New Year in Russia

Fact 26.

The most extensive New Year celebrations in Russia occur on December 31st/January 1st. Fireworks and concerts mark this holiday. It is on this day that the Russian Santa, or Ded Moroz, and his lady companion Snegurochka visit children to present the  gifts. What those in the West would call a Christmas Tree is considered a New Year's Tree in Russia. Because the Russian New Year precedes Christmas in Russia on January 7.

Ded Moroz (Father Frost, the Red Nose) and his granddaughter Snegurochka (the Snow Maiden) are two 
legendary characters, which bring presents to Russian children. Ded Moroz comes on the first night of the new year and leaves his presents under the New Year’s Tree. He is dressed in a red costume and has a huge white beard, large bag with presents inside, and a staff. Snegurochka is dressed in a light blue coat and usually has a long braid. The official residence of Ded Moroz is Veliky Ustyug, Vologda Region. 

The Kremlin Clock

The Kremlin Clock is a historic clock on the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin. Usually, for decades the chimes have rung on the quarter hour, with bells tolling for each full hour. Every New Year's night hundreds of people gather on Red Square to celebrate the coming of the new year. They usually listen to the president's traditional speech and then wait for the first stroke of the Kremlin Clock, which marks the beginning of the new year. It is rather a solemn moment, so many people go to the Red Square every year, just to go through it again and again. 

More about Russian traditions and culture on our 2 Days in Moscow Tour

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Matryoshka Dolls (Nestling Dolls)

It's hard to find a symbol of Russia more popular than the traditional Russian nesting doll. These decorated wooden dolls "with a secret" are also called matryoshka dolls or babushka dolls. 
They are recognized even in the countries thousand miles away from Russia. Taking a Russian nesting doll back home is a must among tourists from Europe and the United States alike. The lovers of exotics collect matryoshkas in Australia and South Africa.

Bright and picturesque Russian nesting dolls decorate the fireplaces and bookshelves in the homes of thousands of Russians.

Fact 25.  Some historians of Russian life argue that matryoshka dolls originated from Japanese traditional dolls. The first Russian nesting doll set appeared in Moscow in 1890's. It was carved by Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by a folk crafts painter Sergey Malyutin. The doll set consisted of eight dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside the other. All eight dolls depicted children - the outermost was a girl holding a rooster, six inner dolls were girls, the fifth doll was a boy, and the innermost was a baby. Despite the fact that first matryoshka dolls were intended for children, their price was so high that only adults could afford to buy them on special occasions. Matryoshka dolls were often given as a present to young women from their beloved ones. In 1900, the dolls earned a bronze medal at the World Exhibition in Paris.

It takes a lot of skill to make a Russian nesting doll set. Traditionally, matryoshka dolls were made from linden or birch and their production would involve the participation of the whole family. 

In 1913, a factory in the city of Semyonov produced a matryoshka dolls set that consisted of 48 figures and was painted in traditional red and yellow colors.

Matreshka dolls inspired many Russian designers to create dolls in their own design:

Nina Donis

Alena Akhmadullina

Valentin Yudashkin

Denis Simachev

Andrew Bartenev

Konstantin Gayday

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Movie about Moscow. Soviet nostalgic

Fact 24. 
"Walking the Streets of Moscow" is the name of a famous film about Moscow.The film was made in 1963  by Georgiy Daneliya and produced by Mosfilm studios. It stars Nikita Mikhalkov. Now he is one of the greatest Russian film-directors.

This film was highly beloved by Soviet youth in the early 1960s. Though its plot is a bit naive and unpretentious, it shows how wonderful life is.The song by the same name from the film is still popular and became the unofficial hymn of Moscovites.

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Streets. Kuznetsky Bridge

Let's stroll along Kuznetsky Bridge street today. The history of the street goes back to the XV century, when it was densely populated with blacksmiths. Subsequently, the street became known as Blacksmiths', which in Russian is Kuznets

Fact 23. It all began with the moment when a bridge was built across the river. The name of the bridge was the Kuznets Bridge (Blacksmiths' Bridge). At the same time, not far from the bridge opened numerous retail shops, which made Kuznetsky Bridge area an important trade center of Moscow.

Kuznetskн Bridge turning from a bridge in the street developed rapidly. By the beginning of XIX century it was a center of French trade and culture. Fashionable shops with sonorous names packed te steet: Haberdasher Standfild, perfumer Jambon; fashion from Revel, tailors and Lebourg Latrel; shop «Le Montagne», trading in delicacies, wine and perfume, and the first French restaurant "Yar", which opened in early 1826, and in September of the same year alwaready treated Pushkin.

Kuznetsky Bridge, center of fashion in Moscow.

Little has changed over the past century. It is interesting that even in the Soviet times ascetic Kuznetsk Bridge remained the center of fashion with a luxurious fur store which housed Union Fashion House. And today Kuznetsky Bridge is the center of "fashion district" of Moscow.

