A Storied Start

Russia is a large, ancient, and cultured country that has been a main player in the history of the world for a long time. The Russian Empire did not start as large and powerful as it is today. It all started with the Eastern Slavs, a group of loosely banded together groups. The Eastern Slavs became the first state of its kind in 882. The group grew even larger in 988 when it adopted Christianity from the Byzantine Empire.

The Byzantine Empire was a very influential and powerful civilization dating all the way back to 330 A.D. The empire was born when Emperor Constantine, a psychopathic politician, created a “New Rome” on an old Byzantine colony. While Rome itself would collapse before 500 A.D., the eastern half would continue on for another 1,000 years. This is how even ancient Rome influenced the rise of Russia.

Ancient Russians at Dnieper by Nicholas Roerich.

turbulent history of Russia

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Ivan Alekseevich Vladimirov (1869-1947), a Russian painter and draftsman, became known as the artist of the realistic school of painting.

In 1917-1918, he worked in the Petrograd militia. This experience helped him to create a unique cycle of documentary sketches of the events of these years. Source: humus.

1. 1917. Dismantling of imperial coats of arms (Down with the eagles!). The signs on the building – Drugstore. February.

turning point in the history of Russia

Tags: Saint Petersburg city · Soviet past

Kazansky Railway Station (until 1894 – Ryazansky Railway Station) is one of the nine railway stations of Moscow. The construction of the present building of the station, designed in the pseudo-Russian style, began in 1913 and ended only in 1940.

One of the significant architectural elements of the station building is the hall of the former restaurant. This part of the station was built in the mid-1920s. Today, it is used as a high comfort waiting room. Kazansky Station on Google Maps. Photos by: Vadim Razumov.

beautiful interiors

Tags: Moscow city

Izborsk, first mentioned in 862, is one of the oldest Russian towns. Today, it is a tourist center with the status of the state historical, cultural and natural museum-reserve located in the Pechora district of the Pskov region, 32 km south-west of Pskov.

The main attraction of Izborsk is its old limestone fortress built in the first half of the 14th century. Inside you can also see the Nikolsky Cathedral of the 14th century. Izborsk Fortress on Google Maps. Photos by: Stanislav Konstantinov.

picturesque stone fortress

Tags: Pskov oblast

This album of projects of urban and rural buildings of the Russian Empire was compiled by the engineer-architect V.G.Zalessky with the participation of a number of other engineers and architects in 1881 – a very interesting document of its time with beautiful illustrations. Source: humus.

architecture of the Russian Empire

Tags: Russian Empire

Tobolsk is a city with a population of about 100 thousand people located in the north of the Tyumen region. It was founded as a center for the development of Siberia in 1587.

Since 1708, Tobolsk was the center of the Siberian province stretching from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean. In the 19th century, Tobolsk lost its economic importance. Today, it is one of the most important center of cognitive tourism in Siberia.

Tobolsk – past and present

Tags: Tobolsk city · Tyumen oblast

The Russian Railway Museum, located in St. Petersburg at Bibliotechny Lane, 4/2, near Baltiyskiy Railway Station, a 7-minute walk from Baltiyskaya metro station, is the main railway museum of Russia and one of the largest railroad museums in the world.

The opening of the museum, timed to the 180th anniversary of the railways of Russia, was held on October 30, 2017. The Russian Railway Museum on Google Maps. Photos by: Alexander Popov.

amazing railway museum

Tags: museum · Saint Petersburg city

The second set of photos of common people taken by William Carrick (1827-1878), a Scottish-Russian artist and photographer, in the Russian Empire. The first part. Source: humus.

1. Orthodox priest.

Russians of the past

Tags: Russian Empire

William Carrick (1827-1878) was a Scottish-Russian artist and photographer. In 1859, in St. Petersburg, he opened the first photo studio in the Russian Empire.

Carrick quickly gained fame, capturing the daily life of the country and became the first Russian ethnographer-photographer. Let’s look at some of his works. The second part. Source: humus.

Musician playing a balalaika.

faces of the Russian Empire

Tags: Russian Empire

In 1913, on the wave of the general rise of the Russian economy, the rapid growth of the cinematographic industry began in the Russian Empire. In 1913, according to incomplete data, there were 1,412 movie theaters in the country, of which 134 – in St. Petersburg and 67 – in Moscow.

The heyday of the artistic Russian cinematography occurred during the First World War. In 1916, at least 150 million tickets to movie theaters were sold in the Russian Empire. Let’s look at the movie posters of these times. Source: humus.

1. Train of Horrors (1910s).

great vintage movie posters

Tags: posters · Russian Empire