Trivia---3

Pilgrims

Lhasa, Tibet is a mecca for Buddhist pilgrims. It is a common sight to see them walking the streets twirling a prayer wheel in their right hand and fingering a 108-bead rosary with their left hand while muttering a mantra. At the Jokharg Temple people were prostrating themselves at the temple as well as around the temple square. People paid them no mind. It was also common to see monks clad in their traditional robes all around the city.

A Gorgeous U S Embassy

Canberra, Australia’s capital, is a one company town. The government owns all the land. One exception to land ownership is the ten acres the US embassy sits on. Australia deeded this land to the US for its help in World War II. The Embassy sits on the highest knoll. All of the red brick in the colonial building was imported from the United States. I’ve seen some really ugly embassies around the world. This one is a delight!

Didn’t Understand a Word

In Moscow we were trying to find a store to buy bottled water. We thought we were following the directions given to us, but to no avail. We asked a young man on the street for clarity. He decided to show us and all the way down the street he carried on constant chatter in Russian, none of which we understood. We kept shaking our head and at the end told him thank you. We did find the store and made our purchase, and fondly remember that kind man.

Magnificent Tapestry

In the great hall of the parliament building in Canberra, Australia hangs one of the world’s largest tapestries. Measuring 20 x 9 meters, it weighs 400 kilos, uses 360 colors and took 2 ½ years to complete. From a distance, it appears to be an oil painting. Only on close inspection is it evident that it is truly a tapestry—a really magnificent one!

Bosnia’s Friendship Bridge

The 1556 stone bridge, spanning the Nevetva River replaced the original wooden bridge. Serbs destroyed the bridge during the recent 1990s war. The stone for the replacement bridge came from the same quarry as the original stone.

Croats live on the west side of the river and Muslims on the east side. The city is internationally known for its Old Town Bridge. It is a symbol of reconciliation, cooperation, and coexistence of diverse cultural, religious, and ethnic communities. It was nice to see the bridge replaced looking exactly as the ancient one had.

Warwick Castle

Of all the castles, forts, and palaces I’ve visited Warwick Castle in Warwick, England was one of the loveliest. A few years ago Madam Tussand bought the castle. Her life-like wax figures made the castle come alive. I actually did a double take when I saw the maid drawing her lady’s bath. Her bending over the tub and the running water looked so real.

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

RED SQUARE

                                           Red Square

As promised here are brief descriptions of some of the important buildings in Red Square behind the Kremlin wall.

            The Armory Palace, Moscow’s most fascinating and richest museum, flanks one side of The Kremlin at Red Square. Created in 1806, it is Moscow’s oldest museum. It opened to the public in 1911. The crown jewels, Catherine the Great’s coronation crown with its 5000 diamonds, religious icons, priceless artifacts, and fabulous world famous Faberge egg collection are housed in the Armory. Gold and silver shine everywhere in bowls, goblets, chalices, and jewelry.  Also included are carriages, royal vestments, robes, and headdresses as well as the 189-carat Orlov diamond.

            We spent a long time walking the many rooms of the Armory while our guide explained different displays as everything was written in Russian. No English subtitles here! At times the glitter was overwhelming. Thousands of pearls decorated gowns, crowns, book covers and more.

            We were all agape at the tiny waists of past female czars as we viewed some of their garments. My thigh was bigger than those waists!  I was fascinated with the bronze floor to ceiling gate that protected one room. It displayed the coat of arms of each Russian state/district. It was truly a beautiful work of art. It was a mind boggling visit.

Six churches are located within and all are Russian Orthodox. 

Cathedral Square. The white limestone Assumption Cathedral’s exterior dates to 1475. Five gilded cupolas glitter atop narrow drums. The cathedral has stood for centuries as a Russian national shrine. Patriarchs have been anointed and czars have been crowned before her altar.  Ivan the Terrible’s custom-made coronation throne is housed within. Napoleon used the cathedral as a horse stable and its icons for firewood in 1812. The bell tower holding 23 bells towers 264-feet in the air.

Archangel Michael Cathedral with its five domes was built 1505-08. Sarcophagi dominate the interior. The remains of every Russian czar up to Peter the Great rest here.

At the nine-domed Annunciation Church we learned a lot about the Russian Orthodox Church. People attending church services stand, with the exception of the ‘royal’ or ‘patron’ box, there are no chairs, benches or pews. Frescos, telling the story of the bible for the illiterate, cover the walls, ceiling and columns in the church. The frescos in this church date to the 15^th century and were restored in the 17th century.

