January/February 2018

With the turning of the calendar, it is time to look forward, and to think about what this magazine must become.

Readers offer feedback and corrections.

The Tretyakov Gallery has completed restoration of a defining artwork of the Russian avant-garde: the ornithopter, or flying machine, created by Vladimir Tatlin in 1932.

All the news that is fit to print, including notes on art, the environment, clocks and monuments.

Things worth knowing on the travel front.

Tracking down the meme of dark materials set in motion by the Russian president.

What did Russians experience during January and February in bygone days?

February 1, 1818 was a milestone in the history of Russian culture, marking the release of the first eight volumes of Nikolai Karamzin’s History of the Russian State.

On February 3, 1718, Emperor Peter I issued a manifesto depriving Alexei, his son by his first wife, of the right to succeed him to the throne.

Every year, a group of Russian word-lovers vote on the word – or rather words – of the year. Here are the results.

In this issue’s Uchites, we look at New Year’s by reading a very old text and learning a popular children’s song.

We travel to a distant, Siberian lake, Russia’s second deepest, in search of the remains of ancient Evenk culture. The reindeer may be largely gone, but fishing is still an important, and powerful, shared tradition.

“We do buy newspapers, and why wouldn’t we? It’s all spelled out in the paper – what the weather’s going to be like, how many rubles there are to the dollar, when the district center’s going to have chickens for sale. No, how can you do without the printed word?”

In which we tour four museums in four cities and towns in Russia and Ukraine, to see what they tell us about soceity more broadly.

A Russian entrepreneur and family save a village, start an agro business, and share a recipe for Tatar pies.

In which we review Amy Knight's Orders to Kill, Linor Goralik's Found Life, a new translation of Monday Starts on Saturday, and the new novel Gogol's Head.

The new Luzhniki, the stadium in Moscow where the opening and final matches of this summer’s World Cup football (soccer) championships will be held, hosted its first match: a friendly game between Russia and Argentina.