Art and culture of Kuznetsky Bridge are presented by Moscow Operetta Theatre, exhibition halls of the Moscow House of Artists, two large public libraries and the School of Fine Arts.

Nowadays Kuznetsky Bridge is a fashion mecca due to four-storey shop Podium, Trade House "Svetlana", Vogue Cafe by Novikov and, of course, TsUM. 

Kuznetsky Bridge is a lovely place to walk, with its charming and cosy cafes, coffee shops and stunning architecture

Explore the magic of beautiful streets of Moscow on our Moscow at Night Tour

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Night of Arts in Moscow

Fact 22.
The first "Night of Arts" is coming at November, 3 in Moscow! The main theme of this Night will be the sound. Sound will fill everything: ethnic music on the markets, audio installations in the parks, the sounds of nature in the passages and bridges, orchestras and choirs will perform in trade centers

Photo: http://ria.ru/

Poems of Pushkin, Esenin, Vysotsky, Tsvetaeva will be heard near the poem's monuments. You can listen fragments from Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita" on the Partiarshy ponds..

Photo: http://pogostim.com

Eclectic dance program «Let's dance» will be hold in a culture center "Academic". Free dance workshops in various styles of streetdance: locking, vaking, hip-hop, krump, krip-walk are waiting for you.

Address: Trade Center "Kapitoliy", Sevastopolskiy prospeck, 11E

Moscow churches will add to the wonderful sounds of "Night ofArts" bell chimes by best bellmen of Russia. You can enjoy shiny autumn day in Kolomenskiy park and still be involved in Moscow Night of Arts, because concert will begin in 2 p.m.. Address: Andropova avenue, 39

Sheremetyevo airport also joined to the "Night of Arts". You can listen classic music and beautiful bird songs in its terminals. Have a good flight!

Within the Moscow's Night of Arts largest museums perform special multimedia projects:

There will be audio and video installations in the main building of the Pushkin museum, the play "Good Bye, Moika" can be seen in Museum of Moscow, you can enjoy the sounds and voices of nature in the Darwin museum, Museum of Cosmonautics will perform amazing play of the musical instruments. TIP: specials buses will connect the main scenes of events

For those of you who speak Russian, here is the whole list of things happening today during "Night Of Arts" event. This is MASSIVE, my friends!  http://ночьискусств.рф/eve

During the "Night of the Arts" you can get free access to Moscow's TOP7 museums, including the National Museum, the Pushkin Museum Pushkin and the Tretyakov Gallery, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art and the Central Exhibition Hall "Manezh". "The museum card" can be found in the November issue of the magazine "Afisha" 

Photo: nightcitylights.com

On photo: our guide with a director of Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts

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Streets of Moscow

There are more than 3,500 streets, lanes and highways in Moscow. But where is the shortest street? Which is the oldest? What is the length of the longest? Let's have a look. 

Fact 21.

Secrets of Moscow lies in its mysterious streets in the center. Kuznetsky Most (Bridge) is one of them. This is the street of chic boutiques, bars, hotels. The best known foreign-language bookshop in Moscow is also here.

Nikolskaya street starts straight from the Red Square. Each building on this street is some famous historical place. It recently became a pedestrian street.

Arbat street in Moscow this year celebrated its 520 anniversary. While walking here you can meet all kinds of people: local artists who can draw your portrait, musicians, actors, street dancers, singers clowns and even poets citing their poems to public. 

Varvarka street, although very short, boasts the most churches of any street in the city

The widest street in Moscow today is Leninsky Prospekt, in some places it reaches 120 metres wide. Once upon a time grandmother of Tsar Ivan III bought the place and since then the street has been the road filled with nobility, factories and hospitals. It was also a wintess of numerous wars. After defeating the Crimeans here was erected Donskoy Monastery, Neskuchnyi garden and the Sparrow Hills. After a fire in 1812 in Moscow, 75% of homes were destroyed. Pyatnitskaya street saved just 5 houses, Leninsky Prospekt was luckier, it preserved 300 houses of that time. 

Profsouznaya street is closely connected to the Soviet past of Moscow. The street has 7 (!) metro stations on it. Most buildings on this street were built in the second half of the twentieth century, and can't be called masterpieces of architecture. Though there are also historical sites, like Church of the Trinity built in the late seventeenth century as a home church. 

Up until the end of the XIX century the buildings on this street had names of homeowners on them instead of numbers. Kamergersky lane is quite small, only two hundred and fifty meters long. But this is one of the oldest places in Moscow. Every house here has a story to tell. This street has seen all famous writers, poets and composers starting from Golden Age of Russian culture.

Explore the most historical and original streets of Moscow on our Going Out in Moscow Tour

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