   The altar is hidden behind an iconostasis, which covers the entire front wall of the sanctuary. Icons are religious paintings that are usually painted on wood, sometimes on canvas. In the center of the iconostasis is an ornate door that opens to the altar. The second icon to the right of the door is of the saint from whom the church derives its name. The rows of icons are always an uneven number with five being the most common. Each of the icons is ‘framed’ with ornate gold molding making for a glittering wall. Russian Orthodox churches normally do not have statuary, angels etc as they are considered pagan. From what we could gather music is sung without the benefit of instrumentation.  I stood in the middle of the sanctuary admiring the crystal chandeliers and looking around I could not find a square inch of wall or ceiling space that was not painted.

  By then we’d been pretty well churched out so we left for other areas of Red Square. It is a huge area and several buildings are office and government buildings not open to the public.

The Gum department store and the Russian artillery are described in earlier blog posts, 6/10 and 4/13 respectively.

THE KREMLIN

                                   The Kremlin

            St. Basil’s, a true Moscow landmark, is located on Red Square, and is surely recognized everywhere around the world. Ivan the Terrible built the church in 1561.  The original idea was to have a main chapel surrounded by seven others, but it ended up with nine chapels.  Legend says that the eyes of the builder were gouged out so nothing so beautiful could ever be built again. (I’ve heard that story in other places also.) The interior is now a museum. Except for the Kremlin, St. Basil’s is the oldest building on the square.

            The symbolic, historic, and geographic heart of Moscow is at the 69-acre Kremlin and Red Squar. In the 17^th century krasny meant beautiful, but over time the meaning has come to mean red. The Kremlin is a north-pointing triangle with sides 2460 feet long. Red Square lies along the east side while the Moscow River flows past on the south side. From here, Moscow spreads out in four distinctive rings of development, each area having its own collection of monasteries, museums, and elegant buildings. Most of the city’s sights are within the first circle, an area easily covered on foot.

The Kremlin not only represented the political power of the country from czars to Soviet prime ministers, but in earlier centuries it also was the religious heart of the Russian Orthodox Church. An air of mystery and intrigue surrounds the Kremlin, which has its roots in the fortified stronghold that defined medieval towns. Kremlin translates to the citadel. Its 12^th century wooden construction marked the birth of Moscow.  Fortified walls, over a mile in circumference, 65-feet high and 20-feet thick make it virtually impregnable. The current Kremlin dates to the 15^th century and the reign of Czar Ivan III. The red brick Kremlin wall has 20 towers, the highest 264 feet high, and five massive gates. In addition, the halls, palaces, and six cathedrals, the grave of Josef Stalin and urns along the Kremlin wall holding ashes of other famous Russians are impressive.

            This is where government decrees were read, and where czar opponents were slaughtered. It is also where potatoes and vodka were bartered and where Soviet leaders dutifully tributed their subjects during government sham pageants. Cobblestones cover the 70,000 square meter expanse. The Kremlin Wall is bordered by St. Basil’s Cathedral, the GUM department store and the red brick State historical Museum. Lenin’s mausoleum is in front of the Kremlin Wall. Historical artifacts are housed in the multi-spired museum, built in the late 1800s over the site of the original 1755 Moscow University. The tower clock chimes every 15 minutes and every three hours plays music.

            Over the centuries Moscow’s Kremlin has been witness to many tragic and famous events. Enemy guns have rattled its walls and celebrations and revolts have taken place. Now, the Kremlin is one of the largest museums in the world with its art and architecture being national treasures.

            The Spasskaya Tower, built in 1491, is considered to be the most beautiful and harmonious tower of the Kremlin.          Trade Square (Torgovaya) was its first name. In the 16^th century the name became Trinity Square after the church by the same name. In Russia the same area may have several different names, and by the 19^th century the square officially became Red Square. Stalin opened the Kremlin to the public in 1953.

            A description of its many buildings in the next post.

MOSCOW CHURCHES

                              A Few of Moscow's Churches

 Several times during our Moscow stay we passed by Christ Our Savior Cathedral.  The largest church in Moscow  was started in 1839 after the war of 1812, but took 44 years and the reign of four czars to complete. The first electric lights in the city were installed in front of this church. Stalin destroyed it in 1931 and it became a city swimming pool. The pool was covered up in 1994 and in 1995, financed with private monies, construction began on this new church. It took four years to finish the exterior and two years to finish the interior. The mosaics inside are beautiful. The church has five domes with a big central and four angular turrets with 14 bells. The church is so big that the main cathedral of the Kremlin can fit inside!

