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On January 23, 1755, Moscow State University was founded! 🌟

Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov played a major role in the establishment of the oldest Russian university, for which Moscow State University bears his name.
According to the academician’s project, it was necessary to create three faculties: philosophy (initially mandatory for all students), medicine and law (where further specialization took place). Teaching was supposed to be conducted in two languages: Latin and Russian.

🙎‍♀️Although historically the university was founded by the decree of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (12) on January 23, 1755, this date fell on St. Tatiana’s Day, which was celebrated on January 12 according to the old style (the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates her memory day according to the new style on January 25). Therefore, today January 25 is considered the birthday of Moscow State University, and all students in Russia consider this day their holiday.

What to see in the Central Children's Store?

Main Atrium

The unique historical atrium was recreated during the reconstruction according to the original design of the architect Alexey Dushkin. Valuable interior elements were carefully preserved and restored, using marble from the same deposit that was used during the construction of the building in 1957.

Museum of Childhood

The Museum of Childhood presents more than 1,000 exhibits - children's goods and toys from the 50s-80s, including the first Russian teddy bears, tumbler dolls, wind-up models, cars, books, cartoons, etc. The exhibits presented were sold in the legendary children's store and were donated to the Museum.

The Largest LEGO Figure

The giant rocket, 18.5 meters high and weighing four tons, located in the Central Children's Store Igrushki area, is the largest LEGO structure in the world. It consists of 1.9 million parts.

The Largest Mechanical Clock

The enormous clock mechanism weighing more than 5 tons was developed and manufactured by the oldest Russian enterprise, the Petrodvorets Watch Factory "Raketa", especially for the Central Children's Store. The unique monumental clock, which consists of 5,000 parts made of steel, aluminum, titanium, covered with gold, is the largest in the world.

Observation Deck

On the roof of the Central Children's Store there is an observation deck, which offers views of the historical center of Moscow, the Kremlin, the Polytechnic Museum, Lubyanka Square and the High-Rise on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment.

Moscow 🫶🏼

New year #vocabulary 🎄✨

🏠You want to know how long it will take you to learn Russian. Luckily for you, there are several studies that sought to tell us just that.

But first, a disclaimer: In many of these studies, language proficiency or fluency is the bar set to determine whether or not the language has been “learned.” As you may know, you don’t necessarily need to be fluent to be able to speak a foreign language and to be comfortable interacting in that language. A low intermediate level can get you pretty far in Russia.👸

Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take these studies with a grain of salt and remember that you can and will be able to interact in Russian long before you’re fluent.💃

Realistic estimates in the field of linguistics have studied the number of hours really needed to learn a language like Russian. The Common European Framework for Reference for Languages, for example, uses the “Guided Learning Hours” framework to measure the amount of classroom time total needed to reach a B2 (high intermediate) level. It assumes that for every one hour of classroom time, learners will spend two hours of independent study time. In the end, this equates to a total of between 1,000 and 1,200 hours.🌟

📽️Back in 1977, shortly before the Olympics in Moscow, the Olympic Committee organized a competition for the best sketch of a bear, the future symbol of the Olympic Games. Thousands of artists took part in the competition, and the winner was an illustrator of children’s books, Viktor Chizhikov. It was his sketch, now so familiar to billions of people, that was officially approved on December 19, 1977.

🐻Misha the Bear is the mascot of the XXII Summer Olympic Games, which were held in 1980 in Moscow (this year the Moscow Games celebrated their 41st anniversary). The mascot is a smiling bear standing on its hind legs.

On August 3, 1980, at 9 p.m. Moscow time, the Olympic Bear soared into the sky, and the history of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow came to an end. 30 minutes after the closing of the Olympics, the announcer announced: “Dear comrades, the bear will remain in your hearts, but he will not return. Good bye.” The whole country cried.🥲

🎄✨ #vocabulary

Moscow 🎄🫶🏼

New #vocabulary

Really hard words to write in cursive 🖊️ do you know other words like these?

💌The New Society of Artists, one of many creative associations in the Silver Age, was active in St. Petersburg-Petrograd from 1903 to 1917. During this time its exhibitors included more than 200 participants: painters and graphic artists, sculptors and architects.
Unlike many other unions, the New Society did not promote a theoretical manifesto. The founders, some of them full members of the Academy of Arts and teachers, saw their task not as the formation of yet another new artistic language, but, on the contrary, as providing a voice to each of the existing stylistic 'dialects'. Impressionists and symbolists, neo-classicists and avant-garde artists were invited to the exhibitions.

