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Russian culture and art

Russia is a country that can rightfully boast its artistic and cultural traditions, its art galleries attract huge crowds of tourists from all over the world. St. Petersburg is a precious stone in the crown of Russian cities. The Hermitage, being the largest fine arts museum in Russia, it contains the world famous collection of the West — European paintings, covering a span of about 700 years (XIII-XX centuries). It also houses the works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, El Greco, Velasquez, Murillo, as well as paintings of Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Rubens; remarkable French canvas group of the XVIII century; impressionist and post — impressionist paintings.

The collections illustrate the art of many countries: Spain, Italy, Holland, Germany, Finland, Britain, Sweden, Danmark and many others.

The museum also includes the European sculpture: Rodin, Michelangelo and many other eminent masters. Besides, it has several departments representing the arts of China, Egypt, India. Greece, Rome, not to mention the Scythian art.

Visitors also admire the collections of tapestry, textiles, weapons, ivories, pottery, porcelian and furniture. The annual number of visitors exceeds 2 million.

The Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the Russian Museum should be mentioned by all means. This picture gallery was founded by a Russian merchant and a connoisseur of art Pavel Tretyakov in the 19th century. He was sure that art was a great force in the enlightenment of humanity and wished his collection of the Russian paintings to fulfil a historic mission: patriotic and moral education of the Russian people. His brother Sergei also collected pictures both by the Russian and foreign painters, especially those by the French and Dutch masters.

Later the gallery was enlarged.Today the Tretyakov Gallery has got many departments. Some of them are devoted to the great Russian painters Repin, Levitan, Rublev, Serov and many others. Their paintings reflect the history and beauty of Russia, the Russian people life and soul, give us amazing portraits of many prominent people of our country.

The Treryakov Gallery has a rich collection of early Russian painting including famous icons. The world famous " The Trinity " by Andrey Rublev is exhibited in the gallery.

The Tretyakov Gallery reflects the whole history of Russian Art. The Gallery is always full of visitors, both from our country and foreigners (the annual number is about 2 million). And it is quite understandable, the Gallery is worth visiting.

Speaking about art one should not forget about music, especially classic music. Outstanding Russian composers make the whole world admire their music. One can’t find a man, who does not know Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Michail Glinka, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - the prominent composers of 19th century, and Sergey Rachmaninov, Sergey Prokofiev and Dmitriy Shostakovich.

It was Glinka (1804-1857) who laid the foundation for modern Russian music; his music expressed the temperament of Russian people. His two best known operas "Ivan Susanin" and "Ruslan and Ludmila" were based on Russian folklore and historical legends.

The most famous ballets " Swan Lake ", "The Sleeping Beauty", " The Nutcracker " and not less famous operas " The Queen of Spades ", "Eugene Onegin" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky are still excellently staged and performed not only in Russian but in many greatest theatres in the world.

Russia is world famous for its literature. The "golden age" of Russian literature began in the 19th century when such outstanding masters of letters such as Alexander Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev, and Dostoyevsky created their immortal masterpieces.

Alexander Pushkin, the father of Russian Literature was the author of more than 700 lyrical poems. He wrote also the volumes of dramatic works, short stories, made adaptations of Russian fairy-tales.

Russia is also rich in young talents, new Russian culture is forming. It will appear on the basis of the old one, but its essence will be new. We can hear new voices in music and poetry, new canvases of modern artists, great actors and film directors. All of them will make their contribution into Russian Culture and Art.