Russia - Aurora borealis in Chukotka

Yesterday I wrote on my blog that I would love to receive a card showing aurora borealis and today I received 2(!) - from Russia and from Finland :) Isn't that funny? :) And no, they were not sent yesterday evening :) Actually, I received 14 postcards today, including these 2 with aurora borealis, 3 showing trains/railways, 3 from Ukraine and 3 from an absolutely new country in my collection, so it's been my best postcard day ever :)))

This wonderful card shows the aurora borealis in Anadyr (Russian: Анадырь), which is the administrative centre of Chukotka. Have you ever heard of this region? That's the most north-eastern one and actually it's close to Alaska :) The interesting thing is that the easternmost point of Russia is located on the Western hemisphere, but there are no big settlements. Anadyr is on the Eastern hemisphere (Coordinates: 64°44′N 177°31′E) and is the biggest town of Chukotka, with only about 11 000 inhabitants.

When Nastya, who lives in Anadyr, joined the RR that I host on postcrossing forum, I immediatelly asked her for swap, because Russia is one of the countries that I'm really interested in and Chukotka seems to be one of the most mysterious of this great country. I was really glad, when Nastya agreed to swap, but I'd never expect receiving such a brilliant card :) I think I don't have to tell you that it's going to be one of my all time favorites now? :)



Anadyr (Russian: Ана́дырь, Chukchi: Кагыргын, Kagyrgyn) is a town and the administrative centre of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the extreme north-eastern region of Russia. It is at the mouth of the Anadyr River, on the tip of the southern promontory that sticks out into Anadyrskiy Liman. At 177°30′E, Anadyr is the easternmost town in Russia and Eurasia. It was founded on August 3, 1889 as Novo-Mariinsk, and renamed on August 5, 1923. Town status was granted on January 12, 1965.

Chukotka is the most northeasterly region of Russia and, since the sale of Alaska to the United States, has been the only part of Russia lying partially in the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered on the east by the Bering Sea, part of the Pacific Ocean, and to the north by the Chukchi Sea and the East Siberian Sea, which are part of the Arctic Ocean. Chukotka has an area of 737,700 km2 (284,800 sq mi) and a population of 53,824 according to the 2002 Census. The principal town and administrative center is Anadyr.

Russia - The church of Archangel Michael in Merkushino

I received this card in the World Languages RR, written in Ukrainian :) As this church is located in a small village, there's no much information about it on the internet. I just read that the Orthodox saint Simeon Verkhoturskiy lived in this village in 16th century.
The Merkushino village is located in the Sverdlovsk (Ekaterinburg) region, in the Ural mountains.

Russia - Moscow

I received this card in the Slavic countries RR :) It shows the Kremlin and the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge in Moscow. The moscow Kremlin is also a UNESCO site.
the interesting thing about the Moskva (Moscow) river (the city was named after the river) is that Russian people don't call it just "Moskva", but always "Moskva-reka" (Москва-река) which means Moscow-river and even pronounce it as one word: "Moskvareka".

Russia - New Year and Christmas card

The writting on this card says "С Новым Годом и Рождеством" (S Novym Godom i Rozhdestvom) which means "Happy New Year and Merry Christmas". In Russia (as well as in Ukraine, Belarus and maybe some other countries) Christmas in after the New Year, because it's celebrated on 7th January.

Russia - Saint Petersburg (RU-27609)

I already have many cards from Saint Petersburg (I haven't uploaded all of them yet) and I know for sure that I want to go there. I just don't know, when exactly. Well, I know that I'd like to go there in June to see the famous "white nights" :) But I don't know the year :) Saint Petersubrg seems to be so different from Moscow... I can't say if I would like it more than the capital of Russia, but I'm sure it's worth seeing and comparing :)

This postcard shows the Academy of Sciences (built in 1783-1789) and the Kunstkammer (built in 1718-1739) on the University Embankment.