      
The white limestone Assumption Cathedral’s exterior dates to 1475. Five gilded cupolas sparkle atop narrow drums. The cathedral has stood for centuries as a Russian national shrine. Patriarchs have been anointed and czars have been crowned before her altar.  Ivan the Terriible’s custom-made coronation throne is housed within. Napoleon used the cathedral as a horse stable and its icons for firewood in 1812. The bell tower, holding 23 bells, reaches 264 feet into the air.

Archangel Michael Cathedral with its five domes was built 1505-08. Sarcophagi dominate the interior. The remains of every Russian czar up to Peter the Great rest here.

The churches are all Russian Orthodox, and it  was at the nine domed Annunciation Church where we learned a lot about the Orthodox Church. People attending church services stand,  with the exception of a ‘royal’ or ‘patron’ box, there are no chairs, benches or pews. Frescoes cover the walls, ceiling and columns in the church, and I swear there is not a square inch of free space! The frescoes in this church date to the 15^th century and were restored in the  17^th century. The frescoes tell the story of the bible for the illiterate.

The altar is hidden behind an iconostasis, which covers the entire front wall of the sanctuary. Icons are religious paintings that are usually painted on wood, sometimes on canvas. In the center of the iconostasis is an ornate door that opens to the altar. The second icon to the right of the door is of the saint for whom the church derives its name. The rows of icons is always an uneven number with five being the most common. The bottom row is ‘local’. The second row represents the district, the third row represents the feast and festival, the fourth row represents the prophets, and the fifth row represents the fathers of the church. Each of the icons is ‘framed’ with ornate gold molding making for a glittering wall. Russian Orthodox churches normally do not have statuary, angels etc as they are considered pagan. From what we could gather music is sung without the benefit of instrumentation. 

KREMLIN TREASURES

                 So Much to See

            Stalin opened the Kremlin to the public in 1953. In the Kremlin our first stop was the Armory to view the country’s jewels and treasures. Created in 1806 it is Moscow’s oldest museum and opened to the public in 1911.

The Armory Palace, Moscow’s most fascinating and richest museum, flanks one side of The Kremlin at Red Square. The crown jewels, Catherine the Great’s coronation crown with its 5000 diamonds, religious icons, priceless artifacts, and fabulous world famous Faberge egg collection are housed in the Armory. Gold and silver shine everywhere in bowls, goblets, chalices, and jewelry.  Also included are carriages, royal vestments, robes, and headdresses as well as the 189-carat Orlov diamond.

            We spent a long time walking the many rooms of the Armory while our guide explained different displays as everything was written in Russian. No English subtitles here! At times the glitter was overwhelming. Thousands of pearls decorated gowns, crowns, book covers and more.

            We were all agape at the tiny waists of past female czars as we viewed some of their garments. “My gosh, my thigh is bigger than that waist!” I remarked.

           I was fascinated with the bronze floor to ceiling gate that protected one room. It displayed a coat of arms of each Russian state/district, and was truly a beautiful work of art.

Emperor Cannon

The huge 40-ton cannon, cast in Moscow in 1586, is the oldest and largest cannon in the world, but it has never been fired. The length of this monstrous cannon measures over 15 feet (5 meters). The external diameter of the barrel is 120 centimeters. This unique piece of work was a natural result of the development of the oldest branch of Russia’s craft-foundry business dating back to the 10^th century. The cannon has been moved several times over the past 400 years and since 1960 has stood here in Ivanovskaya Square. The four cannonballs stacked beside it weigh 1000 kilos each.

Emperor Bell  

            Stopping at the 210-ton bell our guide told us, “This is the largest bell in the world. It has stood here for 150 years. This large chunk broke from its own weight and of course it has never been rung. It is a unique monument of Russian art molding of the 18^th century. Many large bells cast in the 16-17^th centuries have broken in various ways.”

            In my wildest dreams I never thought I’d ever visit the Kremlin. It was a fascinating visit and it was wonderful to have a good guide interpret for us. It was at the Kremlin where I saw onion and helmet domes close enough together to really see the difference.