live in country homes (called dachas) over the weekend and over holidays, and retire to the country when they are old. Moscow contains many parks and gardens; see Sport. Huge shopping malls, both urban and suburban, with their multiplex theatres, department stores, grocery chains, food courts, and other common features are now very common in Moscow and they are very popular with the city's adolescents most of whom, like their Western counterparts, like to project themselves as trendy.

Education

dacha There are numerous large universities in Moscow, including the renowned Moscow State University housed in the 240m high tower on Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills). The university has over 30,000 undergraduates and 7,000 postgraduate students. Bauman Moscow State Technical University offers a wide range of technical degrees. Moscow State Institute of International Relations [http://www.mgimo.ru] is Russia's best known school of international relations and diplomacy. See Also: List of universities in Russia

Business and Trade

A major part of Russia's profits and development is concentrated in Moscow. Many multi-national corporations have branches and offices in the city. The plush offices and the lifestyles of the typical corporate employee in Moscow are practically indistinguishable from any other Western European city, although the average salary for the Russian is still lower here. After the financial crisis in the late 90s, various business sectors in Moscow have shown exponential rates of growth. However, while the overall stability has improved in the recent years, crime and corruption continue to remain a problem hindering business development. A recent study showed that far from decreasing, corruption in the Putin era has been on the rise, and large businesses can expect to pay an average of over a hundred thousand dollars a year in bribes to officials. The Mafia also runs extortion rackets in most parts of the city, though there are no reliable data to understand how large their influence is. According to a July 22, 2004 article in Forbes, Moscow became the city with the most billionaires. It had 33 billionaires, passing New York City by two. The nouveau-riche, also called the "New Russians", often pejoratively, have a reputation for flaunting their wealth; the avenues for doing so, and subtly, have also increased in recent times - a sense of fashion and self-consciousness has instilled itself through the many haute coutoure and haute-cuisine spots in Moscow.

Tourism

New York City Moscow has always been a popular destination for more adventurous tourists. The better known attractions include the UNESCO World Heritage sites of the Kremlin, Red Square and the Church of the Ascension at Kolomenskoye, all dating from between the 14th and 17th centuries. Other popular attractions include the Zoo, expanded in the 1990s. Moscow is also the western end of the 9 300 km Trans-Siberian railway to Vladivostok. The city presents a unique look in midwinter when the streets are cloaked in powdery snow and the dusky twilight of the continental winter. In winter the locals face the cold with the warm embrace of hospitality. However, as temperatures can often be below -25 °C (-13 °F), early summer or early autumn can offer a much more comfortable and lively visit. Russians like to have fun as much as anyone else, and the very short summer nights mean that one can find people involved in social events, or roving about, or drinking outside at very late hours. The abundant greenery of Moscow gives the city a semi-tropical feel that pleasantly surprises the visitor accustomed to stereotypes about the Russian cold. The long days will also afford one more time to cover the immense wealth of historical, cultural or simply popular sites in Moscow. Scenic vantage points include the Sparrow Hills, on the Moscow river to the south-west of the city. Moscow presents many obstacles to the independent foreign tourist without local contacts. While it is not hard to get a visa and enter the country, it is quite common to resort to somewhat expensive, semi-legal procedures to 'register' oneself. The registration process is deliberately bureaucratic, complicated and immensely time-consuming, if one is not staying at a hotel. New medical and work permit requirements have also been introduced by the government, which increases the stress and expenses involved for long-term visitors, who are already required to leave the country every six months and re-register upon entry. While excellent hotels are found all over Moscow, they are usually not for the budget traveller, and not for long-term visitors. Everyone is also required to carry their passport for identification and so that the registration can be checked by local militia, who also pose a problem. They are found all over the city but especially in and around Metro stations. Being underpaid, they frequently attempt to supplement their income by stopping people arbitrarily, checking their passports, and demanding bribes to prevent arrest over trivial reasons. Also, with the recent terrorist actions being associated with the darker-skinned Caucasian population, official police racism against all dark-skinned people is rife and the latter are likely to be stopped much more often, sometimes as much as thrice a week. Violent crime, especially but not only directed against foreigners, is also a frequent occurrence in Moscow. However, the average tourist making a brief visit on a package tour is not likely to encounter any of these problems. The general, educated section of the populace are open-minded and can be very helpful; and expatriates who like making Russian friends find their curiosity and enthusiasm reciprocated and usually have fond memories of their stay, once they understand the system. While customer service is still something new to many Russian vendors, burgeoning Westernization means that high-profile and tourist stores all over Moscow may give you special attention if you are a foreigner.

Moscow tourist attractions

Bolshoi Theatre | Kolomenskoye | Kremlin | Poklonnaya Hill | Kuskovo | Manege | Europe's tallest tower | Stalinist skyscrapers | Ostankino Palace | Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts | Red Square with Lenin's mausoleum, Monument to Minin and Pozharsky, and Lobnoye Mesto | Saint Basil's Cathedral | Novodevichy Convent | Donskoy Monastery | Simonov Monastery | Red Gate | Shukhov radio tower | Cathedral of Christ the Saviour | State Tretyakov Gallery | All-Russian Exhibition Center | Alexander Garden | Moscow Zoo | Patriarch's Ponds | Moscow State University | Krutitsy | Elokhovo Cathedral | Church of St. Nicholas of the Weavers | Church of St. John the Warrior | Menshikov Tower | Church of the Intercession at Fili

Costs

Some prices are considerably higher for the foreign visitor than for locals. A cost of living survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting puts Moscow in second place after Tokyo, making it the most expensive city in Europe. For natives, small apartments bought or given by the state in the Soviet era, coupled with extremely low utility costs and easily avoidable income tax serve to lower the cost of living greatly. A look at transport prices offers a good illustration. A taxi from Sheremetyevo International Airport will cost the non-Russian speaking traveller upwards of $60; the Russian speaking foreigner will be charged $30-$40. The native Moscow dweller will negotiate the price to $15-20 or will avoid the taxi rank altogether and take a marshrutka (shuttle, shared taxi) to the nearest metro station for about 0.5 dollar.

Dining

In recent times there has been a large and quickly growing range of restaurants with a range of prices to match. The average cost, per person, for a meal in a middle to high class restaurant will be $30 to $200, especially if one orders vintage wines. Chain restaurants, such as "Moo-Moo," offer adequate quality canteen food – with English menus – for around five dollars per person. Although most Moscovites do not eat in even cheap restaurants very often, lately many new "middle-class" restaurants have opened, targeting families on weekends. A number of fast food restaurants have outlets near many metro stations. That includes the omnipresent McDonald's as well as other chains, notably Rostiks, which specializes on serving chicken, and Kroshka Kartoshka, serving traditional baked potato with numerous toppings, Danish-style Stardogs! and many others. Recently, a large number of coffee shops have sprouted up around the city; two of the best known ones are Coffee House and Coffee Mania, conceptually identical to the Starbucks model. Foreign cuisines, notably the Oriental ones - Japanese, Chinese and Indian - are growing in popularity all over the city. Georgian cuisine has always been a favourite, and 'shawarma' (usually 50 roubles each or about US$1.70) stalls are often found near most Metro stations. Popular and profitable chain restaurants, such as Il Patio (Italian cuisine), Sushi Planet (Japanese) and T. G. I. Fridays (American), all connected to the Rosinter group, are found in clusters in many parts of the city.