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Russia - Kizhi museum

This postcard shows the "live exposition" of traditional crafts of Karelia on Kizhi island. This lady demonstrates the golden eyelet lacing. This kind of art has been known since the 15th century in Russia.
Here's some information about the Kizhi island:

Kizhi (Russian: Кижи) is an island on Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia (Medvezhyegorsky District), Russia with a beautiful ensemble of wooden churches, chapels and houses. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Russia and an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kizhi island is about 7 km long and 0.5 km wide. It is surrounded by about 5,000 other islands, most of which are very small—some of them just rock outcroppings (called "skerries"), though some are as big as 35 km long. Access to Kizhi is by hydrofoil across Lake Onega from Petrozavodsk (numerous trips every day in the summer), by snowcat (in the winter), or by cruise ship. There is no lodging on Kizhi for overnight guests.

Russia - Moscow (RU-28390)

It's already my 2nd official card from Moscow, but it's absolutely different than the previous ones :) It shows the Varvarka Street, The Kremlin, View of the Kremlin from the hotel "Balchug", interior of the Palace of Facets (in Kremlin) and the Iconostas of the Verkho (Upper) Saviour Cathedral (also in Kremlin). It reminds me of visiting Moscow in 2007 :) This city is definitely worth visiting, if you want to see architecture absolutely different than in other European countries. I heard that there's a huge difference between Moscow and rest of Russia, when it comes to the standard of living, prices (in Moscow everything is expensive), but I haven't had an opportunity to compare it.
One small thing that I totally dislike about the Kremlin (apart from the political matters, because I don't want to discuss politics here) are the big, red stars on the towers of Kremlin... I noticed them immediatelly, when I saw the Kremlin... They look funny... And the communism is over, isn't it? :))

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Russia - Moscow (RU-25728)

This beautiful postcard shows the Arch or Triumph and Poklonny Hill in Moscow. I've been to Moscow once (and that was my only trip to Russia), but when I first saw this card, I wasn't sure, which city (and country) it is :) Of course, now I remind myself much more, although I'm not sure, if I was in that place. I remember it was very cold (about -20 Celcius degrees, which was extremely freezing for me), but I enjoyed my stay in Russia anyway, because it used to be one of my biggest dreams several years ago. I'd love to go to Russia at least once more, because I haven't been to Saint-Petersburg yet and my best friend lives there :) We've already met in Moscow, Poland, Ukraine, but not yet it her city, so I think I definitely should try to improve it :)

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Russia - Lake Baikal (RU-24559)

As you've probably noticed, I'm uploading Asian cards today :) (I still have many other cards to upload, as I was away for some time). So, I decided to finish with a card from the Asian part of Russia that I've received today :)

Lake Baikal is in Southern Siberia in Russia, located between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, near the city of Irkutsk. It is also known as the "Blue Eye of Siberia". It contains more water than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

At 1,637 meters (5,371 ft), Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, and the largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, holding approximately twenty percent of the world's total fresh water.However, Lake Baikal contains less than one third the amount of water as the Caspian Sea which is the largest lake in the world. Like Lake Tanganyika, Lake Baikal was formed in an ancient rift valley and therefore is long and crescent-shaped with a surface area (31,500 km²) slightly less than that of Lake Superior or Lake Victoria. Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the worldand was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. At more than 25 million years old, it is the oldest lake in the world.

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Russia - Saint Petersburg

Here's another card that I've received in the Russian group of World Languages RR :) I already have many postcards showing Saint Petersburg (I haven't uploaded all of them here yet), but all of them are different :) This one shows the monument to Peter the Great. He founded Saint-Petersburg in 1703, so he's definitely an important person for this city :)

As the Poles and Lithuanians on one side and Swedes on the other fought each other, Peter founded the city of Saint Petersburg (Germanically named after Saint Peter the Apostle) in Ingermanland (province of Swedish empire, which he had captured) in 1703. He forbade the building of stone edifices outside Saint Petersburg — which he intended to become Russia's capital — so that all the stonemasons could participate in the construction of the new city.

