If you ask me about the most favorite house in Moscow, I will most likely name this address: Chistoprudny Boulevard, 14. There are many beautiful houses in Moscow, but it is he who ... puzzles, makes you look intently, think, try to solve riddles.
Moscow Art Nouveau very creatively and at the same time carefully alters the motifs of ancient Russian art, referring to the traditions of pre-Petrine Russia. But this house turns us to the traditions of the Vladimir Principality, which are several centuries older, from which little is left, which themselves are a mystery.
So, Chistoprudny Boulevard, a rather high, unremarkable house - and through the entire facade, two floors high - an amazing ornament of fabulous animals, plants, patterns.
However, the house itself used to be completely different ...

The house on Chistoprudny was built in 1908-1909 as an apartment building located near (on Pokrovka) the Trinity Church on Gryazy. The project was developed by the architect L. Krovetsky, the construction was led by engineer P.K. Mikini. Unfortunately, we can judge their work not so much by the house as by the photographs - look, what beauty and grace.

And this beauty has not been preserved ...

In the 1940s, the house was built on two floors, which completely killed its appearance. And you don’t know whether to be upset about this or still rejoice that its design has been preserved almost completely - the work of the artist S.I. Vashkov (1879-1914).
Sergei Vashkov considered Vasnetsov his teacher, although he did not formally study with him. He was the artistic director of a factory of church utensils, and the house on Chistoprudny was his first experience in architecture. In his work, he "combining ancient Russian motifs with ancient Christian ones, synthesized his original plastic language, in which medieval forms received a new reading, reflecting the object-spatial vision of a person at the beginning of the 20th century" (art historians say beautifully).
The house on Chistoprudny is stylized as bas-reliefs, although it reminds me more in terms of richness of imagination and density of plots. I'm not an art historian and I don't know how to write beautifully, but it seems to me that, starting from ancient Russian motifs, the artist created his own fairy-tale world of a man of the early 20th century. He also designed the interiors of the house (I do not know anything about their safety) and lived in it himself until his death at a surprisingly early age of 35, even for those times.
Let's just see...

The house acquired its modern look (white figures on a blue background) in 2000. Around the same time, a porch was added, stylized to the general appearance of the house.

And around the same time, there appeared here ... though not quite animals, but really "unprecedented beauty" - the "Sea Aquarium" store, which gradually turned into a small, but very sincere oceanarium.
I've loved this place since the days of the free entry store, when I went there at the first opportunity "to mend my frustrated nerves". Now the price of entrance tickets can upset your nerves even more, but I still hope that in the foreseeable future I will splurge on photography and tell you more about it.
While walking along Chistye Prudy, do not forget to raise your head and get food for thought about our roots...

Our century has come quite recently, and therefore we cannot yet say who exactly the outstanding personalities of Russia of the 21st century are. However, an analysis of the past will give us the opportunity to understand what truly great things we can expect from Slavic blood. After all, as you know, who knows the past, knows the future.

Sergey Yesenin

A contemporary of Mayakovsky and his complete opposite as an author. A subtle and sincere lyricist, who at the same time managed to remain an eternal bully and a teenager. He raised the themes of the struggle of the individual with the environment, love for nature and, of course, for a woman.

Vladimir Vysotsky

Bard, author of many songs and poems. The Greatest Poet His hoarse voice seemed to let his voice down under the legacy left to him by all the outstanding personalities of Russia in the 20th century. He raised the topics of the internal and external struggle of a person, his place in society and in the world in general. Subtle satirist.

Bulat Okudzhava

Also a poet who independently performed his poems in the form of songs. Touching and honest, he wrote poems filled with some kind of cosmic thoughtfulness. He often used metaphors, creating deep images with the help of them. His songs had a parable form, which was once (good-naturedly) parodied by Vysotsky.

