Transcript Russian Culture ppt

City Life
 About ¾ of Russia’s
people live in cities.
 The two largest cities in
Russia are Moscow and
St. Petersburg.
 Red Square in Moscow is
the most famous city
square.
Country Life
 In the country, many
people live in singlefamily homes.
 In some remote places,
homes lack basic
plumbing, running
water, gas and electric.
 The quality of health
care and education is
lower in the country.
 By far, the most common religion in Russia is
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Orthodox Christianity.
Orthodox Christianity is the Eastern branch of
Christianity that spread to Russia in the 900’s and
became the state religion.
When this religion was brought over to Russia, the
Cyrillic alphabet came along with it.
The Cyrillic alphabet was adopted as the official
writing system of Russia.
Islam, Buddhism and Judaism are also practiced in
Russia. Over 15% of the population practices Islam.
The Cyrillic Alphabet
The Red Square;
Moscow
 Leo Tolstoy is one of Russia’s great novelists. One of his
most famous novels, War and Peace (1869), showed
deep concern for moral issues and for the welfare of
the Russian people.
 Russia also had one of the best playwrights of the early
1900s named Anton Chekhov. He wrote such plays as
The Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.
 A novelist named Alex Solzhenitsyn criticized Stalin’s
rule in his novel, which led the Soviet Union to
increase censorship.
Food
Sports
 Russians generally eat a
 Winter sports, such as
hearty diet that uses a lot
of root vegetables, such as
beets, carrots and
potatoes.
 Traditional Russian foods,
such as blinis and borscht,
are enjoyed everywhere.
 Tea is a traditional
beverage for Russians.
hockey, ice skating and
skiing are popular due to
the cold climate.
 Tennis is also popular.
 Russian athletes compete
seriously for Olympic
team positions.
Blinis
Borscht
Russian Olympic Athletes
Maria Sharapova; World Famous
Russian Tennis Player.
 Russian painting was slower to adopt European
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influences.
Wassily Kadinsky became one of the first to use
abstract style. Marc Chagall was another famous
painter.
Russian music flowered during the 1800s.
Peter Tchaikovsky wrote many great works, including
the ballet Swan Lake.
Igor Stravinsky was another famous Russian composer.
Ballet is extremely popular in Russia; Russia features
two world-class ballet companies.
 Swan Lake: Performed by the Kirov Ballet Company,
Russia
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A Marc Chagall abstract
painting.
Russian Ballerina
 The establishment of the Soviet government in the
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early 1920s led to censorship of literature in Russia.
Censorship means to control or restrict something.
The Soviets also used the arts for propaganda.
Propaganda is information that deliberately tries to
influence opinion.
Much of this propaganda was spread using posters.
Under Stalin’s rule, the Communist Party outlawed
artists who did not promote the Communist ideals.
“ Let’s raise the generation utterly
devoted to the cause of communism!”
Viktor Ivanov, 1947
“Keep your mouth shut!” Nina
Vatolina, 1941