Russian

Culture
Diverse ethnic groups, customs, and traditions

Cultural Landscape
-Russian Orthodox churches -St. Basils Church -Red Square -Kremlin -Siberian villages -Soviet style apartment blocks

Dome -Hagia Sophia in Constantinople

oRoman Aqueducts

The Capital Building in Washington DC

St. Basils Cathedral in Red Square Moscow

The Russian took these same ideas and took a step in a different direction: The Onion Dome

After Domes were created, architects began to use the same base of arches, but build the domes higher.

Culture
The main religion in Russia is Christian, and the major denomination is the Russian Orthodox Church. The church architecture is distinguished by the presence of the onion dome.
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/russia.htm no copyright

Russian Orthodox Church

Red Square

Kremlin
is the Russian word for "fortress", "citadel", or "castle" and refers to any major fortified central complex found in historical Russian cities. This word is often used to refer to the best known one, the Moscow Kremlin, or the government that is based there.

Portable Yurts are homes for nomads in Central Asia

Culture
Over 145 million people and over 150 different ethnic groups 80% = Slavs Religions =Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, or Jewish St. Petersburg = founded in 1703 by Peter the Great whose goal was to make the city a Window of the West St. Petersburg has many beautiful museums and is home to the Marinsky Theatre = one of Russias top ballet companies

Culture
Russians enjoy all kinds of literature, including folktales called skazki Russian Orthodox Church = incredibly popular and thriving even though communism tried to eliminate it Russian Orthodoxy was responsible for a Slavic alphabet called Cyrillic of Russian people live in cities, mostly in large apartment blocks New Years is most festive holiday Russian workers are celebrated on May Day

Cultural characteristics cont.

Cities as a center of culture and trade Moscow St. Petersburg Novosibirsk

Great Authors
Alexander Pushkin- 1799-1837 Anton Chekhov-1860-1904 Fyodor Dostoyevsky- 1821-1881 Boris Pasternak-1890-1960 Leo Tolstoy-1828-1910 Alexander Solzhenitsyn- 1918-current

Alexander Pushkin

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Leo Tolstoy

Cultural Heritage
Ballet Faberg eggs Icons Matrioshka dolls Samovars

Russian contributions to the arts and sciences

Early Russian Art revolved around Icons, Religious Art, -is an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it

St. Theodore

Culture
Icons are displayed on the walls and on special stands in the Russian Orthodox Church to remind believers about Jesus Christ and events in his life and about the saints.

Peter Tchaikovsky

Jesus Christ

Mother of God

People kiss icons and light candles in front of them to show that they love the person depicted in the icon. These actions are also signs of asking the person for help or for a blessing.
http://www.request.org.uk/main/churches/orthodox/christ.jpg No copyright

Dmitri Mendeleev

Ivan Pavlov

Peter Carl Faberge

Culture

Faberg Eggs
Around 1885, Russian jeweler Peter Carl Faberg took the decoration of eggs to new heights. He volunteered to create a jewelry egg for Czar Alexander III to give his wife, Marie. Faberg kept the egg a secret, but delighted the royal family with a jeweled looking "egg" that had tiny surprises made of gold, enamel, and precious gems inside.

Faberge eggs

Culture
Bolshoy Theatre
The Bolshoy is considered one of the best opera and ballet theatres in the world. As with many other things, tickets are more expensive for foreigners than for Russian citizens.

http://www.nssnt.org/SpaceBallet_files/image005.jpg no copyright information

Culture

The circus is popular in Russia.

Culture
Russian wooden dolls with smaller dolls nested inside them are called matrioshka. Among peasants, the name Matriosha was a very popular female name. This name has a Latin root, "mater," which means "Mother." It is associated with the image of the mother of a big peasant family who was very healthy and had a portly figure.

http://www.armory.com/~alexia/trip/moscow-jpg/Circus-Acrobat-2.jpg Picture copyright 1997 Sandy and Bela Lubkin, all rights reserved Used with permission

Matrioshka dolls

Culture
A samovar is an elaborate Russian tea pot. Tea was introduced to Russia in the 17th century by the Mongols. Tea was first used as a medicine for the nobility.

Samovars