Cinematographers

Lev Kuleshov

Thanks to him, outstanding personalities of Russia began to appear in the cinema. The discoverer of the "Kuleshov effect" - "two frames that are independent in meaning, glued together, create a new meaning." In fact, the founder of the montage story.

The first person in Russia to use color in cinema was the red flag in the same “Battleship Potemkin”.

Mikhail Romm

Director of documentaries ("Ordinary Fascism") and feature films ("Nine Days of One Year") films. One of the most important cinema theorists of the mid-20th century. VGIK lecturer and author of many scientific papers.

Andrei Tarkovsky

A man who manages to shoot a true art-house in the USSR. His tapes are filled with personal meanings, full of metaphors and subtle hints. He shot "Solaris" and "Stalker", most often making his works such parables-allegories.

Painters

Andrey Rublev

Modern outstanding personalities of Russia among artists would not have been possible without the person who laid the foundation for Russian painting.

Each of his canvases is like a photograph taken during the climax of the event that he was trying to capture. His paintings are infinitely alive and may not always reveal their true meaning at first sight. The main thing in Repin is the emotions of the characters and the details.

Kazimir Malevich

A great modernist, known as the author of the now-familiar Black Square. He was busy looking for new forms and ways of expressing color in painting. His paintings are full of abstractions and geometric shapes, attempts to invent something new in his art. I tried to find "absolute peace" in the paintings.

Composers

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

One of the first Russian professional composers, Tchaikovsky made a true craft out of music (in the good sense of the word). He was a man who simply could not stop writing music.

The extremely diverse topics raised in all possible genres make Pyotr Ilyich a composer capable of reaching the heart of every person. His most famous works are the ballets The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

He believed that the main goal of music is the unity of the listener with the true nature of the world, which can only be expressed in a similar, melodic form.

Dmitry Shostakovich

A composer with a difficult fate, at first he worked in the style of modernism and actively experimented in all genres. However, "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" did not please Stalin personally, and then severe repression followed.

To save himself and his family, Shostakovich had to create in a purely "state" way. However, his music really proves that even a simple listener hears the subtext put in by the composer. Many subtle moods and meanings that he invested in symphonies No. 5 and No. 7 were then understood by everyone.

Scientists

Mikhail Lomonosov

The first Russian encyclopedist, "a man of all sciences." Brought Russian research to the level of Europe. He made many discoveries in almost every modern science for him.

As an academician and one of the most active personalities of his time, he was an icon for the Russian Enlightenment.

Dmitry Mendeleev

The Russian chemist, who has already become legendary, managed to create a periodic system of chemical elements, which significantly pushed world science forward.

The existence of such a table clearly proves the harmony of nature and its clear system.

One of the greatest discoveries in which, in fact, all modern natural science rests, belongs to him. He also worked in other sciences, where he also made various discoveries.

Ivan Pavlov

The first Nobel laureate from Russia. Pavlov made the most important discovery in biology and physiology - it was he who found out the presence of reflexes in the body of living beings. And it was this Russian scientist who divided them into conditional and unconditional.

Pavlov devoted his whole life to this discovery, and even dying, he continued to dictate his feelings to his students - so that science could better know the state of death.

Athletes

Ivan Poddubny

Legendary Russian wrestler, "hero of the XX century." Haven't lost once in ten years. Wrestling champion five times.

Garry Kasparov

A chess player with many awards, "Chess Oscars" and the title of world champion. He became famous for the extremely successful combination of various tactics and strategies and the ability to emerge from a seemingly completely failed game as a winner.

"Kasparov's openings" - this is how unexpected and non-standard moves at the beginning of the game are now called.

Lev Yashin

Soviet goalkeeper, famous for his absolute "impenetrability". Considered the best goalkeeper of the 20th century. Repeatedly recognized as the best goalkeeper of the USSR. Ballon d'Or winner.

Conclusion

As we can see, outstanding personalities in the history of Russia have become extremely significant for all mankind. Chekhov can be safely called the best playwright in the world, and Mendeleev - the greatest chemist. All these people are important not only for Russia, but for every area in which they became famous.