Transport

Moscow has five airports, Sheremetyevo International Airport, Domodedovo International Airport, Bykovo Airport, Ostafievo International Airport and Vnukovo International Airport. The city is also the main rail hub for Russia, with daily trains to diverse destinations such as Vladivostok (9 000 km) and Brussels (2 000 km) [http://www.seat61.com/Russia.htm#option%201,%20via%20the%20Brussels%20-%20Moscow%20sleeper]. Local transportation includes the Moscow Metro, an excellent metro (subway) system famous for its art, murals, mosaics, and ornate chandeliers. Begun in 1935, the system has 11 lines and more than 171 stations. The system is the world's busiest, with 9 million passengers every day and trains every 90 seconds at peak times. As Metro stations outside the city centre are far apart in comparison to other cities, up to 4 km, an extensive bus network radiates from each station to the surrounding residential zones. Suburbs and several city areas also connected with electric train (elektrichka) network. The buses are very frequent, often more than one a minute, and inexpensive at about $0.5. Every large street in the city is served by at least one bus route and none of the city's 13,000 apartment blocks are more than a few minutes walk from a stop. There are also tram and trolleybus networks. There are over 2.5 million cars in the city on a daily basis (2004). Recent years have seen explosive growth in the number of cars, which have caused traffic jams and the lack of parking space to become major problems. The road system is structured with sequences of radial and ring roads. The first and innermost, Bulvarnoe Koltso (Boulevard Ring), built at the former location of 16th century city wall around what used to be called Bely Gorod (White Town). Boulevard Ring is technically not a ring - it isn't connected and has a horseshoe-like shape. The second ring, Sadovoye Koltso (Garden Ring), follows the line of another 16th century wall - the Earth Wall encircling historic Earth Town. After the war of 1812 the Earth Wall was demolished and replaced by streets and gardens. During the reconstruction of 1930's the Garden Ring took its current shape - the streets were widened, and the gardens were gone. The Third Transport Ring was completed in 2003, and the Fourth Transport Ring is being constructed to reduce traffic congestion. The outer ring, a large road called MKAD, forms the approximate boundary of the city. MKAD, along with Third and future Fourth Transport Rings are the only freeways within city limits.

Sports

freeways freeways Soccer is an extremely popular spectator sport among the young. Clubs such as Dynamo, CSKA, Lokomotiv and Spartak are prominent on the European stage. Supporter violence has become a serious problem when international teams play in Moscow. In 2002, a dozen Irish fans in Moscow for a Russia-Ireland game were attacked by neo-Nazi groups. One later died of his injuries. That same year, when a Russia-Japan World Cup match, played in Japan but broadcast live to the crowds in Pushkinskaja Square, went badly for the Russians, the crowd turned violent and wrought havoc in the centre of the city, breaking windows, smashing and burning cars and looting several shops. A Chinese restaurant was incidentally attacked and five Japanese tourists were beaten. One policeman died (other sources say two) and about one hundred people were injured. Winter sports have a large following. Most Russians own cross-country skis and ice skates and there are many large parks with marked trails for skiers and frozen ponds and canals for skaters. Often parks will have small local businesses offering ski and skate rental. Prices range from $1 to $5 an hour for rental. Moscow was the host city of the 1980 Summer Olympics, although the yachting events were held at Tallinn. Huge new stadium and other athletic facilities were built especially for the occasion. The main international airport, Sheremetyevo Terminal 2, was also built at this time. Moscow has also made a bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. However, when voting commenced on July 6 2005, Moscow was the first city to be eliminated from further rounds. The Games were finally awarded to London. London

Demographics

Although the population of the Russian Federation declines by about 700,000 (143.8 million
- 0.5% decline) every year due to low birth rates and early deaths, Moscow appears to be immune to these problems in recent years. Moscow has a very high population growth rate, largely due to migration (despite an internal passport system that makes it illegal for non-city residents to stay in the capital for more than 90 days without registration). These new Moscovites are attracted by the local economic growth rate of up to 20%, versus stagnation or even decline in most of Russia, the result of sharp polarization of the country in recent years. The city is home to small numbers of people of every racial and cultural group, from African students to Irish business people (there is an annual St. Patrick's Day Parade on the Novy Arbat avenue). However, the major part of the population are ethnic Russians, Tatars, Ukrainians and Belarusians. :See also History of Moscow for historical population growth

Terrorism

As with many cities, terrorism is a threat in Moscow. On February 6 2004 a bomb explosion in a subway car near the Avtozavodskaya metro station killed at least 40 and injured many. Other prominent acts of terror include the destruction of two apartment buildings in September 1999 (see Russian Apartment Bombings), an explosion in the pedestrian subway under the Pushkinskaya square in August 2000, and the capture of the theatre at Dubrovka in October 2002.

Media

Moscow is the headquarters of many Russian television networks, radio stations, newspapers and magazines. The following is a brief list, beginning with English-language sources, followed by Russian. Newspapers
- [http://www.themoscowtimes.com The Moscow Times] The largest English-language daily operating in Russia.
- [http://www.exile.ru The eXile] Alternative biweekly known for its irreverent style, pranks and club/restaurant reviews.
- [http://www.gazeta.ru/ gazeta.ru] Leading Russian web magazine. In Russian only.
- [http://www.vedomosti.ru/ Vedomosti with Financial Times] The leading Russian business newspaper. Radio
- [http://www.echo.msk.ru Echo Moskvy] "Echo of Moscow", The first Soviet and Russian private news radio and information agency. 91.2 FM in Moscow, in Russian only.

