Travel Notes

Sigh of Relief

After going back and forth on the issue, Russia finally eased rules for skilled foreign workers resident in the country. The decision was welcomed by foreign business leaders who had decried new rules proposed by the Federal Migration Office in February.

The new regulations, according to the presidential website, allow foreigners to register either at a work address or at a residential address, and to have their multi-entry visas active for their entire work contract. Family members of professionals can also receive work visas for the length of their work stay in Russia.

The new law also extends to one week (previously the limit was three days) the time that foreigners can be in Russia without informing authorities.

An earlier version of the law would have required workers to register at the apartments they are renting, which would have meant convincing their landlords to complete the registration. The expat community criticized the rule because few Russians would be expected to grant a tenant foreigner formal rights to inhabit their property, even temporarily.

Parliamentary Privilege

The 2007 demolition of Moscow’s enormous Rossiya hotel (built in 1967 on the site of an abortive eighth “sister” – see Russian Life Jan/Feb 2011) created a vast, empty field next to Red Square. As reported in these pages, the original plan was to build a more modern and efficient hotel on the prime riverside real estate. But litigation has tied the project up in knots and the site has stood empty for three years.

Under a new plan, lenta.ru reported, a new “Parliament Center” may be built on the site, to contain both houses of the Russian parliament. Currently the Russian Duma (lower house) is located across from Red Square, while the Federation Council (upper house) occupies a building on Bolshaya Dmitrovka.

Portrait Museum Reopens

Moscow’s Tropinin Museum, a hidden jewel in the capital’s Zamoskvorechye neighborhood, has reopened after a long restoration.

The museum, located in Shchetininsky pereulok, was opened in the 1960s by art collector Felix Vishnevsky, and represents one of the rare cases of a merchant estate that was privately owned throughout the Soviet era (the house belonged to ancestors of the polar explorer Nikolai Petukhov, who was worthy enough in the eyes of the Soviet government to retain his family’s property; he eventually presented it to his friend Vishnevsky). The museum was forced to close in 2002 after a pipe burst and the building was inundated with hot water.

Vasily Tropinin (1776-1857) was a painter and a serf who only gained his freedom at the age of 47. His talent earned him an academic title one year later. Tropinin is best known for his portraits, such as those of Pushkin and of his son Arseny.

The house and most of the paintings on display were restored, though Vishnevsky’s large collection is mostly in storage due to the small size of the facility. In addition to Tropinin’s portraits, the museum has works of other artists of his period, including Fyodor Rokotov and Vladimir Borovikovsky.

Address: Shchetininsky pereulok 10 building 1, open Thursday to Monday.

Throat Singing School

The region of Tyva has finished the Aldyn-Bulak Tourist Complex, where visitors can stay in yurts and learn throat singing. Located about 50 kilometers from the regional capital of Kyzyl, it promises to open to tourists this summer. The center has not announced prices for its throat singing school. Tyva is a mountainous region in southern Siberia, bordering on Mongolia. Long known for its postage stamps – prized by collectors the world over, it is also world-renowned for its throat singing.