NORTHERN ASIA : RUSSIA

Visual arts

Russian Bronze and Iron Age

Roughly 2000 years before the Ancient Greeks had introduced and amazed the world with amazing statues, pottery, architecture, science and democracy and almost the same time as the British and Irish tribesmen were making their megaliths, Russian goldsmith and silversmiths in the Caucasus region were creating metalwork in a variety of precious metals.

An example of this Iron Age Art is the Gold Bull of Maikop which was discovered by archeologists in 1897 near the northern edge of the Caucasus mountains. Art historians believe that the Caucasus got its artistic reference and traditions from the Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), probably via Lebanon and the maritime trade route into the Black Sea.

Source : http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/russian-art.htm#prehistoric

Literature

Taken from Britannica Encyclopedia :

Russian literature, the body of written works produced in the Russian language, beginning with the Christianization of Kievan Rus in the late 10th century.The unusual shape of Russian literary history has been the source of numerous controversies. Three major and sudden breaks divide it into four periods—pre-Petrine (Old Russian), Imperial, post-Revolutionary, and post-Soviet.

The reforms of Peter I (the Great; reigned 1682–1725), who rapidly Westernized the country, created so sharp a divide with the past that it was common in the 19th century to maintain that Russian literature had begun only a century before. The 19th century’s most influential critic, Vissarion Belinsky, even proposed the exact year (1739) in which Russian literature began, thus denying the status of literature to all pre-Petrine works. The Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Bolshevik coup later in the same year created another major divide, eventually turning “official” Russian literature into political propaganda for the communist state.

Finally, Mikhail Gorbachev’s ascent to power in 1985 and the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991 marked another dramatic break. What is important in this pattern is that the breaks were sudden rather than gradual and that they were the product of political forces external to literary history itself.

Source : http://www.britannica.com/art/Russian-literature

Performing arts : Russian Opera

The start of Russian Opera can be traced down to 1731 when Frederick Augustus I ( King of Poland and Elector of Saxony) lent his Italian opera troupe to Empress Anna for her coronation in Moscow. Giovanni Alberto Ristori presented the first opera, Calendro, with the help of his father Tomasso Ristori, 13 actors and 9 singers. Makin an obvious impression, the Empress invited another Italian troupe, led by composer Francesco Araja, four years later.

Russian Ballet

Russian Ballet, like other western art forms, originated under the reign of Peter the Great during the early 18th century. As part of his reforms to modernize the Russian society, the Czar and his succesors invited French and Italian teachers of the arts. One of the first ballet teachers, Jean Baptiste Lande, had brought his students to perform before the court of Russian Empress Anna Ivanovna.

She was so impressed by the performance, that the Empress decided to start a ballet school in Russia in 1738. Formerly known as the Imperial Ballet School, it is now known as the world famous Vaganova Academy.

Source : http://www.russia-ukraine-travel.com/performing-arts-in-russia.html#

Russian Film History

Russian Cinema industry started in 1908 with the glorious premiere of the first national feature film. It was a primitive drama called Ponizovaya Volnitza or Sten'ka Razin directed by Vladimir Romashkov. The years 1911-1913 saw the first moving cartoons to be released in Russia. They were soon followed by screen versions of literature classics.

Source : http://www.russia-ic.com/culture_art/theatre/171/#.VdQ…

Clothing

Taken from Wikipedia :
A sarafan (Russian: сарафа́н; IPA: [sərɐˈfan], from Persian sarāрā[citation needed]) is a long, trapeze-shaped traditional Russianjumper dress (pinafore) worn as Russian folk costume by women and girls. Sarafans and kokoshniks are purely great Russian(Muscovite) outfits and are not known among the neighboring Ukrainians or Poles. The sarafan is however found among Finnic peoples, such as Vepses, Komis, Karelians and Finns.

Chronicles first mention it under the year 1376, and since that time it was worn until well into the 20th century. It is today worn as folk costume for performing Russian folk songs and folk dancing. Plain sarafans are still designed and worn today as a summer-time light dress.It was the dress worn by peasant girls and women in the central and northern part of Russia until the 20th century.

Russian women from the upper and middle classes stopped wearing traditional Russian costume in the 18th century, during Peter the Great's modernization of Russia, apart from the kokoshniks as part a court dress (although the clothing style of Russian aristocrats differed greatly from those of commoners). It is now worn as folk costume for performing Russian folk songs and folk dancing.Sarafans could be of single piece construction with thin shoulder straps over which a sleeveless vest, called a dushegreya is sometimes worn, giving the shape of the body of a smaller triangle over a larger one.