Bibliography


- Karel Neubert. "Portrait of Moscow". 1964
- Albert J. Schmidt. "The Architecture and Planning of Classical Moscow: A Cultural History". 1989
- Kathleen Berton. "Moscow: An Architectural History". St. Martin's, 1991
- Marcel Girard. "Splendours of Moscow and Its Surroundings", trans. from French. 1967
- John Bushwell. "Moscow Graffiti: Language and Subculture". Unwin Hyman, 1990
- S.S. Hromov et al. (eds.). "History of Moscow: An Outline", trans. from Russian. 1981
- Galina Dutkina. "Moscow Days: Life and Hard Times in the New Russia". Trans. Catherine Fitzpatrick. Kodansha America, 1995

Further reading


- Muscovy
- History of Russia

External links


- [http://www.mos.ru Official Moscow Administration site]
- [http://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_RU-MOW.aspx Current time in Moscow]
- [http://kursy.rsuh.ru/istoria/moseng/sod.asp History of Moscow]
- http://www.bestofrussia.ca
- [http://www.moscow-life.com Moscow Life] - Moscow Travel Guide
- [http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/ Moscow Metro Photos] - Panoramic Virtual Tour
- [http://www.m2012.ru/en/ 2012 Olympics bid]
- [http://www.moscowcity.com/attractions/attractions.htm Moscow attractions] (travel company)
- [http://www.asinah.org/weather/UUEE.html Moscow Weather Forecast]
- [http://www.earthcam.com/russia/moscow/ Red Square, Moscow Webcams]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=55.707550,37.704391&spn=0.482059,0.625568&t=k&hl=en Google Maps: Moscow] (satellite images)
- [http://www.reisebuero-welt.com/ Travel to Moscow] - Moscow hotels booking, webcams, photos. Category:Capitals in Europe Category:Cities and towns in Russia Category:Federal cities of Russia Category:Holy cities Category:Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games Category:Moscow neighborhoods als:Moskau zh-min-nan:Moskva ko:모스크바 ja:モスクワ simple:Moscow th:มอสโก

Baroque

In arts, the Baroque (or baroque) is both a period and the style that dominated it. Baroque style used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur from sculpture, painting, literature, and music. The style started around 1600 in Rome, Italy and spread to most of Europe. In music, the Baroque applies to the final period of dominance of imitative counterpoint. (The name adapted a French adjective that is derived from the Portuguese noun "barroco"; both described a pearl of irregular shape. Some confusion can occur in using for the period and style the lower-cased version "baroque", which can instead mean merely "elaborate" [or especially "overly elaborate"] without implying connection to the period.) The popularity and success of the "Baroque" was encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church when it decided that the drama of the Baroque artists' style could communicate religious themes in direct and emotional involvement. The secular aristocracy also saw the dramatic style of Baroque architecture and art as a means of impressing visitors and would-be competitors. Baroque palaces are built round an entrance sequence of courts, anterooms, grand staircases, and reception rooms of sequentially increasing magnificence. Many forms of art, music, architecture, and literature inspired each other in the "Baroque" cultural movement.

Evolution of the Baroque

The Baroque originated around 1600. The canon promulgated at the Council of Trent (1545–63), by which the Roman Catholic Church addressed the representational arts by demanding that paintings and sculptures in church contexts should speak to the illiterate rather than to the well-informed, is customarily offered as an inspiration of the Baroque, which appeared, however, a generation later. This turn toward a populist conception of the function of ecclesiastical art is seen by many art historians as driving the innovations of Caravaggio and the Carracci brothers, all of whom were working (and competing for commissions) in Rome around 1600. The appeal of Baroque style turned consciously from the witty, intellectual qualities of 16th century Mannerist art to a visceral appeal aimed at the senses. It employed an iconography that was direct, simple, obvious, and dramatic (see the Prometheus sculpture below). Baroque art drew on certain broad and heroic tendencies in Annibale Carracci and his circle, and found inspiration in other artists like Correggio and Caravaggio and Federico Barocci, nowadays sometimes termed 'proto-Baroque'. Federico Barocci Germinal ideas of the Baroque can also be found in the work of Michelangelo. Some general parallels in music make the expression "Baroque music" useful. Contrasting phrase lengths, harmony and counterpoint ousted polyphony, and orchestral color made a stronger appearance. (See Baroque music.) Similar fascination with simple, strong, dramatic expression in poetry, where clear, broad syncopated rhythms replaced the enknotted elaborated metaphysical similes employed by Mannerists such as John Donne and imagery that was strongly influenced by visual developments in painting, can be sensed in John Milton's Paradise Lost, a Baroque epic. Though Baroque was superseded in many centers by the Rococo style, beginning in France in the late 1720s, especially for interiors, paintings and the decorative arts, Baroque architecture remained a viable style until the advent of Neoclassicism in the later 18th century. See the Neapolitan palace of Caserta, a Baroque palace (though in a chaste exterior) that was not even begun until 1752. Critics have given up talking about a "Baroque period." In paintings, Baroque gestures are broader than Mannerist gestures: less ambiguous, less arcane and mysterious, more like the stage gestures of opera, a major Baroque artform. Baroque poses depend on contrapposto ("counterpoise"), the tension within the figures that moves the planes of shoulders and hips in counterdirections. See Benini's David (below, left). contrapposto The dryer, chastened, less dramatic and coloristic, later stages of 18th century Baroque architectural style are often seen as a separate Late Baroque manifestation. (See Claude Perrault.) Academic characteristics in the neo-Palladian architectural style, epitomized by William Kent, are a parallel development in Britain and the British colonies: within doors, Kent's furniture designs are vividly influenced by the Baroque furniture of Rome and Genoa, hieratic tectonic sculptural elements meant never to be moved from their positions completing the wall elevation. Baroque is a style of unity imposed upon rich and massy detail. The Baroque was defined by Heinrich Wölfflin as the age where the oval replaced the circle as the center of composition, centralization replaced balance, and coloristic and "painterly" effects began to become more prominent. Art historians, often Protestant ones, have traditionally emphasized that the Baroque style evolved during a time in which the Roman Catholic Church had to react against the many revolutionary cultural movements that produced a new science and new forms of religion—the Reformation. It has been said that the monumental Baroque is a style that could give the Papacy, like secular absolute monarchies, a formal, imposing way of expression that could restore its prestige, at the point of becoming somehow symbolic of the Catholic Reformation. Whether this is the case or not, it was successfully developed in Rome, where Baroque architecture widely renewed the central areas with perhaps the most important urbanistic revision.

Baroque visual art

Rome Main article: Baroque art A defining statement of what Baroque signifies in painting is provided by the series of paintings executed by Peter Paul Rubens for Marie de Medici at the Luxembourg Palace in Paris (now at the Louvre) [http://www.students.sbc.edu/vandergriff04/mariedemedici.html], in which a Catholic painter satisfied a Catholic patron: Baroque-era conceptions of monarchy, iconography, handling of paint, and compositions as well as the depiction of space and movement. There were highly diverse strands of Italian baroque painting, from Caravaggio to Cortona; both approaching emotive dynamism with different styles. Another frequently cited work of Baroque art is Bernini's Saint Theresa in Ecstasy for the Cornaro chapel in S. Maria della Vittoria, which brings together architecture, sculpture, and theater into one grand conceit [http://www.boglewood.com/cornaro/xteresa.html]. The later Baroque style gradually gave way to a more decorative Rococo, which, through contrast, further defines Baroque.

Baroque sculpture

In Baroque sculpture, groups of figures assumed new importance, and there was a dynamic movement and energy of human forms— they spiralled around an empty central vortex, or reached outwards into the surrounding space. For the first time, Baroque sculpture often had multiple ideal viewing angles. The characteristic Baroque sculpture added extra-sculptural elements, for example, concealed lighting, or water fountains. The architecture, sculpture and fountains of Bernini (1598–1680) give highly-charged characteristics of Baroque style. Bernini was undoubtedly the most important sculptor of the Baroque period. He approached Michelangelo in his omnicompetence: Bernini sculpted, worked as an architect, painted, wrote plays, and staged spectacles. In the late 20th century Bernini was most valued for his sculpture, both for his virtuosity in carving marble and his ability to create figures that combine the physical and the spiritual. He was also a fine sculptor of bust portraits in high demand among the powerful.