Members of the New Society of Artists closely communicated with famous critics and writers such as Anna Akhmatova, Nikolai Gumilyov and Alexander Blok, publishing their works in the popular magazines Vesy or Apollon and embellishing collections of poetry and prose from the 1900s and 1910s.

The exhibition on two floors of the Museum of Russian Impressionism presents some 200 items, informing the general public about the activities of the New Society of Artists and its role in early 20th-century Russian culture for the first time. ❤️

Museum of Russian Impressionism 💔

magical feeling ✨️🤍

Best russian fairytales: 2nd part! ✨

Теремок
По щучьему веленью
Царевна-лягушка
Морозко
Баба Яга
Иван-царевич и серый волк

Moscow today ✨

🤢Why do foreigners dislike kholodets so much? A festive post about the most controversial Russian dish in honor of Kholodets Day (November 7)

Kholodets is one of the traditional Russian dishes that foreigners are often treated to. However, many of them only see this dish in their nightmares!👹

But why do foreigners dislike this dish so much?🫨

The first, and perhaps the most obvious reason, is its taste. Many people find that the jelly in kholodets is completely tasteless, and there is little meat. But this is a very relative reason (it is quite possible that the cook who made this tasteless kholodets was simply incompetent).

Secondly, many people find that this product has a very unappetizing appearance. Chaotic pieces of meat in some kind of muddy jelly. But, again, this reason is very relative. There is no accounting for taste!

The last and third reason is the cooking method and ingredients. Many foreigners base their opinions about kholodets on information found on the Internet with translation from Russian into English. And they probably find the idea of ​​boiling bones together with a pork leg a little creepy.

That is why many foreigners have such a biased attitude towards kholodets. Nevertheless, kholodets was, is and will be loved by the residents of Russia and will remain a permanent “guest” at any holiday table!

And what do you think about this dish?🙏🏻💘

First snow ❄️

🍰A meringue cake with whipped cream and fresh fruit was named after the famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. And for almost a hundred years now, two countries — Australia and New Zealand — have been fighting for the right to consider themselves the birthplace of this dessert.🤩

When Anna Pavlova studied at the Imperial Theatre School, she was called “Pavlova the Second” — to distinguish her from her older namesake Varvara. But it was the “second” ballerina who became famous throughout the world. At the Mariinsky Theatre, where Pavlova ended up after her studies, she very soon began to be given leading roles in classical ballets: in 1902, she performed the role of Nikiya in “La Bayadère”, then played Giselle in the ballet of the same name, Kitri in “Don Quixote”, Odette and Odile in “Swan Lake”.🦢

In 1926, Anna Pavlova, by then already a legendary ballerina🩰, toured Australia and New Zealand. That’s when the story of the dessert that was named after her began.

🌬According to the New Zealand version, the meringue-based cake with fruit was invented in the same 1926 by a chef at a hotel in Wellington, the capital of the country. It is believed that he was inspired by the airy outfits of the ballerina and he decided to embody this impression in a delicate, airy dessert. This version was supported by Keith Money, Anna Pavlova’s biographer.

🎀In Australia, people believe that the Pavlova cake appeared much later, in 1935. According to this version, it was prepared by the chef of the Esplanade Hotel, Bert Sachet. When the dessert was served, Sachet exclaimed: “It’s as airy as the ballerina Pavlova!” This is how the cake got its name.

🎃On the night from October 31 to November 1, almost the entire world celebrates Halloween. The holiday is considered an integral part of Western culture and is extremely popular around the world. However, not everyone knows that our country has its own, Russian Halloween - Veles Night.

Veles Night is not without reason called "Russian Halloween". Both holidays are celebrated on the night from October 31 to November 1. This time had a special sacred meaning for the Slavs. November was revered as the gate to winter, to darkness - this is a kind of "dying" of nature. It was believed that on the last night of October, the doors between the worlds open.

According to legends, on Veles Night, Chernobog takes the wheel of the year from Belobog - the sacred calendar. Thus, the dark force wins, plunging Reality into cold and darkness for six months. However, there is no need to despair: after a while, Belobog will defeat the dark forces, turning the Year Wheel towards the sun and light.

