Listed Russian Artist 1988 Etching Avant-Garde Aidan Salakhova Very Rare

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (807) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US, Item: 176270374229 LISTED RUSSIAN ARTIST 1988 ETCHING AVANT-GARDE AIDAN SALAKHOVA VERY RARE. Moscow radio stations New Art Forms. Lake Side Studio, Navy Pier, Chicago. Krieg und Welt / War and Peace. Labyrinth (from the "First Gallery"). Youth Palace, Moscow. June 3 - August 14. Exhibition of Azerbaijani artists. A VERY RARE AND EARLY AIDAN SALAKHOVA ETCHING MEASURING APPROXIMATELY 15 X 19 1/4 INCHES ENTITLED LAKESIDE IMPRESSION II THIS WAS HER FIRST TIME VISITING THE USA AND LAKESIDE STUDIOS
Aidan Salakhova   WAM: Aidan, we think that your work has an important role in the ongoing discussion on modernity. Your investigation on gender themes in the context of Islam trigger many important questions that relates to many. Also we think that, this investigation can be made to other religions as well. The gender theme is a crucial theme in the development of humanity and modernity. Many contemporary artist shave brought up themes related to democracy, equality and humanism. Many contemporary artists have clearly challenged political and religious institutions making headlines of newspaper around the world. We believe you fit perfectly in the scenario of those young revolutionary artists that have decided to make a difference in society, with their work and activity. In your personal and artistic carrier when did you decided to embark through this path? When and what made you decide to develop the gender / Islamic theme? Aidan Salakhova: At the end of the 90s, and early 2000s. First of all, it was my video projection on painting, «Sleeping beauty», that showed a woman in eastern dress. Then, I made the more outspoken series of drawings, "Persian Miniatures". It started as a private diary, a sort of unconscious sketches. Gallery owner Volker Diehl happened to see my album opened and was surprised why I didn’t show these sketches to anyone. The Habibi exhibition was under way – a series of photographs, combining classical elements and an Orientalist Eros. So, I decided to show "Persian Miniatures" with these photos. WAM: What had inspired you to create these miniatures? AS: At first, I made ​​these miniatures colorful, bright and more erotic. And it looked like the series of paintings, "I love myself." But I decided to transform it when I saw news report about the Nord-Ost terror siege in Moscow. I was completely blown away by the unusual beautiful eyes and shivering hands of suicide bombers holding bombs. This impression is changed visually in the "Persian Miniatures" from color to monochrome images. I wondered Why, What for? WAM: How did the theme of eroticism appear in this series? AS: The hands of girls were touching the bomb’s wires. It was a strange effect. Nerves, and at the same time sexy hand movements. I've always been interested in such duality. WAM: Do you think religion also has a duality? AS: In religion this fact always makes me embarrassed. Do you know Mohammed’s Satanic Verses? He wanted to introduce Islam and to gain the confidence of the Quraysh tribe, who were praying to three of Allah's Daughters called Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat. The Prophet said they are highly respected Goddesses and their intercession is accepted with approval. He wanted Quraysh to embrace the religion of Islam. Then an angel came to the Messenger and said, ``Muhammad, what have you done? You have recited to the people that which I did not bring to you from God, and you have said that which was not said to you. Allah is very merciful to you and makes no reckoning of your mistake. Satan had cast words into your recitation. Allah erases these words”. So this is the famous incident which Christians have titled as the satanic revelations. Now we have the same things. I don’t now what about Christianity, but The Virgin Mary… she also gave birth later. The Book, 2011, Courtesy XL Gallery MoscowWAM: Is it possible to change this situation? Do you change it via your creativity? AS: Anyway, only a few people can understand that. For example, The Black Stone of Kaaba is the feminine symbolism of Al-Lat goddess. Why do you think I put the Goddess in front of the black stone at the Venice Biennale? She faces her femininity. WAM: What was the reason of taking out your work from pavilion Azerbaijan at Biennale in Venice? AS: I was accused of giving a vaginal shape to a black stone. But this form was invented long ago. I created this stone using the proportion of the gold plate that in the Tut-Kapi museum, but I made it more oblong. It was my interpretation of the museum’s gold sarcophagus. The only liberty I allowed myself was turning it into a tear emerging from all the prayers and sufferings. This combines with the tears which are above on the Wailing Wall. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs was troubled. They saw the country's identity crisis in this diptych. (smiling). Azerbaijan has a secular state and an exposition supported by the state should not start with a woman in a black veil. But then they were scared that Islamic fundamentalists would be against the fact that I did the vaginal form. After I had to move this work to the Italian pavilion and there have been no protests. WAM: What was your experience at Venice Biennale? AS: I was confused by this scandal. I would greatly prefer journalists to write about my work not about this scandal. Many people congratulated me on my PR success. But it was not my goal. To be honest, most of all I was upset over the fact that I couldn’t see my sculpture for a week. The point is that the sculpture was made in Carara. I was visiting it once per month, but I have not able to exhibit it finished and polished. WAM: Before the scandal at the Venice Biennale, do you ever receive negative comments about your works? AS: Yes, in 2003. I presented "Kaaba," which is a video installation in XL gallery in Moscow. Russian Orthodox groups protested. They wrote to mosques saying this installation discredits Islam. I was invited to the mosque and fortunately had the chance to explain the meaning of this work. Chief mufti of Russia, Ravvil Gayammetdinov, visited my exhibition. After that he answered the protestors in a very interesting way, "Any interpretation of Islamic culture brings an interest in Islamic culture". I have the greatest respect to the religious aspects in my work. This is something sacred and spiritual, about love and faith. There is no intention to discredit at all. The purdah (veil) is not the most important thing in my work. It could be a nun garb also. The brevity of this image is important. The nice visual images expresses much, like a specific language. This is not just about eastern woman. This is about woman in general. Try to get into the veil! You’ll feel free. For European people it is difficult to understand how they wear this dress. Europeans think that women in veil are unhappy and deprived of its rights. But when you put on the veil, you find a strong feeling of freedom within, you can close yourself. It makes you stagger. This is internal freedom. You can look as you want, you can be dressed as you want. This anonymonity gives you inner freedom in particular. In general, all these are works about it! The same duality: an external closed nature and a spiritual openness. WAM: Have you ever tried to wear the veil? AS : Yes of course. It's very beautiful. Without the veil you are going out wearing a mask of sadness or joy; do you understand me? Wearing the veil is definitely another thing, you may play just with a look, and no one will recognize you. WAM: Where do you find inspiration? What moves you? AS: Generally, it’s my first-hand experiences, but sometimes my fantasy. Yes, mostly, it is personal experiences, and sometimes fantasy. Some images appear and I am trying to bring them to life. But most of all my art is my personal feelings. With God’s help, I am trying to realize who I am, to realise the world is another step. WAM: Do you worry about women’s status in society? AS: I have some things to worry about. I never feel myself flawed as a woman, as a gallery owner and as a citizen. I always feel on a par with men. But community dictates its own terms about women’s position in society. This annoys me. We deserve better. Why again the black stone? Well, it is also a metaphor of women’s situation, how they are confined. But this is no gender issue. Men also find themselves in a social framework. I hate questions concerned on male and female themes: “How many men and women do you have in the gallery?”, “Why do you present women’s art as a priority”? For me, art has no gender, nationality, etc. It is located in another state, a state of the name of “Art” WAM: Do you tend to explain your works? AS: No. It’s difficult for me to give an interview. I don’t like to force my ideas on others. Viewers have a visual image already. Only this image can act on them different ways. WAM: Why did you choose Islamic symbols? AS: It's beautiful. Visually, it is very good to express the sense that I put in. I do like minarets. It’s a beautiful architectural structure, very masculine. I like to look at the minarets. WAM: Who are the contemporary artists who inspires you and why? AS: I really like Louise Bourgeois, Matthew Barney, Olaf Orealeasa. When you look at their exhibitions, works of art, you feel totally involved in their world. WAM: How do you see the dialogue between tradition and modernity? AS: I show classical traditions of painting in my works. In graphic arts it transforms into a modern language of course. I graduated art school and art university. I always use the classic things - composition, the golden ratio. I’m sure that the ability to sculpt and paint is very important for artist because many people have learned to think and speak, but are not quite savvy in terms of classical art. And you can see it in their works. It’s not enough to have just an idea. The artist should be able to draw, and orchestrate. WAM: What are you working on now? AS: Now I am working on a series of bas-reliefs. There will be 12. Five are ready. Now I am creating two big statues from these series. The first one I made three years ago was "Trinity"- three women sitting on a gold background. I didn’t know about the Satanic Verses then. But I began to think why I have all the time three women in my head, three statues of the trio. I started to dig to the roots. I do not know the Koran in principle. But when you start to read, you begin to understand and learn how it was. Aidan Salakhova is one of the key figures of Russian contemporary art scene. Her work has always been the expression of personal and artistic freedom and her biography that of a self-made woman. An artist, one of the very first gallery owners in Russia, a fashionable and successful person. At the same time, Aidan has created her own personal myth based on oppositions, such as feminism and the typical behaviour of the ideal consumer, eastern hospitality and aristocratic arrogance, a myth which makes her take the distance from the obtrusive vanity of the jet set. At the base of this myth lies a complex identity. Carrying Azerbaijani genes and European culture, Aidan was born and raised in the Eastern European empire. On these foundations she has built her art, which is about the myths of Beauty, Harmony and Perfection personified in demi-nude women, beautiful female-warriors, Ingres-like heroines. However, notwithstanding the formal "prettiness" of all her works, she is one of the most provocative Russian artists. One of the first radical actions that she made was declaring that all her art "was addressed to the male audience". Such a declaration upset the feminist critics, and only later it became clear what Aidan really meant. By no means, men are the subjects in her work. They are instead an ornament, submissive part of her installations. She is a multi-faceted artist, so is her favourite theme, the East. Aidan admits that she looks at the East with the eyes of a European artist of the 19th century who believed that this antipode of the rational West was an imaginary world of luxury and wealth. Eastern motifs were already present in Aidan's early works. Later, Orientalism becomes manifest both in the form of attractiveness and glamour - as in her installations-performances with live seminude women, whom Aidan made lay down on satin cushions among sweets and fruits - and in a radical form like in her video installation "Kaaba", where female eyes from a black cube make dervishes gyrate endlessly. Commenting on "Kaaba", Aidan reports the Sufi concept that the soul has a female origin, God is a Mistress, and the contemplation of light which lives in the heart brings to ecstasy... This work caused an uproar. Fundamentalists considered it to be immoral and, as a consequence, a dangerous interpretation of the dogmas of Islam. The conflict ended when the supreme Mufti of Russia declared that there was nothing scandalous for the Islam in the work. A few years later, Aidan made the series of paintings "I Love Myself," which portrayed the inhabitants of a harem with their faces hidden behind a paranja indulging in lesbian games. Their naked bodies open to the caresses of their companions and to the viewers' glaze were drawn with a thin pencil. Teasing the ardent supporters of piousness, Aidan declared that she could momentarily erase the pencil lines and pretend that she had not violated the orthodox Islamic prohibitionn to depict living creatures. However, what matters here is the context in which these works were created: the Oriental myth rests on ruins. The militant East is no longer associated to lazy luxury and the eroticism. Today's newsmakers - Muslim fundamentalists and Chechen insurgents, terrorist attacks, shakhidi ready to die for the right to wear the khidzhab, paranoid tension between Europeans and emigrants from the East and the physical and psychological violence afflicting women in patriarchal eastern cultures. All this has been treated in contemporary art a lot, but Aidan ignores mainstream. She has returned sensuality - an issue rejected by the pioneers of avant-garde and for a long time considered bourgeois salon and kitsch - to the realm of contemporary art. Besides paintings, Aidan has also made the more outspoken series of drawings "Persian Miniatures", which was started as a private diary, sort of unconscious excercize. Although this series is considered to be "more outspoken", in fact it contains very little eroticism. There is instead a lot of sensuality, secrets, and surrealistic figurativeness. Not a single element in this series has one meaning. It cannot be explained in poetic "once in a harem, out of boredom...". The touches and embraces are not particularly erotic. Most probably, this story is about finding the right partner - which is an issue dear to many strong and independent women. It is not strange that in this series we find a book (an anatomy atlas) and a mirror, which are symbols of self-knowledge, and miniature models of mosques with delicate hands holding the minarets, symbols of faith. Clearly, the minarets that the women caress and cover with protective gestures are an evident reminder of Freud, and they might make you think of even more radical interpretation than the "Kaaba" installation... The government of Azerbaijan has decided to remove a pair of statues it has deemed controversial from its pavilion in the Venice Biennale, a spokesperson for the artist announced today. The two works, by the Moscow-based Aidan Salakhova, had been covered by cloth, with officials saying they’d been damaged in transport while they decided their ultimate fate. The statues in question are “Waiting Bride” (2010-2011), which features a woman with clasped hands wearing a full-length veil — lending an irony to the initial censorship — and “Black Stone” (2011), a vulva-like construction similar to a relic in Mecca by the same name. “In my 25 years of curating profession, I have never experienced this kind of conflict,” said Azerbaijan pavilion advisory curator Beral Madra in a press release. “However, lately I am observing — probably most of my colleagues also do — the growing intrusion of the political and official power on contemporary art production and on the artists and curators in many countries, including the developed democracies.” At a recent opening at Lever House, The Observer recently overheard David LaChapelle complaining that his work had been banned from the Art HK art fair for obscenity, though that’s admittedly a little different. According to the release, government officials had initially considered placing a plaque next to the works explaining that they did not support them, but ultimately seemed to have realized that this would amount to roughly the same thing. Contemporary art has recently become a pathway to the West for Azerbaijan, so this would seem to be a case of two steps backward.  Aidan Salakhova's personal myth is built on contradictions. The basis for them was the complex identity of the artist, born and raised in the Soviet empire and inheriting a complex combination of oriental genes and European culture. To top it all, Salakhova developed as an artist in the transitional era of the fall of the Iron Curtain, the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the collapse of the Soviet Union, after which the position and logic of the development of what is commonly called modern art changed. From a phenomenon of anti-Soviet, underground culture, it almost overnight turned into a symbol of newfound freedom and a part of the market. However, Aidan never literally described this political and social experience. At first glance, her art has always been dedicated to the myth of beauty, harmony and perfection, who was embodied in the beauties staying in the timelessness and laziness of an artificial paradise. The viewer was assigned the somewhat shameful role of a voyeur who invades the privacy of someone else's life with an immodest look. But having lured the viewer with a seductive, often too frank plot and female nudity, Aidan often punished him for curiosity, traumatized him, exposing the female physiology to the utmost. But despite the formal "beauty" of all his works, without exception, Aidan is one of the most provocative artists of his generation, as well as an artist who never closed himself within the framework of one once successfully found strategy, continuing to experiment with various media and formats of expression, not while looking at the market conditions or momentary intellectual fashion. Aidan was one of the first in post-Soviet Russia to start working with installation and video art, she was the first to master mobile media, integrating her imagery into the MMS format. At the same time, throughout her creative biography, traditional techniques remained significant for her - painting and drawing, in which the artist strove for asceticism, simplicity of images, lines and color. Just as the artist herself is not unambiguous, her most probably favorite oriental theme. The theme of the East, eastern borders and relations with neighbors is taboo in modern Russia, which, clearly possessing imperial ambitions, on the one hand seeks to colonize adjacent territories, and on the other, is actively colonized by neighbors. Aidan returns us to the Orientalist myth, creating an image of the East that is impossible today, in which there is no news from CNN and Al-Jazeera, Muslim fundamentalists and Chechen militants, terrorist attacks girdled with death of suicide bombers and fighting for their right to wear a hijab and wrap themselves in a veil of European women of Arab descent, paranoid tension between Europeans and Easterners, physical and psychological violence to which women are subjected in patriarchal Eastern cultures. At first glance, the East of Aidan is in many ways similar to the archaic, fabulously rich, despotic and erotic East of the romantic poet Gerard de Nerval, the novelist Gustave Flaubert, the artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, or the translator of A Thousand and One Nights by Edward Lane, then there is with the East, born of the European imagination (even more specifically, the imagination of the white man). However, the man is just a staffage in Aidan's complex productions. Along with this, Aidan often reminds us that the East, in fact, and this is incredibly significant, is the birthplace of the myrrh religions and esotericism. In 2002, the artist created a video installation "Kaaba", where female gazes from a black cube made dervishes rotate endlessly. The idea of ​​this installation was based on the Sufi concept that the spirit is a feminine principle, God is the Beloved, and the contemplation of the light that lives in the heart plunges the Sufi into a state of ecstasy. Almost a decade later, continuing the religious theme, Aidan created a series of sculptures in which the synergy of East and West was especially vividly manifested. The general appearance in the interiors of the Venetian palazzo makes it easy to fit these works into the Catholic tradition, like the figures of saints holding their attributes or symbols of their passions in their hands. Upon closer examination, it is revealed that these are female figures, whose faces are hidden by marble hoods, but rather by a burqa. Only hands gripping a book (a symbol of wisdom), a pumpkin (a symbol of the universe) and narrow minaret towers (a symbol of faith) are open to the gaze of an outsider. Of all Aidan's works, these Carrara marble sculptures are perhaps the most possessing such minimalist plasticity, which is practically reduced to a sign. And objects-symbols in this form and material acquire an almost mystical sound, equally accessible to both Western and Eastern consciousness.    Maria Kravtsova Opening of the exhibition "Persian Miniatures" in XL Gallery   Have you ever thought that an artist can take bread from a psychotherapist? To me, to be honest, no. Until I visited the personal exhibition of Aidan Salakhova "Persian miniatures".    The first circle in the hall. Introductory walk. At a leisurely pace, without stopping at a single canvas. Just to get into the atmosphere. At first, superficial glance - beautifully, exquisitely aesthetically presented erotica. And as always, on the verge of a foul: not a scandal, but very close. And how else can a common man perceive figures wrapped in a veil, immersed in voluptuous dreams, and notorious architectural objects with a clearly phallic bias? Or maybe I'm the only one who perceives everything so wrongly?      Second circle. I begin to linger at each picture. They are mesmerizing. There are many meanings, hints, symbols in the seeming simplicity of the compositions. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the reactions of nearby guests. Someone clicks the camera, others shoot on iPhones. Those who have already filmed are talking quietly, moving from canvas to canvas. No one is indifferent. There are almost more opinions than guests. There is something to talk about, something to discuss, something to argue about.    Circle three. I didn't even notice. Just at some point, she stepped out of the gallery hall under the arches of the Persian harem. Quiet sighs, a barely audible rustle of the book pages being turned over, a whisper, a light laugh ... Women who have learned to love themselves. And each other. Women whose lives are deprived of constant male attention, and at the same time filled with the search for the very presence of a man. Wrapped from head to toe in their black robes, looking at the world through a narrow slit of the burqa, these women are more sensual and attractive than a naked diva shining with curvaceous forms. What is the secret of their appeal? Maybe in the way they look at familiar things and what they manage to see in them? Or how they open their bodies to an involuntary witness of their loneliness, without throwing off their clothes? After all, what remains hidden - whether by hand, by a cover,    A natural question naturally arises: if an oriental woman through a narrow black gap could see so many symbols of male presence, then why does a European woman with her wide-open eyes not notice anything of the kind?    As an expert in the field of psychology and psychotherapy, I can assume that such an acute problem of female loneliness would not exist at all if our women learned to look at the world through the eyes of the heroines of Aidan's paintings. Take a look around. How many women, passing or running by, passing in cars or public transport, are wrapped in their problems, as if in a cocoon, blinkered to the point. It will be cleaner than a burqa. And the distance between her and the men creates - wow! If they are already approaching this, they already clearly realize that together with the woman they get all her luggage into the load. And you still have to want this.    For HE to want, SHE must create a corresponding aura around herself. And for this you need to learn to see HIS Presence. And feel it. Then everything changes in a woman - look, gait, breathing ... She carries a wave of emotions. A trail of attraction moves behind her. She worries. Isn't that right, men?    As for the feeling, this is already to the center of the hall. Here, what in the description of the exhibition is modestly referred to as architectural objects. I will be just as humble and say that these are symbols of a man, transmitted through the architecture of the minarets. They stand proudly in glass flasks. Considering that each such architectural object was made of paraffin by hand: it was warmed up, molded, ironed by the hands of an artist, a woman, and it was in her power to grow it, giving life to the form, or melt it, forcing it to flow between thin fingers ... associative and thought process.    One such object particularly caught my attention. I gave him a name - Non-Virgin. The design clearly contains the imprint of a woman. Perhaps someone will have a completely different association, and the viewer will discern a different, opposite meaning in him ... But I remembered one theory to which some "specialists" in human souls turn. With her help, they explain such problems, which are popularly voiced as “the family has its black sheep” or “neither the mother nor the father, but the passer-by”. The meaning of the theory is that a woman who has had an intimate relationship with different men retains a certain information field (part of the gene code?) Of each of these men. And it leaves an imprint on the future child. But a man does not accumulate any field, no matter how many women he has. And in Non-Virgin I saw a symbolic refutation of this theory. Oh-oh-oh how ...    Aidan plays with images and hints, like a psychologist with words. And there is more symbolism in her works than, perhaps, it was even originally conceived. Her canvases are read as a metaphor: in different states, in different life situations, the meaning of the same canvas is perceived differently. In addition, an artist does not have the ability to clearly articulate a message, unlike, say, a writer. And what is not expressed in a word is usually conjectured. Therefore, everyone will have their own reading of the canvases and art objects of "Persian miniatures" - passed through the prism of their own views and beliefs.    The solution often lies on the surface. Just to see him, sometimes you have to play with filters of perception. And a woman who has learned this will never be alone. Men won't let her. Irina Gavrilova Aidan Salakhova. Persian miniatures.           