Bernini's Cornaro chapel: the complete work of art

Michelangelo A good example of Bernini's work that helps us understand the Baroque is his St. Theresa in Ecstasy (1645–52), created for the Cornaro Chapel of the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome. Bernini designed the entire chapel, a subsidiary space along the side of the church, for the Cornaro family. He had, in essence, a brick box shaped something like a proscenium stage space with which to work. Saint Theresa, the focal point of the chapel, is a monochromatic marble statue (a soft white) surrounded by a polychromatic marble architectural framing concealing a window to light the statue from above. In shallow relief, sculpted figure-groups of the Cornaro family inhabit in opera boxes along the two side walls of the chapel. The setting places the viewer as a spectator in front of the statue with the Cornaro family leaning out of their box seats and craning forward to see the mystical ecstasy of the saint. St. Theresa is highly idealized in detail and in an imaginary setting. St. Theresa of Avila, a popular saints of the Catholic Reformation, wrote narratives of her mystical experiences aimed at the nuns of her Carmelite Order; these writings had become popular reading among lay people interested in pursuing spirituality. She once described the love of God as piercing her heart like a burning arrow. Bernini literalizes this image by placing St. Theresa on a cloud in a reclining pose; what can only be described as a Cupid figure holds a golden arrow (the arrow is made of metal) and smiles down at her. The angelic figure is not preparing to plunge the arrow into her heart— rather, he has withdrawn it. St. Theresa's face reflects not the anticipation of ecstasy, but her current fulfillment, which can only be described as orgasmic. The blending of religious and erotic was intensely offensive to both neoclassical restraint and, later, to Victorian prudishness; it is part of the genius of the Baroque. Bernini, who in life and writing was a devout Catholic, is not attempting to satirize the experience of a chaste nun, but to embody in marble a complex truth about religious experience— that it is an experience that takes place in the body. Theresa described her bodily reaction to spiritual enlightenment in a language of ecstasy used by many mystics, and Bernini's depiction is earnest. The Cornaro family promotes itself discreetly in this chapel; they are represented visually, but are placed on the sides of the chapel, witnessing the event from balconies. As in an opera house, the Cornaro have a privileged position in respect to the viewer, in their private reserve, closer to the saint; the viewer, however, has a better view from the front. They attach their name to the chapel, but St. Theresa is the focus. It is a private chapel in the sense that no one could say mass on the altar beneath the statue (in 17th century and probably through the 19th) without permission from the family, but the only thing that divides the viewer from the image is the altar rail. The spectacle functions both as a demonstration of mysticism and as a piece of family pride.

Baroque architecture

opera house]] opera house opera house Main article: Baroque architecture In Baroque architecture, new emphasis was placed on bold massing, colonnades, domes, light-and-shade (chiaroscuro), 'painterly' color effects, and the bold play of volume and void. In interiors, Baroque movement around and through a void informed monumental staircases that had no parallel in previous architecture. The other Baroque innovation in worldly interiors was the state apartment, a processional sequence of increasingly rich interiors that culminated in a presence chamber or throne room or a state bedroom. The sequence of monumental stair followed by state apartment was copied in smaller scale everywhere in aristocratic dwellings of any pretensions. Baroque architecture was taken up with enthusiasm in central Germany (see e.g. Ludwigsburg Palace and Zwinger Dresden), Austria and Poland (see e.g. Wilanow and Bialystok Palaces). In England the culmination of Baroque architecture was embodied in work by Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor, from ca. 1660 to ca. 1725. Many examples of Baroque architecture and town planning are found in other European towns, and in the Spanish Americas. Town planning of this period featured radiating avenues intersecting in squares, which took cues from Baroque garden plans. For examples see: List of examples of typical Baroque architecture List of examples of typical Baroque architecture, Paris, planned under the Second Empire, 1861, finally opened 1875]]

Neo-Baroque architecture


- Paris Opera, Charles Garnier
- Semper Oper (Dresden)

Baroque, a Chesslike Boardgame


- Baroque A chesslike game of exceptional complexity and beauty.

Baroque theater and dance

In theater, the elaborate conceits, multiplicity of plot turns, and variety of situations characteristic of Mannerism (Shakespeare's tragedies, for instance) are superseded by opera, which drew together all the arts in a unified whole. Dance was popular in the Baroque era.

Baroque literature and philosophy

Baroque actually expressed new values, which often are summarised in the use of metaphor and allegory, widely found in Baroque literature, and in the research for the "maraviglia" (wonder, astonishment — as in Marinism), the use of artifices. If Mannerism was a first breach with Renaissance, Baroque was an opposed language. The psychological pain of Man -- a theme disbanded after the Copernican and the Lutheran revolutions in search of solid anchors, a proof of an "ultimate human power" -- was to be found in both the art and architecture of the Baroque period. A relevant part of works was made on religious themes, since the Roman Church was the main "customer." Virtuosity was researched by artists (and the Virtuoso became a common figure in any art,) together with realism and care for details (some talk of a typical "intricacy.") Not without a certain correctness, it is said that the privilege given to external forms had to compensate and balance the lack of contents that has been observed in many Baroque works: Marino's "Maraviglia", for example, is practically made of the pure, mere form. Fantasy and imagination should be evoked in the spectator, in the reader, in the listener. All was focused around the individual Man, as a straight relationship between the artist, or directly the art and its user, its client. Art is then less distant from user, more directly approaching him, solving the cultural gap that used to keep art and user reciprocally far, by Maraviglia. But the increased attention to the individual, also created in these schemes some important genres like the Romanzo (novel) and let popular or local forms of art, especially dialectal literature, to be put into evidence. In Italy this movement toward the single individual (that some define a "cultural descent", while others indicate it was a possible cause for the classical opposition to Baroque) caused Latin to be definitely replaced by Italian. In English literature, the metaphysical poets represent a closely related movement; their poetry likewise sought unusual metaphors, which they then examined in often extensive detail. Their verse also manifests a taste for paradox, and deliberately inventive and unusual turns of phrase.

Baroque music

Main article: Baroque music The term Baroque also is used to designate the style of music composed during a period that overlaps with that of Baroque art, but usually encompasses a slightly later period. J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel are often considered its culminating figures. It is an still-debated question as to what extent Baroque music shares aesthetic principles with the visual and literary arts of the Baroque period. A fairly clear, shared element is a love of ornamentation, and it is perhaps significant that the role of ornament was greatly diminished in both music and architecture as the Baroque gave way to the Classical period. It should be noted that the application of the term "Baroque" to music is a relatively recent development: the first use of the word to apply to music was only in 1919, by Curt Sachs, and it was not until 1940 that it was first used in English (in a published article by Manfred Bukofzer); even as late as 1960 there was still considerable dispute in academic circles over whether music as diverse as that by Peri, Couperin and J.S. Bach could be meaningfully bundled together with a single term. Opera was born during the Baroque era out of the experimentation of the Florentine Camerata, the creators of monody, who attempted to recreate the theatrical arts of the ancient Greeks; indeed it is exactly that development which is often used to denote the beginning of the musical Baroque, around 1600.

