My dear friends - unfortunately, for many reasons, I had to stay out of Gather these last weeks, but now other poetic projects are under way, and I hope to publish them in the nearest future - as well as to visit you all to express my heartfelt gratitude for your unswerving love and support. In the meantime, I've made this little essay to share an integral part of my world with you - the pictures I took this afternoon - enjoy! :-)
There are in fact "two" Arbats in Moscow. One of them is the so-called "New" Arbat, built back in Khrushchev's times exactly where the old road to Smolensk began...
... and another is the famous "Old" Arbat, one of the most ancient streets in our city, praised by numerous poets and singers, probably the most favorite place of Moscow artistic boheme, Master and Margarita's eternal home. This street's origins are dated back as early as XIV - XV centuries, and its name is derived by some linguists from the Arabic word "arbad" or "rabad" ("suburb") or from the Turkic "arba" ("cart"). Initially it was preferred by merchants; in the late XVIII - early XIX centuries it turned into an aristocratic district and later it become a kind of magnet for Moscow intelligentsia of all kinds - doctors, lawyers, artists, writers...
Artists, dip you badges brushes in the visage
of the bustling Arbat yards and sunrise glaze.
so that brushes might resemble autumn leafage,
whirling leaves that fall
to mark November days.
Dip your brushes by the city's old tradition,
dip them in the paint of light blue colour tint,
do the painting with devotion and ambition
like we do the walking down Tverskaya street…
Bulat Okudzhava
A typical Arbat array of colors...
One of the street's gems - Arbat 53, the mansion where our greatest poet, Alexander Pushkin, lived in February - May 1831 with his young bride, Natalie Goncharova, the first beauty of Moscow.
The wedding ceremony itself took place on February 18 (March 2) 1831 not too far away from here, in the Church of Ascension at Nikitskie Gates...
Monument to Pushkin and Natalie, celebrating probably the most well-known, profound and tragic love story in Russian annals...
Book sellers on Arbat - now as always...
Young street dancers imitating Michael Jackson...
Musicians... please, don't ask me what kind of instrument he holds, for I myself don't know and it seemed a bit out-of-place to ask... so utterly concentrated this guy looked.
Painters selling their works... for every taste, for every purse.
This lovely fountain near the Vakhtangov's Theater is called "Turandot" - after a Chinese princess, the main protagonist of Carlo Gozzi's play.
Well, I know at least one person on Gather who should absolutely love this! :-)
... And don't forget to buy traditional Russian souvenirs!
"Oh, Arbat, my Arbat, you're my religion,
Your cobble-stone roadways stretching under me..."
... and all your sounds and smells and motley colors are always with me... wherever I go.
Svetlana Goryacheva
September 12, 2009
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Comments: 43
Blessings and best wishes - S.
Абсолютно замечательный фотоочерк...! Престижность Вам!
Blessings and best wishes - S.
Hugs and blessings - S.
The woman in traditional dress outside the souvenir store is absolutely gorgeous! There should be more wearing this everywhere. When I lived in Atlanta, there was an annual ethnic festival where the women would wear traditional Russian and Ukrainian outfits.
Hugs and blessings - S.
Blessings and best wishes - S.
Love and hugs - S.
Blessings and best wishes - S.
Blessings and best wishes - S.
Blessings and best wishes - S.
Hugs and blessings - S.
Blessings and best wishes in a plenty - S.
Blessings and best wishes - S.
Love and hugs - S.
Love and hugs - S.
Absolutely inspiring and wonderful. I feel like we took a walk together this afternoon.
By the way, did you know my husband is a bagpiper? (Did you mean me when you said someone on Gather would like that photo?) I can't remember if I told you he plays them!
Love ya - S.
I'm already in love with Arbat. I know that I'll feel absolutely and warmly at home.
I'm coming to sell my first book right there on that street. I've just made that decision.
How are you dear? Is your very hard work now nearly over?
Bravo to you for what you've achieved. Fred
Hugs and blessings - S.
Love and hugs - S.
I have resisted deleting the gather notice of this posting. This and the other photo essay of downtown Moscow including a photo of your library. They are too good not to have a link to. It transports me to another world. Which I expected to be strange and exotic but it turns out is like the world I know.
If I were to send you a photo essay of my world, it would not be nearly as exciting. Just trees and grass and a garden work in progress. And the house, of course. And maybe the community college where I teach one course in chemistry.
Thank you so much. I have some insight but more intrigue, more curiosity, about life in Russia.
Cheers.
Jim