Aidan Salakhova is one of the key figures in the Russian art scene. All her activities were a manifestation of personal and creative freedom, and her biography was an example of a self-made woman. An artist, a pioneer of gallery business, luxurious and prosperous, she brought to life Pushkin's formula “you can be an efficient person and think about the beauty of your nails”. At the same time, Aidan became the creator of a personal myth built on contradictions, into which femist discourse and typical behavior of an ideal consumer, oriental hospitality and aristocratic arrogance, with the help of which she escapes the obsessive vanity of the beau monde, entered on equal terms. The foundation of this myth is the complex identity of Aidan, who was born and raised in the middle empire of an Eastern European woman who inherited Azerbaijani genes and European culture. And the building built on this foundation was the art of Aidan, dedicated to the myth of beauty, harmony and perfection, embodied in half-naked beauties, beautiful warriors and engrisks. However, despite the formal "beauty" of all his works, without exception, Aidan is one of the most provocative Russian artists. One of the first radical gestures of this adherent of contemporary art (with his almost obligatory curtsey towards feminism) was the statement that all her art was “oriented towards the male viewer”. Such statements could not but anger the critics-feminists, and only later it became clear what Aidan meant. The man is by no means the subject of her art, but just a weak-willed staffage, an obligatory part of her installations. harmony and perfection, embodied in half-naked beauties, beautiful warriors and engrisques. However, despite the formal "beauty" of all his works, without exception, Aidan is one of the most provocative Russian artists. One of the first radical gestures of this adherent of contemporary art (with his almost obligatory curtsey towards feminism) was the statement that all her art was “oriented towards the male viewer”. Such statements could not but anger the critics-feminists, and only later it became clear what Aidan meant. The man is by no means the subject of her art, but just a weak-willed staffage, an obligatory part of her installations. harmony and perfection, embodied in half-naked beauties, beautiful warriors and engrisques. However, despite the formal "beauty" of all his works, without exception, Aidan is one of the most provocative Russian artists. One of the first radical gestures of this adherent of contemporary art (with his almost obligatory curtsey towards feminism) was the statement that all her art was “oriented towards the male viewer”. Such statements could not but anger the critics-feminists, and only later it became clear what Aidan meant. The man is by no means the subject of her art, but just a weak-willed staffage, an obligatory part of her installations. Aidan is one of the most provocative Russian artists. One of the first radical gestures of this adherent of contemporary art (with his almost obligatory curtsey towards feminism) was the statement that all her art was “oriented towards the male viewer”. Such statements could not but anger the critics-feminists, and only later it became clear what Aidan meant. The man is by no means the subject of her art, but just a weak-willed staffage, an obligatory part of her installations. Aidan is one of the most provocative Russian artists. One of the first radical gestures of this adherent of contemporary art (with his almost obligatory curtsey towards feminism) was the statement that all her art was “oriented towards the male viewer”. Such statements could not but anger feminist critics, and only later it became clear what Aidan meant. The man is by no means the subject of her art, but just a weak-willed staffage, an obligatory part of her installations. what Aidan meant. The man is by no means the subject of her art, but just a weak-willed staffage, an obligatory part of her installations. what Aidan meant. The man is by no means the subject of her art, but just a weak-willed staffage, an obligatory part of her installations.    Just as the artist herself is not unambiguous, her most probably favorite oriental theme. Aidan admits that he looks at the East rather through the eyes of a European, and even a European artist of the 19th century, for whom this antipode of the rational West was a fictional world of bliss and fabulous wealth. Oriental motives were already present in Aydan's early student works. Later, Orientalism manifested itself either attractively and glamorously, as in installations-performances with living, half-naked beauties, whom Aidan laid on satin pillows among sweets and fruits, or harshly, on the verge of a foul, as in the video installation "Kaaba", where women's views from a black cube forced the dervishes to make an endless rotation. Commenting on the Kaaba, Aidan referred to the Sufi ideas that the spirit is the feminine principle, God is the Beloved, and the contemplation of the light that lives in the heart plunges the Sufi into a state of ecstasy. And she quoted the verses of the Sufi saint Rabia: "All I want is the essence of Your Love, // I want to become one with You, // And become Your Face." This work almost became a reason for a scandal - the fundamentalists saw in it a too free and, therefore, dangerous interpretation of the dogmas of Islam. The conflict was avoided, the Supreme Mufti of Russia did not see anything seditious in such an interpretation of Islam. A few years later, the picturesque series “I love myself” appeared, the heroines of which were the inhabitants of the harem, indulging in lesbian games, whose faces were hidden by veils of burqa, but ideal bodies drawn with a thin lead of a simple pencil were naked and open to the caress of partners and the views of the audience. As if teasing the zealots of piety, Aidan argued that she could erase pencil lines with an eraser for a moment and thus pretend that she did not violate the prohibition on depicting living beings existing in orthodox Islam. However, this is not essential, but the context in which these works appeared. The Orientalist myth rests in ruins. The East, rattling with weapons, has long been no longer associated with the lazy bliss and eros of the tales of The Thousand and One Nights. Today's newsmakers are Muslim fundamentalists and Chechen militants, terrorist attacks girdled with the death of a suicide bomber and fighting for their right to wear a hijab and wrap themselves in a veil, Europeans of Arab descent, paranoid tension between Europeans and immigrants from the East, physical and psychological violence to which women in patriarchal Eastern cultures are subjected ... In parallel with painting, Aidan worked on an even more frank graphic series "Persian Miniatures", which began as sketches in a notebook not intended for prying eyes, a private lesson, automatic writing practically exposing the work of the subconscious. While the series is called "more overt", there is little literal eroticism in it, but a lot of sensuality, mystery and surreal imagery. In this series, everything is ambiguous, and is not limited to a description that could begin with the words "once in a harem, out of boredom ...". The touches and hugs that the heroines put into each other do not look purely erotic. Rather, this is a story about finding an adequate partner - a topic that is relevant for many strong and successful women. There is nothing surprising that it was in this series that a book (anatomical atlas) and a mirror appeared - symbols of self-knowledge, miniature models of mosques with minarets in gentle hands - symbols of faith. However, the minarets, which the women either cover with a protective gesture, or caress, are an obvious hello to Freud, at the same time suggesting an even more radical interpretation of the mystical raptures of Sufism than in the Kaaba installation. Maria Kravtsova Aidan without a veil A huge retrospective of Aidan Salakhova opened at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art on Ermolaevsky Lane   A rare case: the business elite in expensive suits, bohemians in bright fashionable outfits, an art get-together in shabby jackets and young artists in T-shirts - all these people crowded together. The enthusiastic unity was ensured by the very figure of Aidan, acting in different life roles - the most famous gallery owner, with whose help numerous new collectors compiled their collections; secular ladies, whose portraits and interviews adorn almost all of our glamorous media; a teacher teaching students not only the art of drawing, but also new technologies; and, of course, one of the best Russian artists. Aidan herself was in a long black dress - as if she had stepped out of her own paintings or video works.  The exhibition, which occupies all four museum floors, is built according to the technological principle - painting separately, video separately, drawings separately. But it is united thematically - the main topic that has been of interest to Aidan for many years. It can be conditionally called feminism, covered with Islamic paraphernalia. Woman, female body, female grace, female behavior, female gaze - that's what Aidan is interested in. And it doesn't matter in what technique the work is done and who is depicted on it - a simple Russian woman ("Tatiana"), a classic odalisque ("Sleeping Beauty"), or a Muslim woman swaddled in a black veil or headscarf, from whom only eyes are left for the world - sad, dreary, but very observant ("Kaaba"). Aidan's feminism is not aggressive, not belligerent, and not asexual. Salakhova's art is extremely erotic, even, I would say, physiological. She, of course, fights for the rights of women, but she understands these rights quite definitely. The scenes in which a girl in a veil is engaged in masturbation ("I love myself" series) or two girls indulge in sodomy are more likely about dreary evenings in a harem, and not about the recognition of the rights of sexual minorities. And also, as one art critic has accurately noted, Salakhova's art is very tactile: the main motive of all her works is the motive of touching. A girl touches herself, another girl, a man, or some phallic object (work from the series "Persian miniatures"). And even if, on closer examination, this object turns out to be a minaret - Aidan does not mean national or religious differences, she just sees the vitality of life in everything. A very important quality, without which it is difficult to be at the same time an artist, gallery owner, teacher and secular character. The Aidan exhibition opens the Contemporary Moscow program, which is jointly organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art and XL Gallery. The essence of the program is the museification of contemporary art. Retrospectives of a dozen contemporary artists will be held in the halls on Ermolaevsky. At the same time, another gallery, Marat Gelman, is doing a similar project, but this time together with the Tretyakov Gallery. Both projects testify that the once radical, shocking, many incomprehensible art has risen to the rank of general's stars. What can no longer be ignored.   Nikolay Molok Izvestia, 30.05.07 ... And the Woman Created God: Video Creation by Aidan Salakhova. Antonio Geusa Beauty is truth, truth beauty, —that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn, 1819 “Beauty is truth, and truth is beauty; and this is all that is known on earth and all there is to know. ” John Keats, Ode on the Greek Vase, 1819    The first video work of Aidan Salakhova, "Suspense" (1998), is at the same time an important example in the process of institutionalization of video art in Russia, meaning, about a decade after its birth, the final and "official" confirmation of the status of video as a full-fledged genre in the field of contemporary art ... In the structure of "Suspense", which is an installation, two genres are actually equalized, two different approaches for expressing artistic expression: the first is painting, which is proud of its thousands-strong tradition, and the second is video, embodying technological progress and innovation. In the semi-dark space of the exhibition hall, a pregnant woman froze on a large canvas. Her pensive expression, her arms hugging her heavy belly, the simplicity of the clothes and the monochrome texture of the canvas itself - all contribute to the emergence of an eerie feeling, in which suspense and tension are mixed in anticipation of the end of pregnancy. Suddenly the immobility is disturbed and the woman comes to life. The canvas turns into a screen on which the same woman leaves her seat and slowly stands up. But, despite the fact that in this work the projected image dictates its own rules for painting, depriving it of the necessary lighting and changing the original visual texture of the painting surface, giving it a bluish tint,    Aidan manages to avoid the conflict between the two genres. Painting and video here are ideally coordinated allies in creating a suggestive experience of uncertainty, which the very title of the work suggests as one of the keys to interpreting the work. The video - a woman slowly getting up - adds to the still and silent painting the feeling of discomfort that a pregnant woman inevitably experiences during gestation. Feelings of inconvenience, excitement, anxiety, which these images carry, allow us to consider them as a weak echo of Salakhova's early works, such as, for example, the Abortion series, which speaks of the mental and physiological trauma of losing a child before his birth. Only a faint echo - because there is no aggressive imposition or emotional demonstration of such cruel pain for women as abortion.    And once again - painting finds in the video an impeccable companion to create the effect of complete uncertainty, which is the essence of the work. It should be noted that the endless movement of slowly getting up multiplies this impression. To a certain extent, this is reminiscent of the myth of the curse - as if the Greek gods condemned a woman to forever repeat the same action, over and over again. One can afford to notice that the crime she committed in order to receive such a punishment must be something connected with love, the leading force and the leitmotif of Aidan Salakhova's creativity. However, this is only one of the possible readings. There are many others, also undoubtedly legitimate. A constant element for Aidan's video works is precisely that her works are always symbolic, but never allegorical: they give rise to many references.    Ultimately, this woman exists alone, as a titanic heroine in the confined space of the canvas / screen, in complete control of her own territory. Her simple, almost mechanical movements make the act of voyeur devoid of qualities such as lust and sexual pleasure. The feeling of uncertainty and suspense, which both video and painting evoke in the viewer, clearly interferes with other possible interpretations of the artist's image of a woman - where she appears as an object.    This pregnant woman can be considered the progenitor of all female characters that will inhabit Salakhova's videography in the near future. In her next video installation, Sleeping Beauty (2000), the artist again shows the relationship between static and moving images, as in Suspension. Again, there is a single woman in the center of the stage. This transition from the future mother to the new heroine is very important, since this creates a certain typology of the subjective pictorial series that Salakhova builds in painting, to which she belongs by education - a series to which she also remains true in photography and video. Here the artist offers the viewer one of the most significant characters of his own mythology, Odalisque. In Sleeping Beauty, Salakhova simultaneously re-actualizes the legacy of the St. Petersburg New Academy, to which she belonged, and returns to her Central Asian roots. The imperative canon of the Beauty of neoacademism connects with the exotic corporeality of its own cultural origins. In this work, Aidan sensually mixes both of these traditions. In turn, the title - repeating one of the most famous tales of Charles Perrault - undoubtedly reveals the author's belonging to Western culture and makes this West-Eastern "mix" even more expressive. The tale, which Aidan tells this time, with an oriental woman in the lead role, belongs, rather, to the collection of “A Thousand and One Nights”. "Sleeping Beauty" is undoubtedly more sensual - one might even say carnal - work than the previous ones.    Two years later, in 2002, Aidan builds the "House of God" - "Kaaba" (Arabic), a massive black cube containing four pairs of female eyes - each on its own side, looking from the inside of its burqa at the world around it. Outside, two large video projections show two men dressed in traditional costumes performing a Sufi ritual dance. In a relatively limited space and with rather modest means, Salakhova again creates a rich conglomerate of indices that legitimize a wide range of interpretations. One of the most unusual is that the black cube means both the artistic representation of the Black Stone in Mecca (also called "Kaaba" in Arabic), which attracts millions of pilgrims every year, and the vagina - a logical interpretation born of a black construction with an opening on each side populated by women. Ultimately, the House of God Aidan is the House of Women. Obviously, there is no blasphemy in this appropriation. On the contrary, this is an authoritative statement from the artist herself.    In fact, this unconventional combination will not look unusual if we take into account the essence of Salakhova's work and her biography as an artist. Far from self-promotion and scandal, Aidan has never been afraid to challenge and take risks. It should be noted that this aspect of her artistic "I" in video works is never stuck out and is not given as the first layer. On the contrary, it manifests itself after a careful examination of the work. Therefore, if at first glance the Kaaba seems to want to please the viewer and interest him with the help of ethnographic documents, large size and the use of high technologies, careful analysis proves that there are many more references hidden under the seductive surface. Above all, the Kaaba manifests itself as a powerful statement of the leading and dominant role of women.    In it, the theorist carefully examines the cinematic mainstream and singles out the “male gaze” in it as the main addressee, which dictates their structure to films. Women have always been portrayed by the Hollywood film industry, Malvy claims, as "objects" to satisfy the voyeuristic desires of men. Obviously, Aidan breaks this mechanism and places a "feminine gaze" at the center of the House of God. According to the principles of psychoanalysis, the gaze is a psychological index of power, the one who controls the gaze (the beholder) has a dominant position in comparison with the one who is the object of this “watching”. In Salakhova's Kaaba, the beholders are women. They have an out-of-narrative gaze - from the inside out - which is dominant in the space around them. Thus, they control the space around them - and, therefore, the audience in it. In this regard, it should be mentioned that it is for their eyes that the dancers perform the Sufi ritual. In other words, it is men who become “objects”.    The following year, Aidan places two female warriors at the center of her installation Love and Death. By the way, they are found in the video. Before their story begins, two large photographs show women in daring poses, dressed in luxurious traditional oriental costumes, holding a cold weapon. After the women leave the "ethnographic space" of their photographs, they move to the center and begin their battle-dance. They fight violently and it is tempting to say that they "fight like men." Either way, such an analogy is only valid if there is no further misunderstanding of their struggle as a parody of what “traditionally” belongs to men. Salakhova's female warriors are not antagonists to men. These are women, those whom the artist gives "courage". But they also do not lose their femininity. As the name itself tells us, warriors are the visual embodiment of a passion of love that borders on death experienced by women. To summarize somewhat, the “exotic” element - the dominant of Aidan's imagination - finds its culmination here: visualization of the tension of feeling. At its core, "Love and Death" is a work about how passionate women can be, because the story that the artist is now telling us is again, as always, about Love. Love that, in the tradition of romanticism, has a distinct taste of death. visualization of the tension of feelings. At its core, "Love and Death" is a work about how passionate women can be, because the story that the artist is now telling us is again, as always, about Love. Love that, in the tradition of romanticism, has a distinct taste of death. visualization of the tension of feelings. At its core, "Love and Death" is a work about how passionate women can be, because the story that the artist is now telling us is again, as always, about Love. Love that, in the tradition of romanticism, has a distinct taste of death.    The next video, "Khabibi" (2004) stands out from the rest as the most "Bakhtin" work, since it carries both "carnivalism" and the Other. Without a doubt, "Khabibi" is also the most ironic work in Salakhova's videography. It is a looping repetition of one long section showing the waist of a professional belly dancer dressed in a traditional tinkling costume. Here, Aidan demonstratively isolates the anatomical part of the female body, the one that in the East has an erotic function, while in the West it greatly scares women and is condemned to a secret life: “fat belly”. The artist boldly combines the Eastern understanding of eroticism and Western social complexes together. Again, Aidan is moving away from exploiting the female body, assuming "visual pleasure" and "male gaze". In Habibi, a woman performs an endless dance, completely immersed in movement. Considering that “khabibi” in Arabic means “beloved”, the author's irony becomes even more obvious. However, besides this, Aidan also talks about the incompatibility of two different cultures: what the East loves, the West cannot stand.    A year later, in My Bride, Salakhova returns to describing the Western world, adding a new type, the newlywed, to her rich kaleidoscope of female characters. Against a black background, a young attractive girl stands, dressed in her white dress, smiling and holding a bouquet. Suddenly, the photo comes to life and the bride slowly turns around, revealing her back, which is superimposed on top of the smiling image in the photo. The effect in this work is of the same nature as the compositional solution "Suspense", although there is no such strong feeling of being suspended, and it seems that nothing threatens the bride's happiness. Nevertheless, the piece still contains a strange, albeit weak, sense of unpredictability, arising from the idea that showing the public the back of the bride can be explained by the demonstration that the bride does not see and cannot see. the latent threat posed by her future. Whatever the new life that lies ahead of her, she will release her out of control. She makes this clear with a simple gesture: deliberately dropping the bouquet. There is no aggression or rage in her behavior. She just lets the flowers slip out of her hands and fall to the floor. With this delicate but at the same time decisive gesture, the bride Aidan puts herself on that high pedestal from which she dominates the viewer, reflecting all attempts to turn her into a stupid stereotype of the "beautiful" that awaits the future spouse of some Mr. Ivanov. She just lets the flowers slip out of her hands and fall to the floor. With this delicate but at the same time decisive gesture, the bride Aidan puts herself on that high pedestal from which she dominates the viewer, reflecting all attempts to turn her into a stupid stereotype of the "beautiful" that awaits the future spouse of some Mr. Ivanov. She just lets the flowers slip out of her hands and fall to the floor. With this delicate but at the same time decisive gesture, the bride Aidan puts herself on that high pedestal from which she dominates the viewer, reflecting all attempts to turn her into a stupid stereotype of the "beautiful" that awaits the future spouse of some Mr. Ivanov.    In MMS (2005) Salakhova explores the links between mass technology and art communication. This video installation seems to have the intention of deconstructing Marshall McLuhan's famous axiom "A means is a message." Here the author offers his own version: a message inside a tool. Clearly, MMS does not emphasize technology as a self-sufficient vehicle for creating art. Aidan doesn't really celebrate mobile phones as artistic tools just because they can send photos and videos. They are only “authorized” to become intermediaries in order to convey what is art in itself - in the case of “MMS”, become objects infected with the virus of Beauty: a short clip depicting the eyes of one of the “goddesses” painted by the artist.      Tatiana (2006) emerged after a year of studying the women around Aidan in her home life. Covertly examining her friends, acquaintances, neighbors and all the other female characters that she has come across, Aidan discovers in a middle-aged woman living in a neighboring apartment, a new heroine for her mythology. Three large photographs show Tatiana's “naked” face, bravely looking ahead. Tatyana's hands move neatly, almost mechanically, over her lips, around her eyes, showing, one after the other, the three moods that she experiences such an important moment in a woman's day. The inner world of feelings is here openly presented to the viewer, without loud statements - the work is deliberately devoid of sound. But one way or another, Tatiana is not a tragic figure, similar to the heroine of Luigi Pirandello's essay "On Humor", who is ridiculed by her neighbors because of her strong make-up, as she tries to become young again. On the contrary, she, like all the heroines of Aidan, controls "her territory." And even more - "Tatiana", although simple in structure, is complex in its interaction of two means, which is Aidan's "trademark": a projection superimposed on a static image. The video itself here is a layer of makeup on the surface of the photo.    Summing up, we can draw a parallel between the video of Salakhova's work and the ancient Greek poetess Sappho: the author's works are also a study-contemplation of the relationship of sensual love and immortal art. Skillfully playing with the boundaries of voyeurism, Aidan shows off her independent, strong, self-sufficient women. Women who do not allow anyone to exploit them, but on the other hand, are in complete control of their own destiny and follow their passion at will. All these women are goddesses, something like Graces in Greek mythology, the goddess of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity, fertility, and besides all this, also the goddess of love, because love is in its entire varied spectrum, from eroticism to motherhood, one of the key concepts for the artistic world of Salakhova. But at the same time, if we take into account the coefficient of Muslim iconography, we can see that in his videos the author mixes Greek mythology with Eastern. This is especially true for the spiritual recognition of the mystical traditions of Sufism and its concept of direct perception of God (Truth) through sharing the feeling of divine love.    