153. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
The Russian Federation's most iconic building - St Basil's Cathedral in downtown Moscow....looking like something from Disneyland! I prefer the Cathedral of the Spilt Blood in St Petersburg (pictured somewhere below)
In the bowels of the earth, there was more great art - miles and miles of underground art galleries to make commuting and the terrible winter bearable. Practically every station had this display and I could only cover 3...
But before I could get into this station, all 3 ticket machines were out of order! (above)
Behind me is the legendary Bolshoi Theatre - Mockba is Moscow - if you can make out the word...
... and than there are the paintings...what can I say - from Da Vinci to Rembrandt - just a fraction of the huge collection by the Masters, amassed by Catherine the Great - she was a German and she certainly had taste...
I turn my attention to the ceilings, there were several rooms with Wedgewood designs in pastel shades
Huge malachite and lapiz lazuli urns - only the best will do...
This 'powder blue room' looks like a seductive bourdoir
... and their artwork...gasp! Most of it is found in churches and of course their palaces - for these were the chief beneficiaries of plunder and colonisation - the churches worked hand in glove with royalty. As with continental Europe, the Russians have turned their backs on organised religion - they view their churches as a rich cultural and historical heritage...great for tourism
Lunch on that ship was a totally different experience - the handling agent offered different lunch experiences throughout this trip
Now, I take a look at their ceilings....I see the hammer and sickle...
Greek influence - that's Medusa on the floor - centaurs too...
...and walls...
This very fancy wall dressing is in their subway - they don't believe in tiles, wallpaper or just paint - simply beautiful art...
Singapore too has dressed up our train stations with decorative artwork - way to go!
I adore this house - it reminds me so much of Miyazaki's anime classic Howl's Moving Castle! Perhaps he got that inspiration from viewing this house!
Wood is plentiful in these parts so it makes sense to use what they can find...but these days, it may not be so commonplace...these are buildings built way back - it's a wonderful collection they have here...
I adore this village, Likino...for the sake of visitors they simply named it a Wood House, homes of peasants in the 19th Century, reconstructed, self-contained...
This little cafe is done up in the style of the Ukraine to let visitors experience a slice of life of that part of Russia - God knows whatever has happened to those parts since their troops marched in...
Close-up front entrance...
No two buildings are alike which makes the street scene so interesting...
The express train from St Petersburg to Moscow took 4 hours...it was a smooth comfortable ride
The Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, venue of the 2018 FIFA World Cup...
Bright, cheerful, colourful, fun buildings are the right antidote for long, dark days and nights with hardly any sunshine during the awful Russian winter...
This Chinese restaurant is most interesting - not your usual red and gold but definitely more Russian hues...like a brown bear!
Spotted beside the walled Kremlin - the Spasskaya military tattoo taking place that night in Kremlin Square - Singapore had sent their band - soft power!
Looking like a palace building by the lake - turned out to be a restaurant where we stopped for lunch...
Territorial human mammals...they're all over the world...
This boat ride gave a glimpse of river life which is nothing much...they don't have spectacular natural sceneries but lots of 'wow' buildings and art collections which are unique to them...
In preserving this building, parts of the facade were left untouched to expose the original old brickwork under...
The wall and ceiling frescoes were nicely restored too...
Being a tourist town, it's hard to tell how much is original and how much was added on...
Ceiling frescoes in St Demetrius Cathedral...
Monuments are of course, just as huge, grand and impressive - so too their staircases for nobility to make their grand entrances. In epic movies like Anna Karenina and War and Peace, the sets were so very grand, I had a chance to see what life was like than and on this trip I got to see the real thing. Their dark side I imagined was a huge contrast - bleak, secretive, dangerous, depressive - I gathered from novels and movies on the Brothers Karamazov, Rasputin and Dr Zhivago. Dry and boring...but real life incidents have revealed how murderous it can get...
This man at the left hand corner manipulates pulleys atop the belfry creating an orchestra of bell chimes...very nice!
Another feature of Russia and Europe in general - their clock towers and belfries
These 2 towers are like the tiers of wedding cakes and decorated to look like it!
The roof of this building appears to have a lotus petal feature which makes it look somewhat oriental...quite a few churches had similar features...
More onion-shaped domes...such form, function, symmetry...I liked them all...each piece is a work of art...
In the compound of a convent, there were several such chalets for rent...
Doors, below, are not spared and tell their own stories...through the artisans, of course...
Suzdal and Vladimir are these 2 lovely little towns with picturesque buildings. The towns depend heavily on tourism and cottages have unique decorative exteriors - to give the place an identity I suppose...
