April 12, 2020

Russians Share Window Views


Russians Share Window Views
Don't try this view at home. @ohagolovoha

Many who are stuck at home due to the coronavirus pandemic are trying to find ways to make the best of their situation. To help them in this, the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture in Moscow issued a challenge to continue the hashtag #theworldfrommywindow, as first started in Italy.

In their press announcement, the Museum invited anyone who wanted to participate in the “flash mob” to post a picture on any social media site with the hashtag #миризмоегоокна (“the world from my window”).

The announcement also draws attention to the importance of architecture in our lives, and highlights the many different styles of architecture evident in Russia:

Basmanaya Museum
The Basmanaya Museum window image could stand in for all of Russia.

“In the conditions of self-isolation, the world around us, limited by the views from the windows, has emerged in a completely different light. Every day we see the same picture, whose color palette varies depending on the time of day and weather conditions. And the main character of this picture is architecture. Involuntarily, we pay attention to the appearance of neighboring houses that we have not noticed before. What kind of house is this? Experimental housing of the 1960s or the daring avant-garde of the 1920s? Maybe you are lucky enough to live next to a monument of architecture from the Art Nouveau era or an apartment building of historicism? Or in a new residential complex with a game of colors on the exterior?”

Russians are responding to the challenge and posting beautiful pictures on social media.

So if you’re stuck at home, why not make the most of your situation and join in with a view from your own window!

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Moscow and Muscovites
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Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

Jews in Service to the Tsar
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