Salakhova is not an artist who fights for women's rights. It is far enough from the point at which women feel the need to explain themselves to themselves, to demand equality and to be heard. There is no gender fight in her video. Men do not appear funny there. Often they are not even presented. Although, Aidan very subtly uses the strategy described by Derrida, absence as a sign of presence, because men are implied, even if they are not physically present: a pregnant woman, a bride, a belly dancer, they are all in direct relationships with men. And once again: Salakhova is not a suffragist or a die-hard feminist attacking the status quo of a patriarchal society, where the man rules and the woman is the object. On the contrary, she presents her heroines in their own independent space, in the territory of complete freedom, where only God is under their constant gaze. Museum of Contemporary Women's Art Personalia          and the author himself, who in relation to the "classical" is in the same position as the viewer. Like the shoulders of the secular beauty Helen in Tolstoy, classical art for modern perception is too "varnished" by the multitude of glances that slid over it to awaken any living feeling. From this point of view, Aidan's absurd procedure for creating, destroying and disclosing (reviving) the classic is not at all absurd, since, like ordinary female coquetry, it has as its purpose to arouse desire. Aidan, as it were, invites the viewer to "undress" the classics, to experience something similar to Winckelmann's trepidation in front of the antique statues that have re-emerged. The involvement of experts in the project raises another topic, which is inextricably linked with the theme of the classic, namely, the theme of originals and forgeries, or, in a more subtle version, the intractable problem of the value priorities of time. In his objects, Aidan equates in rights what is "under" with what is "above", traditional figurativeness with abstraction, metaphorically reifying their independent, but at the same time inseparable existence in the history of art. And although such compromises, which replaced the modernist denial of the past, are extremely popular in contemporary art, one would like to think that this dualism "no fish - no meat" will eventually degenerate into some other matter that will be worthy of X-ray images of future Grabar centers ... Milena Orlova, Winckelmann's Awe. In his objects, Aidan equates in rights what is "under" with what is "above", traditional figurativeness with abstraction, metaphorically reifying their independent, but at the same time inseparable existence in the history of art. And although such compromises, which replaced the modernist denial of the past, are extremely popular in contemporary art, one would like to think that this dualism "no fish - no meat" will eventually degenerate into some other matter that will be worthy of X-ray images of future Grabar centers ... Milena Orlova, Winckelmann's Awe. In his objects, Aidan equates in rights what is "under" with what is "above", traditional figurativeness with abstraction, metaphorically reifying their independent, but at the same time inseparable existence in the history of art. And although such compromises, which replaced the modernist denial of the past, are extremely popular in contemporary art, one would like to think that this dualism "no fish - no meat" will eventually degenerate into some other matter that will be worthy of X-ray images of future Grabar centers ... Milena Orlova, Winckelmann's Awe. And although such compromises, which replaced the modernist denial of the past, are extremely popular in contemporary art, I would like to think that this dualism "no fish, no meat" will eventually degenerate into some other matter that will be worthy of X-ray images of future Grabar centers ... Milena Orlova, Winckelmann's Awe. And although such compromises, which replaced the modernist denial of the past, are extremely popular in contemporary art, one would like to think that this dualism "no fish - no meat" will eventually degenerate into some other matter that will be worthy of X-ray images of future Grabar centers ... Milena Orlova, Winckelmann's Awe. Статьи     Персональный миф Айдан Салаховой построен на противоречиях. Основой для них стала сложная идентичность художницы, родившейся и выросшей в Советской империи и унаследовавшей сложное сочетание восточных генов и европейской культуры. В довершении ко всему Салахова сложилась как художник в переходную эпоху падения железного занавеса, крушения Восточного блока и краха Советского Союза, после которого изменилось положение и логика развития того, что принято называть современным искусством. Из феномена антисоветской, подпольной культуры оно практически в одночасье превратилось в символ новообретенной свободы и часть рынка. Впрочем, Айдан никогда буквально не описывала этот политический и социальный опыт. На первый взгляд, ее искусство всегда было посвящено мифу красоты, гармонии и совершенства, который воплотился в пребывающих в безвременье и лени искусственного рая красавицах. Зрителю же отводилась несколько постыдная роль вуайериста, который вторгаться нескромным взглядом в приватность чужого бытия. Но заманив зрителя соблазнительным, нередко чересчур откровенный сюжетом и женской наготой, Айдан нередко наказывала его за любопытство, травмировала, предельно обaнажив женскую физиологию. Но несмотря на формальную «красивость» всех без исключения своих работ, Айдан является одним из самых провокационных художников своего поколения, а также художником, который никогда не замыкался в рамках одной, некогда удачно найденной стратегии, продолжая экспериментировать с различными медиа и форматами высказывания, не взирая при этом на конъюнктуру рынка или сиюминутной интеллектуальной моды. Айдан одна из первых в постсоветской России начала работать с инсталляцией и видео-артом, первая освоила мобильные медиа, интегрировав свою образность в формат MMS. При этом на протяжении всей творческой биографии значимыми для нее оставались и традиционные техники – живопись и рисунок, в которых художница стремилась к аскетичности, простоте изображений, линий и колорита. Также как сама художница не однозначна, ее самая, вероятно, любимая ориентальная тема. Тема Востока, восточных границ и взаимоотношений с соседями табуируется в современной России, которая, явно обладая имперскими амбициями, с одной стороны стремится к колонизации сопредельных территорий, а с другой активно колонизируется соседями. Айдан возвращает нас в ориенталисткий миф, создавая невозможный сегодня образ Востока, в котором нет новостей CNN и Аль-Джазира, мусульманских  фундаменталистов и чеченских боевиков, терактов, опоясанных смертью шахидок и борющихся за свое право носить хиджаб и заворачиваться в паранджу европеек арабского происхождения, параноидального напряжение между европейцами и выходцами с Востока, физического и психологического насилия, которым подвергаются женщины в патриархальных восточных культурах. Восток Айдан на первый взгляд, во многом схож с архаичным, сказочно богатым, деспотичным и источающим эротизм Востоком поэта-романтика Жерара де Нерваля, романиста Гюстава Флобера, художника Жан-Огюста-Доминика Энгра или переводчика «Тысяча и одной ночи» Эдварда Лэйна, то есть с Востоком, порожденным европейским воображением (еще конкретнее – воображением белого мужчины). Впрочем, мужчина лишь стаффаж в сложных постановках Айдан.  Наравне с этим, Айдан нередко напоминает нам о том, что Восток, и на самом деле, и именно это невероятно значимо, является местом рождения мирровых религий и эзотерики. В 2002 году художница создала   видеоинсталляцию «Кааба», где женские взгляды из черного куба заставляли дервишей совершать бесконечное вращение. Идея этой инсталляции базировалась на суфийских представления о том, что дух является женским началом, Бог – Возлюбленной, а созерцание света, который живет в сердце, повергает суфия в состояние экстаза. Почти через десятилетие, продолжая религиозную тему, Айдан создала серию скульптур, в которых особенно ярко проявилась синергия Востока и Запада. Общий вид в интерьерах венецианского палаццо легко позволяет вписать эти работы в католическую традицию, как фигуры святых, держащих в руках свои атрибуты или символы своих страстей. При ближайшем рассмотрении обнаруживается, что это женские фигуры, лица которых сокрыты мраморными капюшонами, но скорее - паранджой. Взгляду постороннего открыты лишь руки, сжимающие книгу (символ мудрости), тыкву (символ мироздания) и узкие башни минаретов (символ веры). Из всех произведений Айдан эти скульптуры из каррарского мрамора, пожалуй, в наибольшей степени обладают настолько минималисткой пластикой, что практически редуцированы до знака. И предметы-символы в этой форме и материале приобретают почти мистическое звучание, равно доступное и западному и восточному сознанию.    Мария Кравцова Открытие выставки "Персидские миниатюры" в XL Галерее     Вам когда-нибудь приходило в голову, что художник может отнять хлеб у психотерапевта? Мне, честно говоря, нет. Пока я не побывала на персональной выставке Айдан Салаховой «Персидские миниатюры».    Круг первый по залу. Ознакомительная прогулка. Неторопливым шагом, не останавливаясь ни у одного полотна. Просто, чтобы проникнуться атмосферой. На первый, поверхностный взгляд –красиво, изысканно эстетично поданная эротика. И как всегда, на грани фола: не скандал, но очень близко. А как еще воспринимать простому обывателю закутанные в паранджу фигуры, погруженные в сладострастные грезы, и пресловутые архитектурные объекты с явно фаллитическим уклоном? Или, может, я одна все так неправильно воспринимаю?    Круг второй. Начинаю задерживаться у каждой картины. Они завораживают. В кажущейся простоте композиций много смыслов, намеков, символов. Краем взгляда замечаю реакции находящихся поблизости гостей. Кто-то щелкает фотоаппаратом, другие снимают на айфоны. Те, кто уже наснимался, тихо переговариваются, переходя от полотна к полотну. Равнодушных нет. Мнений чуть ли не больше, чем гостей. Есть, о чем поговорить, что обсудить, о чем поспорить.    Круг третий. Даже не заметила. Просто в какой-то момент шагнула из зала галереи под своды персидского гарема. Тихие вздохи, еле слышный шелест перелистываемых книжных страниц, шепот, легкий смех… Женщины, которые научились любить себя. И друг друга. Женщины, жизнь которых лишена постоянного мужского внимания, и одновременно наполнена поиском самого присутствия мужчины. Закутанные с головы до ног в свои черные одеяния, смотрящие на мир сквозь узкую прорезь паранджи, эти женщины более чувственны и притягательны, чем блистающая пышными формами оголенная дива. В чем секрет их притягательности? Может быть, в том, как они смотрят на всем знакомые вещи  и что умудряются в них увидеть? Или в том, как приоткрывают свое тело невольному свидетелю их одиночества, не сбрасывая своих одежд? Ведь то, что остается скрытым - рукой ли, покровом, - будит воображение сильнее голой откровенности.    Сам собой возникает естественный вопрос: если восточная женщина через узкую черную щель смогла увидеть так много символов мужского присутствия, то почему европейка с ее широко раскрытыми глазами, ничего подобного не замечает?    Как специалист в области психологии и психотерапии, я могу предположить, что так остро стоящей проблемы женского одиночества не существовало бы вовсе, если бы наши женщины научились смотреть на мир глазами героинь полотен Айдан. Оглянитесь вокруг. Как много женщин, проходящих или пробегающих мимо, проезжающих в автомобилях или общественным транспортом, закутаны в свои проблемы, словно в кокон, зашорены до нельзя. Это почище паранджи будет. А уж дистанцию между ней и мужчинами создает – ого-го! К такой если уж подходят – то уже четко осознают, что вместе с женщиной получают в нагрузку и весь ее багаж. А этого надо еще захотеть.    Чтобы ОН захотел, ОНА должна создать вокруг себя соответствующую ауру. И для этого надо научиться видеть ЕГО Присутствие. И чувствовать его. Тогда в женщине меняется все – взгляд, походка, дыхание… Она несет волну эмоций. За ней движется шлейф притягательности. Она волнует. Разве не так, а, мужчины?    Что касается чувствования – это уже к центру зала. Здесь то, что в описании выставки скромно именуется архитектурными объектами. Буду столь же скромна и скажу, что это  символы мужчины, переданные через архитектуру минаретов. Они гордо возвышаются в стеклянных колбах. Если учесть, что каждый такой архитектурный объект изготавливался из парафина вручную: согревался, лепился, выглаживался руками художницы, женщины, и в ее власти было вырастить его, дав жизнь форме, или растопить, заставив потечь меж тонких пальцев… Сильные тактильные ощущения, запускающие мощный ассоциативно-мыслительный процесс.    Один такой объект особенно привлек мое внимание. Я дала ему имя – Не-девственник. В конструкции явно присутствует отпечаток женщины. Возможно, у кого-то будет совсем другая ассоциация, и зритель углядит в нем иной, противоположный смысл… Мне же вспомнилась одна теория, к которой обращаются некоторые «специалисты» по человеческим душам. С ее помощью они объясняют такие проблемы, которые в народе озвучивают как « в семье не без урода» или «ни в мать, ни в отца, а в прохожего молодца». Смысл теории в том, что женщина, имевшая интимную близость с разными мужчинами, сохраняет в себе некое информационное поле (часть генокода?) каждого из этих мужчин. И оно накладывает отпечаток на будущее дитя. А вот мужчина никакого поля не накапливает, сколько бы женщин у него не было. И в Не-девственнике я узрела символическое опровержение этой теории. Во-о-о как…    Айдан играет образами и намеками, как психолог словами. И символизма в ее произведениях больше, чем, может даже, изначально было задумано. Ее полотна читаются, как метафора: в разных состояниях, в различных жизненных ситуациях смысл одного и того же полотна воспринимается по-разному.  Кроме того, художник не имеет возможности четко сформулировать посыл, в отличие, скажем, от писателя. А то, что не выражено словом, обычно домысливается. Потому и прочтение полотен и художественных объектов «Персидских миниатюр» у каждого будет свое – пропущенное сквозь призму собственных взглядов и убеждений.    Решение часто лежит на поверхности. Просто, чтоб его узреть, иногда надо играть фильтрами восприятия. И женщина, научившаяся этому, уже никогда не останется одинокой. Мужчины ей не позволят. Ирина Гаврилова Айдан Салахова. Персидские миниатюры.           Айдан Салахова – одна из ключевых фигур русской художественной сцены. Вся ее деятельность была манифестацией личной и творческой свободы, а биография – примером self-made woman. Художница, пионер галерейного дела, роскошная и преуспевающая, она воплотила в жизнь пушкинскую формулу «быть можно дельным человеком и думать о красе ногтей». Одновременно Айдан стала творцом построенного на противоречиях персонального мифа, в который на равных вошел фемисткий дискурс и типичное поведение идеального потребителя, восточное гостеприимство и аристократическое высокомерие, с помощью которого она  уходит от навязчивой суеты бомонда. Фундаментом этого мифа является сложная идентичность Айдан, родившейся и выросшей в срединной империи восточно-европейской женщины, унаследовавшей азербайджанские гены и европейскую культуру. А построенным на этом фундаменте зданием стало искусство Айдан, посвященное мифу красоты, гармонии и совершенства, воплощенный в полуобнаженных  красавицах, прекрасных воительницах и энгрисках. Впрочем, несмотря на формальную «красивость» всех без исключения своих работ, Айдан является одним из самых провокационных российских художников. Одним из первых радикальных жестов этого адепта contemporary art (с его почти обязательными реверансами в сторону феминизма), стало заявление, что все ее искусство «ориентировано на зрителя-мужчину». Подобные высказывания не могли не возмутить критиков-феминисток, и лишь позже стало понятно, что имела в виду Айдан. Мужчина является отнюдь не субъектом ее искусства, а всего лишь безвольным стаффажем, обязательной частью ее инсталляций.    Также как сама художница не однозначна, ее самая, вероятно, любимая ориентальная тема. Айдан признается, что смотрит на Восток скорее глазами европейца, и даже европейского художника XIX столетия, для которых этот антипод рационального Запада был вымышленным миром неги и сказочного богатства. Восточные мотивы присутствовали уже в ранних, ученических работах Айдан. Позже ориентализм проявлялся то притягательно и гламурно, как в инсталляциях-перформансах с живыми полуобнаженными красавицами, которых Айдан укладывала на атласные подушки среди сладостей и фруктов, то жестко, на грани фола, – как в видеоинсталляции «Кааба», где женские взгляды из черного куба заставляли дервишей совершать бесконечное вращение. Комментируя «Каабу», Айдан ссылалась на суфийские представления о том, что дух является женским началом, Бог – Возлюбленной, а созерцание света, который живет в сердце, повергает суфия в состояние экстаза. И цитировала стихи суфийской святой Рабии: «Все, что я хочу – это сущность Твоей Любви, // Я хочу стать одним целым с Тобой, // И стать Твоим Лицом». Эта работа, чуть не стала поводом для скандала – фундаменталисты усмотрели в ней слишком вольную, а, следовательно, – опасную интерпретацию догм ислама. Конфликта удалось избежать, верховного муфтий России не усмотрел ничего крамольного в том, в подобной интерпретации ислама. Через несколько лет появилась живописная серия «Я люблю себя», героинями которой стали предающиеся лесбийским играм обитательницы гарема, лица которых были скрыты покровами паранджи, но прорисованные тонким грифелем простого карандаша идеальные тела обнажены и открыты ласкам партнерш и взглядам зрителей. Как бы поддразнивая ревнителей благочестия, Айдан утверждала, что может момент стереть ластиком карандашные линии и тем самым притвориться, что вовсе не нарушала существующего в ортодоксальном исламе запрета на изображение живых существ. Впрочем, существенно не это, а контекст, в котором появились эти работы. Ориенталисткий миф покоится в руинах. Бряцающий оружием Восток давно уже не ассоциируется с ленивой негой и эросом сказок «Тысячи и одной ночи». Сегодняшние ньюсмекеры – мусульманские фундаменталисты и чеченские боевики, теракты, опоясанные смертью шахидки и борющиеся за свое право носить хиджаб и заворачиваться в паранджу европейки арабского происхождения, параноидальное напряжение между европейцами и выходцами с Востока, физическое и психологическое насилие, которым подвергаются женщины в патриархальных восточных культурах. Все это не раз становилось темами критического художественного высказывания, но Айдан игнорируя  мейнстрим, смело возвратила современному искусству отвергнутую еще пионерами авангарда чувственность, долгое время  ассоциирующуюся с буржуазной пошлостью салонной живописи и китчем. Параллельно с живописью Айдан работала над еще более откровенной графической серией «Персидские миниатюры», которая  начиналась как не предназначенные для постороннего взгляда зарисовки в блокноте, приватное занятие, практически обнажающее работу подсознания автоматическое письмо. При том, что серия названа «более откровенной», в ней мало буквальной эротики, но много чувственности, тайны и сюрреалистической образности. В этой серии все неоднозначно, и не исчерпывается описанием, которое можно было начать словами «однажды в гареме, от скуки…». Прикосновения и объятия, в которые заключают друг друга героини, не выглядят сугубо эротическими. Скорее, это история об обретении адекватного партнера – тема, актуальная для многих сильных и состоявшихся женщин. Нет ничего удивительного, что именно в этой серии появились книга (анатомический атлас) и зеркало – символы самопознания, миниатюрные модели мечетей с минаретами в нежных руках – символы веры. Впрочем, минареты, которые женщины то ли закрывают оберегающим жестом, то ли ласкают – очевидный привет Фрейду, одновременно заставляющий предположить еще более радикальное, чем в инсталляции «Кааба», толкования мистических восторгов суфизма. Мария Кравцова Айдан без паранджи В московском Музее современного искусства в Ермолаевском переулке открылась огромная ретроспектива Айдан Салаховой   Редкий случай: бизнес-элита в дорогих костюмах, богема в ярких модных нарядах, арт-тусовка в потертых пиджаках и молодые художники в майках - все эти люди толпились вместе. Восторженное единение обеспечила сама фигура Айдан, выступающей в разных жизненных амплуа - известнейшей галеристки, с чьей помощью составили свои коллекции многочисленные новые собиратели; светской дамы, чьи фотопортреты и интервью украшают практически все наши гламурные медиа; преподавателя, обучающего студентов не только искусству рисования, но и новым технологиям; и, конечно, одной из лучших российских художниц. Сама Айдан была в длинном черном платье - словно сошла с собственных картин или видеоработ.  Выставка, занимающая все четыре музейных этажа, построена по технологическому принципу — отдельно живопись, отдельно видео, отдельно рисунки. Но объединена тематически — главной темой, которая интересует Айдан на протяжении многих лет. Ее можно условно назвать феминизмом, прикрытым исламской атрибутикой. Женщина, женское тело, женская грация, женское поведение, женский взгляд — вот что интересует Айдан. И не важно, в какой технике выполнена работа и кто на ней изображен — простая русская женщина ("Татьяна"), классическая одалиска ("Спящая красавица") или же запеленатая в черную паранджу или платок мусульманка, от которой для мира остались только глаза — грустные, тоскливые, но очень наблюдательные ("Кааба"). Феминизм Айдан — не агрессивный, не воинственный и не асексуальный. Искусство Салаховой чрезвычайно эротично, даже, я бы сказал, физиологично. Она, конечно, борется за права женщин, но права эти понимает достаточно определенно. Сцены, на которых девушка в парандже занимается рукоблудием (серия "Я люблю себя") или две девушки предаются содомии, — это, скорее, про тоскливые вечера в гареме, а не про признание прав сексуальных меньшинств. А еще, как точно подметил один арт-критик, искусство Салаховой очень тактильно: главный мотив всех ее работ — это мотив касания. Девушка прикасается к себе, к другой девушке, к мужчине или к некоему фаллическому предмету (работа из серии "Персидские миниатюры"). И пусть при ближайшем рассмотрении этот предмет оказывается минаретом — Айдан не имеет в виду национальные или религиозные различия, просто она во всем видит витальность жизни. Очень важное качество, без которого трудно быть одновременно художником, галеристом, педагогом и светским персонажем. Выставка Айдан открывает программу "Москва актуальная", которую совместно проводят Музей современного искусства и галерея XL. Суть программы — музеефикация современного искусства. В залах на Ермолаевском пройдут ретроспективы десятка актуальных художников. Одновременно аналогичный проект, но уже совместно с Третьяковкой, делает другая галерея — Марата Гельмана. Оба проекта свидетельствуют, что некогда радикальное, эпатажное, многим непонятное искусство дослужилось до генеральских звезд. С чем уже нельзя не считаться.   Николай Молок Известия, 30.05.07 …И Женщина создала Бога: Видеотворчество Айдан Салаховой. Антонио Джеуза Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn, 1819 «Красота есть правда, а правда – красота; и это – все, что известно на земле и все, что нужно знать» Джон Китс, Ода о греческой вазе, 1819    Первая видеоработа Айдан Салаховой, «Саспенс» (1998), является в то же время важным примером в процессе институализации видеоискусства в России, означающим, спустя примерно десятилетие после его рождения, окончательное и «официальное» подтверждение статуса видео как полноправного жанра в области современного искусства. В структуре «Саспенс», которая представляет собой инсталляцию, фактически уравниваются два жанра, два разных подхода для выражения художественной экспрессии: первый – живопись, которая гордится своей многотысячной традицией, и второй – видео, воплощающий технологический прогресс и новаторство. В полутемном пространстве выставочного зала на большом холсте застыла беременная женщина. Задумчивое выражение ее лица, руки, обнимающие тяжелый живот, простота одежд и монохромная текстура самого холста – все способствует возникновению жутковатого чувства, в котором смешиваются неизвестность и напряженность в ожидании конца беременности. Внезапно неподвижность нарушается, и женщина оживает. Холст превращается в экран, на котором та же самая женщина покидает свое место и медленно встает. Но, несмотря на то, что в этой работе проектируемый образ диктует свои правила живописи, лишая ее необходимого освещения и меняя оригинальную визуальную текстуру живописной поверхности, придавая ей синеватый оттенок,    Айдан удается избежать конфликта между этими двумя жанрами. Живопись и видео здесь – идеально скоординированные союзники в создании суггестивного переживания неопределенности, которое само название произведения подсказывает как один из ключей интерпретации работы. Видео – медленно встающая женщина – добавляет к неподвижной и молчащей живописи ощущение дискомфорта, который беременная женщина неизбежно испытывает во время вынашивания плода. Чувства неудобства, волнения, тревоги, которые несут в себе данные образы, позволяет считать их слабым эхом ранних работ Салаховой, как, например, серия «Аборты», говорящая о психической и физиологической травме потери ребенка до его рождения.  Только слабое эхо – потому, что здесь нет агрессивного навязывания или же эмоциональной демонстрации такой жестокой боли для женщин, как аборт. Намеренное отсутствие звука также увеличивает чувство напряженности ожидания.    И еще раз – живопись находит в видео безупречного компаньона для создания эффекта полной неопределенности, который составляет суть работы. Надо отметить, что бесконечное движение медленного вставания преумножает это впечатление. В известной степени, это напоминает миф о проклятии – как если греческие боги осудили бы женщину на вечное повторение одного и того же действия, снова и снова. Можно позволить себе заметить, что преступлением, которое она совершила, чтобы получить подобное наказание, должно быть что-то, связанное с любовью, ведущей силой и лейтмотивом творчества Айдан Салаховой. Однако это только одно из возможных прочтений. Существуют и множество других, также, несомненно, легитимных. Постоянный элемент для видеоработ Айдан – именно то, что ее работы всегда символичны, но никогда не аллегоричны: они рождают множество референций. Если говорить конкретно, здесь образ беременной предлагает широкий спектр интерпретаций, включающий плодовитость, материнскую любовь, неподвижность, дискомфорт, вызов, брошенный смерти и физической боли.    В конечном счете, эта женщина существует одна, как титаническая героиня в ограниченном пространстве холста/ экрана, полностью контролируя свою собственную территорию. Ее простые, почти механические  движения, делают акт вуайеризма лишенным таких качеств, как вожделение и сексуальное удовольствие. Чувство неопределенности и подвешенности, которое оба, видео и живопись, вызывают в зрителе, со всей очевидностью препятствуют другим  возможным толкованиям предлагаемого художником образа женщины – где она предстает объектом.    Эту беременную женщину можно считать прародительницей всех женских характеров, которые будут населять в ближайшем будущем видеографию Салаховой.    В ее следующей видеоинсталляции, «Спящая красавица» (2000), художник снова показывает взаимосвязь статического и движущегося изображений, как в работе «Саспенс». И опять здесь в центре сцены находится одна-единственная женщина. Этот переход от будущей матери к новой героине очень важен, так как тем самым складывается некая типология субъективного изобразительного ряда, выстраиваемого Салаховой в живописи, к которой она принадлежит по образованию, – ряда, которому она остается верна также в фотографии и в видео. Здесь художник предлагает зрителю один из самых значительных характеров своей собственной мифологии, Одалиску. В «Спящей Красавице» Салахова одновременно реактуализирует наследие санкт петербургской Новой академии, к которой она принадлежала, и возвращается к своим среднеазиатским корням. Повелительный канон Красоты неоакадемизма соединяется с экзотической телесностью ее собственных культурных истоков. В этой работе Айдан чувственно смешивает обе эти традиции. В свою очередь, название – повторяющее одну из самых знаменитых сказок Шарля Перро – несомненно, выявляет принадлежность автора к западной культуре и делает этот западно-восточный «микс» еще выразительнее. Сказку, которую в этот раз рассказывает Айдан, с восточной женщиной в главной роли, принадлежит, скорее, собранию «Тысячи и одной ночи». «Спящая красавица» является, несомненно, более чувственной – можно сказать даже плотской – работой, нежели предыдущие. Прямая наследница одалисок Жана Огюста Доминика Энгра, «анимированная» полуобнаженная женщина,  сохраняя свою роль эмиссара физического удовольствия и вожделения, помогает художнику сделать более сильным программное заявление Красоты в качестве высокой эстетической категории искусства.    