Every inch of this gorgeous building below is decorated. In my pictures above, every inch of the floor and ceiling are done up too - so well coordinated that nothing clashes or is jarring to the eyes
All the crosses have this fine filigree work - the attention to detail makes everything a work of beauty and art...
The Russians who still attend church are Orthodox Christians
Nearly all churches have these Islamic looking domes - am not sure if these are originals that came with the old buildings or they were added later and meant to cock a snook at the Islamic world. To add insult to injury, the domes are topped with crosses...I've not seen so many churches with such domes elsewhere in Europe...have you?
Windows are framed with mosiac work...these are a truly creative people...seems like every inch is decorated from ceiling to floor. Hard to accept they went through such a long period of time as a communist nation.....China's communist - era buildings were never this beautiful, what they have today are big, shiny, modern and brand new...
The hotel corridor is turned into an art gallery...
Communist era propaganda posters are now collector's items worth a tidy sum - in this case, they are available only for viewing in this museum...
The world renowned Bolshoi Theatre in downtown Moscow, home to the equally world renowned Bolshoi ballet.
The Hermitage - a grand old building housing up to 3 million pieces of large and small items in rooms so grandiose it took my breath away. It would take an interested person 9 years to view every item housed here. As a lover of great art and buildings with character, this trip was all about that. The names are too numerous, too hard to spell, remember or pronounce so I shall dispense with that. Most are old and solidly built. The city receives a very large number of tourists so the buildings are well maintained.
The embankment in St Petersberg (the former Leningrad) is where the major museums and palaces are located. This is such a grand ostentatious city. So much beauty and art permeates the place everywhere I look. This place is so rich in culture and diversity - they had a turbulent history but somehow, they didn't slash and burn, only killed off whoever got in their way...
Apparently, they now consider themselves no more communists but their Government still practice a communist style of governance but their people seem to accept that as they now have a lot more personal freedom.
Despite been surrounded by so much art, their people are non-smiling, distant, cold...must be the weather...5-6 months of ice and snow, long dark days and nights, must do something to a person.
Their unique Matryoshka wooden dolls and white bearded men and santas...left me salivating...
Time did not permit to visit the Shuvalov Palace - home to the priceless Faberge collection of dazzling bejewelled eggs - the only one of its kind in the world.
I had to contend with the reproductions in the shops (pics above) - beautiful nonetheless...below - just one of the real deal..
Beautiful old models like these are still on the roads...
He found a warm cozy spot on this shop shelf...
Lunch on that ship was a totally different experience - the handling agent offered different lunch experiences throughout this trip
Now, I take a look at their ceilings....I see the hammer and sickle...
...The floors...
Greek influence - that's Medusa on the floor - centaurs too...
This very fancy wall dressing is in their subway - they don't believe in tiles, wallpaper or just paint - simply beautiful art...
Singapore too has dressed up our train stations with decorative artwork - way to go!
I adore this house - it reminds me so much of Miyazaki's anime classic Howl's Moving Castle! Perhaps he got that inspiration from viewing this house!
Wood is plentiful in these parts so it makes sense to use what they can find...but these days, it may not be so commonplace...these are buildings built way back - it's a wonderful collection they have here...
I adore this village, Likino...for the sake of visitors they simply named it a Wood House, homes of peasants in the 19th Century, reconstructed, self-contained...
This little cafe is done up in the style of the Ukraine to let visitors experience a slice of life of that part of Russia - God knows whatever has happened to those parts since their troops marched in...
A favourite building is the Hermitage surrounded by equally impressive neighbours - this is just the outside and I've not gone in yet to see the precious collection of artwork and more architectural gems...
The express train from St Petersburg to Moscow took 4 hours...it was a smooth comfortable ride
The Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, venue of the 2018 FIFA World Cup...
Bright, cheerful, colourful, fun buildings are the right antidote for long, dark days and nights with hardly any sunshine during the awful Russian winter...
This Chinese restaurant is most interesting - not your usual red and gold but definitely more Russian hues...like a brown bear!
Spotted beside the walled Kremlin - the Spasskaya military tattoo taking place that night in Kremlin Square - Singapore had sent their band - soft power!
This is my favourite building on this entire trip - not because of its touristy catchy name 'Cathedral of the Spilt Blood' but it's so very Russian in colour and decorative features. This is in St Petersburg, the easily recognisable 2 iconic buildings above this is the St Basil in Moscow...on the right corner, with the Kremlin and its Square. Kremlin has come to mean town center or town square so in nearly every city there's a Kremlin...
