It is fairly common to see a Christian cross with a crescent on the bottom. Many foreigners and even Russians alike consider this a sign of victory of Christianity over Islam. However, this is not true. The cross first appeared in Greece in the 2th- 3th century AD during Roman persecutions of Christians. It was long before prophet Mohammed was even born. Greek Christians used to hang anchors over their houses. For the Roman soldiers it was silly superstition, for Christians it was a secret code. Thus "Russian" crosses commemorate memory of early Orthodox martyrs, not physical extermination of fellow man.
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This symbol of Russia is ironically translated in a wrong way. Russian word krasnaya (красная) in fact has double meaning: red and beautiful. Today it makes sense since Historical Museum and Kremlin are red. However museum was constructed only in the late 19th century, and Kremlin was either white or painted white, so in this case the correct translation would be Beautiful Square.
Technically the church has nothing to do with Saint Basil. He was in fact alive when it was constructed. Its official name is Cathedral of the Protection on a Moat or Holy Theotokos on the Moat. Basil simply liked to hang out there. There is so many Russian churches devoted to Holy Mother of God it sometimes was confusing. Thus people referred to this particular church as Basil's Church or Basil's Cathedral. Later Basil was canonized and it became known as Saint Basil. In fact only a small chapel was later added to commemorate the memory of Saint Basil.
Since the main cathedral on the Red Square is named after Saint Mary on the Moat we have to explain how did this term came to being. You should not forget that Kremlin is a medieval defense fortification. It was used to defend Moscow citizens from constant raids by different enemies. Part of these defense was a moat that was dug along the perimeter. In the old times it was also used as a burial grounds for thieves, murderers and other society's rejects. It is not hard to find its former location. It is exactly where you will find tombs of Communist leaders with Lenin's mausoleum in its head. Yep. History is not without a sense of irony.
Most of Russian Orthodox church have dome- shaped roofs. There is no specific meaning to the shape other than its similarity to the burning flame of the candle.
Russia is the largest country in the world, its area is
17,075,400 square kilometers. It is 1.8 times larger than the USA.
The area of Russia is approximately equal to the surface area of
the planet Pluto.
Russia has the largest active volcano in
the world - Klyuchevskaya Sopka. Its height is 4 kilometers 850
meters. He throws pillars of ash eight kilometers in the air. With
each eruption, it becomes higher. Volcano Klyuchevskaya Sopka has
erupted over the past 7 thousand years.
St. Petersburg metro
is the deepest in the world. Its average depth is 100 meters.
In St. Petersburg, there are three times more bridges than in
Venice. By the number of canals and bridges, it is more appropriate
not to call Petersburg - Venice of the North, but Venice as the
South Petersburg.
The oldest temple in Russia is considered
to be the oldest temple of Thaba-Yerdy, located in Ingushetia, in
the Dzheyrakh region, between the villages of Khairakh and Pui. It
was built VIII-IX centuries. The three oldest temples in operation
are located in the village of Nizhny Arkhyz in Karachay-Cherkessia.
They were built in the X century.
The Trans-Siberian Railway
is the longest railway in the world. The Great Siberian Path,
connecting Moscow with Vladivostok, is 9298 kilometers long, crosses
8 time zones, passes through 87 cities and towns and crosses 16
rivers, including the Volga.
Siberian lake Baikal is the
deepest lake in the world and the largest source of fresh water on
the planet. Baikal has 23 cubic kilometers of water. All the largest
rivers of the world - the Volga, Don, Dnieper, Yenisei, Ural, Ob,
Ganges, Orinoco, Amazon, Thames, Seine and Oder - have to flow for
almost a year to fill a basin equal in size to Lake Baikal.
Russia is the only state whose territory is washed by twelve seas.
Russia is separated from America 4 kilometers. This is the
distance between the island of Ratmanov (Russia) and the island of
Krusenstern (USA) in the Bering Strait.
From Moscow to
Chicago is closer than from Chicago to Rio de Janeiro.
There
are 2,000 libraries, 221 museums, 100 concert organizations, more
than 80 theaters, 80 clubs and cultural centers, 62 cinemas, 45 art
galleries in the cultural capital of Russia, St. Petersburg.
The Ural Mountains on the border between Europe and Asia are the
oldest mountains in the world. Mountains located in the Kusinsky
district near the village of Aleksandrovka, Mount Pencil arose 4, 2
billion years ago. The historical names of the Ural Mountains are
Bolshoy Kamen (Large boulder), Siberian Stone, Earth Belt, Belt
Stone. Once the Ural Mountains were very high, but now only the
foundations of the former mountains are left.
There are 7
absolutely identical tall buildings in Moscow: 2 hotels, 2
administrative buildings, 2 residential buildings and a university.
In English, this ensemble is called Seven Sisters, and in Russian
simply Stalin's skyscrapers. The style in which the high-rise built,
called the Stalinist Gothic.
The Moscow Kremlin is the
largest medieval fortress in the world.
The total length of
the Kremlin walls is 2235 meters.
