Travel Notes

Ghostbusses

Capital sees boom in 

supernatural tours

Ghost tours of the capital are all the rage. For a modest fee, tourists are introduced to the city’s ghosts and other supernatural forces. So far, five Moscow agencies offer the tours, with Vladimirskoe Podvorye (podvorye.narod.ru) claiming to have been the first. Bus tours start at dusk and for two hours cruise areas inhabited by ghosts, hoping to sight an apparition through the bus windows.

Meanwhile, one city ghost has earned international acclaim, having been registered in the International Ghost Directory. A huge black cat reportedly strolls along Tverskaya twice a month, emerging at night from the wall of one building and melting into another. Some claim the cat was the prototype of Bulgakov’s Begemot, in The Master and Margarita.

On Yaroslavskoye shosse, you may chance upon ghosts of the Khovansky princes. The princes—a father and son—have been reputedly trying for 300 years to redeem their reputation since they were killed by Sofia, Peter the Great’s stepsister, for  allegedly plotting against her. At night, the Khovanskys are said to stop passersby and beg them to go to Sofia and tell her they were innocent. In order to make his case, one of the princes holds his head under his arm.

Then there is the curse of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Before the Church was first built, the space was occupied by Alekseevsky Convent. When she learned that the Convent was to be closed, the Mother Superior chained herself to a large tree in the yard. Tsar Nicholas I ordered the tree to be dug up, together with the brave protester. While the orders were being executed, Mother Superior shouted: “No good will ever come of this place, except for a dirty, stinking puddle.” An open-air swimming pool was built on the spot in 1958.  (Izvestia)

Pond Scuffles

City settles

Patriarshiye Ponds dispute

As reported in the previous issue of Russian Life, a monument to Mikhail Bulgakov was being planned for Moscow’s Patriarshiye Ponds, site of much of Bulgakov’s novel, The Master and Mar-garita. After a heated controversy, on March 15 city planners decided that the monument will include only a statue of the writer, and none of the other characters from the novel, as planned by sculptor Alexander Rukavishnikov. 

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov apologized to Rukavishnikov for the “moral damages” he suffered. “The monument to Bulgakov has served us as a lesson in compromise,” the mayor said. 

According to the new plan, Bulgakov will probably be seated on one of the benches on Malaya Bronnaya Street, although the location of the monument may still be reconsidered. Historic streetlamps around the ponds will be restored and complemented by new lamps to be installed near benches. Lindens dating to 1873 will also be rehabilitated, and 48 new trees will be planted along the road. In addition, the fence along Malaya Bron-naya Street, built in the 1950s, will be restored. In winter, the pond will be turned into a public skating-rink.  (Interfax)

Front Museum

New WWII museum opens

in Novgorod region

In February, the first Russian Museum of the Front was opened in Staraya Russa, Novgorod region, to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the liberation of Staraya Russa from German occupation. The museum tells the story of Soviet Army actions along the entire front during WWII. Some 1,500 exhibits tell the “human side” of the war, on both sides, including photos of German doctors treating Russian children during the occupation of the Novgorod region. Documents on display show German occupiers rejoicing at letters and parcels from home, or tired, sick, hungry and freezing from bitter cold. Some of the objects on display were presented to the museum by German war veterans and by widows of those who did not return from the war. (RIA Novosti)

Tomsk Mammoth

A mammoth skeleton was found by workers building a bridge over Chulym river in Tomsk region. The excavator operator found two well-preserved tusks, each about 2 meters long and weighing over 50 kilos. Other skeleton parts were also excavated. In 1999, on the  shores of the Chulym, two intact dinosaur skeletons of a previously unknown species were found.

does not apply to reelection bids

“It often happens this way in Russia: we’ll think for a hundred years, provided that we don’t have to do anything.”

Vladimir Putin (Argumenty i Fakty)

Piter Forecast

During St. Petersburg’s 300th anniversary celebrations, the busiest time for travel agencies and hotels will be from March 15 to June 5, according to St. Petersburg tourism authorities. Today, St. Petersburg has 140 large (over 50 room) hotels, only nine of them of economy class. 25 hotels will be assigned to foreign and Russian official delegations. An estimated 47 heads of state will come to St. Petersburg at the height of celebrations, accompanied by approximately 2500 escorts. They will be joined by 96 representatives of Russian’s regions and cities. The majority of deluxe hotel rooms have already been reserved for the city’s guests. Independent-traveling tourists are expected to experience problems finding hotel accommodations. 

Amber’s Away

The official opening of the newly-restored Amber Room in Catherine Palace at Tsarskoe Selo has been confirmed as May 31, wrapping up the month of tercentenary celebrations. Restoration has been going on for 23 years and, since 1999, has been financed by Germany’s Ruhrgas AG (see Russian Life, Jan/Feb 2003)

Glowing Museums

Over fifty radioactive exhibits were found on display in St. Petersburg museums during a check-up that lasted for just two weeks. High quantities of radium were found in WWII era appliances on display at the Central Army and Navy Museum, the Museum of the Defense and Blockade of Leningrad and the Museum of Artillery and Sappers. All radioactive devices were withdrawn from the museums. (Russkaya Sluzhba Novostei)