Два года спустя, в 2002 году Айдан строит «Дом Бога» – «Каабу» (арабск.), массивный черный куб, содержащий в себе четыре пары женских глаз – каждая на своей стороне, глядящие изнутри своей паранджи на окружающий мир. Снаружи две большие видеопроекции показывают двух мужчин, одетых в традиционные костюмы, которые исполняют ритуальный танец Суфи. В относительно ограниченном пространстве и достаточно скромными средствами Салахова снова создает насыщенный конгломерат индексов, которые легитимируют широкий спектр интерпретаций. Одна из самых необычных – то, что черный куб означает одновременно художественную репрезентацию Черного Камня в Мекке (по-арабски тоже называющаяся «Кааба»), привлекающего к себе ежегодно миллионы паломников, и вагину – логическую интерпретацию, рожденную черной конструкцией с отверстием с каждой стороны, населенной женщинами. В конечном счете, Дом Бога Айдан – это Дом Женщин. Очевидно, в этой апроприации нет никакого богохульства. Наоборот, это авторитетное утверждение от самой художницы.    По сути дела, это неконвенциональное сочетание не будет выглядеть необычным, если принять во внимание суть творчества Салаховой и ее биографию как художника. Далекая от саморекламы и скандала, Айдан никогда не боялась бросить вызов и принять на себя риск. Надо заметить, что этот аспект ее художественного «я» в видеоработах никогда не  выпячивается и не дается как первый слой.  Напротив, он проявляется после внимательного рассматривания произведения. Поэтому если на первый взгляд «Кааба» кажется желающей угодить зрителю и заинтересовать его с помощью этнографических документов, большими размерами и использованием высоких технологий, внимательный анализ доказывает, что здесь под соблазнительной поверхностью скрывается гораздо больше референций. Прежде всего, «Кааба» проявляет себя как мощное заявление ведущей и господствующей роли женщин. Теория кино, необходимый инструмент для критического анализа видеоарта, дает нам подходящий ключ в основополагающем для критического дискурса кино эссе Лауры Мальви «Визуальное удовольствие и нарративное кино» (1975).    В нем теоретик тщательно рассматривает кинематографический мейнстрим и выделяет в нем «мужской взгляд» в качестве главного адресата, который диктует фильмам их структуру. Женщины всегда показывались голливудской киноиндустрией, как утверждает Мальви, в качестве «объектов» для удовлетворения вуайеристских желаний мужчин. Очевидно, Айдан нарушает  этот механизм и устанавливает «женский взгляд» в центре Дома Бога. Согласно принципам психоанализа, взгляд есть психологический индекс власти, тот, кто осуществляет контроль взглядом (смотрящий) обладает главенствующей позицией по сравнению с тем, кто является объектом этого «смотрения». В «Каабе» Салаховой смотрящие – это женщины. Они обладают вне-нарративным взглядом – изнутри наружу – который является доминирующим в окружающем их пространстве. Таким образом, они контролируют пространство вокруг себя – а, значит, и зрителей в нем. В этой связи нужно было бы упомянуть, что это именно для их глаз танцоры исполняют ритуал Суфи. Другими словами, это мужчины превращаются в «объекты».    В следующем году Айдан помещает в центр своей инсталляции «Любовь и Смерть» двух женщин-воительниц. Кстати сказать, они встречаются именно в видео. Прежде, чем начинается их история, две большие фотографии показывают женщин в отважных позах, одетыми в роскошные традиционные восточные костюмы, держащие в руках холодное оружие. После того, как женщины покидают «этнографическое пространство» своих фотографий, они движутся в центр и начинают свой танец-сражение. Они дерутся жестоко, и есть искушение сказать, что они «воюют как мужчины». Так или иначе, такая аналогия годится только в том случае, если далее не следует ложное понимание их борьбы как пародии того, что «традиционно» принадлежит мужчинам. Воительницы Салаховой не представляют собой антагонистов мужчинам. Это женщины, те, кого художник наделяет «мужеством». Но они не теряют также и своей женственности. Как говорит нам само название, воительницы – это визуальное воплощение любовной страсти, граничащей со смертью, которую испытывают женщины. Несколько обобщая, «экзотический» элемент – доминанта воображения Айдан – здесь находит свою кульминацию: визуализация напряженности чувства. В свое сути «Любовь и смерть» - работа о том, какими страстными могут быть женщины, потому, что история, которую сейчас рассказывает нам художник, опять, как и всегда – про Любовь. Любовь, которая, в традициях романтизма, имеет отчетливый привкус смерти.    Следующее видео, «Хабиби» (2004) выделяется на фоне остальных как наиболее «бахтинская» работа, так как она несет в себе одновременно и «карнавальность», и Другого. Без всякого сомнения, «Хабиби» - также и самое ироничное произведение в видеографии Салаховой. Оно представляет собой зацикленное повторение одного длинного фрагмента, показывающего талию профессиональной исполнительницы «танца живота», одетую в традиционный звенящий костюм. Здесь Айдан демонстративно изолирует анатомическую часть женского тела, ту, которая на Востоке имеет эротическую функцию, в то время как на Западе сильно пугает женщин и осуждается на тайную жизнь: «толстый живот». Художник дерзко соединяет восточное понимание эротики и западные социальные комплексы вместе. И снова, Айдан уходит от эксплуатации женского тела, предполагающей «визуальное наслаждение» и «мужской взгляд». В «Хабиби» женщина исполняет нескончаемый танец, полностью погруженная в движение. Принимая во внимание то, что «хабиби» по-арабски означает «любимый», ирония автора становится еще очевиднее. Однако кроме этого, Айдан также говорит о несовместимости двух разных культур: то, что Восток любит, Запад не выносит.    Год спустя, в «Моей невесте» Салахова возвращается к описанию западного мира, добавляя новый типаж, новобрачную, к своему богатому калейдоскопу женских характеров.  На черном фоне молодая привлекательная девушка стоит, одетая в свое белое платье, улыбаясь и с букетом в руке. Внезапно фотография оживает, и невеста медленно поворачивается вокруг, показывая спину, которая накладывается поверх улыбающегося изображения на фотографии. Эффект в этой работе той же природы, что и композиционное решение «Саспенс», хотя здесь нет такого сильного ощущения подвешенности, и счастью невесты, кажется, ничего не грозит.  Тем не менее, произведение все же содержит странное, хотя и слабое, чувство непредсказуемости,  возникающее при мысли о том, что показывание публике спины невестой может объясняться показом того, что невеста не видит и не может видеть, скрытую угрозу, которую таит в себе ее будущее. Какой бы ни была та новая жизнь, которая ожидает ее впереди, она выпустит ее из-под контроля. Она дает это понять с помощью простого жеста: намеренно роняя букет. В ее поведении нет агрессии или ярости. Она лишь позволяет цветам выскользнуть из ее рук и упасть на пол. Этим жестом, деликатным, но в то же время решительным, невеста Айдан ставит себя на тот высокий пьедестал, с которого она доминирует над зрителем, отражая все попытки превратить ее в глупый стереотип «прекрасного», которое ждет будущую супругу какого-либо господина Иванова.    В «MMS» (2005) Салахова исследует связи между массовыми технологиями и арт-коммуникацией. Эта видеоинсталляция, кажется, имеет намерение деконструировать известную аксиому Маршалла МакЛюэна «Средство – это сообщение». Здесь автор предлагает свою версию: сообщение внутри средства. Ясно, что в «MMS» не делается акцент на технологию как самодостаточное средство для создания искусства. Айдан на деле не прославляет мобильные телефоны как художественные инструменты только потому, что с их помощью можно посылать фото и видео. Они только «уполномочены» стать посредниками, чтобы передать то, что само по себе является искусством – в случае «MMS» стать объектами, заражающимися вирусом Красоты: короткого клипа с изображением глаз одной из написанных художником «богинь».      «Татьяна» (2006) появилась после года изучения женщин вокруг Айдан в ее домашней жизни. Скрыто рассматривая своих друзей, знакомых, соседей и все прочие женские характеры, с которыми ей приходилось сталкиваться, Айдан обнаруживает в женщине средних лет, живущей в соседней квартире, новую героиню для своей мифологии. Три больших фотографии показывают «обнаженное» лицо Татьяны, отважно глядящей вперед. Руки Татьяны двигаются аккуратно, почти механически, по ее губам, вокруг глаз, показывая, одно за другим, три настроения, которые она испытывает  такой важный момент в дне женщины. Внутренний мир чувств здесь открыто преподносится зрителю, без громких заявлений – работа намеренно лишена звука. Но так или иначе, Татьяна не является трагической фигурой, похожей на героиню эссе Луиджи Пиранделло «О юморе», которая осмеивается соседями из-за сильной накрашенности, так как она пытается снова стать молодой. Напротив, она, как и все героини Айдан, контролирует «свою территорию». И даже больше – «Татьяна», хотя и простая по структуре, сложна по своему взаимодействию двух средств, что является «фирменным знаком» Айдан: проекция наложенная на статическое изображение. Видео само по себе здесь – слой косметики на поверхности фотографии.    Подытоживая, можно провести параллель видео творчества Салаховой и древнегреческой поэтессы Сапфо: работы автора представляют собой также исследования-созерцания отношений чувственной любви и бессмертного искусства. Умело играя с границами вуайеризма, Айдан демонстрирует своих независимых, сильных, самодостаточных женщин. Женщин, которые не позволяют кому-то их эксплуатировать, но, с другой стороны, полностью контролируют свою собственную судьбу и следуют своей страсти по своей воле. Все эти женщины – богини, нечто вроде Граций в греческой мифологии, богини очарования, красоты, природы, человеческого творчества, плодородия и помимо всего этого еще и богини любви, потому что любовь – во всем своем вариативном спектре, от эротики до материнства – одно из ключевых понятий для художественного мира Салаховой. Но в то же время, если принять во внимание коэффициент мусульманской иконографии, можно увидеть, что в своих видео автор смешивает греческую мифологию с восточной. Это в особенности касается духовного признания мистических традиций суфизма и его представлений о прямом восприятии Бога (Правды) через разделение чувства божественной любви.    Салахова не представляет собой художника-борца за права женщин. Она достаточно далека от той точки, в которой женщины чувствуют необходимость объяснить себе самих себя, требовать равенства и того, чтобы быть услышанными. В ее видео нет борьбы полов. Мужчины там не предстают смешными. Часто они даже не представлены. Хотя, Айдан очень тонко задействует стратегию, описанную Деррида, отсутствия как признака присутствия, потому как мужчины подразумеваются, даже если и не присутствуют физически: беременная женщина, невеста, исполнительница танца живота, все они находятся в непосредственных отношениях с мужчинами. И еще раз: Салахова не суфражистка и не упертая феминистка, атакующая статус-кво патриархального общества, где мужчина правит, а женщина является объектом. Напротив, она представляет своих героинь в их собственном независимом пространстве, на территории полной свободы, где лишь Бог находится под их постоянным взглядом. Музей современного женского искусства Персоналии          Общее оживление интереса к ''классическому", которое можно наблюдать сегодня, осуществляет себя в различных формах, и новый проект Айдан, при всем формальном попадании в это общее русло "нео-академизма", имеет свою особую подоплеку.Как можно было судить по предшествующим работам, для Айдан обращение к классическому искусству часто оказывалось удобной формой для высказывания некоторых не вполне классических идей, которые существуют в обиходном сознании под именем "феминизма". Этот игривый (анти)-феминизм присутствует и здесь, но в скрытом виде (как в скрытом виде присутствуют на холстах классические сюжеты). За затеянной автором псевдонаучной интригой с экспертизой холстов прячется классическая история обольщения, обольщения тайной. В равной степени объектом этого обольщения можно считать и зрителя, и самого автора, который по отношению к "классическому" находится в той же позиции, что и зритель. Подобно плечам светской красавицы Элен у Толстого, классическое искусство для современного восприятия слишком "залакированно" множеством взглядов, по нему скользившим, чтобы пробудить какое-либо живое чувство. С этой точки зрения, абсурдная процедура создания, уничтожения и раскрытия (возрождения) классического, произведенная Айдан, вовсе неабсурдна, поскольку как и обычное женское кокетство, имеет своей целью вызвать желание. Айдан словно бы предлагает зрителю самому "раздеть" классику, испытать что-то подобное трепету Винкельмана перед заново появившимися на свет античными статуями. Привлечение к проекту специалистов-экспертов поднимает и другую тему, неразрывно связанную с темой классического, а именно тему подлинников и подделок, или в более утонченном варианте, трудноразрешимую задачу о ценностных приоритетах времени. В своих объектах Айдан уравнивает в правах то, что "под", с тем, что "над", традиционную фигуративность с абстракцией, метафорически овеществляя их независимое, но в то же время нераздельное существование в истории искусства. И хотя подобные компромиссы, пришедшие на смену модернистскому отрицанию прошлого, чрезвычайно популярны в современном искусстве, хочется думать, что этот дуализм "ни рыбы - ни мяса" в конце концов переродится в какую-то иную материю, которая будет достойна рентгеновских снимков будущих центров Грабаря. Милена Орлова, "Трепет Винкельмана". Aidan SALAKHOVA March 25 , 1964 was born in Moscow 1987 graduated from the Moscow State Art Institute. V.I.Surikova 1989-1992 one of the organizers and co-owner of the "First Gallery", Moscow 1992 founded "Aidan-gallery" since 2000 Lecturer at the Moscow State Art Institute. V.I.Surikova 2002 awarded with a silver medal of the Academy of Arts of the Russian Federation 2005-2007 member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation 2002-2007 2007 Correspondent of the Academy of Arts of the Russian Federation Academician of the Academy of Arts of the Russian Federation Personal exhibitions: 2008                       Persian miniatures. XL-gallery, Moscow. 2007 From the "Red" series. Yves Saint Laurent project. NCCA, Moscow, Russia Persian miniatures. AMT Gallery, Como, Italy 2006 Aidan Salakhova. Painting, graphics. Gallery D-137, St. Petersburg September-October Exhibition AIDAN. A joint project of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art and XL Gallery within the framework of the "Contemporary Moscow" program. Moscow Museum of Modern Art on Ermolaevsky. Curator E. Selina. Project coordinator N. Podgorskaya Catalog 2005 I love myself . XL-gallery, Moscow. December Booklet Solovyova V. Aidan Salakhova. "I love myself" // Time Out Moscow , 2005, November 21-27, p. 83 Droitcour, B. Looking Behind the Veil // The Moscow Times , 2005, December 2 Kravtsova M. How the East Will Respond // Everything is clear , 2006, №1, p.52-53 Abstract . Cultural Center "Dom", Moscow 2004 Habibi . Gallery D-134, St. Petersburg. January 29 - February 17 Agunovich K. Aidan Salakhova. "Habibi" // Afisha (St. Petersburg) , 2004, January 26 - February 8, p. 93 "Habibi" Aidan Salakhova in the gallery "D-137" // Kommersant- Weekend (St. Petersburg) , 2004, January 23, p. 21 Pilikin D. "There are countless diamonds in stone caves ..." // Calendar (St. Petersburg) , 2004, №3 (32), p. 63 Zheltov V. "What does an oriental woman want?" // Smena (St. Petersburg) , 2004, February 9, p. 9 Shuvalov V. Once in a harem // City (St. Petersburg), 2004, February 9, p. 55 Vertin L. Aidan Salakhova: not too glamorous for love ... // NOMI , 2004, No. 1 (36), p. 40-41 D.N. Harem with plastid // NOMI , 2004, №1 (36), p. 41 Khoroshilova O. "Habibi" - the safistika of love. About the origins of homoeroticism in the "Odalisque" Aidan Salakhova // http.//www.russkialbum.ru/baraholka/28.shtml Neverdovskaya E . "Habibi" in drawings and photographs // Red (St. Petersburg). 2004, №2 Calm N . Freud with a Persian accent // http.//www.artteria.ru/28_1_2004_1.htm Habibi . Orel Art Presenta Galerie, Paris. July MMS . XL-gallery, Moscow 2002 Kaaba . XL Gallery, Moscow. April 3-21 Booklet Asadullin F. Muslim Moscow. M., 2004, p. 206 Agunovich K. Aidan Salakhova. "Kaaba". XL gallery // Poster, 2002, April 15-28 Molok N. Irresistible Medusa Gorgon // Izvestia , 2002, April 6 Kharchenko A. Feminism in a cube // Kommersant, 2002, April 6 Bag V. Allah-woman // Newspaper. ru , 2002, April 9 Epikhin S. Aidan Salakhova. Kaaba // ArtChronicle , 2002, No. 3, p. 105 (within the framework of the project "Workshop ART-MOSCOW") . Central House of Artists, Moscow,May Romer F. Silhouettes of Russian artists // Weekly magazine , 2002, May 14 Habibi . Volker Diehl Gallery, Berlin. Until October 28 , 2003 <pip> Baucherei mit Burka? // Kondensat , 2003, No. 24, S. 32-35 2001 Odalisque (within the framework of the ART-MOSCOW Workshop project) . Central House of Artists, Moscow. May Catalog H milt . All the best // Izvestia , 2001 Kabanova O. Counting of artists // Izvestia , 2001 Live paintings . Gallery D-134, St. Petersburg. May 17 - June 18 Booklet Kusakina E. Aidan Salakhova "Living Pictures". Gallery D-137 // ArtChronicle , 2001, No. 4-5 Tryapichkin I. Ideal odalisque // Kommersant (St. Petersburg) , 2001, May 19 Arsenyeva Z. Parandzha - the best protection of a beauty // 2001, May 2000 Tea in the desert . Boutique "Invogue", Moscow. July Panyushkin V. Ringing in a clothing store // Kommersant , 2000, 15 July The Sleeping Beauty (XL-gallery, supported by the European Galleries Association). Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin. From September 30 1999 Suspense . Museum of 20th century art, Kemerovo. January Surikova L. Buy us Aivazovsky, bro! // Our newspaper (Kuzbass), 1999, February 4, p. 8 Lyakhov I. Near a candle in the dark // Kuzbass , 1999, March 10 Surikova L. Atmosphere of mystery and expectation // Voskresnaya Gazeta (Kemerovo), 1999, March 21 1999 - 2000 After the Wall. Art and Culture in post-Communist Europe . Moderna Museet, Stockholm. October 16 , 1999 - January 16 , 2000 - Hamburger Bahnhoff, Berlin - Ludwig Museum, Budapest Catalog 1998 Diva (XL gallery project within "Photobiennale 98"). Central Exhibition Hall "Manezh", Moscow. Catalog Day by day: Central Exhibition Hall "Manege" // Evening Moscow (weekly), 1998, April 27 - May 10, pp.55-56 Portnov L. Vanity Fair // Literaturnaya Gazeta , 1998, December 12 Sigalov M. Little Tragedies big "Photobiennale" // Izvestia , 1998, May 8, p. 1 Suspense. XL gallery, Moscow. December 2-20 Booklet Dr. Lerner. Tearing off all and all kinds of masks // Russian magazine , 1998, December 9 1997 Antonyms . New Academy of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg. From October 11 1996 New arrivals . XL gallery, Moscow. September 23 - October 5 Booklet Bode M. Research of Aidan's paintings in XL rays // Kommersant , 1996, September 26 Kovalev A. Art: a way of use (Consumation or resistance? Two exhibitions) // Today , 1996, September 26 Salnikov V. (results of the week) // Today , 1996, October 1 Lerner L. The birth of neoclassicism from the spirit of conceptualism // Nezavisimaya gazeta , 1996, October 2 1992 Golden confession . Galleria Sprovieri, Rome. March, April Leda and the swan . Berman - EN Gallery, New York 1991 Golden confession . First Gallery, Moscow. May Announcement of the exhibition "Golden Confession" // Decorative Art , 1991, No. 9-10 Lunina L. Spring Bead Games // Capital , 1991, No. 27/33 Group exhibitions: 2009 2008 2007 The future depends on you. New rules.  Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Russia Moscow From the Studio to the Art Object. Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Russia Moscow Eurasia MART. Italy, Roveretto "Persian miniatures" Learning from Moscow . Städtische Galerie Dresden (Dresden City Art Gallery). Dresden, Germany Catalog Restoration . 2nd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. Federation Tower. Main project. Moscow, Russia. I BELIEVE . Organizer: Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Winzavod, Moscow, Russia Curator Oleg Kulik Catalog History of Russian video art. Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow, Russia Curated by Antonio Geusa Catalog 2005 Gender unrest (special project of the 1st Moscow International Biennale of Contemporary Art) . Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow. February Catalog Egalitarianism . Museum and Exhibition Center RGGU, Moscow, Russia 4th Festival "Fashion and Style in Photography" . Gallery on Prechistenka, Moscow March 14 - May 14 8th International Art Fair ART-MOSCOW (Volker Diehl Galerie stand). Central House of Artists, Moscow. May Art for Playboy . Central House of Artists, Moscow. May International Biennale of Contemporary Art "Second Sight" (project "Ghostbusters"). The National Gallery, Veletrzny Palac, Prague. June 13 - September 11 Catalog Beauty . Rudolf Budja Galerie, Salzburg. July 30 - August 31 Face portrait (exhibition of the Guelman Gallery and M'ARS). Center for Contemporary Art "M'ARS", Moscow. October 2003 Neue Ansaetze. Zeitgenoessische Kunst aus Moskau . Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf. June 1 - July 13 Catalog Kulik I. Angels with "Kalashnikovs". Contemporary art from Moscow to Dusseldorf // Kommersant , 2003, May 31, Molok N. Russian revenge in Dusseldorf // ArtChronika , 2003 , No. 3-4 Shcherbatova N. "New beginning. Contemporary art from Moscow" // NOMi , No. 4 ( 33), 2003, pp. 47-48 2nd festival of contemporary art "ARTKlyazma" . Pension "Klyazminskoe reservoir", Moscow region. August 29 - September 7 Catalog 2002 Actual Russian painting. 1992-2002 . State Exhibition Hall "New Manezh", Moscow. January 15-20 Catalog Epikhin S. // ArtChronicle , 2002, No. 2, p. 32-35 Feminine art. Women-artists of Russia of the 15th - 20th centuries . State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. January 22 - March 31 Catalog Business woman: creativity and life . All-Russian Exhibition Center, Pavilion "Culture", Moscow. February - March 31 Mefodyeva T. Business woman "on the kingdom" // Health of Russia , 2002, April 30 V. Customsmen Under the sign of goodness and hope // Sudarushka , 2002, No. 10, 2001 Moscow . Hotel "Moscow", Moscow. April 26-27 Fathers and Sons ( VP Studio Gallery Exhibition ). State Literary Museum, Moscow. July 17-30 Booklet Gospels A. "Fathers and Sons" // Art Journal , 2001, №40 Exhibition of new acquisitions . Moscow Museum of Modern Art. July 5th International Art Fair ART-MOSCOW (stand of the Foundation of National Art Collections). Central House of Artists, Moscow. April 24-29 East - West (ball of artists, organized by the gallery D-137). Debarkader, Srednyaya Nevka, St. Petersburg. June Tryapichkin Y. The shortest nights last without end // Kommersant (St. Petersburg) , 1999, June 18 Dream Team. XL Gallery, Moscow. October 19 - November 11 Booklet Agunovich K. Dream Team. XL gallery // Poster . 2001, October 29 - November 11, p. 99 The image of Timur Novikov in Russian art of the last third of the twentieth century . Gallery "D-137", St. Petersburg. November 6-27 2000 Fireworks attraction. Mezhdeystvennoe art / Interactive has Art . Center for Contemporary Art. A. Zverev ("Zverev Museum"), Moscow. April KLAVA's lovers (exhibition of the Avant-garde Club within the framework of the 4th International Art Fair "ART MOSCOW"). Central House of Artists, Moscow. May A doll from the Star . Museum of Architecture. Shchusev, Moscow. September Fominova D . Star toys // ArtChronicle , 2000, №5-6 1999 Russland ohne zeitgenoessisches Museum. Teil 2: Die Galerie XL in Moskau (as part of the Russische Spielzeit program organized by Kulturabteilung Bayer). Foyer Hochhaus W1 der Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany. January 14 - February 28 - Feierabendhaus der Bayer AG, Dormagen. March 3-24 Booklet Pushkin: fantasies on the theme ... Moscow Center for the Arts at 14 Neglinnaya, Moscow. May 25 - June 9 Agunovich K. (announcement of the exhibition "Pushkin: Fantasies on a Theme") // Playbill , 1999, May 17-30 Romer F. Loose tripod // Results , 1999, May 25, p. 55 Moscow International Forum of Art Initiatives "Cult of Culture / Communication" . State Exhibition Hall "New Manezh", Moscow. From July 20 Catalog M. Orlova . Artists re-wash the history of art // Kommersant , 1999, July 23 Exhibition of new acquisitions . State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. 5-25 august Matveeva A. Department of the latest trends in the Russian Museum: new acquisitions. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg // Art magazine , 2000, No. 28/29, p. 107-108 Memories. Memory errors . Museum and Exhibition Center of the Russian State Humanitarian University, Moscow. From 23 October Catalog R 1 - Inspiration of lightness . Moscow Center for the Arts "On Neglinnaya", Moscow. November 10 - December 7 Orlova M. A drop of inspiration kills a horse // Kommersant , 1999, November 12 Sargsyan O. "R1 - inspiration of lightness" // Art magazine , 2000, №30 / 31, p. 108-109 Vaskina E. Lightness in thoughts // Moscow News , 1999 Girlfriends . Gallery "Phoenix", Moscow 1998 Renovation . Cultural and historical center "Slavyansky", Moscow. February Romer F. Renovation // Results , 1998, February 3 History and Historicisms (Exhibition of the Association of Moscow Galleries) . Museum-estate "Ostankino" ("Egyptian" hall), Moscow. June Orlova M. Free artists against the background of the serfs // Kommersant , 1998, June 4 Villeroy & Boch . 250 years old. Central Exhibition Hall "Manezh", Moscow. June 18-21 Catalog Moscow Forum of Art Initiatives "Control Station of Feelings" . State Exhibition Hall "Maly Manezh", Moscow. July 3-10 Catalog Bode M. Presentiment of Conflict-Freeness. Peaceful Forum of Contemporary Art // Kommersant , 1998 July 8 Homeland . House-Museum of I.E. Repin (branch of the Samara Regional Art Museum), Shiryaevo village, Samara region, Russia. September 5-6 Catalog Neoacademic photographs from the collection of the New Academy of Fine Arts and private collections in St. Petersburg . Museum of Foreign Art of Latvia, Riga 1997 New Russian Classicism . Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. February 6 - April 6 Second point . Cultural Center "Phoenix", Moscow. July 9-23 Romer F. Group exhibition "The second point" // Art Diary , 1997, September Your own movie . Cinema "Kodak-kinomir", Moscow. August Romer F. Group exhibition "Own Cinema" // Art Diary , 1997, September The Moscow Studio, 1991-96: A Five Years Retrospective of Printmaking. The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC. November 27 - December 30 Catalog Women . American Cultural Center, Moscow 1996 New Russian classicism . Gallery Jutelius, Vilnius Pure Motherland . Institute of Contemporary Art, Moscow. October 1994 Resistance and Renaissance . Resistance and rebirth. Classic art traditions and the history of photography . State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. June K. Dolinina. Petersburg Neoacademism Seeks Its Historical Roots // Kommersant . June 22, 1994 Night of the Arts. Night club "Pilot", Moscow. July 3-4 in Moskau… in Moskau… Badische Kunstverein, Karlsruhe Winter garden . Cultural Center "Phoenix", Moscow. March Love in "Manhattan": a hedgehog, a bear and an odalisque // Kommersant . March 18, 1995 Apocalypse . Museum and Exhibition Center of the Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow 1993 Collection d`Art Contemporain RINACO. Moscou 1993 . Central House of Artists, Moscow - Caisse des Depots et Consignations, espace d'exposition (56 rue Jacob), Paris Catalog Adresse provisoire pour l'art contemporain russe. Musee de la Poste, Paris. May 25 - August 21 Catalog 1992 Hearts of Four (Exhibition of the Institute of Contemporary Art). Officers' Club of the Academy. Frunze, Moscow. June 18 - July 2 1992 - 1993 a Mosca ... a Mosca ... (exhibition organized by Paolo Sprovieri and the RF MK). Villa Campolieto, Herculaneum - Galleria Communale d'Arte Moderna, Bologna Catalog 1991 Art Frankfurt . Frankfurt Roma - Mosca. Artisti giovani a confronto . Galleria Sprovieri, Rome Aesthetic experiences . Park of the Museum-Estate "Kuskovo", Moscow. From 10 September Kovalev A. "Aesthetic experiences" in Kuskovo // Nezavisimaya gazeta , 1991, October 30 Bazhanov L., Turchin V. Decorations in decorations, or the Manor and the avant-garde // Decorative art , 1992, №1-6 Contemporary Artists from Moscow . Seibu Art Forum, Tokyo 1991-1993 Perspectives of Conceptualism . The University of Hawaii Art Gallery, Honolulu. January 13 - February 22 , 1991 - The Clocktower Gallery (The Institute of Contemporary Art, NY), New York. March 14 - April 21 , 1991 - North Carolina Museum of Art, Riley. November 21, 1992 - February 28, 1993 Booklet 1990 Towards the object . Gallery "Gardeners" (exhibition hall of Krasnogvardeisky district), Moscow. April 18 - May 13 Passionate exhibition . First Gallery, Moscow. Spring Sommer Atelier. Hannover 90 . Hanover. Summer XLIV Esposizione Internazionale D'Arte. La Biennale di Venezia , USSR Pavilion, Venice. Summer In de USSR en Erbuiten . Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. September 22 - November 4 Catalog ZEN . Gallery "Gardeners" (exhibition hall of Krasnogvardeisky district), Moscow 1989 Expensive art (exhibition of the Avant-garde Club). Moscow Youth Palace. January 4-25 ... up to 33 . Youth Palace, Moscow Inexpensive art . First Gallery, Moscow Rauschenberg to us, we to Rauschenberg. First Gallery, Moscow East European Biennale , USSR pavilion. Szczecin, Poland Prospects for Conceptualism (Exhibition of the Avant-garde Club). Exhibition Hall of the Proletarsky District in Peresvetov Lane, Moscow. June 7-25 1988 18th Exhibition of Young Moscow Artists . Central Exhibition Hall "Manezh", Moscow Exhibition of Azerbaijani artists . Central House of Artists, Moscow Labyrinth (from the "First Gallery"). Youth Palace, Moscow. June 3 - August 14 Krieg und Welt / War and Peace . Hamburg - Munich - State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow - State Hermitage, Leningrad New Art Forms . Lake Side Studio, Navy Pier, Chicago 1986 17th Exhibition of Young Moscow Artists . Artist's House at 11 Kuznetsky Most, Moscow. November 1984 16th Exhibition of Young Moscow Artists . Artist's House at 11 Kuznetsky Most, Moscow rticles Opening of the exhibition "Persian Miniatures" in XL Gallery     Have you ever thought that an artist can take bread from a psychotherapist? To me, to be honest, no. Until I visited the personal exhibition of Aidan Salakhova "Persian miniatures".    The first circle in the hall. Introductory walk. At a leisurely pace, without stopping at a single canvas. Just to get into the atmosphere. At first, superficial glance - beautifully, exquisitely aesthetically presented erotica. And as always, on the verge of a foul: not a scandal, but very close. And how else can a common man perceive figures wrapped in a veil, immersed in voluptuous dreams, and notorious architectural objects with a clearly phallic bias? Or maybe I'm the only one who perceives everything so wrongly?    Second circle. I begin to linger at each picture. They are mesmerizing. There are many meanings, hints, symbols in the seeming simplicity of the compositions. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the reactions of nearby guests. Someone clicks the camera, others shoot on iPhones. Those who have already filmed are talking quietly, moving from canvas to canvas. No one is indifferent. There are almost more opinions than guests. There is something to talk about, something to discuss, something to argue about.    Circle three. I didn't even notice. Just at some point, she stepped out of the gallery hall under the arches of the Persian harem. Quiet sighs, a barely audible rustle of the book pages being turned over, a whisper, a light laugh ... Women who have learned to love themselves. And each other. Women whose lives are deprived of constant male attention, and at the same time filled with the search for the very presence of a man. Wrapped from head to toe in their black robes, looking at the world through a narrow slit of the burqa, these women are more sensual and attractive than a naked diva shining with curvaceous forms. What is the secret of their appeal? Maybe in the way they look at familiar things and what they manage to see in them? Or how they open their bodies to an involuntary witness of their loneliness, without throwing off their clothes? After all, what remains hidden - whether by hand, by a cover,    A natural question naturally arises: if an oriental woman through a narrow black gap could see so many symbols of male presence, then why does a European woman with her wide-open eyes not notice anything of the kind?    As an expert in the field of psychology and psychotherapy, I can assume that such an acute problem of female loneliness would not exist at all if our women learned to look at the world through the eyes of the heroines of Aidan's paintings. Take a look around. How many women, passing or running by, passing in cars or public transport, are wrapped in their problems, as if in a cocoon, blinkered to the point. It will be cleaner than a burqa. And the distance between her and the men creates - wow! If they are already approaching this, they already clearly realize that together with the woman they get all her luggage into the load. And you still have to want this.    For HE to want, SHE must create a corresponding aura around herself. And for this you need to learn to see HIS Presence. And feel it. Then everything changes in a woman - look, gait, breathing ... She carries a wave of emotions. A trail of attraction moves behind her. She worries. Isn't that right, men?    As for the feeling, this is already to the center of the hall. Here, what in the description of the exhibition is modestly referred to as architectural objects. I will be just as humble and say that these are symbols of a man, transmitted through the architecture of the minarets. They stand proudly in glass flasks. Considering that each such architectural object was made of paraffin by hand: it was warmed up, molded, ironed by the hands of an artist, a woman, and it was in her power to grow it, giving life to the form, or melt it, forcing it to flow between thin fingers ... associative and thought process.    One such object particularly caught my attention. I gave him a name - Non-Virgin. The design clearly contains the imprint of a woman. Perhaps someone will have a completely different association, and the viewer will discern a different, opposite meaning in him ... But I remembered one theory to which some "specialists" in human souls turn. With her help, they explain such problems, which are popularly voiced as “the family has its black sheep” or “neither the mother nor the father, but the passer-by”. The meaning of the theory is that a woman who has had an intimate relationship with different men retains a certain information field (part of the gene code?) Of each of these men. And it leaves an imprint on the future child. But a man does not accumulate any field, no matter how many women he has. And in Non-Virgin I saw a symbolic refutation of this theory. Oh-oh-oh how ...    Aidan plays with images and hints, like a psychologist with words. And there is more symbolism in her works than, perhaps, it was even originally conceived. Her canvases are read as a metaphor: in different states, in different life situations, the meaning of the same canvas is perceived differently. In addition, an artist does not have the ability to clearly articulate a message, unlike, say, a writer. And what is not expressed in a word is usually conjectured. Therefore, everyone will have their own reading of the canvases and art objects of "Persian miniatures" - passed through the prism of their own views and beliefs.    The solution often lies on the surface. Just to see him, sometimes you have to play with filters of perception. And a woman who has learned this will never be alone. Men won't let her. Irina Gvarilova Aidan Salakhova. Persian miniatures.           Aidan Salakhova is one of the key figures in the Russian art scene. All her activities were a manifestation of personal and creative freedom, and her biography was an example of a self-made woman. An artist, a pioneer of gallery business, luxurious and prosperous, she brought to life Pushkin's formula “you can be an efficient person and think about the beauty of your nails”. At the same time, Aidan became the creator of a personal myth built on contradictions, into which femist discourse and typical behavior of an ideal consumer, oriental hospitality and aristocratic arrogance, with the help of which she escapes the obsessive vanity of the beau monde, entered on equal terms. The foundation of this myth is the complex identity of Aidan, who was born and raised in the middle empire of an Eastern European woman who inherited Azerbaijani genes and European culture. And the building built on this foundation was the art of Aidan, dedicated to the myth of beauty, harmony and perfection, embodied in half-naked beauties, beautiful warriors and engrisks. However, despite the formal "beauty" of all his works, without exception, Aidan is one of the most provocative Russian artists. One of the first radical gestures of this adherent of contemporary art (with his almost obligatory curtsey towards feminism) was the statement that all her art was “oriented towards the male viewer”. Such statements could not but anger the critics-feminists, and only later it became clear what Aidan meant. The man is by no means the subject of her art, but just a weak-willed staffage, an obligatory part of her installations. harmony and perfection, embodied in half-naked beauties, beautiful warriors and engrisques. However, despite the formal "beauty" of all his works, without exception, Aidan is one of the most provocative Russian artists. One of the first radical gestures of this adherent of contemporary art (with his almost obligatory curtsey towards feminism) was the statement that all her art was “oriented towards the male viewer”. Such statements could not but anger the critics-feminists, and only later it became clear what Aidan meant. The man is by no means the subject of her art, but just a weak-willed staffage, an obligatory part of her installations. harmony and perfection, embodied in half-naked beauties, beautiful warriors and engrisques. However, despite the formal "beauty" of all his works, without exception, Aidan is one of the most provocative Russian artists. One of the first radical gestures of this adherent of contemporary art (with his almost obligatory curtsey towards feminism) was the statement that all her art was “oriented towards the male viewer”. Such statements could not but anger the critics-feminists, and only later it became clear what Aidan meant. The man is by no means the subject of her art, but just a weak-willed staffage, an obligatory part of her installations. Aidan is one of the most provocative Russian artists. One of the first radical gestures of this adherent of contemporary art (with his almost obligatory curtsey towards feminism) was the statement that all her art was “oriented towards the male viewer”. Such statements could not but anger the critics-feminists, and only later it became clear what Aidan meant. The man is by no means the subject of her art, but just a weak-willed staffage, an obligatory part of her installations. Aidan is one of the most provocative Russian artists. One of the first radical gestures of this adherent of contemporary art (with his almost obligatory curtsey towards feminism) was the statement that all her art was “oriented towards the male viewer”. Such statements could not but anger the critics-feminists, and only later it became clear what Aidan meant. The man is by no means the subject of her art, but just a weak-willed staffage, an obligatory part of her installations. what Aidan meant. The man is by no means the subject of her art, but just a weak-willed staffage, an obligatory part of her installations. what Aidan meant. The man is by no means the subject of her art, but just a weak-willed staffage, an obligatory part of her installations.    Just as the artist herself is not unambiguous, her most probably favorite oriental theme. Aidan admits that he looks at the East rather through the eyes of a European, and even a European artist of the 19th century, for whom this antipode of the rational West was a fictional world of bliss and fabulous wealth. Oriental motives were already present in Aydan's early student works. Later, Orientalism manifested itself either attractively and glamorously, as in installations-performances with living, half-naked beauties, whom Aidan laid on satin pillows among sweets and fruits, or harshly, on the verge of a foul, as in the video installation "Kaaba", where women's views from a black cube forced the dervishes to make an endless rotation. Commenting on the Kaaba, Aidan referred to the Sufi ideas that the spirit is the feminine principle, God is the Beloved, and the contemplation of the light that lives in the heart plunges the Sufi into a state of ecstasy. And she quoted the verses of the Sufi saint Rabia: "All I want is the essence of Your Love, // I want to become one with You, // And become Your Face." This work almost became a reason for a scandal - the fundamentalists saw in it a too free and, therefore, dangerous interpretation of the dogmas of Islam. The conflict was avoided, the Supreme Mufti of Russia did not see anything seditious in such an interpretation of Islam. A few years later, the picturesque series “I love myself” appeared, the heroines of which were the inhabitants of the harem, indulging in lesbian games, whose faces were hidden by veils of burqa, but ideal bodies drawn with a thin lead of a simple pencil were naked and open to the caress of partners and the views of the audience. As if teasing the zealots of piety, Aidan argued that she could erase pencil lines with an eraser for a moment and thus pretend that she did not violate the prohibition on depicting living beings existing in orthodox Islam. However, this is not essential, but the context in which these works appeared. The Orientalist myth rests in ruins. The East, rattling with weapons, has long been no longer associated with the lazy bliss and eros of the tales of The Thousand and One Nights. Today's newsmakers are Muslim fundamentalists and Chechen militants, terrorist attacks girdled with the death of a suicide bomber and fighting for their right to wear a hijab and wrap themselves in a veil, Europeans of Arab descent, paranoid tension between Europeans and immigrants from the East, physical and psychological violence to which women in patriarchal Eastern cultures are subjected ... In parallel with painting, Aidan worked on an even more frank graphic series "Persian Miniatures", which began as sketches in a notebook not intended for prying eyes, a private lesson, automatic writing practically exposing the work of the subconscious. While the series is called "more overt", there is little literal eroticism in it, but a lot of sensuality, mystery and surreal imagery. In this series, everything is ambiguous, and is not limited to a description that could begin with the words "once in a harem, out of boredom ...". The touches and hugs that the heroines put into each other do not look purely erotic. Rather, this is a story about finding an adequate partner - a topic that is relevant for many strong and successful women. There is nothing surprising that it was in this series that a book (anatomical atlas) and a mirror appeared - symbols of self-knowledge, miniature models of mosques with minarets in gentle hands - symbols of faith. However, the minarets, which the women either cover with a protective gesture, or caress, are an obvious hello to Freud, at the same time suggesting an even more radical interpretation of the mystical raptures of Sufism than in the Kaaba installation. Maria Kravtsova Aidan without a veil A huge retrospective of Aidan Salakhova opened at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art on Ermolaevsky Lane   A rare case: the business elite in expensive suits, bohemians in bright fashionable outfits, an art get-together in shabby jackets and young artists in T-shirts - all these people crowded together. The enthusiastic unity was ensured by the very figure of Aidan, acting in different life roles - the most famous gallery owner, with whose help numerous new collectors compiled their collections; secular ladies, whose portraits and interviews adorn almost all of our glamorous media; a teacher teaching students not only the art of drawing, but also new technologies; and, of course, one of the best Russian artists. Aidan herself was in a long black dress - as if she had stepped out of her own paintings or video works.  The exhibition, which occupies all four museum floors, is built according to the technological principle - painting separately, video separately, drawings separately. But it is united thematically - the main topic that has been of interest to Aidan for many years. It can be conditionally called feminism, covered with Islamic paraphernalia. Woman, female body, female grace, female behavior, female gaze - that's what Aidan is interested in. And it doesn't matter in what technique the work is done and who is depicted on it - a simple Russian woman ("Tatiana"), a classic odalisque ("Sleeping Beauty"), or a Muslim woman swaddled in a black veil or headscarf, from whom only eyes are left for the world - sad, dreary, but very observant ("Kaaba"). Aidan's feminism is not aggressive, not belligerent, and not asexual. Salakhova's art is extremely erotic, even, I would say, physiological. She, of course, fights for the rights of women, but she understands these rights quite definitely. The scenes in which a girl in a veil is engaged in masturbation ("I love myself" series) or two girls indulge in sodomy are more likely about dreary evenings in a harem, and not about the recognition of the rights of sexual minorities. And also, as one art critic has accurately noted, Salakhova's art is very tactile: the main motive of all her works is the motive of touching. A girl touches herself, another girl, a man, or some phallic object (work from the series "Persian miniatures"). And even if, on closer examination, this object turns out to be a minaret - Aidan does not mean national or religious differences, she just sees the vitality of life in everything. A very important quality, without which it is difficult to be at the same time an artist, gallery owner, teacher and secular character. The Aidan exhibition opens the Contemporary Moscow program, which is jointly organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art and XL Gallery. The essence of the program is the museification of contemporary art. Retrospectives of a dozen contemporary artists will be held in the halls on Ermolaevsky. At the same time, another gallery, Marat Gelman, is doing a similar project, but this time together with the Tretyakov Gallery. Both projects testify that the once radical, shocking, many incomprehensible art has risen to the rank of general's stars. What can no longer be ignored.   Nikolay Molok Izvestia, 30.05.07 ... And the Woman Created God: Video Creation by Aidan Salakhova. Antonio Geusa Beauty is truth, truth beauty, —that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn, 1819 “Beauty is truth, and truth is beauty; and this is all that is known on earth and all there is to know. ” John Keats, Ode on the Greek Vase, 1819    The first video work of Aidan Salakhova, "Suspense" (1998), is at the same time an important example in the process of institutionalization of video art in Russia, meaning, about a decade after its birth, the final and "official" confirmation of the status of video as a full-fledged genre in the field of contemporary art ... In the structure of "Suspense", which is an installation, two genres are actually equalized, two different approaches for expressing artistic expression: the first is painting, which is proud of its thousands-strong tradition, and the second is video, embodying technological progress and innovation. In the semi-dark space of the exhibition hall, a pregnant woman froze on a large canvas. Her pensive expression, her arms hugging her heavy belly, the simplicity of the clothes and the monochrome texture of the canvas itself - all contribute to the emergence of an eerie feeling, in which suspense and tension are mixed in anticipation of the end of pregnancy. Suddenly the immobility is disturbed and the woman comes to life. The canvas turns into a screen on which the same woman leaves her seat and slowly stands up. But, despite the fact that in this work the projected image dictates its own rules for painting, depriving it of the necessary lighting and changing the original visual texture of the painting surface, giving it a bluish tint,    Aidan manages to avoid the conflict between the two genres. Painting and video here are ideally coordinated allies in creating a suggestive experience of uncertainty, which the very title of the work suggests as one of the keys to interpreting the work. The video - a woman slowly getting up - adds to the still and silent painting the feeling of discomfort that a pregnant woman inevitably experiences during gestation. Feelings of inconvenience, excitement, anxiety, which these images carry, allow us to consider them as a weak echo of Salakhova's early works, such as, for example, the Abortion series, which speaks of the mental and physiological trauma of losing a child before his birth. Only a faint echo - because there is no aggressive imposition or emotional demonstration of such cruel pain for women as abortion.    And once again - painting finds in the video an impeccable companion to create the effect of complete uncertainty, which is the essence of the work. It should be noted that the endless movement of slowly getting up multiplies this impression. To a certain extent, this is reminiscent of the myth of the curse - as if the Greek gods condemned a woman to forever repeat the same action, over and over again. One can afford to notice that the crime she committed in order to receive such a punishment must be something connected with love, the leading force and the leitmotif of Aidan Salakhova's creativity. However, this is only one of the possible readings. There are many others, also undoubtedly legitimate. A constant element for Aidan's video works is precisely that her works are always symbolic, but never allegorical: they give rise to many references.    Ultimately, this woman exists alone, as a titanic heroine in the confined space of the canvas / screen, in complete control of her own territory. Her simple, almost mechanical movements make the act of voyeur devoid of qualities such as lust and sexual pleasure. The feeling of uncertainty and suspense, which both video and painting evoke in the viewer, clearly interferes with other possible interpretations of the artist's image of a woman - where she appears as an object.    This pregnant woman can be considered the progenitor of all female characters that will inhabit Salakhova's videography in the near future. In her next video installation, Sleeping Beauty (2000), the artist again shows the relationship between static and moving images, as in Suspension. Again, there is a single woman in the center of the stage. This transition from the future mother to the new heroine is very important, since this creates a certain typology of the subjective pictorial series that Salakhova builds in painting, to which she belongs by education - a series to which she also remains true in photography and video. Here the artist offers the viewer one of the most significant characters of his own mythology, Odalisque. In Sleeping Beauty, Salakhova simultaneously re-actualizes the legacy of the St. Petersburg New Academy, to which she belonged, and returns to her Central Asian roots. The imperative canon of the Beauty of neoacademism connects with the exotic corporeality of its own cultural origins. In this work, Aidan sensually mixes both of these traditions. In turn, the title - repeating one of the most famous tales of Charles Perrault - undoubtedly reveals the author's belonging to Western culture and makes this West-Eastern "mix" even more expressive. The tale, which Aidan tells this time, with an oriental woman in the lead role, belongs, rather, to the collection of “A Thousand and One Nights”. "Sleeping Beauty" is undoubtedly more sensual - one might even say carnal - work than the previous ones.    Two years later, in 2002, Aidan builds the "House of God" - "Kaaba" (Arabic), a massive black cube containing four pairs of female eyes - each on its own side, looking from the inside of its burqa at the world around it. Outside, two large video projections show two men dressed in traditional costumes performing a Sufi ritual dance. In a relatively limited space and with rather modest means, Salakhova again creates a rich conglomerate of indices that legitimize a wide range of interpretations. One of the most unusual is that the black cube means both the artistic representation of the Black Stone in Mecca (also called "Kaaba" in Arabic), which attracts millions of pilgrims every year, and the vagina - a logical interpretation born of a black construction with an opening on each side populated by women. Ultimately, the House of God Aidan is the House of Women. Obviously, there is no blasphemy in this appropriation. On the contrary, this is an authoritative statement from the artist herself.    In fact, this unconventional combination will not look unusual if we take into account the essence of Salakhova's work and her biography as an artist. Far from self-promotion and scandal, Aidan has never been afraid to challenge and take risks. It should be noted that this aspect of her artistic "I" in video works is never stuck out and is not given as the first layer. On the contrary, it manifests itself after a careful examination of the work. Therefore, if at first glance the Kaaba seems to want to please the viewer and interest him with the help of ethnographic documents, large size and the use of high technologies, careful analysis proves that there are many more references hidden under the seductive surface. Above all, the Kaaba manifests itself as a powerful statement of the leading and dominant role of women.    In it, the theorist carefully examines the cinematic mainstream and singles out the “male gaze” in it as the main addressee, which dictates their structure to films. Women have always been portrayed by the Hollywood film industry, Malvy claims, as "objects" to satisfy the voyeuristic desires of men. Obviously, Aidan breaks this mechanism and places a "feminine gaze" at the center of the House of God. According to the principles of psychoanalysis, the gaze is a psychological index of power, the one who controls the gaze (the beholder) has a dominant position in comparison with the one who is the object of this “watching”. In Salakhova's Kaaba, the beholders are women. They have an out-of-narrative gaze - from the inside out - which is dominant in the space around them. Thus, they control the space around them - and, therefore, the audience in it. In this regard, it should be mentioned that it is for their eyes that the dancers perform the Sufi ritual. In other words, it is men who become “objects”.    The following year, Aidan places two female warriors at the center of her installation Love and Death. By the way, they are found in the video. Before their story begins, two large photographs show women in daring poses, dressed in luxurious traditional oriental costumes, holding a cold weapon. After the women leave the "ethnographic space" of their photographs, they move to the center and begin their battle-dance. They fight violently and it is tempting to say that they "fight like men." Either way, such an analogy is only valid if there is no further misunderstanding of their struggle as a parody of what “traditionally” belongs to men. Salakhova's female warriors are not antagonists to men. These are women, those whom the artist gives "courage". But they also do not lose their femininity. As the name itself tells us, warriors are the visual embodiment of a passion of love that borders on death experienced by women. To summarize somewhat, the “exotic” element - the dominant of Aidan's imagination - finds its culmination here: visualization of the tension of feeling. At its core, "Love and Death" is a work about how passionate women can be, because the story that the artist is now telling us is again, as always, about Love. Love that, in the tradition of romanticism, has a distinct taste of death. visualization of the tension of feelings. At its core, "Love and Death" is a work about how passionate women can be, because the story that the artist is now telling us is again, as always, about Love. Love that, in the tradition of romanticism, has a distinct taste of death. visualization of the tension of feelings. At its core, "Love and Death" is a work about how passionate women can be, because the story that the artist is now telling us is again, as always, about Love. Love that, in the tradition of romanticism, has a distinct taste of death.    