Typical Instruments


- Baroque violin
- Viola d'amore
- Viola da gamba
- Harpsichord

Examples of typical Baroque music


- Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), The Art of Fugue
- Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741), L'Estro Armonico
- Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757), Sonatas for Cembalo or Harpsichord
- Georg Friedrich Handel (1685–1759), Water Music Suite for Orchestra
- Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 - 1767), Der Tag des Gerichts The Day of Judgement (1762)

The term "Baroque"

The word "Baroque", like most period or stylistic designations, was invented by later critics rather than practitioners of the arts in the 17th and early 18th centuries. It is a French translation of the Portuguese word "Barroco" (meaning an irregular pearl, or false jewel—notably, an ancient similar word, "Barlocco" or "Brillocco", is used in Roman dialect for the same meaning—and natural pearls that deviate from the usual, regular forms so they do not have an axis of rotation are known as "baroque pearls"). Alternatively, it may derive from the now obsolete Italian "Baroco" (meaning, in logical Scholastica, a syllogism with weak content). A common definition, before the term Barocco was used, called this genre simply the style of The Flying Forms. The term "Baroque" was initially used with a derogatory meaning, to underline the excesses of its emphasis, of its eccentric redundancy, its noisy abundance of details, as opposed to the clearer and sober rationality of the Renaissance. It was first rehabilitated by the Swiss-born art historian, Heinrich Wölfflin (1864–1945) in his Renaissance und Barock (1888); Wölfflin identified the Baroque as "movement imported into mass," an art antithetic to Renaissance art. He did not make the distinctions between Mannerism and Baroque that modern writers do, and he ignored the later phase, the academic Baroque that lasted into the 18th century. Writers in French and English did not begin to treat Baroque as a respectable study until Wölfflin's influence had made German scholarship pre-eminent. In modern usage, the term "Baroque" may still be used, usually pejoratively, to describe works of art, craft, or design that are thought to have excessive ornamentation or complexity of line, or, as a synonym for "Byzantine", to describe literature, computer programs, contracts, or laws that are thought to be excessively complex, indirect, or obscure in language, to the extent of concealing or confusing their meaning. A "Baroque fear" is deeply felt, but utterly beyond daily reality.

External links


- [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/DicHist/dict.html Dictionary of the History of Ideas:] Baroque in literature
- [http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/baroque/ Webmuseum Paris]

Further reading


- Heinrich Wölfflin, 1964. Renaissance and Baroque (Reprinted 1984; originally published in German, 1888) The classic study.
- Michael Kitson, 1966. The Age of Baroque
- John Rupert Martin, 1977. Baroque A more detailed survey.
- Germain Bazin, 1964. Baroque and Rococo, (Originally published in French; reprinted as Baroque and Rococo Art, 1974) Category:Cultural movements Category:Roman Catholic Church art ko:바로크 ja:バロック

Peter I of Russia

] Peter I () (10 June 1672–8 February 1725 [30 May]] [[1672– 28 January 1725 O.S.] ) ruled Russia from 7 May (27 April O.S.) 1682 until his death. Known as Peter the Great (), he was at first a joint ruler with his weak and sickly half-brother, Ivan V, who died in 1696. Peter then ruled alone until 1724, whenceforth he ruled jointly with his wife, Catherine I. Peter carried out a policy of "Westernization" and expansion that transformed Russia into a major European power. Senate Chancellor Golovkin added "the Great, Father of His Country, Emperor of All the Russias" to Peter's traditional title Tsar following a speech by the archbishop of Pskov in 1721. Peter the Great was a striking figure, with an extremely tall build of over 2 meters (6 feet 7 inches), and large, green eyes.

Early life

Peter, the son of Aleksei Mikhailovich of Russia and his second wife, Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina, was born in Moscow. Aleksei I had previously married Maria Miloslavskaya, having five sons and eight daughters by her, although only two of the sons—Fyodor and Ivan—were alive when Peter was born. Aleksei I went on to have two further daughters by Nataliya Naryshkina: Anna, who died in her twenties, and Elizabeth, who took the throne of Russia 1641-1661, before dying in 1676, to be succeeded by his eldest surviving son, who became Fyodor III. 1676Fyodor III's uneventful reign ended within six years; as Fyodor did not leave any children, a dispute over the succession between the Naryshkin and Miloslavskyi families broke out. Properly, Ivan was next in the line of succession, but he was an invalid and of infirm mind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma (a council of Russian nobles) chose the ten-year old Peter to become Czar, his mother becoming regent. But one of Aleksei's daughters by his first marriage, Sophia Alekseyevna, led a rebellion of the Streltsy (Russia's élite military corps). In the subsequent conflict, many of Peter's relatives and friends were murdered—Peter even witnessed the butchery of one of his uncles by a mob. The memory of this violence may have caused trauma during Peter's later years. Sophia insisted that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint Czars, with Ivan being acclaimed as the senior of the two. Sophia acted as Regent during the minority of the two Sovereigns and exercised all power. In addition, a hole was cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter. Sophia would sit behind the throne and listen as Peter conversed with nobles, also feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and problems. This throne can be seen in the Kremlin museum in Moscow. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat. Peter, meanwhile, was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his own name. He engaged in such pastimes as ship-building and sailing. The ships he built were used during mock battles. Peter's mother sought to force him to adopt a less unconventional approach and arranged his marriage to Eudoxia Lopukhina in 1689. The marriage was an utter failure, and ten years later Peter forced her to become a nun and thus freed himself from the marriage. By the summer of 1689, Peter had planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by the unsuccessful campaigns in The Crimea. When she learnt of his designs, Sophia began to conspire with the leaders of the streltsy. Unfortunately for Sophia, a rival faction of the streltsy had already been plotting against her. She was therefore overthrown, with Peter I and Ivan V continuing to act as co-Czars. Peter forced Sophia to enter a convent, where she gave up her name and position as a member of the royal family. Still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power was instead exercised by his mother, Nataliya Naryshkina. It was only when Nataliya died in 1694 that Peter became truly independent. Formally, Ivan V remained a co-ruler with Peter, although he was still ineffective. Peter became the sole ruler when Ivan died in 1696. 1696

