Wintery Writer’s Walk

Sunday’s  expedition to the Moscow centre included visiting St Basil’s Cathedral, the State Historical Museum (SHM) and evening walk through literary Russia.

Both the St. Basil and the SHM open at 11:00 AM on Sundays. You can conveniently buy tickets for both at a discounted rate in the SHM.  (I was lucky to still have my student card and paid 90r, but regular admission to both is only 330r) They also like to charge you for a camera license – but this is largely unnecessary. In the cathedral everyone was taking photos and no one got asked for a ticket. In the SHM in some rooms no one seemed to mind if you took photos, in other places the supervisors did ask people to see their camera ticket.

In St. Basil’s Cathedral you spend about 30-45 mins walking around the various churches dedicated/consecrated to some saint or hero of the Russian Empire (prior to the cathedral’s construction in 1555). The tallest dome(center church) is definitely the most impressive room inside, but I also found the north church (blue dome) to be quite beautiful with painted walls all the way up to the top.

If you happen to be in Red Square on a Sunday morning you will hear the church service in the Kazan Cathedral, still an operating church (unlike St. Basil’s), when you enter the SHM. You could easily spend several hours in the SHM if you read everything, but  I spent about two hours and read about half the information. One important reminder for English visitors: all the text in the exhibits is in Russian. However, there are audio guides and English information available on the ground floor (for a nominal fee!) The history museum covers primarily archeological Russian history from 6000 years BC to about the 18th century. Part of the experience is looking up and admiring each hall’s decor. My favourite halls were number 5,11,12,13, 18 and 18 – mostly because of the decor but the animal carvings in hall 5 I thought were quite unique. After the permanent exhibits there was a temporary exhibit on literacy in the Soviet period. These exhibits rotate every two months or so. This one will be on display until January 10th.

After refueling with some Russian fast food (blinis – crepes) I decided to brave the first snowy day in Moscow and do the literary walk as outlined in the Lonely Planet travel guide, beginning at the Tverskaya metro stop and ending at the Mayakovskaya metro stop. In the book it said it takes about two to three hours – I would say it definitely took closer to 3 hours, especially if you take photos. This walk takes you through a beautiful part of Moscow (lots of embassies in this area) around some of the preserved 19th century buildings and shows you where some of Russia’s literary giants lived and worked. The best part of the walk for me was the first part walking down Tverskoy boulevard – even in winter it is still beautiful. Stops along the way included: Lermontov’s House/Museum, Gorky’s House/Museum, Chekhov House/Museum, Bulgakov’s apartment, statues of Pushkin, Yesenin, Gogol, Blok, Krylov, and Mayakovsky. By the time I got to the end of the walk the sun had set and the Patriarch’s Ponds were quite beautifully lit.

Later this week I hope to comment on different standards of living in Russia in my post titled Help!I need housing!