However, it is hardly possible to call the event festive. Veles Night is of great importance and full of solemnity, but there is no fun as such in it. On this night, the doors between the three worlds are open, and evil spirits can roam the earthly territory unhindered until the morning, and this, naturally, is very dangerous.

The hard and soft signs are the only silent letters of the modern Russian alphabet. They appeared in the 9th century and, unlike some letters, still exist. Their functions and names have changed more than once during this time.

Today we will tell you more about "ъ"

The letter "ъ" - it was called "eр" until 1918 - appeared in the 9th century as part of the alphabet invented by Cyril and Methodius. In Old Russian and Old Church Slavonic, it played several roles.
Until the middle of the 12th century, this letter was assigned a sound. Scientists describe it as a "reduced mid-back vowel." It was similar in pronunciation to [u] and was very short.

"Ер" was often found in an unstressed position. According to the rules of the Old Russian language, a consonant letter could not form a syllable without a vowel or stand next to another consonant. Therefore, they used "ъ". Another general process that deprived "yer" of its sound, scientists called the fall of the reduced. Over the centuries, people stopped pronouncing very short vowels, and they gradually disappeared from speech, especially if they stood at the end of words. This is what happened with the letter "ъ".

After "ъ" stopped denoting a sound and performing the function of a space, it was used in the Russian written language for several more centuries - "correctly" ended the word according to the Church Slavonic canons, which required a vowel to stand at the end. In the end, it was because of this that the letter was legislatively removed.

[Yer] disappeared from written use gradually. It was not used in telegrams, some did not use it in correspondence, and in the 1870s they even tried to remove it from typographic texts, but the initiative was quickly curtailed. The letter finally disappeared only after the revolution.

📰Anton Chekhov - interesting facts!

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is a Russian writer, novelist, playwright, and doctor. He is considered a classic of world literature. One of the most famous playwrights in the world, his works have been translated into more than a hundred languages.

- Many people think that Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a rather fragile person with a quiet voice. This stereotype was formed on the basis of his later photographs and the memoirs of his contemporaries. The fact is that these photographs were taken during the period when Chekhov suffered from a serious illness (tuberculosis). In his youth, Anton Pavlovich was a “Russian hero” (this is what his acquaintances called him). There was a case when Yuri Yakovlev (height 187 cm) played Chekhov and tried on the writer’s authentic jacket, and it fit him perfectly.

- Chekhov is one of the three most filmed authors in the world. In the list of writers, Chekhov ranks second, right after William Shakespeare.

- Anton Pavlovich Chekhov had more than 50 pseudonyms, the most famous of which were: Schiller Shakespeare Goethe, Shampansky, My Brother’s Brother, Nut No. 6, Grach and many others. Chekhov signed his real name for the first time in the newspaper “New Time”, because the editor insisted on it.

- An asteroid in the main asteroid belt and a crater on Mercury were named in honor of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. And also a city and a publishing house in New York, as well as many educational institutions.

Tips for the most comfortable visit to Tsaritsyno:

If you want to save money, take snacks and drinks with you, a 0.3 ml bottle of water costs 100 rubles there!
Download the Izitravel app, it's a free audio guide. You can walk and listen to the history of Tsaritsyno, it's very convenient!

Some attractive facts:

🟡 The territory was purchased by Catherine II for the construction of the main pleasure residence in Moscow.

🟡 The verdict of the Empress (the customer of the project) after a cursory inspection was harsh: the money spent on construction was wasted, the staircases were narrow, the ceilings were heavy, the rooms and boudoirs were cramped, the halls were dark like cellars. Catherine ordered a lot to be torn down and a new project for the main palace to be presented.

🟡 But the new project also remained unrealized. In the late 1780s, Catherine II lost interest in her Moscow region project: funding was insufficient. In 1790, construction stopped.

🟡 In 1793, the Empress returned to the Tsaritsyn construction. Again, huge changes were made to the project.

🟡 In November 1796, Catherine the Great died suddenly. The following rulers hardly took care of the residence!

🟡 Since the mid-1980s, scientific restoration of Tsaritsyn objects has been carried out; almost all of them were restored by 2004.

October 🍂✨

New #vocabulary 🍂