ADDITIONAL MOSCOW HISTORY

More Moscow History

Our Moscow hotel, situated on the western bank of the Moscow River, is one of Stalin’s seven famous gothic skyscrapers. Built in the 1950s they demonstrated the prowess and glory of the Soviet regime. Stalin’s Gothic buildings, are referred to as wedding cakes or seven sisters. Across the river sat the Russian Government’s White House. The hotel was not far from the bustling Novy Arbat Street and a ten-minute walk to a Metro station. With a population of ten million, the city has two and a half million people arriving or departing every day! The city runs 25 miles north to south and 19 miles east to west. Russia has 93,000 miles of railroad. Like Rome, Moscow is built on seven hills

     The old red flag of the USSR with the sickle and hammer is gone. Today’s flag now goes back to the days of Peter the Great who was quite taken with the Netherlands, so the flag reflects the colors and style of their flag. The flag of the Russian Federation has three equal stripes, one of white, blue and red in that order from top to bottom

Russia, the largest state of the former Soviet Union, spans two continents, Europe and Asia, and is the largest country in the world. On the west it is bordered by Norway, Finland, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, and the Black Sea. On the south lies Georgia, Azerbaijan, the Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China. The Northern Pacific Ocean is on the east, and the Arctic Ocean borders the north.

       Moscow, Russia’s largest city, is the country’s current capitol. In 1147 the prince decided the area had the makings of a future metropolis, and in 1156 when a wooden fortress was built the city of Moscow was born. Today the 850-year-old city exists in the midst of rapidly changing political and economic conditions. The city presents a dizzying array of the old and new, the alienating and quaint, the shabby and sparkling. The city is full of mammoth buildings, many spanning an entire block. Moscow has several ring roads around the city. They are wide with six lanes going in each direction.

      Mongols burned the city in 1382. In the 15^th century Ivan the Great declared Moscow the capitol of Russian lands. Italian architects were summoned to rebuild the old wooden Kremlin in stone. By 1495 the walls and towers were completed. New cathedrals were commissioned, squares laid, decorative gardens planted and Moscow became known as the ‘beautiful big village’.

     Ivan the Terrible was born at the Kremlin, and crowned himself czar at age 16. He married seven times and killed his own son in a fit of rage. He claimed the entire Volga region for Russia, and he also commissioned beautiful St. Basil’s Cathedral.

     Between 1610-1612 Polish forces occupied Moscow during the peak of the Time of Troubles. Moscow’s fall from grace began during the rule of Peter the Great, 1696-1725. He believed Russia would be better westernized from the Gulf of Finland, and started building St. Petersburg as his new capitol. In 1712 Peter’s “Window on the West” wrestled the governing powers from Moscow and moved them to St. Petersburg.

      Napoleon went after Moscow in 1812, but found himself and his troops in a basically abandoned city to brave the cold winter on their own. When leaving he burned most of the city, but failed to topple the mighty Kremlin itself.

    A year later a large-scale industrial expansion created smoke-belching factories, and shabby suburbs sprang up around the city to house the influx of workers to Moscow.

    In October 1917 the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, overcame savage street fighting to capture the Kremlin. Six months later Lenin brought the capitol back to Moscow. When Lenin died in 1924, Josef Stalin took over Russian leadership. Stalin along with other irresponsible leaders virtually raped the city by blowing up thousands of historical and architectural monuments, including the Church of Christ the Savior. (It was totally rebuilt in 1997) Streets were straightened and widened, neighborhoods demolished and seven ‘Stalin Gothic’ skyscrapers appeared on the landscape. Fully one-half of Moscow’s monuments had been turned to dust by the time Stalin died in 1953.

       During Khrushchev’s years, 1957-64, hastily built concrete block residential projects appeared in Moscow’s outskirts. Except for a brief period in 1880 when Moscow prepared for the Olympics, Brezhnev’s years were marked by stagnation.

     Privatization sparked by Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika resulted in renovation of world class hotels and the appearance of up-scale restaurants, clubs and casinos. In the 21^st century Moscow resembles a bustling Eurasian metropolis as kiosks and street traders enter Russia’s furious fledgling capitalism.

     There are 17 convents in the city, 18 monasteries, and 450 churches, which is about half the number of churches before Stalin set about blowing up and demolishing them, and most are Russian Orthodox.

You may want to check Posts 3-27-13, 12-5-10, 8-21-10, 11-20-10, 2-26-12, 7-8-12, 7-22-12, 2-10-13, 2-17-13, 2-13-13, 7-3-13, 10-30-13, 7-10-13, 10-10-13, or 3-17-13

KALOCSA, HUNGARY

                                 Hungary's Cowboy Country
        Once a swampy area, homes are built up off the ground to cope with frequent flooding.  A visit to a country home revealed white walls were covered with floral designs. Originally only the ceiling borders were painted, but eventually  painting emerged to cover the entire wall. White lace curtains graced the windows below the open-beam ceiling. Even the stove in the corner of the room was painted with flowers.

       On one wall was a picture of a girl    in native costume which  is worn only to church or for special occasions. Over the years the colors of the flowers on her dress change. Young girls would have red roses, as she grows, matures and marries the flowers will change to lilac and in old age the colors will be quite drab. The art of Kalosca embroidery was born in the second half of the 19th century. The motifs were borrowed from nature.

      Assumption Church is the fourth built on the same site, this one 1734-1755. The 4664 pipe, 3 keyboard organ is the second and dates to the mid 1800s. One of four Roman Catholic archbishops of Hungary, the town has a beautiful cathedral, archbishop's palace, and seminary.  The unusual thing I noticed in this church was the use of pastel pink and yellow in many places on the walls. There are four side chapels. We enjoyed an organ concert here but the music was very loud.

    Kalocsa is located six miles from the eastern bank of the Danube River in the Puszta, the Great Plains of Hungary.  Hungarian cowboys are called csikos.  There are many large ranches in the area, and we drove to one of the horse farms for an excellent goulash served over barley. An interesting milk pie, like nothing I’ve ever eaten before, topped off lunch.  

     At the Puszta horse show Magyar cowboys demonstrated their equestrian skills. The entertainment started with a horse parade, followed by all sorts of exercises that were once practiced for wartime. For example, riders taught their horses to sit or lie down providing a

smaller target or protection for the rider during battle. A boy on a small burro provided comical contrast to the magnificent steeds. The highlight of the show was when a cowboy completed a complicated twist to the Hungarian five-horse racing, more commonly known as the Puszta-fiver. Standing on the rear ends of the back two horses the cowboy controlled eight horses with his reins!  Amazing! It was my first such show and it was outstanding.

You may want to read all about Paprika on post 7-31-11

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