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Russian Ark
''Russian Ark'' () is a 2002 experimental historical drama film directed by Alexander Sokurov. The plot follows an unnamed narrator, who wanders through the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, and implies that he died in some horrible accident and is a ghost drifting through. In each room, he encounters various real and fictional people from various periods in the city's 300-year history. He is accompanied by "the European", who represents the Marquis de Custine, a 19th-century French traveler. An international co-production between Russia and Germany, ''Russian Ark'' was shot entirely in the Winter Palace of the Russian State Hermitage Museum on 23 December 2001, using a one-take single 87-minute Steadicam sequence shot. It extensively uses the fourth wall device, but repeatedly broken and re-erected. At times, the narrator and the companion interact with the other performers, while at other times they pass unnoticed. The film was entered into the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Sokurov
Alexander Nikolayevich Sokurov, PAR (; born 14 June 1951) is a Russian filmmaker. His most significant works include a feature film, ''Russian Ark'' (2002), filmed in a single unedited shot, and ''Faust'' (2011), which was honoured with the Golden Lion, the highest prize for the best film at the Venice Film Festival. Life and work Sokurov was born in Podorvikha, Irkutsky District, in Siberia, into a military officer's family. He graduated from the History Department of the Nizhny Novgorod University in 1974 and entered one of the VGIK studios the following year. There he became friends with Tarkovsky and was deeply influenced by his film ''Mirror''. Most of Sokurov's early features were banned by Soviet authorities. During his early period, he produced numerous documentaries, including '' The Dialogues with Solzhenitsyn'' and a reportage about Grigori Kozintsev's flat in Saint Petersburg. His film '' Mournful Unconcern'' was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 37th Berl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catherine The Great
Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III. Under her long reign, inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment, Russia experienced a renaissance of culture and sciences, which led to the founding of many new cities, universities, and theatres, along with large-scale immigration from the rest of Europe and the recognition of Russia as one of the great powers of Europe. In her accession to power and her rule of the empire, Catherine often relied on her noble favourites, most notably Count Grigory Orlov and Grigory Potemkin. Assisted by highly successful generals such as Alexander Suvorov and Pyotr Rumyantsev, and admirals such as Samuel Greig and Fyodor Ushakov, she governed at a time when the Russian Empire was expanding rapidly by conquest and diplomacy. In the south, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka ( rus, links=no, Михаил Иванович Глинка, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka, mʲɪxɐˈil ɨˈvanəvʲɪdʑ ˈɡlʲinkə, Ru-Mikhail-Ivanovich-Glinka.ogg; ) was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition within his own country and is often regarded as the fountainhead of Russian classical music. His compositions were an important influence on other Russian composers, notably the members of The Five, who produced a distinctive Russian style of music. Early life and education Glinka was born in the village of Novospasskoye, not far from the Desna River in the Smolensk Governorate of the Russian Empire (now in the Yelninsky District of the Smolensk Oblast). His wealthy father had retired as an army captain, and the family had a strong tradition of loyalty and service to the tsars, and several members of his extended family had lively cultural interests. His great-great-grandfather was a Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth nobleman, Wikt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valery Gergiev
Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (, ; ; born 2 May 1953) is a Russian conducting, conductor and opera company director. He is currently general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre and of the Bolshoi Theatre and artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg. He was formerly chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and of the Munich Philharmonic. Early life Gergiev was born in Moscow. He is the son of Tamara Timofeevna (Tatarkanovna) Lagkueva and Abisal Zaurbekovich Gergiev, both of Ossetians, Ossetian origin. He and his siblings were raised in Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia in the Caucasus. He had his first piano lessons in secondary school before going on to study at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, Leningrad Conservatory from 1972 to 1977. His principal conducting teacher was Ilya Musin (conductor), Ilya Musin. His sister, Larissa, is a pianist and director of the Mariinsky's singers' academy. Career In 1978, Gergiev became as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neva Enfilade Of The Winter Palace
The Neva Enfilade of the Winter Palace, St Petersburg, is a series of three large halls arranged in an Enfilade (architecture), enfilade along the palace's massive facade facing the River Neva. Originally designed as a series of five state rooms by the architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, Francesco Rastrelli in 1753, they were transformed into an enfilade of three vast halls in 1790 by Giacomo Quarenghi. Following a fire in 1837 they were rebuilt under the direction of Vasily Stasov. Frequently used as the palace ballrooms, they formed a processional route, and were the focus of the imperial court. In 1915, the last Tsar, Nicholas II of Russia, Nicholas II, had the enfilade transformed into a military hospital. Following the Russian Revolution (1917), Russian Revolution of 1917, the enfilade, along with the remainder of the building, has been used as a series of exhibition halls of the State Hermitage Museum. History The palace was originally built in 1732, as an official r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Leningrad