It comes in different styles such as the simpler black, flower- or check-patterned versions formerly used for everyday wear, or the elaborate brocade versions formerly reserved for special occasions. The head-dress usually worn with the sarafan today in folk performances is the kokoshnik, although in the past a head scarf tied under the chin or at the back of the head was part of everyday dress.Plain sarafans are still designed and worn today as a summer-time light dress without the traditional Russian blouse. They can be worn during folk music and dance performances and are produced as souvenirs.

RUSSIAN CUISINE
The Russian Cuisine is the collection of different cooking traditions of Russian people. The cuisine is different, as Russia is by area the largest country un the World. It is necessary to divide Russian traditional cuisine and Soviet cuisine, which has its own peculiarity. Its foundations were laid by the peasant food of the rural population in an often harsh climate, with a combination of plentiful fish, pork, poultry, caviar, mushrooms, berries, and honey. Crops of rye, wheat, barley, pancakes, pies, cereals, beer and vodka. Soups and stews, fish and meats

Languages

"Russian (русский язык (help·info), tr.: russkiy yazyk, [ˈru.skʲɪj jɪˈzɨk]) is the most widely spoken language of Eurasia and the most widespread of the Slavonic languages.

Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages. Within the Slavic branch, Russian is one of three living members of the East Slavic group, the other two being Belarusian and Ukrainian."

" There are over 100 minority languages spoken in Russia today, the most popular of which is Tartar, spoken by more than 3% of the country's population.Other minority languages include Ukrainian, Chuvash, Bashir, Mordvin and Chechen. Although few of these populations make up even 1% of the Russian population, these languages are prominent in key regional areas.Although Russian is the only federally official language of the Russian Federation, there are several other officially-recognized languages within Russia's various constituencies. This is a list of languages that are official only in certain parts of Russia.

TOP 5 OTHER LANGUAGES OF RUSSIA

• Abaza (in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic)
• Adyghe (in the Republic of Adygea)
• Altay (in the Altai Republic)
• Bashkir (in the Republic of Bashkortostan)
• Buryat (in Agin-Buryat Autonomous 6. Okrug, Buryat Republic, and Ust- Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug) Ok

Russian festivals
Maslenitsa
Maslenitsa is the only pure Russian holiday that takes you back to the pagan times. It is festive pre-Lenten custom of Russia and often called pancake week. Each day of this week has a traditional activity. Children make themselves busy in playing games and elders in cooking big stacks of pancakes. Maslenitsa also includes snowball fights, masquerades, riding on swings, sledding, and sleigh rides. During this festival effigy of Maslenitsa is burnt to welcome spring and the return of the sun.

Victory day

Victory day remembers participation of Russia in World War II. This day is usually marked with parades. The military parade on Red Square, considered as the central square of Moscow as well as of Russia, being the largest.

Tatyana's day

Russians celebrate Tatyana’s day on 25th January. Tatyana’s day is often called Student’s day, named after Saint Tatyana, who lived in the late 2nd and 3rd centuries, and was murdered for her beliefs in the Orthodox religion.

Russian winter festival

Winter in Russia is hard and long, but Russians are familiar with how to inject fun into even at zero temperatures. It starts in December and continues to January. The winter festival is not only celebrated in Moscow but also all cities across Russia.

NORTHERN ASIA : RUSSIA

RUSSIA'S CLIMATE
Russia contains all of the world's vegetation zones except a tropical rain forest. Its size has a continental climate. The coldest weather experienced in the north and east, but summer weather patterns mean that Verkhoyansik in Siberia has the earth's widest temperature range, with record low of -68°C and a record high of 37°C. The regions worst suited to agriculture receive the highest levels of rainfall. Which in Western Europe is distributed evenly through the year, July and August tend to deliver around 25 percent of annual rain in European Russia.

RUSSIAN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
The Russian Science and Technology are very famous due to many achievements. The top list of their inventions are:
- The invention of radio A. Popov - The Periodical Table of elements by D. Mendeleev - The formulation of the principals of interplanetary space flights on multistage rockets by K. Tsiolkovskly -Achievements of Russian space program lead by S. Korolev that include the first unmanned space flight of Sputnik and first manned space flight of Yu. - Invention of laser by N. Bosov and Yu. Prokhorov as well and many more discoveries and inventions.

There are 4000 organizations in Russia involved in research and development with almost 1 million personnel. Half of those workers are doing scientific research. It is coordinated by Ministry of industry, science and technologies, where strategy and basic priorities are being formulated. Fundamental scientific research is concentrated in Russian Academy of Sciences, which includes hundreds of institutes specializing in all major scientific disciplines such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology astronomy, Earth sciences, etc.

Russian resources

Russia now produces 20 percent of the world's natural gas, and oil is also a valuable commodity. This country is self-sufficient in all major industrial raw materials, and contains reserves of less essential, but nevertheless significant, natural resources, including diamonds and gold. Russia is less furnished with suitable agriculture areas. The country can be divided roughly into 3 main zones.