Russian and Soviet Culture
May 2nd, 2008
The Dacha, or summer house, is a large part of summer life for many Russians. These summer “houses” range from a simple plot of land for growing vegetables to large mansions. One thing is for sure, getting to your dacha on a Friday night might take hours as traffic jams, full of anxious dacha goers, are common on the roads leading away from Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Here’s a short report from Russia Today on the beginning of dacha season.
April 23rd, 2008
With May Day approaching, we bring you a collection of Soviet May Day postcards. These are great examples of soviet art and we hope you will enjoy them. These were originally posed to Flickr by iwasayeyeman.
July 18th, 2007
Elena Marus, a student at the British Higher School of Art and Design in Moscow, gets lots of questions about Russia when talking with foreigners. As part of her graduate work, she decided to make a website to cover some of the most famous Russian symbols and stereotypes. The site takes a fun look at all the Russian classics such as samovars, vodka, matrioshka dolls, and even Russian brides. Elena’s site is fun and a great example of modern web design.
Russia Today recently interviewed Elena about her site.
Video at YouTube
Link: WOW Russia!
June 20th, 2007
Cheburashka is a famous character from the Russian children’s books by Eduard Uspenskiy. He was also featured in Soviet cartoons and became very popular in the Russia and around the world. Cheburashka’s popularity continues today and he is even the official mascot for the Russian Olympic team.
Link: Cheburashka at Wikipedia
Here are some photos of Cheburashka dolls found around the internet. It seems that Cheburashka is quite a world traveler!
Cheburashka at the Golden Gate Bridge
Cheburashka visits Japan
Cheburashka in the Taipei subway
Cheburashka at a Japanese flower show
Cheburashka visiting Loch Ness, Scotland
Cheburashka visiting the Taj Mahal in India
May 16th, 2007
The Soviet government produced quite a lot of propaganda posters in its day. Some of the more interesting, and still relevant, posters were against alcohol abuse. Yuri Matrosovich has put together a small “Museum of Anti-Alcohol Posters” featuring some great examples of anti-alcohol propaganda.
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