The siege of Leningrad was a Siege, military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the city of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 to 1944. Leningrad, the country's second largest city, was besieged by Nazi Germany, Germany and Finland for 872 days, but never captured. The siege was the List of sieges, most destructive in history and possibly the List of battles by casualties#Sieges and urban combat, most deadly, causing an estimated 1.5 million deaths, from a prewar population of 3.2 million. It was not classified as a war crime at the time, but some historians have since classified it as a genocide due to the intentional destruction of the city and the systematic starvation of its civilian population. p. 334 In August 1941, Nazi Germany, Germany's Army Group North reached the suburbs of Leningrad as Finnish forces moved to encircle the city from the north. Land ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1922 to 1952 and as the fourth Premier of the Soviet Union, premier from 1941 until his death. He initially governed as part of a Collective leadership in the Soviet Union, collective leadership, but Joseph Stalin's rise to power, consolidated power to become an absolute dictator by the 1930s. Stalin codified the party's official interpretation of Marxism as Marxism–Leninism, while the totalitarian political system he created is known as Stalinism. Born into a poor Georgian family in Gori, Georgia, Gori, Russian Empire, Stalin attended the Tiflis Theological Seminary before joining the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. He raised f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Orbeli
Joseph Orbeli (, Hovsep Abgari Orbeli; ; 20 March ( O.S. 8 March) 1887 – 2 February 1961) was a Soviet-Armenian orientalist, public figure and academician who specialized in medieval history of Transcaucasia and administered the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad from 1934 to 1951. He was the founder and first president of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences (1943–47). Yuzbashyan, Karen ''«Օրբելի, Հովսեփ Աբգարի»'' rbeli, Hovsep AbgariArmenian Soviet Encyclopedia. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1986, vol. 12, pp. 584–585. Biography Early life and education Born into the Orbeli family in Kutaisi, Russian Georgia in 1887, Joseph Orbeli completed his secondary education at a classical gymnasium in Tbilisi. Anon. "Հովսեփ Օրբելի" ovsep Orbeli '' Patma-Banasirakan Handes'' 12/1 (1961), pp. 229–234. In 1904, he was accepted to Saint Petersburg University. He studied history and philology (with a particular emphasis in Latin and Gree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Imperial Guard
The Russian Imperial Guard, officially known as the Leib Guard ( ''Leyb-gvardiya'', from German ''Leib'' "body"; cf. Life Guards / Bodyguard), were combined Imperial Russian Army forces units serving as counterintelligence for preventing sabotage of important imperial palaces, personal guards of the Emperor of Russia and the Russian imperial family, public security in the capital and leaders in spearheading attacks on the battlefield. Peter I founded the first such units in 1683 to replace the politically-motivated Streltsy. The Imperial Guard subsequently increased in size and diversity to become an elite corps of all branches within the Imperial Russian Army, rather than household troops in direct attendance on the Tsar. Numerous links were however maintained with the imperial family, and the bulk of the Imperial Guard's regiments were stationed in and around the capital, Saint Petersburg, in peacetime. The Imperial Guard was disbanded in 1917 following the Russian Revolut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicholas II Of Russia
Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until Abdication of Nicholas II, his abdication on 15 March 1917. He Wedding of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna, married Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse), Alix of Hesse (later Alexandra Feodorovna) and had five children: the OTMA sisters – Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, Olga, born in 1895, Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia, Tatiana, born in 1897, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, Maria, born in 1899, and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, Anastasia, born in 1901 — and the tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, Alexei Nikolaevich, who was born in 1904, three years after the birth of their last daughter, Anastasia. During his reign, Nicholas gave support to the economic and political reforms promoted by his prim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Griboyedov
Alexander Sergeyevich Griboyedov (; 15 January 179511 February 1829) was a Russian diplomat, playwright, poet, and composer. His one notable work is the 1823 verse comedy '' Woe from Wit''. He was Russia's ambassador to Qajar Persia, where he and all the embassy staff were massacred by an angry mob in the aftermath of the ratification of the Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828), which confirmed the cession to Russia of Persia's northern territories comprising Transcaucasia and parts of the North Caucasus. Griboyedov played a pivotal role in the ratification of the treaty. The immediate cause for the incident was Griboyedov giving refuge to Armenians who had escaped from the harems of the Persian shah and his son. Early life Griboyedov was born in Moscow, the exact year unknown, with biographers debating whether it was in 1790 or 1795. His mother who dreamed of providing him with a career made sure Griboyedov received the best education. He received a master's degree in philology from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