Early reign

Peter implemented sweeping reforms aimed at modernizing Russia. Heavily influenced by his western advisors, Peter reorganized the Russian army along European lines and dreamt of making Russia a maritime power. He faced much opposition to these policies at home, but brutally suppressed any and all rebellions against his authority, including the greatest civil uprising of his reign, the Bulavin Rebellion. To improve his nation's position on the seas, Peter sought to gain more maritime outlets. His only outlet at the time was the White Sea. The Baltic Sea was at the time controlled by Sweden. Peter instead attempted to acquire control of the Caspian Sea, but to do so he would have to expel the Tatars from the surrounding areas. He was forced to wage war against the Crimean Khan and against the Khan's overlord, the Ottoman Sultan. Peter's primary objective became the capture of the Ottoman fortress of Azov, near the Don River. In the summer of 1695, Peter organized the Azov campaigns in order to take the fortress, but his attempts ended in failure. Peter returned to Moscow in November of that year, and promptly began building a large navy. He launched about thirty ships against the Ottomans in 1696, capturing Azov in July of that year. On September 12, 1698 Peter The Great officially founded the first Russian Navy base, Taganrog. Taganrog]] Peter knew that Russia could not face the mighty Ottoman Empire alone. In 1697, he traveled to Europe incognito with a large Russian delegation - the so-called "Grand Embassy"—to seek the aid of the European monarchs. Peter's hopes were dashed; France was a traditional ally of the Ottoman Sultan, and Austria was eager to maintain peace in the east whilst conducting its own wars in the west. Peter, furthermore, had chosen the most inopportune moment; the Europeans at the time were more concerned about who would succeed the childless Spanish King Charles II than about fighting the Ottoman Sultan. The "Grand Embassy", although failing to complete the mission of creating an anti-Ottoman alliance, still continued to travel across Europe. In visiting England, the Holy Roman Empire and France, Peter learnt much about Western culture. He studied shipbuilding in Deptford, Amsterdam and Zaandam, and artillery in Königsberg. Thanks to the mediation of Nicolaas Witsen, mayor of Amsterdam and expert on Russia par excellence, the Tsar was given the opportunity to gain practical experience in the largest private shipyard in the world, belonging to the Dutch East India Company in Amsterdam, for a period of four months. The Tsar helped with the construction of an Eastindiaman especially laid down for him: Peter and Paul. During his stay in the Netherlands the tsar engaged, with the help of Russian and Dutch assistants, many skilled workers such as builders of locks, fortresses, shipwrights and seamen. The best-known sailor who made the journey from the Netherlands to Russia was Cornelis Cruys (1655/57-1727). Cornelis Cruys accepted the Tsar's generous offer to enter into his service as vice-admiral. He emigrated to Russia in 1698 and became the Tsar's most important advisor in maritime affairs and the first mayor of Taganrog. The visit of Peter was cut short in 1698, when he was forced to rush home by a rebellion of the streltsy. The rebellion was, however, easily crushed before Peter returned; of the Tsar's troops, only one was killed. Peter nevertheless acted ruthlessly towards the mutineers. Over 1200 of them were tortured and executed, with Peter acting as one of the executioners. The streltsy were disbanded, and the individual they sought to put on the Throne—Peter's half-sister Sophia—was forced to become a nun. nun]] Also, upon his return from his European tour, Peter sought to end his unhappy marriage. He divorced the Tsaritsa, Eudoxia Lopukhina, whom he had deserted long earlier. The Tsaritsa had borne Peter three children, although only one—the Tsarevich Aleksei—had survived past his childhood. In 1698, Peter sent a delegation to Malta under boyar Boris Petrovich Sheremetyev, to observe the training and abilities of the Knights of Malta and their fleet. Sheremetyev also investigated the possibility of future joint ventures with the Knights, including action against the Turks and the possibility of a future Russian naval base. [http://www2.prestel.co.uk/church/oosj/timeline.htm] Peter's visits to the West impressed upon him the notion that European customs were in several respects superior to Russian traditions. He commanded all of his courtiers and officials to cut off their long beards and wear European clothing. Boyars who sought to retain their beards were required to pay an annual tax of one hundred rubles. In 1699, Peter also abolished the traditional Russian calendar, in which the year began on 1 September, in favor of the Julian calendar, in which the year began on 1 January. Traditionally, the years were reckoned from the purported creation of the World, but after Peter's reforms, they were to be counted from the birth of Christ. Russia moved to Julian calendar just as the rest of the world was moving to the Gregorian calendar. Russia would stay on the Julian calendar until the October Revolution in 1918.

Great Northern War

Peter made peace with the Ottoman Empire and turned his attention to Russian maritime supremacy. He sought to acquire control of the Baltic Sea, which had been taken by Sweden a half-century earlier. Peter declared war on Sweden, which was at the time led by King Charles XII. Sweden was also opposed by Denmark, Norway, Saxony and Poland. [http://www.sppiter.narod.ru/index1.html Bronze Horseman poem] Poland Russia turned out to be ill-prepared to fight the Swedes, and their first attempt at seizing the Baltic coast ended in disaster at the Battle of Narva in 1700. In the conflict, the forces of Charles XII used a blinding snowstorm to their advantage. After the battle, Charles XII, decided to concentrate his forces against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, giving Peter I time to reorganize the Russian army. As the Poles and Swedes fought each other, Peter founded the great city of Saint Petersburg (named for Saint Peter the Apostle) in Izhora (which he had re-captured from Sweden) in 1703. He forbade the building of stone edifices outside Saint Petersburg — which he intended to become Russia's capital — so that all the stonemasons could participate in the construction of the new city. He also took Martha Skavronskaya as a mistress. Martha converted to Orthodox Christianity and took the name Catherine, allegedly marrying Peter in secret in 1707. Following several defeats, the Polish King August II abdicated in 1706. Charles XII turned his attention to Russia, invading it in 1708. After crossing into Russia, Charles defeated Peter at Golovchin in July. In the Battle of Lesnaya, however, Charles suffered his first ever loss after Peter crushed a group of Swedish reinforcements marching from Riga. Deprived of this aid, Charles was forced to abandon his proposed march on Moscow. Moscow by Mikhail Lomonosov)]] Charles XII refused to retreat to Poland or back to Sweden, instead invading Ukraine. Peter withdrew his army southward, destroying any property that could assist the Swedes along the way. Deprived of local supplies, the Swedish army was forced to halt its advance in the winter of 1708–1709. In the summer of 1709, they nevertheless resumed their efforts to capture Ukraine, culminating in the Battle of Poltava on 27 June. The battle was a decisive defeat for Swedish forces, ending Charles' campaign in Ukraine and forcing him into exile in the Ottoman Empire. In Poland, August II was restored as King. Peter foolishly attacked the Ottomans in 1711. Normally, the Boyar Duma would have exercised power during his absence. Peter, however, mistrusted the Boyars; he abolished the Duma and created a Senate of ten members. Peter's campaign in the Ottoman Empire was disastrous; in the ensuing peace treaty, Peter was forced to return the Black Sea ports he had seized in 1697. In return, the Sultan expelled Charles XII from his territory. Peter's northern armies took the Swedish province of Livonia (the northern half of modern Latvia, and the southern half of modern Estonia), driving the Swedes back into Finland. Most of Finland was occupied by the Russians in 1714. The Tsar's navy was so powerful that the Russians could penetrate Sweden. Peter also obtained the assistance of Hanover and the Kingdom of Prussia. Still, Charles refused to yield, and not until his death in battle in 1718 did peace become feasible. Sweden made peace with all powers but Russia by 1720. In 1721, the Treaty of Nystad ended what became known as the Great Northern War. Russia acquired Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and a substantial portion of Karelia. In turn, Russia paid two million Riksdaler and surrendered most of Finland. The Tsar was, however, permitted to retain some Finnish lands close to Saint Petersburg, which he had made his capital in 1712.

