Travel Notes

Central Location

Zaikonospassky Monastery, an ancient structure only 100 meters from Red Square, will once again become an active monastery, the Orthodox Church’s Holy Synod has decided.

Founded by Boris Godunov in 1600, the monastery also housed Russia’s first university, the Slavik-Greko-Latin Academy, which later moved to the Trinity-St. Sergius monastery in Sergiyev-Posad. The monastery has been closed for 90 years, though Orthodox services have resumed in the monastery’s church in 1992, the Bogoyavlensky Cathedral (pictured), built in 1624.

The monastery’s busy central location on Nikolskaya Street has made it subject to encroachment from all sides, including below the monastery, where some neighboring landlords illegally expanded underground in order to build a shopping center, undermining the safety of some of the buildings. Nearby, a beer restaurant has been fighting the reopening for years. It will nonetheless be several years before all the buildings of the central monastery are refurbished.

A Piece of Europe

Zurab Tsereteli, a sculptor known for his productivity, has proposed his biggest monument yet. To be called “Europe,” the monument is a conglomeration of famous European architectural landmarks and would be approximately 400 meters high – 50 percent higher than the Eiffel tower, and has been proposed for installation at Moscow’s Poklonnaya Gora. Tsereteli has lately been living in Paris.

Russians on the Seine

The Russian government has purchased a plot of land in Paris, on Quai de Branly, with the goal of building a Russian Cultural Center, including an Orthodox church. Russia won a tender to buy the plot, with the Office of Presidential Affairs submitting the winning maximum price bid. Although the price was not disclosed, experts estimate it to be at least €50 million for the .42 hectares (€1,100 per square foot), Svoboda Radio reported.

The idea to build a cultural center in Paris was first expressed by the late Patriarch Alexei II on his 2007 visit to France. Viktor Khrekov, spokesman in the Office of Presidential Affairs, said the center will fit “organically” with the surrounding architecture, and be true to the spirit of Russian and French cultures. Critics meanwhile questioned the value of such spending while hundreds of crumbling churches inside Russia are neglected.

Wi-Sherry

Sheremetyevo airport is now providing free wifi to passengers transiting its F terminal (previously known as Sheremetyevo 2; F services international flights). At present, the free wifi zones will be limited to gate areas, beyond passport control and security check. The airport has promised to eventually expand coverage to include all Sheremetyevo terminals.

Cycling Baikal

At press time, three Americans and two Venezuelans were about halfway through a first-ever Winter Bicycle Circumnavigation of Lake Baikal, to include 43 days entirely on ice. The team is cycling the 2000 kilometer perimeter of the 25 million-year-old lake to create a film documentary and to raise awareness of the environmental concerns in the region. (cyclebaikal.com)

Porcelain House

The Museum of Novgorod will open a new “house of porcelain” in 2011 to coincide with a 160th anniversary of the birth of Ivan Kuznetsov, Russia’s most famous porcelain tycoon, who owned a chain of workshops in the Russian northwest. The museum will replicate the look and feel of such a workshop and show off the best cobalt-decorated dishes, travel.ru reported. The porcelain exhibit will be permanently housed in place of one of the towers of Desyatin Monastery, which has not been preserved.