Russian Personalities

People well-known in art, sport, film, fashion

Category Archive: History

Scottish People in Russian History

Scottish People in Russian History

Scottish People in Russian History


The people of Scotland voted against its secession from the United Kingdom. According to the results of a referendum, less than 50 percent of voters supported the country’s independence. The referendum was held on 18 September, 2014.
I’d like to tell about Scottish People in Russian history. Sometimes the Scots played key roles in Russian history, they served in the Russian army and even reformed it.
History of the Russian-Scottish relations is long, but scientists still cannot reliably determine when it started. It is known, for example, that already in 1495, Ambassador of the Danish King Christian I Peter Davidson arrived in Moscow. He came to Russia on a ship with “copper … and four excellent masters from Scotland.” So the first Scottish migrant workers were in Russia already in the XV century. The Scots served as mercenaries in the Russian army.
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Main Russian teachers

Happy Teacher's Day

Main Russian teachers. Happy Teacher’s Day


On October 5 teachers all over the world celebrate their professional holiday. It’s difficult to overestimate their role in everyone’s life. In honor of the holiday, let’s recall the main Russian teachers.
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Osip Bove – Moscow Architect

Osip Bove

Osip Bove


Osip Bove was a Russian architect, famous for the reconstruction of the Russian capital after the 1812 Fire of Moscow. His role in creating the image of Moscow can be compared only with the work of Karl Rossi in St. Petersburg. Bove’s buildings were built primarily in the style of classicism. The architect also was an author of a voluminous theoretical work – Album Of Exemplary Projects. There he collected samples of buildings and recommendations for their construction.
He was born on October 24, 1784 in St. Petersburg into the family of the Neapolitan painter Giovanni Vincenzo Bova, who came to Russia in 1782 to work at the Hermitage. At first the child was named Giuseppe, but later his name was changed for Russian name Osip Ivanovich. Shortly after the birth of Osip the family moved to Moscow. The boy graduated from the Architecture School, then worked under the direction of M. Kazakov and K. Rossi in Moscow and Tver. In 1814, Bove was appointed chief architect of Moscow. He created the city-monument to the glory of the greatness of the Russian Empire. His younger brothers Mikhail and Alexander also worked as architects in Moscow.
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Prophetic Oleg

V.M. Vasnetsov. Prophetic Oleg's farewell to his horse.

V.M. Vasnetsov. Prophetic Oleg’s farewell to his horse.


Prophetic Oleg is one of the most mysterious figures in Russian history. Who he was to Ryurik, whether he went to Tsargrad (Constantinople) and, finally, what about his death “overseas” – all these questions have yet to be answered. The founder of the Old Russian State Prince Oleg, who was either a relative of Rurik (or rather his wife Efanda’s brother), or his voivode, during his reign made much more for the formation of the Old Russian state than its legendary founder.
When Igor (the son of Rurik) was young, he captured Smolensk and Lyubech, deceived and murdered the princes of Kiev Askold and Dir. Thanks to him, Kiev became the new residence of the Old Russian state, Kievan Rus.
You know, he was named Prophetic, i.e. knowing the future, as soon as he returned from campaigning against Byzantium in 907.
After the death of Rurik, the founder of the princely dynasty, in 879, Oleg began to reign in Novgorod as a guardian of a minor son of Rurik and his nephew Igor.
In 882 Oleg came to Kiev, where two noblemen Askold and Dir reigned the city, and killed them. Location of Kiev seemed very comfortable to Oleg and he made it the capital of Russian lands. Thus he united the northern and southern centers of the East Slavs.
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Iron Woman Nina Berberova

Iron Woman Nina Berberova

Iron Woman Nina Berberova


Nina Berberova was a Russian novelist and short story writer, documentary and biographical researcher.
Pretty girl was born on July 26, 1901 in St. Petersburg. Her grandfather Ivan Berberov was a famous physician, who received his education in Paris. And her father was an assistant Minister. Her mother came from the family of Tver landlord Karaulov.
In 1919-1920 Berberova studied in Rostov-on-Don. Thanks to her first verses Nina entered the poetic circles of Petrograd.
In 1922 Berberova and her husband Vladislav Khodasevich left Russia. They lived in Germany and Czechoslovakia, and later in Italy. And in 1925 they settled in Paris. In France, she was honored as a Chevalier of the French Order of Arts and Letters. During the years she lived in Paris Nina wrote The Book of Happiness, the most autobiographical of her novels.
In 1932 Berberova divorced her husband.
During the war, she stayed in the German-occupied part of France. In 1947, she left her second husband, N. Makeev. Later, in 1954, Nina married pianist and teacher George Kochevitsky.
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Great Russian Admirals

Great Russian Admirals

Great Russian Admirals


Russian history knows many examples of selfless service to the Fatherland. The soldiers showed their valor and courage in battles on land and sea. In Russia Navy Day is celebrated on the last Sunday of July. It is a national holiday which was introduced in June 1939 by the Soviet Union in connection with the Battle of Gangut.
I’d like to say a few words about the great Russian admirals, glorious heroes who dedicated their lives to the Fatherland.
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Academician Dmitry Likhachev

Dmitry Likhachev - outstanding Russian scholar

Dmitry Likhachev – outstanding Russian scholar


Dmitry Likhachev was a Soviet and Russian philologist, art historian, writer, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (until 1991 – Academy of Sciences of the USSR). He had made a significant contribution to the study of Old Russian literature and art. Likhachev is an author of more than forty books on a wide range of problems in the theory and history of ancient literature, many of which have been translated into different languages.
By the way, he was Hero of Socialist Labor (1986), Laureate of the State Prize of the USSR (1969), Stalin Prize of the second degree (1952) and State Prizes of the Russian Federation (1993, 1999 – posthumously). In 1956, he became a member of the Union of Writers of the USSR.
To tell the truth, Dmitry is an author of about 500 scientific and 600 journalistic works. Likhachev’s range of scientific interests was very extensive: from studying iconography to analyzing the life of prisoners.
The beginning of his life was in the silver age of Russian culture. And he died a year before the third millennium, at the end of the dashing nineties. And yet he believed in the future of Russia.
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