The next video, "Khabibi" (2004) stands out from the rest as the most "Bakhtin" work, since it carries both "carnivalism" and the Other. Without a doubt, "Khabibi" is also the most ironic work in Salakhova's videography. It is a looping repetition of one long section showing the waist of a professional belly dancer dressed in a traditional tinkling costume. Here, Aidan demonstratively isolates the anatomical part of the female body, the one that in the East has an erotic function, while in the West it greatly scares women and is condemned to a secret life: “fat belly”. The artist boldly combines the Eastern understanding of eroticism and Western social complexes together. Again, Aidan is moving away from exploiting the female body, assuming "visual pleasure" and "male gaze". In Habibi, a woman performs an endless dance, completely immersed in movement. Considering that “khabibi” in Arabic means “beloved”, the author's irony becomes even more obvious. However, besides this, Aidan also talks about the incompatibility of two different cultures: what the East loves, the West cannot stand.    A year later, in My Bride, Salakhova returns to describing the Western world, adding a new type, the newlywed, to her rich kaleidoscope of female characters. Against a black background, a young attractive girl stands, dressed in her white dress, smiling and holding a bouquet. Suddenly, the photo comes to life and the bride slowly turns around, revealing her back, which is superimposed on top of the smiling image in the photo. The effect in this work is of the same nature as the compositional solution "Suspense", although there is no such strong feeling of being suspended, and it seems that nothing threatens the bride's happiness. Nevertheless, the piece still contains a strange, albeit weak, sense of unpredictability, arising from the idea that showing the public the back of the bride can be explained by the demonstration that the bride does not see and cannot see. the latent threat posed by her future. Whatever the new life that lies ahead of her, she will release her out of control. She makes this clear with a simple gesture: deliberately dropping the bouquet. There is no aggression or rage in her behavior. She just lets the flowers slip out of her hands and fall to the floor. With this delicate but at the same time decisive gesture, the bride Aidan puts herself on that high pedestal from which she dominates the viewer, reflecting all attempts to turn her into a stupid stereotype of the "beautiful" that awaits the future spouse of some Mr. Ivanov. She just lets the flowers slip out of her hands and fall to the floor. With this delicate but at the same time decisive gesture, the bride Aidan puts herself on that high pedestal from which she dominates the viewer, reflecting all attempts to turn her into a stupid stereotype of the "beautiful" that awaits the future spouse of some Mr. Ivanov. She just lets the flowers slip out of her hands and fall to the floor. With this delicate but at the same time decisive gesture, the bride Aidan puts herself on that high pedestal from which she dominates the viewer, reflecting all attempts to turn her into a stupid stereotype of the "beautiful" that awaits the future spouse of some Mr. Ivanov.    In MMS (2005) Salakhova explores the links between mass technology and art communication. This video installation seems to have the intention of deconstructing Marshall McLuhan's famous axiom "A means is a message." Here the author offers his own version: a message inside a tool. Clearly, MMS does not emphasize technology as a self-sufficient vehicle for creating art. Aidan doesn't really celebrate mobile phones as artistic tools just because they can send photos and videos. They are only “authorized” to become intermediaries in order to convey what is art in itself - in the case of “MMS”, become objects infected with the virus of Beauty: a short clip depicting the eyes of one of the “goddesses” painted by the artist.      Tatiana (2006) emerged after a year of studying the women around Aidan in her home life. Covertly examining her friends, acquaintances, neighbors and all the other female characters that she has come across, Aidan discovers in a middle-aged woman living in a neighboring apartment, a new heroine for her mythology. Three large photographs show Tatiana's “naked” face, bravely looking ahead. Tatyana's hands move neatly, almost mechanically, over her lips, around her eyes, showing, one after the other, the three moods that she experiences such an important moment in a woman's day. The inner world of feelings is here openly presented to the viewer, without loud statements - the work is deliberately devoid of sound. But one way or another, Tatiana is not a tragic figure, similar to the heroine of Luigi Pirandello's essay "On Humor", who is ridiculed by her neighbors because of her strong make-up, as she tries to become young again. On the contrary, she, like all the heroines of Aidan, controls "her territory." And even more - "Tatiana", although simple in structure, is complex in its interaction of two means, which is Aidan's "trademark": a projection superimposed on a static image. The video itself here is a layer of makeup on the surface of the photo.    Summing up, we can draw a parallel between the video of Salakhova's work and the ancient Greek poetess Sappho: the author's works are also a study-contemplation of the relationship of sensual love and immortal art. Skillfully playing with the boundaries of voyeurism, Aidan shows off her independent, strong, self-sufficient women. Women who do not allow anyone to exploit them, but on the other hand, are in complete control of their own destiny and follow their passion at will. All these women are goddesses, something like Graces in Greek mythology, the goddess of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity, fertility, and besides all this, also the goddess of love, because love is in its entire varied spectrum, from eroticism to motherhood, one of the key concepts for the artistic world of Salakhova. But at the same time, if we take into account the coefficient of Muslim iconography, we can see that in his videos the author mixes Greek mythology with Eastern. This is especially true for the spiritual recognition of the mystical traditions of Sufism and its concept of direct perception of God (Truth) through sharing the feeling of divine love.    Salakhova is not an artist who fights for women's rights. It is far enough from the point at which women feel the need to explain themselves to themselves, to demand equality and to be heard. There is no gender fight in her video. Men do not appear funny there. Often they are not even presented. Although, Aidan very subtly uses the strategy described by Derrida, absence as a sign of presence, because men are implied, even if they are not physically present: a pregnant woman, a bride, a belly dancer, they are all in direct relationships with men. And once again: Salakhova is not a suffragist or a die-hard feminist attacking the status quo of a patriarchal society, where the man rules and the woman is the object. On the contrary, she presents her heroines in their own independent space, in the territory of complete freedom, where only God is under their constant gaze. Museum of Contemporary Women's Art Personalia          and the author himself, who in relation to the "classical" is in the same position as the viewer. Like the shoulders of the secular beauty Helen in Tolstoy, classical art for modern perception is too "varnished" by the multitude of glances that slid over it to awaken any living feeling. From this point of view, Aidan's absurd procedure for creating, destroying and disclosing (reviving) the classic is not at all absurd, since, like ordinary female coquetry, it has as its purpose to arouse desire. Aidan, as it were, invites the viewer to "undress" the classics, to experience something similar to Winckelmann's trepidation in front of the antique statues that have re-emerged. The involvement of experts in the project raises another topic, which is inextricably linked with the theme of the classic, namely, the theme of originals and forgeries, or, in a more subtle version, the intractable problem of the value priorities of time. In his objects, Aidan equates in rights what is "under" with what is "above", traditional figurativeness with abstraction, metaphorically reifying their independent, but at the same time inseparable existence in the history of art. And although such compromises, which replaced the modernist denial of the past, are extremely popular in contemporary art, one would like to think that this dualism "no fish - no meat" will eventually degenerate into some other matter that will be worthy of X-ray images of future Grabar centers ... Milena Orlova, Winckelmann's Awe. In his objects, Aidan equates in rights what is "under" with what is "above", traditional figurativeness with abstraction, metaphorically reifying their independent, but at the same time inseparable existence in the history of art. And although such compromises, which replaced the modernist denial of the past, are extremely popular in contemporary art, one would like to think that this dualism "no fish - no meat" will eventually degenerate into some other matter that will be worthy of X-ray images of future Grabar centers ... Milena Orlova, Winckelmann's Awe. In his objects, Aidan equates in rights what is "under" with what is "above", traditional figurativeness with abstraction, metaphorically reifying their independent, but at the same time inseparable existence in the history of art. And although such compromises, which replaced the modernist denial of the past, are extremely popular in contemporary art, one would like to think that this dualism "no fish - no meat" will eventually degenerate into some other matter that will be worthy of X-ray images of future Grabar centers ... Milena Orlova, Winckelmann's Awe. And although such compromises, which replaced the modernist denial of the past, are extremely popular in contemporary art, one would like to think that this dualism "no fish - no meat" will eventually degenerate into some other matter that will be worthy of X-ray images of future Grabar centers ... Milena Orlova, Winckelmann's Awe. And although such compromises, which replaced the modernist denial of the past, are extremely popular in contemporary art, one would like to think that this dualism "no fish - no meat" will eventually degenerate into some other matter that will be worthy of X-ray images of future Grabar centers ... Milena Orlova, Winckelmann's Awe. Aidan Salakhova (Azerbaijani: Aydan Tair qızı Salahova, born March 25, 1964) is an Azeri and Russian artist, gallerist and public person. In 1992 she founded the Aidan Gallery in Moscow. Salakhova's works can be found in many private and state collections including the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, Francois Pinault Foundation, Teutloff Museum and the Boghossian Foundation; in private collections of I. Khalilov, Matan Uziel family collection, P-K. Broshe, T. Novikov, V. Nekrasov, V. Bondarenko and others. At the 2011 Venice Biennale, Salakhova's name hit the headlines when her work was politically censored. Contents 1 Biography 2 Artworks 3 Personal exhibitions 4 Incident at the 54th Venice Biennale 5 Aidan Gallery 6 References 7 External links Biography Aidan Salahova was born in 1964 in Moscow[1] in the family of Azeri and Russian artist Tahir Salahov,[citation needed] who is the Vice-president of the Russian Academy of Arts, and a laureate of state awards in Russia and Azerbaijan. In 1987 she graduated from the Moscow State Surikov Institute of Fine Arts (Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture) as an external student. Since 2000, Aidan Salakhova is professor at the institute. Since 2007, she is an Academician of the Russian Academy of Fine Arts. In the late 1980s Salakhova became one of the most significant art figures of the new generation in post-Soviet countries[citation needed] In 2002 Aidan was awarded a silver medal by the Russian Academy of Fine Arts.[citation needed] In 2005-2007 she was a member of the Public Chamber. Having worked for over twenty years as both an artist and a gallerist she has been one of the strongest influences on the development of contemporary art in post-Soviet Russia. Salakhova has exhibited her work at major international art fairs and biennales, including twice at the Venice Biennale (1991 and 2011) and at the Second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2007). Artworks Salahova's art won recognition not only in the Russian art community, but also internationally. Aidan is a regular participant of major international art fairs and biennales including the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art (1991, 2011), the 2nd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2007), etc. In her works, Salakhova investigates gender themes, women's sexuality in the context of Islam,[2] contrasts between the East and the West, matters of prohibition, esotericism, and beauty. She is one of the key artists on a contemporary Russian art scene working in various mediums, such as photography, sculpture, painting, and installations. Aidan Salakhova marries Eastern Islamic with Western feminist influences, combining her Azerbaijani background with her Eastern European upbringing. Her “Persian Miniatures” series explores the feminine identity in an Islamic context. Missing elements carry as much weight as those that are visualized. Feminine figures are delicately portrayed, with the male presence noticeably absent. The drawings are flat and their subjects anonymous, rendering them interchangeable and representational. Her execution traces back to Persian miniatures from which the series takes its name. Her selection of this style is fitting, as Persian miniatures historically were private books, allowing artists to express themselves more freely than they would with more public wall art. Although these are typically executed in vibrant, vivid colors, Salakhova's miniatures are more somber, as though carrying the strength and the weight of their subjects. Highly semiotic, Salakhova's work plays on the capability of representative imagery to represent a multitude of meanings, primary among which is women's position within established social conventions. Her symbols are far from mundane, featuring images such as the gourd, a womb-like symbol of fertility. Also recurring is the minaret symbol, representing faith and power, as well as unity given its function as the location of the call to prayer. Water, a symbol of purity and life across a number of civilizations and religions is also an expression of tears as the inner emotional sea. Personal exhibitions 2016 Revelations Saatchi Gallery, London, UK 2015 Reachless, Serpukhov Historical and Art Museum, Serpukhov, Russia 2013 Out of Body, Quadro Fine Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE 2012-13 Fascinates & Tremendum, MMOMA, Moscow, Russia 2012 Persian miniatures, Quadro Fine Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE 2009 Kicik Qualart, Baku, Azerbaijan 2008 Persian miniatures. XL-Gallery, Moscow, Russia[3] 2007 Red. Project of Yves Saint Laurent. State Centre of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia 2007 Persian Miniatures. AMT Gallery, Como, Italy 2006 Aidan Salakhova. Painting, Drawing. D-137 Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia 2005 I love myself. XL Gallery, Moscow, Russia[4] 2005 Abstract. Dom Cultural Center, Moscow, Russia 2004 Habibi. D-137 Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia 2004 Habibi. Orel Art Presenta Galerie, Paris, France 2004 MMS. XL-Gallery, Moscow, Russia 2002 Kaaba. XL-Gallery, Moscow, Russia 2002 Habibi. Volker Diehl Gallery, Berlin, Germany 2001 Odalisque (in conjunction with “ART MOSKVA studio”). Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia 2001 Living Pictures. D-137 Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia 2000 Tea in the Desert. Invogue boutique, Moscow, Russia 2000 The Sleeping Beauty (XL Gallery, in cooperation with the European Galleries association). Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany 1999 Suspense. Museum of 20th Century Art, Kemerovo 1999–2000 After the Wall. Art and Culture in post-Communist Europe. Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin; Ludwig Museum, Budapesht 1998 Diva (project of XL Gallery in conjunction with Photobiennale 98). Manezh Central Exhibition Hall, Moscow, Russia 1998 Suspense. XL Gallery, Moscow, Russia 1997 Antonyms. New Academy of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Russia 1996 New Acquisitions. XL Gallery, Moscow, Russia 1992 Golden Confession. Sprovieri Gallery, Roma, Italy 1992 Leda and the Swan. Berman - E.N. Gallery, New York, USA 1991 Golden Confession. First Gallery, Moscow, Russia Incident at the 54th Venice Biennale In June 2011, Salakhova was representing the Azerbaijan Pavilion among other national artists at the 54th Venice Biennale. Two of her artworks previously approved by the ministry of culture were ordered to be covered and eventually removed from the exhibition a day before the opening, "because of government sensitives towards the nation's status as a secular Muslim country".[5] The officials said the works had been damaged during transportation.[6] Commenting on the conflict the pavilion curator Beral Madra stated that the concept of the removed sculptures had been misinterpreted by the government, and added that in over 25 years of curating she "ever experienced this kind of conflict". In an article entitled "Vagina Art Veiled at Azerbaijan's Venice Biennale Pavilion, Causing Some to Cry Censorship", Kate Deimling stated that "Black Stone," a "sculpture depicting the black stone in Mecca venerated by Muslims within a vagina-like marble frame, were both covered up".[7] Aidan Gallery Founded in Moscow in 1992 by Aidan Salakhova, the gallery today is one of the most prestigious private galleries of modern and contemporary art in Russia. Traditionally, the Aidan Gallery is highly appraised by critics, collectors and audience at international contemporary art fairs and exhibitions, such as The Armony Show (United States), FIAC (France), Liste (Switzerland), Art Forum Berlin (Germany), ARCO (Spain), Vienna Art Fair (Austria), Art Dubai (UAE), Art Brussels (Belgium).[8] The gallery works with artists, who combine straight conceptualism with radical Aestheticism, such as: Rauf Mamedov, Elena Berg, Nikola Ovchinnikov, Konstantin Latyshev and others.[9] 1964       born in Moscow 1987       Surikov Art Institut, Moscow 1989-92  curator and co-director of 1st Gallery, Moscow 1992       founder and owner of Aidan Gallery Solo exhibitions 2009 Antinomia. Museum of modern art, Palermo 2008 Persian Miniatures. XL Gallery, Moscow 2006 Aidan. Moscow Museum of modern art, Moscow 2005 I Love myself. XL Gallery, Moscow My bride. Moscow house of photography, Moscow 2004 Habibi. D-137 gallery, St.Petersburg MMS. XL Gallery, Moscow 2003 Habibi. Volker Diehl gallery, Berlin 2002 Qa’bah. XL gallery, Moscow 2001 Tableux Vivants. D-137 gallery. St.Petersburg 2000 Sleeping Beauty. Kunstlerhaus Bethanien. Berlin 1999 Suspense. XL Gallery, Moscow 1998 Diva. XL Gallery in Manege, Moscow 1996 New Acquisitions. XL Gallery, Moscow 1992 Galleria Sprovieri, Rome Leda and the Swan. Berman E.N.Gallery, New York 1991 Golden Confession. 1st Gallery, Moscow 1990 Farideh Cadot Gallery, New York Visual Stimulation. 1st Gallery, Moscow Selected group exhibitions 2009 Sketches of installations. XL Gallery, Moscow 2005 Gender-bender. Moscow biennale special program. Museum of modern art, Moscow 2003 XL Style. XL Gallery, Moscow 2002 Femme art. Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow Contemporary Russian painting. XL Gallery at New Manege, Moscow 2001 Dream team. XL Gallery. Moscow 1999 «Forum of the new art initiatives». New Manege, Moscow "After the wall". Moderna Museet. Stockholm «Russia without contemorary art museum». XL Gallery, Leverkusen, Germany 1996-97 «Moscow Studio USA tour». Corcoran Museum, Washington D.C. 1995 «in Moskau... in Moskau...». Badischer Kunstverein, Carlsruhe, Germany 1993 «Renaissance and Resistance». Russian Museum, St.Petersburg «Collection d'Art Contemporain RINACO. Moscou 1993». Caisse des Depots et Consignations - 56 rue Jacob, Paris 1992 «a Mosca... a Mosca...». Villa Campoleto, Ercolano; Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy 1991 «Contemporary Moscow Artists». Seibu Art Forum, Tokyo «Aesthetic Studies». Kuskovo Estate Museum, Moscow «Roma-Mosca. Artisti d'oggi al confronto». Galleria Sprovieri, Rome 1990 La Biennale di Venezia. Soviet pavilion, Venice 1989 «Rauschenberg to us, we to Rauschenberg». 1st Gallery, Moscow «Cheap Art». 1st Gallery, Moscow 1988 «War and Peace». Hamburg; Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow; Hermitage, Leningrad «Labyrinth». Moscow Youth Palace Irina Korina; Oleg Kulik; Igor Makarevich; Boris Mikhailov; Aidan Salakhova; Constantin Zvezdochotov; Boris Orlov; Viktor Pivovarov; Aristarkh Chernyshev; Bluesoup group; Sergei Shekhovtsov; Anna Jermolaewa Refresh Summer exhibition of the gallery artists June 26 thru July 29, 2012 Futurologia / Russian Utopias Irina Korina; Aidan Salakhova; Aristarkh Chernyshev & Alexei Shulgin Futurologia / Russian Utopias exhibition at Garage CCC March 5 thru May 23, 2010 Sketches of installations Irina Korina; Oleg Kulik; Igor Makarevich; Aidan Salakhova; Constantin Zvezdochotov; Boris Orlov; Alex Buldakov; Sergei Shekhovtsov; Peter Belyi Sketches of installations December 22, 2009 thru January 24, 2010 Persian miniatures Aidan Salakhova Persian miniatures drawings, objects October 8 thru October 30, 2008 Aidan Aidan Salakhova Aidan Solo exhibition at Moscow Museum of Modern Art May 8 thru June 8, 2006 I love myself Aidan Salakhova I love myself paintings November 25 thru December 16, 2005 MMS Aidan Salakhova MMS video installation December 11 thru December 23, 2004 Qabah Aidan Salakhova Qa'bah videoinstallation April 3 thru April 22, 2002 Contemporary Russian Painting 1992-2002 Vladimir Dubosarsky & Alexander Vinogradov; Igor Makarevich; Aidan Salakhova; Constantin Zvezdochotov; Larisa Zvezdochetova; Avdei Ter-Oganyan; Valery Koshlyakov; Alexander Kosolapov; Olga Chernysheva; Sergei Shutov; Semyon Faibisovich Contemporary Russian Painting 1992-2002 group exhibition January 15 thru January 20, 2002 Suspense Aidan Salakhova Suspense painting and video interaction December 2 thru December 20, 1998 Diva Aidan Salakhova Diva live and interactive Polaroid photoinstallation (in Manege hall) 1997-98 New Acquisitions Aidan Salakhova New Acquisitions installation, paintings, objects September 29 thru October 5, 1996
Azerbaijani (/ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒæni, -ɑːni/) or Azeri (/æˈzɛəri, ɑː-, ə-/), also referred to as Azeri Turkic or Azeri Turkish, is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people, who live mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan where the North Azerbaijani variety is spoken, and in the Azerbaijan region of Iran, where the South Azerbaijani variety is spoken. Although there is a very high degree of mutual intelligibility between both forms of Azerbaijani, there are significant differences in phonology, lexicon, morphology, syntax, and sources of loanwords. North Azerbaijani has official status in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Dagestan (a federal subject of Russia), but South Azerbaijani does not have official status in Iran, where the majority of Azerbaijani people live. It is also spoken to lesser varying degrees in Azerbaijani communities of Georgia and Turkey and by diaspora communities, primarily in Europe and North America. Both Azerbaijani varieties are members of the Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages. The standardized form of North Azerbaijani (spoken in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Russia) is based on the Shirvani dialect, while South Azerbaijani uses the Tabrizi dialect as its prestige variety. Since the Republic of Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Northern Azerbaijani uses the Latin script. South Azerbaijani, on the other hand, has always used and continues to use the Perso-Arabic script. Azerbaijani language is closely related to Gagauz, Qashqai, Crimean Tatar, Turkish, and Turkmen, sharing varying degrees of mutual intelligibility with each of those languages. Etymology and background Historically the language was referred by its native speakers as türk dili or türkcə,[6] meaning either "Turkish" or "Turkic". After the establishment of the Azerbaijan SSR, on the order of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, the "name of the formal language" of the Azerbaijan SSR was changed from "Turkish" to "Azerbaijani".[7] The language is usually referred to as Turki or Torki in Iranian Azerbaijan.[8] History and evolution Main articles: Languages of Azerbaijan and Languages of Iran Azerbaijani evolved from the Eastern branch of Oghuz Turkic ("Western Turkic")[9] which spread to the Caucasus, in Eastern Europe,[10][11] and northern Iran, in Western Asia, during the medieval Turkic migrations.[12] Persian and Arabic influenced the language, but Arabic words were mainly transmitted through the intermediary of literary Persian.[13] Azerbaijani is, perhaps after Uzbek, the Turkic language upon which Persian and other Iranian languages have exerted the strongest impact—mainly in phonology, syntax, and vocabulary, less in morphology.[12] The Turkic language of Azerbaijan gradually supplanted the Iranian languages in what is now northwestern Iran, and a variety of languages of the Caucasus and Iranian languages spoken in the Caucasus, particularly Udi and Old Azeri. By the beginning of the 16th century, it had become the dominant language of the region. It was a spoken language in the court of the Safavids, Afsharids and Qajars. The historical development of Azerbaijani can be divided into two major periods: early (c. 14th to 18th century) and modern (18th century to present). Early Azerbaijani differs from its descendant in that it contained a much larger number of Persian and Arabic loanwords, phrases and syntactic elements. Early writings in Azerbaijani also demonstrate linguistic interchangeability between Oghuz and Kypchak elements in many aspects (such as pronouns, case endings, participles, etc.). As Azerbaijani gradually moved from being merely a language of epic and lyric poetry to being also a language of journalism and scientific research, its literary version has become more or less unified and simplified with the loss of many archaic Turkic elements, stilted Iranisms and Ottomanisms, and other words, expressions, and rules that failed to gain popularity among the Azerbaijani masses. The Russian annexation of Iran's territories in the Caucasus through the Russo-Iranian wars of 1804–1813 and 1826-1828 split the language community across two states. Afterwards, the Tsarist administration encouraged the spread of Azerbaijani in eastern Transcaucasia as a replacement for Persian spoken by the upper classes, and as a measure against Persian influence in the region.