Later years

1712 Peter's last years were marked by further reforms in Russia. In 1721, soon after peace was made with Sweden, he was acclaimed Emperor of All Russia. (Some proposed that he take the title Emperor of the East, but he refused.) His imperial title was recognized by Augustus II of Poland, Frederick William I of Prussia and Frederick I of Sweden, but not by the other European monarchs. In the minds of many, the word emperor connoted superiority or pre-eminence over "mere" kings. Several rulers feared that Peter would claim authority over them, just as the Holy Roman Emperor had once claimed suzerainty over all Christian nations. Peter also reformed the government of the Orthodox Church. The traditional leader of the Church was the Patriarch of Moscow. In 1700, when the office fell vacant, Peter had refused to name a replacement, allowing the Patriarch's Coadjutor (or deputy) to discharge the duties of the office. Twenty-one years later, in 1721, Peter followed the advice of Feofan Prokopovich and erected the Holy Synod, a council of ten clergymen, to take the place of the Patriarch and Coadjutor. In 1722, Peter created a new order of precedence, known as the Table of Ranks. Formerly, precedence had been determined by birth. In order to deprive the Boyars of their high positions, Peter directed that precedence should be determined by merit and service to the Emperor. The Table of Ranks continued to remain in effect until the Russian monarchy was overthrown in 1917. Peter also introduced new taxes to fund improvements in Saint Petersburg. He abolished the land tax and household tax, and replaced them with a capitation. The taxes on land on households were payable only by individuals who owned property or maintained families; the new head taxes, however, were payable by serfs and paupers. In 1724, Peter had his second wife, Catherine, crowned as Empress, although he continued to remain Russia's actual ruler. All of Peter's male children had died—the eldest son, Aleksei, had been tortured and killed on Peter's orders in 1718 because he had disobeyed his father and opposed official policies. Aleksei's mother Eudoxia had also been punished; she was dragged from her home and tried on false charges of adultery. A similar fate befell Peter's beautiful mistress, Anna Mons, in 1704. In 1725, construction of Peterhof, a palace near St Petersburg, was completed. Peterhof (Dutch for "Peter's Court") was a grand residence, becoming known as the "Russian Versailles" (after the great French Palace of Versailles).

Death

Versailles.]] Versailles A law of 1722 had allowed Peter to choose his own successor, but he failed to take advantage of it before he died from an illness in 1725. The lack of clear succession rules led to many succession conflicts in the subsequent "era of palace revolutions." Peter was succeeded by his wife Catherine, who had the aid of the imperial guards. Upon her death in 1727, the Empress Catherine was succeeded by Aleksei's son, Peter II, bringing the direct male line of Romanov monarchs to an end. Thereafter, inheritance of the Throne was generally chaotic—the next two monarchs were descendants of Peter I's half brother Ivan V, but the Throne was restored to Peter's own descendants through a coup d'état in 1741. No child would simply and directly succeed his or her parent until Paul followed Catherine the Great in 1796, over seventy years after Peter had died.

Legitimate issue

See also


- Peterhof - Peter the Great's summer palace
- Peter the Great and the Russian Empire
- Caesaropapism

Notes

#Dates indicated by the letters "O.S." are Old Style. All other dates in this article are New Style. #There is some general confusion over transliterations into the Latin alphabet from the Russian Cyrillic. Although the variant "Feodor" often appears as in the title of the referenced article, "Fyodor", as the name is rendered here, is a more accurate representation. The Russian Cyrillic equivalent is Фёдор, the second letter of which [ё] takes the sound "yo". It should be noted passim that one very rarely sees the form ё in print. The dieresis is almost always omitted leaving a bare e, unless the text is a primer with a target audience of young children who have not yet learned to read.

Reference

Peter I of Russia Peter I of Russia Category:Muscovites Category:Russian tsars Category:Russian emperors Category:Romanov Category:City founders ko:러시아의 표트르 1세 ja:ピョートル1世 (ロシア皇帝)

Battle of Poltava

The Battle of Poltava (or Pultowa) was a battle between the armies of Peter I of Russia and Charles XII of Sweden on 28 June (new style 8 July) 1709, the most famous of the battles of the Great Northern War. The decisive victory of the Russians is said to have ended Sweden's role as a major power in Europe.

Prelude

After early victories in 1700 knocked both Denmark and Russia out of the war, Charles was unable to bring the war to a conclusion, and it would be eight years before he dealt with the remaining combatant, Saxony-Poland. During this time Peter rebuilt his army in modern form, basing it primarily on infantry trained to properly use their firearms. He then achieved a stunning victory in Livonia, where he established the city of Saint Petersburg. Incensed, Charles ordered a fatal attack on the Russian heartland with an assault on Moscow. Charles marched into Russia in 1708 at the head of a large army, but the Russian forces refused to participate in direct combat, and instead, they adopted their standard form of warfare against invasion: the scorched earth strategy. The summer was cold and wet, and with supplies difficult to encounter on the ground, Charles relied on a relief column that transported enough food to maintain the army for lengthy periods. The relief column, under General Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt, consisted of 11,000 men, 16 cannon, a herd of cattle and thousands of wagons, normally slow-moving in the best of conditions and now slowed to a crawl by the condition of the roads. With no direct communications between the two forces, Charles waited as long as he could for Lewenhaupt to arrive. At one point they were only 130 kilometres apart, but this being unknown to him, Charles gave up, struck camp, and turned south to Ukraine in search of grain and better weather. Ukraine, under the command of Mazepa, had been in discussions with Charles for some time, and at this point officially allied herself to the Swedes in order to gain independence from Russia. Lewenhaupt followed south and was attacked while crossing a river near a small village that gave name to the Battle of Lesnaya. His forces met the Russian attack, but they were amazed to find that the new Russian army gave them a serious fight. Lewenhaupt decided to rejoin Charles with all speed, so he abandoned the cannon, the cattle and most of the food, driving the soldiers to mutiny. Stealing all of the alcohol, the soldiers became drunk, and Lewenhaupt was forced to leave about 1,000 men drunk in the woods. By the time they finally reached Charles and the main force in the winter, no supplies and only 6,000 men remained. mutiny.]] In the spring Charles resumed his advance, but his army had been reduced by about one-third due to starvation, frostbite and other effects of the weather. The wet weather had also seriously depleted the army's supplies of gunpowder; the cannon were essentially out of action, due to a lack of usable ammunition. Charles's first action was to lay siege to the fort of Poltava on the Vorskla River in Ukraine. Peter had already organized a huge force to protect it, and he quickly arrived and set up a counter-siege line, trapping the Swedish forces between the fort and the Russian lines.