Territorial human mammals...they're all over the world...
This boat ride gave a glimpse of river life which is nothing much...they don't have spectacular natural sceneries but lots of 'wow' buildings and art collections which are unique to them...
In preserving this building, parts of the facade were left untouched to expose the original old brickwork under...
The wall and ceiling frescoes were nicely restored too...
Being a tourist town, it's hard to tell how much is original and how much was added on...
Ceiling frescoes in St Demetrius Cathedral...
This man at the left hand corner manipulates pulleys atop the belfry creating an orchestra of bell chimes...very nice!
Another feature of Russia and Europe in general - their clock towers and belfries
These 2 towers are like the tiers of wedding cakes and decorated to look like it!
The roof of this building appears to have a lotus petal feature which makes it look somewhat oriental...quite a few churches had similar features...
More onion-shaped domes...such form, function, symmetry...I liked them all...each piece is a work of art...
In the compound of a convent, there were several such chalets for rent...
Doors, below, are not spared and tell their own stories...through the artisans, of course...
Suzdal and Vladimir are these 2 lovely little towns with picturesque buildings. The towns depend heavily on tourism and cottages have unique decorative exteriors - to give the place an identity I suppose...
All the crosses have this fine filigree work - the attention to detail makes everything a work of beauty and art...
The Russians who still attend church are Orthodox Christians
Nearly all churches have these Islamic looking domes - am not sure if these are originals that came with the old buildings or they were added later and meant to cock a snook at the Islamic world. To add insult to injury, the domes are topped with crosses...I've not seen so many churches with such domes elsewhere in Europe...have you?
Peterhof Palace, Gardens and the Grand Cascade Fountains - a Summer residence outside St Petersburg - their owners have grander names...like Peter the Great, Catherine the Great - and they visited these residences perhaps once a year...if at all...
There was a concert that night and the stage was been set...
This cross seems to have Islamic influence.
There was a concert that night and the stage was been set...
This cross seems to have Islamic influence.
The muslims came this way too .... perhaps because of the tough communist regime, the muslims never got a strong foothold in Russia. Putin must watch them like a hawk...
Needless to say, their gardens are showy with attention to detail, but than I'm viewing them in the grounds of their grand palaces...of which St Petersburg has several Summer homes of their czars and other extremely wealthy royal families. They lived decadent lives - my pictures show only a fraction of their over-the-top lifestyles. Little wonder, most such families were eventually stripped of their status whether in Russia, India, Spain and wherever they had 'royal' families in most of Europe.
Those that still exist maintain a low profile.
Street scene - wedding shot in the middle of the road...
Needless to say, their gardens are showy with attention to detail, but than I'm viewing them in the grounds of their grand palaces...of which St Petersburg has several Summer homes of their czars and other extremely wealthy royal families. They lived decadent lives - my pictures show only a fraction of their over-the-top lifestyles. Little wonder, most such families were eventually stripped of their status whether in Russia, India, Spain and wherever they had 'royal' families in most of Europe.
Those that still exist maintain a low profile.
Windows are framed with mosiac work...these are a truly creative people...seems like every inch is decorated from ceiling to floor. Hard to accept they went through such a long period of time as a communist nation.....China's communist - era buildings were never this beautiful, what they have today are big, shiny, modern and brand new...
The hotel corridor is turned into an art gallery...
Communist era propaganda posters are now collector's items worth a tidy sum - in this case, they are available only for viewing in this museum...
The Hermitage - a grand old building housing up to 3 million pieces of large and small items in rooms so grandiose it took my breath away. It would take an interested person 9 years to view every item housed here. As a lover of great art and buildings with character, this trip was all about that. The names are too numerous, too hard to spell, remember or pronounce so I shall dispense with that. Most are old and solidly built. The city receives a very large number of tourists so the buildings are well maintained.
Despite been surrounded by so much art, their people are non-smiling, distant, cold...must be the weather...5-6 months of ice and snow, long dark days and nights, must do something to a person.
Their unique Matryoshka wooden dolls and white bearded men and santas...left me salivating...
Time did not permit to visit the Shuvalov Palace - home to the priceless Faberge collection of dazzling bejewelled eggs - the only one of its kind in the world.
I had to contend with the reproductions in the shops (pics above) - beautiful nonetheless...below - just one of the real deal..
Beautiful old models like these are still on the roads...
He found a warm cozy spot on this shop shelf...
posted by shirley @ 7:24 pm
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