It remains to be hoped that the outstanding personalities of Russia in the 21st century, just like their predecessors, will mean something for the whole world, and not just for their homeland.

“Moscow… how much in this sound

Merged for the Russian heart!

How much it resonated!”

These Pushkin lines are familiar to each of us from childhood. As well as the calling cry of the Chekhov heroine from the play “Three Sisters”: “To Moscow! To Moscow! To Moscow! ”, which expressed the desire for a new, real, eventful life. This metropolis of thirteen million (with suburbs), which grew out of a small settlement, has been and is perceived from century to century as a reflection of the Russian soul, as "the salt of the Russian land." Therefore, the joy and enthusiasm with which the famous journalist and everyday writer V.A. Gilyarovsky, who knew the history, architecture and geography of Moscow well, exclaimed: “I am a Muscovite! How happy is he who can pronounce this word, putting his whole self into it. I am a Muscovite!

But this honorary title not only instilled pride in the hearts of the inhabitants of the capital, but also obliged them to a lot. Each of them strove to the best of his strength and ability to increase its beauty and grandeur, to promote the prosperity of science and technology, literature, art and culture. This book contains essays on only 100 famous Muscovites (of course, their number far exceeds this figure), who, with their lives and activities, have written many glorious pages in the history of their native city. Most of them are rightfully natives of the capital. Ivan Fedorov and D.I. Fonvizin, A.S. Griboyedov and M.Yu. Lermontov, N.I. Pirogov and S.P. Botkin, P.A. Fedotov and V.V. Kandinsky, P.M. Tretyakov and A.A. Bakhrushin, M.I. Babanova and E.N. Gogolev, R.N. Simonov and B.N. Livanov, V.L. Durov and S.V. Obraztsov, N.G. Rubinstein and A.N. Scriabin, S.V. Kovalevskaya and S.I. Vavilov, S.M. Solovyov and A.V. Men, A.S. Yakovlev and E.P. Velikhov, A.A. Alekhin and N.N. Ozerov, V.A. Dolgorukov and Yu.M. Luzhkov… These and many other names of native Muscovites need no special introduction, and their work deserves deep recognition and respect.

Along with this, a number of essays are dedicated to people who were born in other cities, but who lived and worked fruitfully in Moscow for a long time. Among them is one of the most revered Russian historians V.O. Klyuchevsky, professor at Moscow University and the Moscow Theological Academy, author of the "Course of Russian History", which gained worldwide fame; THEM. Sechenov, an outstanding physiologist, whose name the Moscow Medical Academy bears; N.V. Sklifosovsky, scientist-surgeon, after whom the Institute of Emergency Medicine in Moscow is named. It was in the capital that the film empire of the first Russian film entrepreneur A.A. Khanzhonkov, one of the founders of Russian cinema; and I.A. Likhachev, the organizer of the domestic automobile industry, headed the famous Moscow Automobile Plant for many years. For more than 40 years he worked within the walls of the Moscow Conservatory G.G. Neuhaus (originally from Ukraine), a wonderful pianist and teacher who brought up such geniuses of musical culture as Svyatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels. A huge contribution to the preservation of the unique architectural appearance of Moscow was made by the famous architects V.I. Bazhenov and A.V. Shchusev - it is simply impossible to imagine this city without their creations. All these wonderful people can rightfully be considered Muscovites.

The attraction of the Russian capital is so strong that the number of visitors to it now exceeds the number of native Muscovites. Meanwhile, the number of those wishing to “marry” with Moscow from different parts of the former USSR is increasing. And this is not accidental, because, as V.O. Klyuchevsky, “Moscow became strong and ahead of others because it constantly and tirelessly called the scattered Russian lands to an honest feast of national unity.” And in this sense, the life and work of famous Muscovites is one of the manifestations of this unity.

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