Russia - Saint Petersburg

I received this beautiful postcard in Slavic countries & Rest of the world RR :) I've choosen it myself, so I definitely love it :) It shows the Palace Bridge and view of the Peter and Paul Fortress. I don't know, if that's true, because I've never been to Saint Peterburg, but my friend told me that you should be careful not to stay on the island late in the evening, when the underground is already closed and the bridges are open... Then you have to wait until the morning. I wonder, if that's true :)) Maybe I'll check it myself next year...

Russia - St Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg

This postcard also arrived in the Slavic countries & Rest of the world RR (I don't think it's cheating, when people agree to send each other 2 postcards, is it?) ;)
It shows the St Isaac's Cathedral (Исаакиевский собор) in Saint Petersburg.

Saint Isaac's Cathedral or Isaakievskiy Sobor in Saint Petersburg, Russia is the largest cathedral (sobor) in the city and was the largest church in Russia when it was built (101.5 meters high). It was dedicated to Saint Isaac of Dalmatia, a patron saint of Peter the Great who had been born on the feast day of that saint.
The church on St Isaac's Square was ordered by Tsar Alexander I, to replace an earlier Rinaldiesque structure. A specially appointed commission examined several designs, including that of the French-born architect Auguste de Montferrand (1786–1858), who had studied in the atelier of Napoleon's designer, Charles Percier. Monferrand's design was criticised by some members of the commission for the dry and allegedly boring rhythm of its four identical pedimented octastyle porticos. It was also suggested that despite gigantic dimensions, the edifice would look squat and not very impressive. The emperor, who favoured the ponderous Empire style of architecture, had to step in and solve the dispute in Monferrand's favour.
The cathedral took 40 years to construct, under Montferrand's direction, from 1818 to 1858. Under the Soviet government, the building was abandoned, then turned into a museum of atheism. The dove sculpture was removed, and replaced by a Foucault pendulum. During World War II, the dome was painted over in gray to avoid attracting attention from enemy aircraft. With the fall of communism, the museum has closed and regular worship activity has resumed in the cathedral, but only in the left-hand side chapel. The main body of the cathedral is used for services on feast days only.

Russia - The Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg

I received this postcard in Slavic countries & Rest of the world RR :) It shows the Winter Palace (Зимний Дворец) in Saint Petersburg.
I haven' t been to Saint Petersburg yet, although I have a really good friend there (and we spent the last 2 weeks travelling together in Poland, Germany and Ukraine). So, if I get a visa, I'll go there for sure :)

Here's some information about The Winter Palace:
Located between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square, the Winter Palace or Zimniy Dvorets (Russian: Зимний дворец) in Saint Petersburg, Russia was built between 1754 and 1762 as the winter residence of the Russian tsars.

Designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the Rococo-style, green-and-white palace has 1,786 doors and 1,945 windows. Catherine the Great was its first imperial occupant.

The Palace is now part of a complex of buildings known as the State Hermitage Museum, which holds one of the world's greatest collections of art. As part of the Museum, many of the Winter Palace's 1,057 halls and rooms are open to the public. The Military Gallery, opened in 1826, accommodates 332 portraits of military leaders of the Russian army during Napoleon's invasion of Russia.

After the February Revolution in Russia, the Winter Palace was the headquarters of the Russian Provisional Government.

The assault of the Winter Palace by Bolshevik forces was the official milestone of the October Revolution.

Russia - "Minusinskaya step'" painting by V. I. Surikov (RU-21605)

This is my first official card from Russia :)
Fortunately, I can speak Russian, so this time I won't have to ask for help to understand, what it is :) This card shows a "Minusinskaya step'" ("Минусинская степь") painting by V. I. Surikov (В. И. Суриков), was the foremost Russian painter of large-scale historical subjects. His major pieces are among the best-known paintings in Russia. This painting is now in Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

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Russia - Saint Petersburg

I received this postcard from my very good Russian friend, who lives in Saint Petersburg. I've been to Russia once (when I finally got the visa), but I visited only Moscow and we met there. i hope to visit Saint Petersburg too (when I get the visa again), because it seems to be completely different than Moscow. And it would be graet to see the White Nights in June... So, maybe next year?