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HOT News
August 19, 2007
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On 17th of August 2007, when I was walking across the Bolshoi Kamenny Most (Big Stone Bridge) to meet my clients near the Armory Museum, I was able to watch a fire in one of the buildings opposite the Kremlin Cathedrals. The other side of the Moscow River, where the fire was burning, was cordoned off by police and surrounded by many fire trucks. Even one boat was called to resist and stop the fire in the old house which is currently under reconstruction.
The total area of the fire in the small 3 floor building, which is located at Sofiiskaya Embankment, 8, came to more than 250 square meters. The fire destroyed completely all wooden construction on two upper floors of the old building. Seven fire brigades and one boat were involved in the operation to stop the fire.
Now officials from fire prevention inspection are determining the cause of the fire and investigating the company which was reconstructing the house.
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August 16, 2007
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Yesterday, when I arrived with my current clients at the Red Square, I was shocked when I saw the bare wall of the Moscow Kremlin. They had removed all of the majestic pine trees from the left side of Lenin's Mausoleum (between Spasskaya Tower and Lenin's Tomb) and I had a thought: were they going to remove even the Necropolis and Lenin's Mausoleum to restore the architectural style of Red Square to how it looked before the revolution?
No, I was wrong with my almost fantastic thoughts. It was reported on TV that they are not removing the pine trees forever, but want to replace the old trees with new ones and will keep everything as it was before. The old trees are going to be moved into the Kremlin grounds and they will be replaced with new ones, young 2 meters high pine trees, which will be planted in the same spots (counting the range of every centimeter) by very professional grounds keepers. To deliver the new pine trees to Red Square, they use special covers for their roots and workers will plant them very carefully. Not a single branch will be broken.…
To read the full story about this event and have a look on the big photo you can here: Replacing pine trees along the Kremlin Wall.
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August 10, 2007
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On a recent visit to the famous Izmailovo market (Vernisazh) with a client, we discovered, completely by accident, a special museum of Orthodox Church Bells located in the attractive wooden and brick towers of the spectacular Kremlin in Izmailovo which was built in old Russian style of architecture. We were especially lucky that we met Konstantin, a professional bell ringer with 17 years experience. He was a pupil of the best Russian bell ringers and occasionally rings the bells in the Ivan Bell Tower in the Moscow Kremlin, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, and in the bell tower of the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra in Sergiev Posad. He provided us with very interesting information about the history of traditional bell ringing in Russia, the different types of bells, the shapes of bells from the 17th to 21st century. He demonstrated different types of bell ringing and we listened, fascinated, to the sounds of the bells, totally in awe. After this performance of amazing music, Konstantine gave my client a couple of lessons for beginners. Then we went downstairs into the small museum where he showed us photos and examples of Orthodox bells.
The Museum of Bells in Izmailovo was created as a result of 20 years of scientific research by specialists from The Society of Church Bell Ringers lead by Igor Konovalov, senior bell ringer of Cathedrals of Moscow Kremlin and Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
We were so exited that the hour we were in the museum just flew by. I really recommend a visit here. The reasonably priced tour can be arranged in advance for everyone who goes to Izmailovo market. You will have fun for sure!
Have a look on my photo album from this tour: Museum of Bells in Izmailovo
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May 30, 2007
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From 18th of January 2007 the administration of the Kremlin's Museums announced the same prices for tickets for citizens of the Russian Federation (excepting students and veterans) as well as for foreign tourists. Also the Kremlin Museums announced that they would no longer permit private guides to offer guiding services to their clients on the territory of the Kremlin and Armory Chamber without a special "Tour Voucher". The "Tour Voucher" is available only for their local guides who work in Kremlin or to the guides who have Accreditation from "Association of Guides-Interpreters" and work with one of 40 big travel agencies which have agreements with the Moscow Kremlin. Because of the limited number of local private guides it is almost impossible to book one in advance for a reasonable price, but if to take their guide right on the spot you have to pay 3 times more than the regular price (about 6000 rubles / $240 a person for one tour... To use a guide from any travel agency in advance will be almost the same price as to hire local Kremlin's guide. Recently I have made contacts with Excursion Bureau of the Kremlin and couple of travel agencies where it is possible to hire the guide with “Tour Voucher” for the pretty "reasonable” (min) price - 2000 rubles / $75 a person for 3 hour tour to the Kremlin cathedrals plus Armory Chamber. It is better to make this order 1 week in advance or earlier. In addition to the guide services, of course, you have to buy the tickets (prices for a person):
· The Architectural Ensemble of the Cathedral Square: 300 rubles / $12 (1,5-2 hours tour)
· The Armory Chamber: 350 rubles / $15 (1,5 hours tour)
· The Diamond Fund: 350 rubles / $15 (1,5 hours tour)
So you can see now, that if you would like to have guided tours in the Kremlin's museums, you have to book it many days in advance, spend there more than half of a day and a lot of money. Due to these circumstances about the touring on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin, I have some conclusions and thoughts for my dear clients about discovering the Moscow Kremlin...
Click here to read the full story.
P.S. On the picture to this article (click to enlarge) you can see the schematic map of architectural ensemble of Moscow Kremlin which you can get with audio-guides.
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May 27, 2007
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On 18th of May 2007, I was with my clients from Canada in Kolomna right before great event for this city - celebrations of the Day of the Slavic Literature and Culture which was on Saints Cyril and Methodius Day on May 24th. Cyril and Methodius, two Byzantine Greek brothers, were canonized in Eastern Orthodoxy as equal-to-apostles for devising and spreading the Slavic alphabet in the middle of 11th century. New alphabet was based on the Greek one and originated from the Phoenician system of writing.
We were very impressed by this beautiful old Russian city (founded in 1177) by it's colorful wooden houses and churches, peaceful atmosphere and renovation activities all around the old city. My client, Annie Budz, who came to spend her vacation in Moscow for the third time, told me that that, for the first time, she has seen how Russians can really work. It was really impressive when they, busy as ants, have renovated all the wooden houses, fences, old churches, mounted new street lights with old style lamps, painted, and cleaned where once there was only dirt and rust.
Walking around the main square in old Kremlin of Kolomna, I spoke with worker, who had lived in this city his whole life. He told me that he can not recognize his neighborhood nowadays, the city became so attractive and shiny during the last 2 years after the Mayor of Moscow Region started to invest money to fix it from degraded condition after Soviet Times. Also this worker was proud to tell me that his city will be included in Golden Ring of Russia soon.
No doubt that my clients and I were seduced by Kolomna city, even we were in famous Suzdal before, and I will definitely will recommend all my client the tour to this lovely colorful old Russian town and show you more interesting pictures with its beautiful churches, houses and great atmosphere. By the way, a new highway between Moscow and Kolomna (about 100 km) is fantastic, we came to common agreement that this road is the best in Moscow Region, the same as like in Europe or Canada. Annie told me on our way to Kolomna - I feel as like at home. :-)
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Moscow, Russia 
Contact Info: Arthur Lookyanov