|
RUSSIA
In the Moscow Metro
Our first day in Moscow and we take an orientation tour, driving around the city in excruciating traffic, hoping and praying that the overcast sky doesn't turn to rain. This is Russia in late October after all, and winter is coming fast, but we are amazingly lucky... today and for the rest of our ten day trip through the Russian landscape. Everywhere we go the locals say: you brought the good weather with you.
We drive past iconic landmarks... Red Square, the Bolshoi Theater, Moscow's Grand Triumphal Arch adorned with the coats of arms of the 48 Russian provinces. It was constructed in celebration of the Russian victory over France in the war of 1812 and bears a striking resemblance to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
We ride the Metro where the stations were designed and decorated in a profusion of art deco and post modern styles back in the 30's. Beautiful bas relief sculpture, murals and elaborate accents line the walls, ceilings and stairways. Some of it renovated and stunning, some a bit shabby now in 2008 but still with more class and elegance than any New York subway or London tube, and well worth the price of admission. Moscow's Metro is bustling and buzzing with commuters who take our group of gaping, gawking tourists in stride and are gracious about us taking up space on the narrow escalator which plunges us all into the bowels of the earth... so deep it reminds me of south London.
Novodevichy Convent, Moscow
We stop across the river from the Novodevichy Convent and take our first pictures of ornate, Russian spires and domes... these are silver and gold, although the grey skies have taken the sheen off them.
The Novodevichy Convent was founded in 1524 by Tsar Vasily III to commemorate the capture of Smolensk from Lithuania. More than just a religious institution, Novodevichy was also as a fortress as is evident from its strategic location and walls fortified by a dozen battle towers. Until the 20th century, the convent marked Moscow's southern edge.
Within the convent complex are several churches. The most important is the huge five-domed Cathedral of the Virgin of Smolensk... she of the silver and gold orbs. Dedicated in 1525, it is closely modeled after the Kremlin's Cathedral of the Assumption and contains a spectacular iconostasis with 84 wooden columns and icons dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. Legend has it that during the War of 1812 Napoléon had ordered the cathedral destroyed, but a brave nun managed to extinguish the fuse and prevent the explosion. Next to it stands the red-and-white Church of the Assumption (Uspensky tserkov) which dates from the 1680s.
After the Revolution, Novodevichy's churches were closed and in 1922 it was turned into a museum. The cathedral was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church as a reward for backing the war effort in 1945. Restoration of the convent began in the 1960s and in 1988 an episcopal see was once again established here. It is still officially a museum, but is also today a working convent.
Red Square
Later we come back and walk Red Square, the sun has come out and St. Basil's is revealed in all is Disneyesque glory...
All Russia photographs © 2008 Sue Rauch
Later in the week we go back to Red Square to visit the Kremlin... in reality a beautifully kept compound of Georgian style architecture, as big as a city with wide boulevards but no traffic. We go into the Armory Museum and view the treasures, as opulent as anything I have seen.
Room after room of gold, silver and jewel encrusted objects, but as always what fascinates me are the old relics of everyday life that have been excavated by archeologists, rather than the ostentatious wealth handed down by tzars or plundered from vanquished foes. The tattered clothing, leather satchel and implements of a Russian ancestor, (priest or peasant I don't recall,) captivates me... they have the look of the recovered artifacts from the ice age man who came to light 20 years ago in Germany.
We see the crowns and sceptres of Russian royalty, the ermin trimmed coats of the tzars and the ball gowns of their tzarinas.
One eye popping room holds the state carriages, some magnificently decorated in full blown baroque opulence. But one in particular took my breath away for its sheer size and the flowing beauty of its plain but exquisitely carved wood. These carriages feel vaguely familiar, and I am sure that when I check it out, I will discover that these are the models for Disney's animated carriages created for Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast.
Annunciation Cathedral
Inside the Kremlin we visit Cathedral Square, the central square of the Moscow Kremlin where all of its streets used to converge in the 15th century, so named as three magnificent cathedrals stand sentinel here. Cathedral of the Annunciation with its brilliant gold domes that are visible over the wall from Red Square, the Cathedral of the Archangel, and the Church of the Deposition of the Robe.
Cathedral Square is famous as the site of solemn coronation and funeral processions of all the Russian tsars, patriarchs, and Grand Dukes of Moscow. Even today, the square is used in the inauguration ceremony of the President of Russia.
|