[14][15] Between c. 1900 and 1930, there were several competing approaches to the unification of the national language in what is now the Azerbaijan Republic, popularized by scholars such as Hasan bey Zardabi and Mammad agha Shahtakhtinski. Despite major differences, they all aimed primarily at making it easy for semi-literate masses to read and understand literature. They all criticized the overuse of Persian, Arabic, and European elements in both colloquial and literary language and called for a simpler and more popular style. The Soviet Union promoted the development of the language but set it back considerably with two successive script changes[16] – from the Persian to Latin and then to the Cyrillic script – while Iranian Azerbaijanis continued to use the Persian script as they always had. Despite the wide use of Azerbaijani in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, it became the official language of Azerbaijan only in 1956.[17] After independence, the Republic of Azerbaijan decided to switch back to a modified Latin script. Azerbaijani literature Main article: Azerbaijani literature Mohammad-Hossein Shahriar, Iranian Azerbaijani poet, who wrote in Azerbaijani and Persian. The development of Azerbaijani literature is closely associated with Anatolian Turkish, written in Perso-Arabic script. Examples of its detachment date to the 14th century or earlier.[18][19] Kadi Burhan al-Din, Hasanoghlu, and Imadaddin Nasimi helped to establish Azerbaiijani as a literary language in the 14th century through poetry and other works.[19] The ruler of the Qara Qoyunlu state, Jahanshah, wrote poems in Azerbaijani language with the nickname "Haqiqi".[20][21] Sultan Yaqub, the ruler of the Aq Qoyunlu state, wrote poems in the Azerbaijani language.[22] The ruler and poet Ismail I wrote under the pen name Khatā'ī (which means "sinner" in Persian) during the fifteenth century.[23][24] During the 16th century, the poet, writer and thinker Fuzûlî wrote mainly in Azerbaijani but also translated his poems into Arabic and Persian.[23] Starting in the 1830s, several newspapers were published in Iran during the reign of the Azerbaijani speaking Qajar dynasty but it is unknown whether any of these newspapers were written in Azerbaijani. In 1875, Akinchi (Əkinçi / اکينچی) ("The Ploughman") became the first Azerbaijani newspaper to be published in the Russian Empire. It was started by Hasan bey Zardabi, a journalist and education advocate.[19] Following the rule of the Qajar dynasty, Iran was ruled by Reza Shah who banned the publication of texts in Azerbaijani.[citation needed] Modern literature in the Republic of Azerbaijan is based on the Shirvani dialect mainly, while in Iranian Azerbaijan, it is based on the Tabrizi dialect. Mohammad-Hossein Shahriar is an important figure in Azerbaijani poetry. His most important work is Heydar Babaya Salam and it is considered to be a pinnacle of Azerbaijani literature and gained popularity in the Turkic-speaking world. It was translated into more than 30 languages.[25] In the mid-19th century, Azerbaijani literature was taught at schools in Baku, Ganja, Shaki, Tbilisi, and Yerevan. Since 1845, it has also been taught in the Saint Petersburg State University in Russia. In 2018, Azerbaijani language and literature programs are offered in the United States at several universities, including Indiana University, UCLA, and University of Texas at Austin.[19] The vast majority, if not all Azerbaijani language courses teach North Azerbaijani written in the Latin script and not South Azerbaijani written in the Perso-Arabic script. Modern literature in the Republic of Azerbaijan is primarily based on the Shirvani dialect, while in the Iranian Azerbaijan region (historic Azerbaijan) it is based on the Tabrizi one. Lingua franca Azerbaijani served as a lingua franca throughout most parts of Transcaucasia except the Black Sea coast, in southern Dagestan,[26][27][28] the Eastern Anatolia Region and all over Iran [29] from the 16th to the early 20th centuries,[30][31] alongside cultural, administrative, court literature, and most importantly official language (along with Azerbaijani) of all these regions, namely Persian.[32] From the early 16th century up to the course of the 19th century, these regions and territories were all ruled by the Safavids, Afsharids and Qajars until the cession of Transcaucasia proper and Dagestan by Qajar Iran to the Russian Empire per the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan and the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay. Per the 1829 Caucasus School Statute, Azerbaijani was to be taught in all district schools of Ganja, Shusha, Nukha (present-day Shaki), Shamakhi, Quba, Baku, Derbent, Yerevan, Nakhchivan, Akhaltsikhe, and Lankaran. Beginning in 1834, it was introduced as a language of study in Kutaisi instead of Armenian. In 1853, Azerbaijani became a compulsory language for students of all backgrounds in all of Transcaucasia with the exception of the Tiflis Governorate.[33] Dialects of Azerbaijani Main article: Azerbaijani dialects Reza Shah and Kemal Atatürk during the Shah's official visit to Turkey in 1934. Reza Shah spoke in South Azerbaijani while Atatürk spoke in Turkish, and the two leaders managed to communicate with each other quite effectively. Azerbaijani is one of the Oghuz languages within the Turkic language family. Ethnologue lists North Azerbaijani (spoken mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Russia) and South Azerbaijani (spoken in Iran, Iraq, and Syria) as two groups within the Azerbaijani macrolanguage with "significant differences in phonology, lexicon, morphology, syntax, and loanwords" between the two.[3] The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) considers Northern and Southern Azerbaijani to be distinct languages.[34] Linguists Mohammad Salehi and Aydin Neysani write that "there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility" between North and South Azerbaijani.[34] Svante Cornell wrote in his 2001 book Small Nations and Great Powers that "it is certain that Russian and Iranian words (sic), respectively, have entered the vocabulary on either side of the Araxes river, but this has not occurred to an extent that it could pose difficulties for communication".[35] There are numerous dialects, with 21 North Azerbaijani dialects and 11 South Azerbaijani dialects identified by Ethnologue.[3][4] Three varieties have been accorded ISO 639-3 language codes: North Azerbaijani, South Azerbaijani and Qashqai. The Glottolog 4.1 database classifies North Azerbaijani, with 20 dialects, and South Azerbaijani, with 13 dialects, under the Modern Azeric family, a branch of Central Oghuz.[36] In the northern dialects of the Azerbaijani language, linguists find traces of the influence of the Khazar language.[37] According to Encyclopedia Iranica:[23] We may distinguish the following Azeri dialects: (1) eastern group: Derbent (Darband), Kuba, Shemakha (Šamāḵī), Baku, Salyani (Salyānī), and Lenkoran (Lankarān), (2) western group: Kazakh (not to be confounded with the Kipchak-Turkic language of the same name), the dialect of the Ayrïm (Āyrom) tribe (which, however, resembles Turkish), and the dialect spoken in the region of the Borchala river; (3) northern group: Zakataly, Nukha, and Kutkashen; (4) southern group: Yerevan (Īravān), Nakhichevan (Naḵjavān), and Ordubad (Ordūbād); (5) central group: Ganja (Kirovabad) and Shusha; (6) North Iraqi dialects; (7) Northwest Iranian dialects: Tabrīz, Reżāʾīya (Urmia), etc., extended east to about Qazvīn; (8) Southeast Caspian dialect (Galūgāh). Optionally, we may adjoin as Azeri (or “Azeroid”) dialects: (9) East Anatolian, (10) Qašqāʾī, (11) Aynallū, (12) Sonqorī, (13) dialects south of Qom, (14) Kabul Afšārī. North Azerbaijani Azerbaijani-language road sign. North Azerbaijani,[3] or Northern Azerbaijani, is the official language of the Republic of Azerbaijan. It is closely related to modern-day Istanbul Turkish, the official language of Turkey. It is also spoken in southern Dagestan, along the Caspian coast in the southern Caucasus Mountains and in scattered regions throughout Central Asia. As of 2011, there are some 9.23 million speakers of North Azerbaijani including 4 million monolingual speakers (many North Azerbaijani speakers also speak Russian, as is common throughout former USSR countries).[3] The Shirvan dialect as spoken in Baku is the basis of standard Azerbaijani. Since 1992, it has been officially written with a Latin script in the Republic of Azerbaijan, but the older Cyrillic script was still widely used in the late 1990s.[38] Ethnologue lists 21 North Azerbaijani dialects: "Quba, Derbend, Baku, Shamakhi, Salyan, Lenkaran, Qazakh, Airym, Borcala, Terekeme, Qyzylbash, Nukha, Zaqatala (Mugaly), Qabala, Nakhchivan, Ordubad, Ganja, Shusha (Karabakh), Karapapak, Kutkashen, Kuba".[3] South Azerbaijani South Azerbaijani,[4] or Iranian Azerbaijani,[b] is widely spoken in Iranian Azerbaijan and, to a lesser extent, in neighboring regions of Turkey and Iraq, with smaller communities in Syria. In Iran, the Persian word for Azerbaijani is borrowed as Torki "Turkic".[4] In Iran, it is spoken mainly in East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Ardabil and Zanjan. It is also widely spoken in Tehran and across Tehran Province, as Azerbaijanis form by far the largest minority in the city and the wider province,[40] comprising about 1⁄6[41][42] of its total population. The CIA World Factbook reports that in 2010, the percentage of Iranian Azerbaijani speakers at around 16 percent of the Iranian population, or approximately 13 million people worldwide,[43] and ethnic Azeris form by far the second largest ethnic group of Iran, thus making the language also the second most spoken language in the nation. Ethnologue reports 10.9 million Iranian Azerbaijani in Iran in 2016 and 13,823,350 worldwide.[4] Dialects of South Azerbaijani include: "Aynallu (Inallu, Inanlu), Karapapakh, Tabriz, Afshari (Afsar, Afshar), Shahsavani (Shahseven), Moqaddam, Baharlu (Kamesh), Nafar, Qaragozlu, Pishagchi, Bayat, Qajar".[4] Comparison with other Turkic languages Azerbaijani and Turkish Turkish, Azerbaijani, and Turkmen are Oghuz languages North and South Azerbaijani speakers and Turkish speakers can communicate with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility. Turkish soap operas are very popular with Azeris in both Iran and Azerbaijan. Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran (who spoke South Azerbaijani) met with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk of Turkey (who spoke Turkish) in 1934; the two were filmed speaking their respective language to each other and communicated effectively.[44][45] Speakers of Turkish and Azerbaijani can, to an extent, communicate with each other as both languages have substantial variation and are to a degree mutually intelligible, though it is easier for a speaker of Azerbaijani to understand Turkish than the other way around.[46] In a 2011 study, 30 Turkish participants were tested to determine how well they understood written and spoken Azerbaijani. It was found that even though Turkish and Azerbaijani are typologically similar languages, on the part of Turkish speakers the intelligibility is not as high as is estimated.[47] In a 2017 study, Iranian Azerbaijanis scored in average 56% of receptive intelligibility in spoken language of Turkish.[48] Azerbaijani exhibits a similar stress pattern to Turkish but simpler in some respects. Azerbaijani is a strongly stressed and partially stress-timed language, unlike Turkish which is weakly stressed and syllable-timed. Below are some cognates with different spelling in Azerbaijani and Turkish: Azerbaijani Turkish English ayaqqabı/başmaq ayakkabı shoes ayaq ayak foot kitab kitap book qan kan blood qaz kaz goose qaş kaş eyebrow qar kar snow daş taş stone Azerbaijani and Turkmen The 1st person personal pronoun is mən in Azerbaijani just as men in Turkmen, whereas it is ben in Turkish. The same is true for demonstrative pronouns bu, where sound b is replaced with sound m. For example: bunun>munun/mının, muna/mına, munu/munı, munda/mında, mundan/mından.[49] This is observed in the Turkmen literary language as well, where the demonstrative pronoun bu undergoes some changes just as in: munuñ, munı, muña, munda, mundan, munça.[50] b>m replacement is encountered in many dialects of the Turkmen language and may be observed in such words as: boyun>moyın in Yomut - Gunbatar dialect, büdüremek>müdüremek in Ersari and Stavropol Turkmens' dialects, bol>mol in Karakalpak Turkmens' dialects, buzav>mizov in Kirac dialects.[51] Here are some words from the Swadesh list to compare Azerbaijani with Turkmen:[52] Azerbaijani Turkmen English mən men I, me sən sen you haçan haçan when başqa başga other it, köpək it, köpek dog dəri deri skin, leather yumurta ýumurtga egg ürək ýürek heart eşitmək eşitmek to hear Oghuric See also: Oghuric languages Azerbaijani dialects share paradigms of verbs in some tenses with the Chuvash language,[37] on which linguists also rely in the study and reconstruction of the Khazar language.[37] Phonology Phonotactics Azerbaijani phonotactics is similar to that of other Oghuz Turkic languages, except: Trimoraic syllables with long vowels are permissible. There is an ongoing metathesis of neighboring consonants in a word.[53] Speakers tend to reorder consonants in the order of decreasing sonority and back-to-front (for example, iləri becomes irəli, köprü becomes körpü, topraq becomes torpaq). Some of the metatheses are so common in the educated speech that they are reflected in orthography (all the above examples are like that). This phenomenon is more common in rural dialects but observed even in educated young urban speakers, but noticeably absent from some Southern dialects. Intramorpheme q /g/ becomes /x/. Consonants Consonant phonemes of Standard Azerbaijani   Labial Dental Alveolar Palato- alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Nasal m n (ŋ)   Stop/Affricate p b t d t͡ʃ d͡ʒ c ɟ (k) ɡ   Fricative f v s z ʃ ʒ x ɣ h   Approximant l j   Flap ɾ   The sound [k] is used only in loanwords; the historical unpalatalized [k] became voiced to [ɡ]. /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/ are realised as [t͡s] and [d͡z] respectively in the areas around Tabriz and to the west, south and southwest of Tabriz (including Kirkuk in Iraq); in the Nakhchivan and Ayrum dialects, in Cəbrayil and some Caspian coastal dialects;.[54] Sounds /t͡s/ and /d͡z/ may also be recognized as separate phonemic sounds in the Tabrizi and southern dialects.[55] In most dialects of Azerbaijani, /c/ is realized as [ç] when it is found in the syllabic coda or is preceded by a voiceless consonant (as in çörək [t͡ʃøˈɾæç] – "bread"; səksən [sæçˈsæn] – "eighty"). /w/ exists in the Kirkuk dialect as an allophone of /v/ in Arabic loanwords. In the Baku subdialect, /ov/ may be realised as [oʊ], and /ev/ and /øv/ as [øy], e.g. qovurma /ɡovurˈmɑ/ → *qourma [ɡoʊrˈmɑ], sevda /sevˈdɑ/ → *söüda [søyˈdɑ], dövran /døvˈrɑn/ → *döüran [døyˈrɑn], as well as with surnames ending in -ov or -ev (borrowed from Russian).[56] In colloquial speech, /x/ is usually pronounced as [χ] Dialect consonants Dz dz—[d͡z] Ć ć—[t͡s] Ŋ ŋ—[ŋ] Q̇ q̇—[ɢ] Ð ð—[ð][citation needed] W w—[w, ɥ] Examples: [d͡z]—dzan [d͡zɑn̪] [t͡s]—ćay [t͡sɑj] [ŋ]—ataŋın [ʔɑt̪ɑŋən̪] [ɢ]—q̇ar [ɢɑɾ] [ð]—əðəli [ʔæðæl̪ɪ] [w]—dowşan [d̪ɔːwʃɑn̪] [ɥ]—töwlə [t̪œːɥl̪æ] Vowels The vowels of the Azerbaijani are, in alphabetical order,[57] a /ɑ/, e /e/, ə /æ/, ı /ɯ/, i /i/, o /o/, ö /ø/, u /u/, ü /y/. There are no diphthongs in standard Azerbaijani when two vowels come together; when that occurs in some Arabic loanwords, diphthong is removed by either syllable separation at V.V boundary or fixing the pair as VC/CV pair, depending on the word. South Azerbaijani vowel chart, from Mokari & Werner (2016:509) Vowels of Standard Azerbaijani Front Back Unrounded Rounded Unrounded Rounded Close i y ɯ u Mid e ø o Open æ ɑ [icon] This section needs expansion with: complete vowel allophonies. You can help by adding to it. (December 2018) The typical phonetic quality of South Azerbaijani vowels is as follows: /i, u, æ/ are close to cardinal [i, u, a].[58] The F1 and F2 formant frequencies overlap for /œ/ and /ɯ/. Their acoustic quality is more or less close-mid central [ɵ, ɘ]. The main role in the distinction of two vowels is played by the different F3 frequencies in audition,[59] and rounding in articulation. Phonologically, however, they are more distinct: /œ/ is phonologically a mid front rounded vowel, the front counterpart of /o/ and the rounded counterpart of /e/. /ɯ/ is phonologically a close back unrounded vowel, the back counterpart of /i/ and the unrounded counterpart of /u/. The other mid vowels /e, o/ are closer to close-mid [e, o] than open-mid [ɛ, ɔ].[58] /ɑ/ is phonetically near-open back [ɑ̝].[58] Writing systems Main article: Azerbaijani alphabet Before 1929, Azerbaijani was written only in the Perso-Arabic alphabet, an impure abjad that does not represent all vowels (without diacritical marks). In Iran, the process of standardization of orthography started with the publication of Azerbaijani magazines and newspapers such as Varlıq (وارلیق) from 1979. Azerbaijani-speaking scholars and literarians showed great interest in involvement in such ventures and in working towards the development of a standard writing system. These effort culminated in language seminars being held in Tehran, chaired by the founder of Varlıq, Javad Heyat in 2001 where a document outlining the standard orthography and writing conventions were published for the public.[5] This standard of writing is today canonized by the official Persian–Azeri Turkish dictionary in Iran titled "lugat name-ye Turki-ye Azarbayjani".[60] In 1929–1938 a Latin alphabet was in use for North Azerbaijani (although it was different from the one used now), from 1938 to 1991 the Cyrillic script was used, and in 1991 the current Latin alphabet was introduced, although the transition to it has been rather slow.[61] For instance, until an Aliyev decree on the matter in 2001,[62] newspapers would routinely write headlines in the Latin script, leaving the stories in Cyrillic.[63] The transition has also resulted in some misrendering of İ as Ì.[64][65] In Dagestan, Azerbaijani is still written in Cyrillic script. The Azerbaijani Latin alphabet is based on the Turkish Latin alphabet, which in turn was based on former Azerbaijani Latin alphabet because of their linguistic connections and mutual intelligibility. The letters Әə, Xx, and Qq are available only in Azerbaijani for sounds which do not exist as separate phonemes in Turkish. Old Latin (1929–1938 version; no longer in use; replaced by 1991 version) Official Latin (Azerbaijan since 1991) Cyrillic (1958 version, still official in Dagestan) Perso-Arabic (Iran; Azerbaijan until 1929) IPA A a А а آ / ـا /ɑ/ B в B b Б б ب /b/ Ç ç C c Ҹ ҹ ج /dʒ/ C c Ç ç Ч ч چ /tʃ/ D d Д д د /d/ E e Е е ئ /e/ Ə ə Ә ә ا / َ / ە /æ/ F f Ф ф ف /f/ G g Ҝ ҝ گ /ɟ/ Ƣ ƣ Ğ ğ Ғ ғ غ /ɣ/ H h Һ һ ح / ه /h/ X x Х х خ /x/ Ь ь I ı Ы ы ؽ /ɯ/ I i İ i И и ی /i/ Ƶ ƶ J j Ж ж ژ /ʒ/ K k К к ک /k/, /c/ Q q Г г ق /ɡ/ L l Л л ل /l/ M m М м م /m/ N n Н н ن /n/ Ꞑ ꞑ[c] - - ݣ / نگ /ŋ/ O o О о وْ /o/ Ɵ ɵ Ö ö Ө ө ؤ /ø/ P p П п پ /p/ R r Р р ر /r/ S s С с ث / س / ص /s/ Ş ş Ш ш ش /ʃ/ T t Т т ت / ط /t/ U u У у ۇ /u/ Y y Ü ü Ү ү ۆ /y/ V v В в و /v/ J j Y y Ј ј ی /j/ Z z З з ذ / ز / ض / ظ /z/ - ʼ ع /ʔ/ Northern Azerbaijani, unlike Turkish, respells foreign names to conform with Latin Azerbaijani spelling, e.g. Bush is spelled Buş and Schröder becomes Şröder. Hyphenation across lines directly corresponds to spoken syllables, except for geminated consonants which are hyphenated as two separate consonants as morphonology considers them two separate consonants back to back but enunciated in the onset of the latter syllable as a single long consonant, as in other Turkic languages.[citation needed] Vocabulary Interjections Some samples include: Secular: Of ("Ugh!") Tez Ol ("Be quick!") Tez olun qızlar mədrəsəyə ("Be quick girls, to school!", a slogan for an education campaign in Azerbaijan) Invoking deity: implicitly: Aman ("Mercy") Çox şükür ("Much thanks") explicitly: Allah Allah (pronounced as Allahallah) ("Goodness gracious") Hay Allah; Vallah "By God [I swear it]". Çox şükür allahım ("Much thanks my god") Formal and informal This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Azerbaijani has informal and formal ways of saying things. This is because there is a strong tu-vous distinction in Turkic languages like Azerbaijani and Turkish (as well as in many other languages). The informal "you" is used when talking to close friends, relatives, animals or children. The formal "you" is used when talking to someone who is older than you or someone for whom you would like to show respect (a professor, for example). As in many Turkic languages, personal pronouns can be omitted, and they are only added for emphasis. Since 1992 North Azerbaijani has used a phonetic writing system, so pronunciation is easy: most words are pronounced exactly as they are spelled. Category English North Azerbaijani (in Latin script) Basic expressions yes hə /hæ/ (informal), bəli (formal) no yox /jox/ (informal), xeyr (formal) hello salam /sɑlɑm/ goodbye sağ ol /ˈsɑɣ ol/ sağ olun /ˈsɑɣ olun/ (formal) good morning sabahınız xeyir /sɑbɑhɯ(nɯ)z xejiɾ/ good afternoon günortanız xeyir /ɟynoɾt(ɑn)ɯz xejiɾ/ good evening axşamın xeyir /ɑxʃɑmɯn xejiɾ/ axşamınız xeyir /ɑxʃɑmɯ(nɯ)z xejiɾ/ Colours black qara /ɡɑɾɑ/ blue göy /ɟøj/ brown qəhvəyi / qonur grey boz /boz/ green yaşıl /jaʃɯl/ orange narıncı /nɑɾɯnd͡ʒɯ/ pink çəhrayı /t͡ʃæhɾɑjɯ/ purple bənövşəyi /bænøvʃæji/ red qırmızı /ɡɯɾmɯzɯ/ white ağ /ɑɣ/ yellow sarı /sɑɾɯ/ Numbers Number Word 0 sıfır /ˈsɯfɯɾ/ 1 bir /biɾ/ 2 iki /ici/ 3 üç /yt͡ʃ/ 4 dörd /døɾd/ 5 beş /beʃ/ 6 altı /ɑltɯ/ 7 yeddi /jed:i/ 8 səkkiz /sæc:iz/ 9 doqquz /doɡ:uz/ 10 on /on/ The numbers 11–19 are constructed as on bir and on iki, literally meaning "ten-one, ten-two" and so on up to on doqquz ("ten-nine"). Number Word 20 iyirmi /ijiɾmi/ [d] 30 otuz /otuz/ 40 qırx /ɡɯɾx/ 50 əlli /ælli/ Greater numbers are constructed by combining in tens and thousands larger to smaller in the same way, without using a conjunction in between. The State Tretyakov Gallery (Russian: Государственная Третьяковская Галерея, Gosudarstvennaya Tretyâkovskaya Galereya; abbreviated ГТГ, GTG) is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world. The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Moscow merchant Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov acquired works by Russian artists of his day with the aim of creating a collection, which might later grow into a museum of national art. In 1892, Tretyakov presented his already famous collection of approximately 2,000 works (1,362 paintings, 526 drawings, and 9 sculptures) to the Russian nation.[2][3] The museum attracted 894,374 visitors in 2020 (down 68 percent from 2019), due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was 13th on the list of most-visited art museums in the world in 2020.[4] The façade of the gallery building was designed by the painter Viktor Vasnetsov in a peculiar Russian fairy-tale style. It was built in 1902–04 to the south from the Moscow Kremlin. During the 20th century, the gallery expanded to several neighboring buildings, including the 17th-century church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi. The collection contains more than 130,000 exhibits, ranging from Theotokos of Vladimir and Andrei Rublev's Trinity to the monumental Composition VII by Wassily Kandinsky and the Black Square by Kazimir Malevich. In 1977 the Gallery kept a significant part of the George Costakis collection. In May 2012, the Tretyakov Art Gallery played host to the prestigious FIDE World Chess Championship between Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand as the organizers felt the event would promote both chess and art at the same time.[5] In May 2023, the Tretyakov Gallery refused to hand over one of its most famous icons, Andrei Rublev's Trinity, to the Russian Orthodox Church.[6] In June 2023 the icon was transferred to Moscow's main cathedral despite the museum's protests on the personal order of Russian President Vladimir Putin.[7] History Kazimir Malevich, Black Square (1915) The Archangel Michael (13th c.) Pavel Tretyakov started collecting art in the middle of 1850. The founding year of the Tretyakov Gallery is considered to be 1856, when Tretyakov purchased two paintings of Russian artists: Temptation by Nikolay Shilder and Skirmish with Finnish Smugglers by Vasily Khudyakov, although earlier, in 1854–1855, he had bought 11 drawings and nine pictures by Dutch Old Masters. In 1867 the Moscow City Gallery of Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov was opened. The gallery's collection consisted of 1,276 paintings, 471 sculptures and 10 drawings by Russian artists, as well as 84 paintings by foreign masters. In August 1892 Tretyakov presented his art gallery to the city of Moscow as a gift.[8] In the collection at this time, there were 1,287 paintings and 518 graphic works of the Russian school, 75 paintings and eight drawings of European schools, 15 sculptures and a collection of icons. The official opening of the museum called the Moscow City Gallery of Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov took place on 15 August 1893. The gallery was located in a mansion that the Tretyakov family had purchased in 1851. As the Tretyakov collection of art grew, the residential part of the mansion filled with art and it became necessary to make additions to the mansion in order to store and display the works of art. Additions were made in 1873, 1882, 1885, 1892 and 1902–1904, when there was the famous façade, designed in 1900–1903 by architect V. Bashkirov from the drawings of the artist Viktor Vasnetsov. Construction of the façade was managed by the architect A. M. Kalmykov. In early 1913, the Moscow City Duma elected Igor Grabar as a trustee of the Tretyakov Gallery. On 3 June 1918 the Tretyakov Gallery was declared owned by the Russian Federated Soviet Republic and was named the State Tretyakov Gallery. Igor Grabar was again appointed director of the museum. With Grabar's active participation in the same year, the State Museum Fund was created, which up until 1927 remained one of the most important sources of replenishment of the gallery's collection. In 1926 architect and academician Alexey Shchusev became the director of the gallery. In the following year the gallery acquired the neighboring house on Maly Tolmachevsky Lane (the house was the former home of the merchant Sokolikov). After restructuring in 1928, it housed the gallery's administration, academic departments, library, manuscripts department, and funds and graphics staffs. In 1985–1994, an administrative building was built from the design of architect A. L. Bernstein with two floors and height equal to that of the exposition halls. In 1928 serious renovations were made to the gallery to provide heating and ventilation. In 1929 electricity was installed. In 1929 the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi was closed, and in 1932 the building was given to the gallery and became a storage facility for paintings and sculptures. Later, the church was connected to the exposition halls and a top floor was built which was specially designed for exhibiting a painting by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov,The Appearance of Christ Before the People (1837–1857). A transition space was built between rooms located on either side of the main staircase. This ensured the continuity of the view of exposure. The gallery began to develop a new concept of accommodating exhibits. In 1936, a new two floor building was constructed which is located on the north side of the main building – it is known as the Schusevsky building. These halls were first used for exhibitions, and since 1940 have been included in the main route of exposure. Vladimir Putin and Serzh Sargsyan opening the Days of Armenian Culture in Russia at the Tretyakov Gallery From the first days of the Great War, the gallery's personnel began dismantling the exhibition, as well as those of other museums in Moscow, in preparation for evacuating during wartime. Paintings were rolled on wooden shafts, covered with tissue paper, placed in boxes, and sheathed with waterproof material. In the middle of the summer of 1941 a train of 17 wagons traveled from Moscow and brought the collection to Novosibirsk. The gallery was not reopened in Moscow until 17 May 1945, upon the conclusion of the Great War. Tretyakov Gallery on a 1950 postage stamp, with a statue of Stalin outside. In 1956, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Alexander Ivanov Hall was completed. From 1980 to 1992, the director of the Tretyakov Gallery was Y. K. Korolev. Because of the increased number of visitors, Korolev was actively engaged in expanding the area of exposition. In 1983, construction work began to expand the gallery. In 1985 the Depository, a repository of works of art and restoration workshops, was commissioned. In 1986 renovations began on the main building of the Tretyakov Gallery. The architects I. M. Vinogradsky, G. V. Astafev, B. A. Klimov and others were retained to perform this project. In 1989, on the south side of the main building, a new building was designed and constructed to house a conference hall, a computer and information center, children's studio and exhibition halls. The building was named the "Corps of Engineers", because it housed engineering systems and services. From 1986 to 1995, the Tretyakov Gallery in Lavrushinsky Lane was closed to visitors to accommodate a major renovation project to the building. At the time, the only museum in the exhibition area of this decade was the building on the Crimean Val, 10, which in 1985 was merged with the Tretyakov Gallery. New Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val Gallery of modern art In 1985, the Tretyakov Gallery was administratively merged with a gallery of contemporary art, housed in the Central House of the Artists a large modernist building along the Garden Ring, immediately south of the Krymsky Bridge. The grounds of this branch of the museum contain a collection of Socialist Realism sculpture, including such highlights as Yevgeny Vuchetich's iconic statue Iron Felix (which was removed from Lubyanka Square in 1991), the Swords Into Plowshares sculpture representing a nude worker forging a plough out of a sword, and the Young Russia monument. Nearby is Zurab Tsereteli's 86-metre-tall statue of Peter the Great, one of the tallest outdoor statues in the world. Near the gallery of modern art there is a sculpture garden called "the graveyard of fallen monuments" that displays statues of former Soviet Union that were relocated. There are plans to demolish the gallery constructed in the late Soviet modernism style, though public opinion is strongly against this.