There is a large fountain
in Moscow from which drinking water is flowing. The fountain is a
part of the "Alexander and Natali" architectural group with a
sculptural composition by Alexander Pushkin and Natali Goncharova in
an elegant rotunda.
St. Petersburg is the northernmost city
in the world with a population of over a million people.
The
area of Siberia is 9 million 734.3 thousand square kilometers,
which is 9% of the Earth’s land.
Russia has borders with 16
countries: Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,
Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia,
North Korea, Japan and the United States. Russia also borders on two
unrecognized states: South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
There are
more Kalashnikov guns in the world than machine guns of all other
designs combined.
Russia declared the equal rights of men and women earlier than
the United States. In Russia, the right to vote was granted to women
in 1918, in the United States - in 1920.
Russia never knew
slavery. The period of the most fully expressed form of feudal
dependence, serfdom, in Russia was shorter than, for example, in
England and most European countries. Serfdom in Russia had softer
forms. Russia abolished serfdom in 1861, the USA abolished slavery
in 1865.
On January 16, 1820, the Russian expedition of
Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev discovered Antarctica.
The most famous computer game - Tetris - was created by Russian
programmer Alexey Pajitnov in 1985. This game became popular in the
Soviet Union, and then, in 1986, in the West.
Ivan the Terrible was not a tyrant, he ruled unprecedentedly for his time gently. With the same size of Europe and Russia at that moment, Ivan, during his reign, executed 100 times fewer people than his European counterparts during the same period - 3-4 thousand people against 300-400 thousand people. By the way his Russian nickname "Grozny" can be more accurately translated as formidable, fearsome.
Trains in the Moscow metro run more frequently than in any other
metro in the world. At peak hours, the interval between the trains
in it is 90 seconds. Among them are “nominal” trains, such as the
train “Aquarelle”, which is a traveling exhibition of painting.
In Peterhof, near St. Petersburg, there are 176 fountains, of
which 40 are giant, and 5 cascades.
Samovar - the ancient
version of the electric kettle. Samovar worked on coal, but served
the same function, boiled water.
The lowest air temperature
is registered in the Russian city of Oymyakon. The cold record was
set in 1924 and was –71.2 ° C.
In the Novosibirsk Institute
of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian
Academy of Sciences there is a monument of a laboratory mouse,
inspiringly binding DNA.
During World War II, subway stations
were used as bomb shelters. During the air raids 150 people were
born in this completely safe shelter.
In Russia, many
wonderful sightseeing and tourist routes. The most famous so-called
“tourist routes”: the Golden Ring of Russia, the Silver Ring of
Russia and the Big Ural Ring.
The total length of the 12
lines of the Moscow metro is 310 km. Between 182 stations, almost
10,000 trains run there. The average duration of a passenger's trip
is 13 kilometers.
In the 18th century, Russia was the 3rd
largest empire in the history of mankind, occupying territory from
European Poland to North American Alaska.
The Hermitage is
one of the largest and oldest museums in the world. It has three
million works of art from the Stone Age to modern times. If each of
these works is given one minute, then it will take more than 25
years to go to the Hermitage, as if to work, and inspect the
exhibits 8 hours a day to see them all.
Half of Chelyabinsk
is located in the Urals, half in Siberia. At the same time, a camel
is depicted on the coat of arms of Chelyabinsk. The reason for this
symbol is simple. Chelyabinsk often took trade caravans of loaded
camels.
The Russian Public Library is the largest in Europe
and the second in the world after the Library of Congress in
Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1862 in Moscow.
On the
opening day in Moscow of the 700-seat McDonalds restaurant on
Pushkin Square by 5 am, there was a line of 5,000 people in front of
it. During the first day the restaurant served 3,000 customers. To
this day, it remains the most visited McDonalds in the world.
The State Hermitage Museum holds a flock of cats to protect
against rodents. Each Hermitage cat has a passport with a photo.
There are more than 820 glaciers in Altai, totally covering an
area of 600 square kilometers.
In Russia, a new sport has
appeared - helicopter golf. Two helicopters, equipped with 4-meter
clubs, are playing with two balls with a diameter of one meter. Each
team has five people. One is piloting a helicopter, the second is
hitting the ball, the third is coordinating the actions of the first
two, two more in reserve. They replace the one with the stick when
he gets tired.
Russia regularly ranks first in various
ratings of the least friendly countries in the world, but this is
simply a misunderstanding associated with the difference in cultural
codes. In Russia, children in schools are taught not to smile for no
reason, considering a smile to be a sign of frivolous mood. In fact,
the Russians are friendly and always ready to help foreigners.
In 2002, according to the UNESCO rating, Yekaterinburg entered
the list of 12 ideal cities in the world.
The largest bell
ever cast is the Russian Tsar Bell of the work of masters Ivan
Fedorovich Motorin and his son Michael. The weight of the Tsar Bell
is 12,327 pud (approximately equal to 16 kg) and 19 pounds, that is,
201 tons 924 kilograms. Its height is 6 meters 14 centimeters.
The city of Suzdal occupies only 15 square kilometers of area
and has just over 10,000 people. At the same time, there are 53
temples in Suzdal.