Western Russia The great Kremlins of Russia played an important military role in some of the most exposed regions of Europe. The plains of Western Russia are both extremely fertile and strategically endless, and unlike the rest of Europe almost impossible to defend under the traditional system of feudal castles. Instead Russia focused on the defense of heavily fortified … [Read more...]
PETER TCHAIKOVSKY SITES
St. Petersburg & Klin, Russia The Nutcracker, a ballet by Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky based on a story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, is one of the greatest traditions of the Christmas season. The endearing dances are among the most famous, and popular, pieces of music ever composed. Performed by ballet companies around the world, played by radio stations everywhere, it is the most … [Read more...]
NATIONAL LIBRARY
St. Petersburg, Russia Tucked away in the massive collection of the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg is an unassuming book of priceless importance to the Jewish community: the Leningrad Codex, the oldest complete copy of the Hebrew Bible in the world. The Leningrad Codex, which achieved its status after portions of the Aleppo Codex were lost in the mid-20th … [Read more...]
RUINS OF ATIL
Samosdelka, Russia One of the least remembered and arguably one of the oddest side-stories of Jewish history was the existence of an enormous Jewish state in west-central Asia during the Middle Ages. The Khazar Empire, whose rulers and aristocrats converted to Judaism sometime in the 8th or 9th centuries, may in fact have been the largest Jewish-rulesd realm in history, … [Read more...]
ST. BASIL’S CATHEDRAL
Moscow, Russia The Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed is one of the great churches of Eastern Orthodoxy and the defining architectural symbol of the city of Moscow. By some measures it has been hailed as one of the most spectacularly beautiful churches in Christendom and is certainly among the most recognizable. It is often thought to be part of the Kremlin, Moscow’s great … [Read more...]
TRINITY-ST. SERGIUS MONASTERY
Sergius Posad, Russia Between the 10th and the 15th centuries, the heartlands of the Orthodox Church gradually shifted northwards into Slavic Europe as the Byzantine Empire was lost piece by piece to Islam. The twin disasters of the Mongol invasions and later the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople unexpectedly left the Patriarch of Moscow as the preeminent figure in the … [Read more...]