The “ticket mafia” has long been a problem in Russia. Scalpers buy tickets, often at deep discounts by employing the pensioners who qualify for them, and then sell the tickets at wildly inflated costs. This is not, however, the most interesting inefficiency in managing Russia’s cultural institutions. For instance, the story below details the Bolshoi’s […]
In Anna Melikian’s 2015 film Pro Lyubov (About Love), a film divided into vignettes focusing on modern love ala Love Actually, one of the vignettes focuses on a young woman from Japan who comes to Russia due to her love of Russian literature. While in Russia she hopes to find a Russian boyfriend. She goes […]
New Holland Island dates to the 18th century, but today is a compact and beautiful center of modern culture and international food in St. Petersburg. It’s a great place to grab some food and relax. It’s very similar to any brewery district in a hipster city – and was right up my alley. I visited […]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW_x-dmEWt8 Участники акции «Ночь в музее» по всей России удивлялись и восхищались грандиозными представлениями Throughout Russia, a grand Night at the Museum amazes and delights attendees Сотни тысяч россиян сегодня легли спать лишь под утро. Акция Ночь в музее объединила десятки регионов, сотни площадок. Стать героем фильма без кинопроб, прикоснуться к древностям или посмотреть на […]
Russia only acquired Primorsky Krai, the region that contains Vladivostok, in the 19th century. China, the Mongol Empire and the Balhae and Jurchen nations had all controlled the area around Vladivostok before Russia gained it through the Treaty of Aigun with China in 1858. Vladivostok was founded primarily as a Russian military post rather than […]
This month: Chekhov Festival of Modern Theater; Bolshoi Presents Shakespearean Passion This resource looks at culturally-informative Russian news broadcasts and presents each with rhetorical and contextual analysis as well as a brief vocabulary list aimed at intermediate-level Russian students. Chekhov Festival of Modern Theater Selling Out Russia Channel reports that this year, the famous […]
After two months in Russia where have I been? Only in St. Petersburg, but what have I seen? The entire country. How is this possible? Well, I took a tour of the Grand Maket Rossiya. The word “maket” in Russian can be translated as “layout” or “model,” and the Grand Maket is the world’s second […]
In the last few years, coffee culture has exploded across Russia, with new, local coffee shops popping up everywhere from Moscow to Vladivostok. However, perhaps the hippest and most intellectual take on coffee culture can be found in St. Petersburg, a city that stands apart in its reverence for art and culture. Here are ten […]
Irkutsk, far from Moscow at the other end of the vast Russian empire, was once a major exile destination for dissident aristocrats and intellectuals. Because of this, it grew into a center of culture and learning to all of Siberia and also became a focal point for early transport and communication infrastructure efforts that sought […]