Battle

When the battle opened, Charles had about 20,000 men, while Peter commanded about 45,000. To make matters worse for the Swedish, Charles was wounded during the siege and had to turn over command to Field Marshal Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld. Nevertheless he planned to break the Russian lines and escape to the north. The battle began before dawn at 3:45 am, with the Swedes advancing against the Russian fortified lines. At first, the battle started off in a traditional fashion, with the better trained Swedes pressing in on the Russians' left flank and center, overunning a few Russian defensive redoubts. The Swedish seemed to possess an advantage, but this was quickly nullified. By dawn, the weather was already very hot and humid with the rising sun obscured by smoke from cannon and musket fire. Peter had a considerably greater number of infantry, and while holding off the Swedish forces with cannon fire, he was able to organize a huge group of about 25,000 reinforcements in the center, which he deployed outside of his fortified camp at around 9:00 am. Soon the Swedish advance faltered, and poor communications between the lines led to a retreat by 11:00 am. The Swedes made for the Dnieper River but were doggedly pursued by the Russians and forced to surrender three days later at Perevolochna, on July 1.

Aftermath

Several thousand prisoners were taken, many of whom were put to work building the new city of St. Petersburg. Charles managed to escape with about 1,500 men to Bendery, Moldova, then controlled by the Ottoman Empire, and spent five years in exile there before he was able to return to Sweden. Why Charles chose to continue with the hopeless offensive after the disastrous winter is a mystery. Nevertheless the battle was not the end of the Great Northern War, which continued for another twelve years. In the end it was the buildup of naval power at St. Petersburg that finally knocked Sweden out of the war.

Bibliography


- G. Adlerfelt, The Military History of Charles XII, King of Sweden, Written by the Express Order of His Majesty. London, 3 vols, 1740.
- Peter Englund, The Battle of Poltava: The Birth of the Russian Empire. London, 1992.

External links


- [http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages/P/O/PoltavaBattleof.htm Battle of Poltava]
- [http://www.utb.boras.se/uk/se/projekt/history/articles/decline/decline5.htm The Decline of the Great Power: The Battle of Poltava] (also used as a reference)
- [http://www.euronet.nl/users/sota/haggman.html Sequel to Poltava] Poltava

1709

Events


- January 12 - Two-month freezing period begins in France - The coast of the Atlantic and Seine River freeze, crops fail and at least 24.000 Parisians die
- February 2 - Alexander Selkirk is rescued from shipwreck on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
- June 27- Peter the Great defeats Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava.
- July 8 - Battle of Poltava - In the Ukraine, Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at Poltava thus effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in Europe
- August 8 - Hot air balloon of Bartholome de Gusmao flies in Portugal
- September 11 - Battle of Malplaquet - Great Britain, Netherlands and Austria defeat France
- October 12 - The City of Chihuahua, México is founded.
- Emperor Nakamikado ascends to the throne of Japan
- First pianoforte built in Florence by Bartolomeo Cristofori
- Teofania di Adamo, inventor of the poison Aqua Tofana, is executed in Naples, Italy

Ongoing events


- Great Northern War (1700-1721)
- War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713)

Births


- February 24 - Jacques de Vaucanson, French inventor (d. 1782)
- March 10 - Georg Steller, German naturalist (d. 1746)
- August 7 - Jean-Jacques Lefranc, marquis de Pompignan, French poet (d. 1784)
- August 8 - Tokugawa Ietsugu, 7th Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan (d. 1716)
- September 18 - Samuel Johnson, English writer and lexicographer (d. 1784)
- December 18 - Elizabeth of Russia, reigning Empress of Russia (d. 1762)
- John Cleland, English novelist (d. 1789)
- Charles Collé, French dramatist (d. 1783)

Deaths


- January 16 - Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (b. 1675)
- January 20 - François de la Chaise, French confessor of Louis XIV of France (b. 1624)
- January 24 - George Rooke, English admiral (b. 1650)
- February 8 - Giuseppe Torelli, Italian composer (b. 1658)
- February 9 - François Louis, Prince of Conti, French general (b. 1664)
- March 9 - Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu, English diplomat
- June 30 - Edward Llwyd, Welsh scientist (b. 1660)
- July 17 - Robert Bolling, English settler in Virginia (b. 1646)
- September 14 - Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish cardinal and archbishop of Toledo (b. 1635)
- October 9 - Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, English mistress of Charles II of England (b. 1640)
- December 1 - Abraham a Sancta Clara, Austrian preacher (b. 1644)
- December 8 - Thomas Corneille, French dramatist (b. 1625) Category:1709 ko:1709년 ms:1709

Catherine I of Russia

Catherine I (In Russian: Екатерина I Алексеевна) (April 15, 1683/1684 – May 17,1727), the second wife of Peter the Great, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1725 until her death. She also functioned as co-ruler with her husband from 1724 until his death early in the next year. There are no documents that confirm the descent of Catherine. The commonly accepted version is that Catherine was born in Jakobstadt (Jekabpils), in present-day Latvia. Originally named Marta Skavronska, she was the daughter of Samuel Skavronski, a Lithuanian peasant. She worked as a servant, for a Lutheran pastor, named Glück, of Marienburg. At the age of seventeen, she married a Swedish dragoon. Russian forces captured Marienburg and forced Marta to work in the laundry of the victorious regiment. Later sent to Prince Aleksandr Menshikov, the best friend of Peter the Great, she became his mistress. In 1703, while visiting Menshikov at his home, Peter met Marta, and shortly after, he took her as his own mistress. In 1705, she converted to Orthodoxy and changed her name to Yekaterina Alexeyevna. She married Peter in February of 1712. Together they had 11 children, all of whom died in childhood except for Anna and Yelizaveta:
- Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna (1708 - 1728)
- Empress Yelizaveta Petrovna (1709 - 1762
- Grand Duchess Nataliya Petrovna (1713 - 1715)
- Grand Duchess Margarita Petrovna (1714 - 1715)
- Grand Duke Pyotr Petrovich (1715 - 1719)
- Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich (1717 - 1717)
- Grand Duchess Nataliya Petrovna (1718 - 1725) Despite the scandalous Mons Affair, Peter made Catherine Tsaritsa and joint ruler in 1724. He died (28 January 1725 (Old Style) without naming a successor, which encouraged the guards regiments to proclaim Catherine as the ruler of Russia, giving her the title of Empress. The real power, however, lay with her former lover, Menshikov, and with the Supreme Privy Council. Catherine was the first royal owner of the Sarskoje Selo estate, where the Catherine Palace bears her name. Category:1684 births Catherine I of Russia