[9][10] Directors Valentin Rodionov (1993-2009)[11] Irina Lebedeba (2009-2015)[11] Zelfira Tregulova (2015-2023)[11] Yelena Pronicheva (since 2023)[11] Gallery Ustyug Annunciation (c. 1120–1130) Ustyug Annunciation (c. 1120–1130)   Theotokos of Vladimir (c. 1130) Theotokos of Vladimir (c. 1130)   Andrei Rublev, Trinity (1411 or 1423–1425) Andrei Rublev, Trinity (1411 or 1423–1425)   Dionisius, Hodegetria of Smolensk (c. 1500) Dionisius, Hodegetria of Smolensk (c. 1500)   Athanasius of Moscow, Blessed Be the Host of the King of Heaven (1552) Athanasius of Moscow, Blessed Be the Host of the King of Heaven (1552)   Ivan Nikitin, Portrait of Chancellor Gavriil Golovkin (c. 1720) Ivan Nikitin, Portrait of Chancellor Gavriil Golovkin (c. 1720)   Georg Christoph Grooth, The Empress Elizabeth of Russia on Horseback, Attended by a Page (1743) Georg Christoph Grooth, The Empress Elizabeth of Russia on Horseback, Attended by a Page (1743)   André-Jean Lebrun, Bust of Kyrylo Rozumovskyi (1766) André-Jean Lebrun, Bust of Kyrylo Rozumovskyi (1766)   Anton Losenko, Farewell of Hector and Andromache (1773)   Ivan Akimov, Hercules Burning Himself on the Pyre in the Presence of His Friend Philoctetes (1782)   Dmitry Levitzky, Catherine the Great in a Temple of Justice (1783) Dmitry Levitzky, Catherine the Great in a Temple of Justice (1783)   Vladimir Borovikovsky, Portrait of Maria Lopukhina (1797) Vladimir Borovikovsky, Portrait of Maria Lopukhina (1797)   Orest Kiprensky, Portrait of Alexander Pushkin (1823) Orest Kiprensky, Portrait of Alexander Pushkin (1823)   Karl Bryullov, Horsewoman (1832)   Alexander Ivanov, The Appearance of Christ Before the People (1837–1857)   Alexei Savrasov, The Rooks Have Come Back (1871) Alexei Savrasov, The Rooks Have Come Back (1871)   Vasily Vereshchagin, The Apotheosis of War (1871) Vasily Vereshchagin, The Apotheosis of War (1871)   Ivan Kramskoi, Christ in the Desert (1872)   Ilya Repin, Religious Procession in Kursk Province (1880–1883) Ilya Repin, Religious Procession in Kursk Province (1880–1883)   Vasily Surikov, The Morning of the Streltsy Execution (1881)   Ivan Kramskoi, Portrait of an Unknown Woman (1883) Ivan Kramskoi, Portrait of an Unknown Woman (1883)   Valentin Serov, Girl with Peaches (1887) Valentin Serov, Girl with Peaches (1887)   Ivan Shishkin and Konstantin Savitsky, Morning in a Pine Forest (1889) Ivan Shishkin and Konstantin Savitsky, Morning in a Pine Forest (1889)   Nikolai Ge, Quid Est Veritas? Christ and Pilate (1890) Nikolai Ge, Quid Est Veritas? Christ and Pilate (1890)   Mikhail Vrubel, The Demon Seated (1890) Mikhail Vrubel, The Demon Seated (1890)   Victor Vasnetsov, Bogatyrs (1898) Victor Vasnetsov, Bogatyrs (1898)   Filipp Malyavin, Whirlwind (1906)   Mikhail Nesterov, In Rus. The Soul of the People (1916) The Moscow Museum of Modern Art is a museum of modern and contemporary art located in Moscow, Russia. It was opened to public in December 1999. The project of the museum was initiated and executed by Zurab Tsereteli, president of the Russian Academy of Arts. In 2018, The Vadim Sidur Museum [ru] and Museum-Studio of Dmitry Nalbandyan merged into the Moscow Museum of Modern Arts. Location The Moscow Museum of Modern Art is situated at 25 Petrovka St., near the Petrovsky Boulevard in central Moscow. It is housed in the former Gubin's mansion, an imposing monument of the 18th century neoclassical movement, designed by the noted Russian architect Matvei Kazakov. In December 2003, the museum expanded its galleries to a second location — the exhibition hall at the Ermolayevsky Pereulok, Patriarshiye Ponds area, also a historic building of the Moscow city center. The spacious refurbished halls of the premises provide for vast exhibitions of multiple art projects. The exhibition hall has been inaugurated by the "Artconstitution" - a major show, in which nearly one hundred contemporary Russian artists took part. As a result of the ensued wave of public interest, numerous international exhibitions followed. One of them was a display sponsored by FotoFest (Houston, Texas, U.S.), featuring 260 photographic masterpieces by 24 artists from the United States as well as 12 other countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America. On February 7, 2007, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art opened its third exhibition venue — Gallery at Tverskoy boulevard, 9. Building at Gogolevsky Boulevard, 10 is also the creation of the architect Matvey Kazakov.It was built in the late XVIII century and belonged to the Tsurikov-Naryshkin. Currently, there are major international exhibition projects, scientific and practical conferences, symposiums. On Bolshaya Gruzinskaya, 15 in Moscow there is a house built by merchant Vasily Gorbunov at the end of the 19th century. Today there is a museum of the artist Zurab Tsereteli. The exposition includes a collection of works by Zurab Tsereteli and a collection of his monumental sculptures in the courtyard along with mosaic and stained-glass compositions. The Vadim Sidur Museum (Novogireevskaya Street, 37A) is a museum of contemporary sculpture in Moscow housing the collection of artworks by Vadim Sidur, a sculptor, artist and poet renowned both in Russia and abroad, an excellent exponent of the Soviet nonconformist art. The Museum-Studio of Dmitry Nalbandyan (Tverskaya street, 8/2) is part of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art since 2018. It contains over 1500 artist's works: paintings, sketches, drawings, photographs and personal belongings. Collection The core of the museum's assemblage was constituted from the private collection of Zurab Tsereteli, its founder and director. Artworks of many renowned international artists are exhibited in the museum's permanent collection halls like Marcus Jansen. The highlights include objects and sculpture by Armand, the “Sun Disk” by the famous Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro, the installation “CIS Ant Farm” by the Japanese conceptualist Yukinori Yanagi, as well as other works of contemporary art based on contemporary technologies. The masters of European and American art, such as Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró and Rufino Tamayo, are represented by their lithographs. A special emphasis has been given to the collection of Russian avant-garde art. The museum spotlights works of world-famous artists of the turn of the 20th century: Kazimir Malevich, Alexandra Exter, Natalia Goncharova, Robert Falk, Ivan Pouni, Vladimir Baranov-Rossine and David Burlyuk (30 pieces). Visitors can also become acquainted with two compositions by Kandinsky’s friend Vladimir Izdebski, who is known for his “Salons de Paris” series after the revolution of 1917, and also a unique collection by the famous Georgian artist Niko Pirosmani. The museum displays the interesting exposition dedicated to the art of non-conformists of the 1950–70s, whose creative activity was in the opposition to the Soviet ideology. Among them are V. Nemukhin, E. Steinberg, V. Komar, A. Melamid, A. Ney, O. Rabin, A. Zverev, D. Krasnopevtsev, and more. Contemporaries are represented by Boris Orlov, Dmitry Prigov, Francisco Infante, Oleg Kulik, A. Brodski, Aidan Salakhov, Lena Hades, Valery Koshlyakov, Igor Novikov and Serguei Shutov. They are mostly focused on forms of the so-called “actual” art. The Moscow Museum of Modern Art contains works of art from the first decades of the 20th century; the exposition is based on contrasts and correlations of artistic trends and events in Russia and abroad, and is also aimed at showing the integrity of the development of world culture, while specifying the role of the Russian art in it. To celebrate its 20th birthday, the institution invited 20 celebrities from all walks of life to curate its anniversary exhibition. The guest curators include Russian football star Fedor Smolov, designer Andrei Artemov, writer Vladimir Sorokin, TV showman and art collector Andrey Malakhov, theatre director Kirill Serebrennikov and even Marusya (Mail.ru's voice-controlled personal assistant).[1] Education Today the museum is renowned not only for its collections and exhibits, but it is also known as a center of artistic education. The School of Modern Art (by the name of "Free Studios") works alongside the museum, featuring a two-year program which is realized in concrete practice in creative studiowork. Included in the program are lectures on modern art, the study of contemporary visual art technologies, mastery of a broad spectrum of intellectual problems surrounding contemporary culture and familiarization with today's art market. Research and conservation The research work of the museum revolves around the museum's collection. There is a research library at the museum, with a vast collection of Russian and international art publications. The museum's laboratory is a nationally recognized center of conservation-related research. Publishing Publishing is one of the top priorities in MMOMA's educational activities. Museum publications are richly illustrated art books and albums, catalogues of the museum collection and exhibition catalogues, with texts be prominent art historians, critics and curators, as well as artists. The museum's Dialogue of Arts magazine covers the history and theory of contemporary art, and contemporary art practice. Nearest Metro: Gogolevskiy 10 Kropotkinskaya, Ermolaevskiy 17 Mayakovskaya, Petrovka 25, Tverskoy 9 Chekhovskaya, Pushkinskaya, Tverskaya Matan Uziel (Hebrew: מתן עוזיאל; born 21 April 1985) is an Israeli former high tech entrepreneur and documentary filmmaker. He is also the founder of the Real Women Real Stories channel on YouTube.[1][2][3][4] Discovery of Elsagate videos (2017–present) November 2017 On 22 November, BuzzFeed News published an article about unsettling videos that depict children in disturbing and abusive situations. The information on the article came with the assistance of Matan Uziel whose investigation and report to the Federal Bureau of Investigation on that matter were sent on 22 September, informing its leadership about "tens of thousands of videos available on YouTube that we know are crafted to serve as eye candy for perverted, creepy adults, online predators to indulge in their child fantasies."[5] On 27 November, YouTube announced in a statement to BuzzFeed News that it had "terminated more than 270 accounts and removed over 150,000 videos", "turned off comments on more than 625,000 videos targeted by child predators" and "removed ads from nearly 2 million videos and over 50,000 channels masquerading as family-friendly content".[6] Uziel is a vocal proponent against the censorship of YouTube and gave numerous interviews[7][8][9][10][11] about YouTube's removal of content that "might be sensitive, but serves a public good."[12] Roman Polanski libel case In December 2017, Roman Polanski filed a ₪1.5 million suit in Herzliya Magistrates' Court against Matan Uziel.[13] Polanski maintained that Uziel, through his website, www.imetpolanski.com, falsely reported that five women had come forward to accuse him of raping them. Polanski was suing for libel and defamation of character. Herzliya Magistrates' Court rejected Polanski's request to be exempt from appearing in court after filing the libel suit.[14] While Polanski gave various reasons for his inability to appear, the presiding judge, Gilad Hess, dismissed these one by one and ordered Polanski to pay Uziel ₪10,000 in costs.[15] In November 2018, it was published that Polanski decided to drop the lawsuit, and was ordered by the court to pay Uziel ₪30,000 (US$8,000) for court costs. The court accepted Uziel's request that the suit not be dropped, but rather that it be rejected, making Polanski unable to sue Uziel again over the same issue in the future.[16] In late December 2019, in Polanski's interviews with Paris Match[17] and Gazeta Wyborcza,[18] Polanski accused Uziel of carefully orchestrating the attacks on his character and for playing a major role in designing an international campaign to besmirch his name and reputation in order to make his career fall from grace.[19] In October 2021, it was reported that Uziel was the originating force behind helping Charlotte Lewis to sue and indict Roman Polanski.[20] Real Women Real Stories Founded by Uziel on 8 March 2016,[21] Real Women Real Stories is an international collection of filmed testimonies of women around the world, who submit, share and discuss different contents and topics. Through these documentaries, Uziel's Real Women Real Stories intends to bring viewers face-to-face with different subjects and enable women raise their voice on what they feel needs attention. Since its launch, the project has been featured internationally to great acclaim.[22][23][24][25][26][27] Activism Matan Uziel previously served as an ambassador for the National Eating Disorders Association.[28][29][30] During his tenure, he created a Change.org petition against Spreadshirt, accusing the e-commerce company for selling shirts that appeared to glamorize eating disorders.[31][32] In August 2017, Uziel started a petition calling for convicted child rapist and former priest Paul Shanley to live in a treatment facility where he will have no access to children.[33] As of 5 August 2017, more than 15,000 people had signed the petition, which also called for Shanley's whereabouts to be monitored with a GPS bracelet.[34] More than a decade ago, a video appeared on the web in which Mexican actress Michelle Vieth appeared naked, a situation that she still considers heartbreaking and difficult to overcome.[35] In July 2017, Vieth contacted Uziel, who helped her to remove the content from the internet.[36] On 16 February 2018, Katinka Hosszú, a Hungarian three-time Olympic champion and a nine-time long-course world champion, filed for divorce from Shane Tusup. On 25 May 2018, Hosszú's Facebook page was deleted by Tusup, who was the sole administrator of the page. However, on 6 June 2018, Hosszú regained access to her Facebook and then Instagram page with the assistance of Uziel.[37] In August 2019, Uziel and its organization Real Women Real Stories discovered that shirts bearing iconic photographs of the Holocaust of a man being shot to death while perched over a mass grave are sold on Amazon UK.[38] The items in question featured an infamous photograph known as The Last Jew in Vinnitsa.[39] Uziel forwarded the information to Israel's Channel 2 and following the channel's inquiry, Amazon has removed the items.[40] Moscow (/ˈmɒskoʊ/ MOS-koh, US chiefly /ˈmɒskaʊ/ MOS-kow;[12][13] Russian: Москва, tr. Moskva, IPA: [mɐskˈva] (listen)) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million residents within the city limits,[6] over 18.8 million residents in the urban area,[7] and over 21.5 million residents in the metropolitan area.[14] The city covers an area of 2,511 square kilometers (970 sq mi), while the urban area covers 5,891 square kilometers (2,275 sq mi),[7] and the metropolitan area covers over 26,000 square kilometers (10,000 sq mi).[14] Moscow is among the world's largest cities, being the most populous city entirely in Europe, the largest urban and metropolitan area in Europe,[7][14] and the largest city by land area on the European continent.[15] First documented in 1147, Moscow grew to become a prosperous and powerful city that served as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. When the Tsardom of Russia was proclaimed, Moscow remained the political and economic center for most of its history. Under the reign of Peter the Great, the Russian capital was moved to the newly founded city of Saint Petersburg in 1712, diminishing Moscow's influence. Following the Russian Revolution and the establishment of the Russian SFSR, the capital was moved back to Moscow in 1918, where it later became the political center of the Soviet Union.[16] In the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Moscow remained the capital city of the newly established Russian Federation. The northernmost and coldest megacity in the world, Moscow is governed as a federal city,[17] where it serves as the political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe. As an alpha world city,[18] Moscow has one of the world's largest urban economies.[19] The city is one of the fastest-growing tourist destinations in the world,[20] and is one of Europe's most visited cities. Moscow is home to the seventh-highest number of billionaires of any city in the world.[21] The Moscow International Business Center is one of the largest financial centers in Europe and the world, and features the majority of Europe's tallest skyscrapers. Moscow was the host city of the 1980 Summer Olympics, and one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[22] As the historic core of Russia, Moscow serves as the home of numerous Russian artists, scientists, and sports figures due to the presence of its various museums, academic and political institutions, and theaters. The city is home to several UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is well known for its display of Russian architecture, particularly its historic Red Square, and buildings such as the Saint Basil's Cathedral and the Moscow Kremlin, of which the latter serves as the seat of power of the Government of Russia. Moscow is home to many Russian companies in numerous industries and is served by a comprehensive transit network, which includes four international airports, ten railway terminals, a tram system, a monorail system, and most notably the Moscow Metro, the busiest metro system in Europe, and one of the largest rapid transit systems in the world. The city has over 40 percent of its territory covered by greenery, making it one of the greenest cities in Europe and the world.[15][23] Etymology The name of the city is thought to be derived from the name of the Moskva River.[24][25] Several theories of the origin of the name of the river have been proposed. Finno-Ugric Merya and Muroma people, who were among the several pre-Slavic tribes which originally inhabited the area, called the river supposedly Mustajoki, in English: Black river. It has been suggested that the name of the city derives from this term.[26][27] The most linguistically well-grounded and widely accepted is from the Proto-Balto-Slavic root *mŭzg-/muzg- from the Proto-Indo-European *meu- "wet",[25][28][29] so the name Moskva might signify a river at a wetland or a marsh.[24] Its cognates include Russian: музга, muzga "pool, puddle", Lithuanian: mazgoti and Latvian: mazgāt "to wash", Sanskrit: májjati "to drown", Latin: mergō "to dip, immerse".[24][28] In many Slavic countries Moskov is a surname, most common in Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine and North Macedonia.[30] Additionally, there are similarly named places in Poland like Mozgawa.[24][25][28] The original Old Russian form of the name is reconstructed as *Москы, *Mosky,[24][25] hence it was one of a few Slavic ū-stem nouns. As with other nouns of that declension, it had been undergoing a morphological transformation at the early stage of the development of the language, as a result, the first written mentions in the 12th century were Московь, Moskovĭ (accusative case), Москви, Moskvi (locative case), Москвe/Москвѣ, Moskve/Moskvě (genitive case).[24][25] From the latter forms came to the modern Russian name Москва, Moskva, which is a result of morphological generalization with the numerous Slavic ā-stem nouns. However, the form Moskovĭ has left some traces in many other languages, including English: Moscow, German: Moskau, French: Moscou, Georgian: მოსკოვი, Latvian: Maskava, Bashkir: Мәскәү, Tatar: Mäskäw, Portuguese: Moscovo, Chuvash: Мускав, and Spanish: Moscú. In a similar manner the Latin name Moscovia has been formed, later it became a colloquial name for Russia used in Western Europe in the 16th–17th centuries. From it as well came English Muscovy and muscovite.[31][failed verification] Various other theories (of Celtic, Iranian, Caucasic origins), having little or no scientific ground, are now largely rejected by contemporary linguists.[24][25] Other names Moscow has acquired several epithets, most referring to its size and preeminent status within the nation: The Third Rome (Третий Рим), the Whitestone One (Белокаменная), the First Throne (Первопрестольная), the Forty Soroks (Сорок Сороков) ("sorok" meaning both "forty, a great many" and "a district or parish" in Old Russian). Moscow is also one of the twelve Hero Cities. The demonym for a Moscow resident is "москвич" (moskvich) for male or "москвичка" (moskvichka) for female, rendered in English as Muscovite. The name "Moscow" is abbreviated "MSK" (МСК in Russian).[citation needed] History Main article: History of Moscow For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Moscow. Prehistory Archaeological digs show that the site of today's Moscow and the surrounding area have been inhabited since time immemorial. Among the earliest finds are relics of the Lyalovo culture, which experts assign to the Neolithic period, the last phase of the Stone Age.[32] They confirm that the first inhabitants of the area were hunters and gatherers. Around 950 AD, two Slavic tribes, Vyatichi and Krivichi, settled here. Possibly the Vyatichi formed the core of Moscow's indigenous population.[33] Early history (1147–1284) Further information: Kievan Rus' and Vladimir-Suzdal Vladimir-Suzdal, a principality on the northeastern periphery of Kievan Rus', grew into the Grand Duchy of Moscow. The first known reference to Moscow dates from 1147 as a meeting place of Yuri Dolgoruky and Sviatoslav Olgovich. At the time it was a minor town on the western border of Vladimir-Suzdal Principality. The chronicle says, "Come, my brother, to Moskov" (Приди ко мне, брате, в Москов).[34] In 1156, Knyaz Yuri Dolgorukiy fortified the town with a timber fence and a moat. In the course of the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus', the Mongols under Batu Khan burned the city to the ground and killed its inhabitants.[citation needed] The timber fort na Moskvě "on the Moscow River" was inherited by Daniel, the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, in the 1260s, at the time considered the least valuable of his father's possessions. Daniel was still a child at the time, and the big fort was governed by tiuns (deputies), appointed by Daniel's paternal uncle, Yaroslav of Tver.[citation needed] Daniel came of age in the 1270s and became involved in the power struggles of the principality with lasting success, siding with his brother Dmitry in his bid for the rule of Novgorod. From 1283 he acted as the ruler of an independent principality alongside Dmitry, who became Grand Duke of Vladimir. Daniel has been credited with founding the first Moscow monasteries, dedicated to the Lord's Epiphany and to Saint Daniel.[35] Grand Duchy (1283–1547) Main article: Grand Duchy of Moscow Kremlenagrad.jpg Facial Chronicle - b.10, p.049 - Tokhtamysh at Moscow.jpg Mikhail Feodorovich Izbranie.jpg The Moscow Kremlin in the late 16th century The 1382 siege of Moscow Red Square Daniel ruled Moscow as Grand Duke until 1303 and established it as a prosperous city that would eclipse its parent principality of Vladimir by the 1320s. On the right bank of the Moskva River, at a distance of eight kilometres (5 mi) from the Kremlin, not later than in 1282, Daniel founded the first monastery with the wooden church of St. Daniel-Stylite, which is now the Danilov Monastery. Daniel died in 1303, at the age of 42. Before his death, he became a monk and, according to his will, was buried in the cemetery of the St. Daniel Monastery. Moscow was quite stable and prosperous for many years and attracted a large number of refugees from across Russia. The Rurikids maintained large landholdings by practicing primogeniture, whereby all land was passed to the eldest sons, rather than dividing it up among all sons. By 1304, Yury of Moscow contested with Mikhail of Tver for the throne of the principality of Vladimir. Ivan I eventually defeated Tver to become the sole collector of taxes for the Mongol rulers, making Moscow the capital of Vladimir-Suzdal. By paying high tribute, Ivan won an important concession from the Khan. Spassky Cathedral (Moscow's oldest extant building), built c. 1357 While the Khan of the Golden Horde initially attempted to limit Moscow's influence, when the growth of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania began to threaten all of Russia, the Khan strengthened Moscow to counterbalance Lithuania, allowing it to become one of the most powerful cities in Russia. In 1380, prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow led a united Russian army to an important victory over the Mongols in the Battle of Kulikovo. Afterward, Moscow took the leading role in liberating Russia from Mongol domination. In 1480, Ivan III had finally broken the Russians free from Tatar control, and Moscow became the capital of an empire that would eventually encompass all of Russia and Siberia, and parts of many other lands. The Spasskaya Tower, built in 1491 In 1462 Ivan III, (1440–1505) became Grand Prince of Moscow (then part of the medieval Muscovy state). He began fighting the Tatars, enlarged the territory of Muscovy, and enriched his capital city. By 1500 it had a population of 100,000 and was one of the largest cities in the world. He conquered the far larger principality of Novgorod to the north, which had been allied to the hostile Lithuanians. Thus he enlarged the territory sevenfold, from 430,000 to 2,800,000 square kilometres (170,000 to 1,080,000 square miles). He took control of the ancient "Novgorod Chronicle" and made it a propaganda vehicle for his regime.[36][37] The original Moscow Kremlin was built in the 14th century. It was reconstructed by Ivan, who in the 1480s invited architects from Renaissance Italy, such as Petrus Antonius Solarius, who designed the new Kremlin wall and its towers, and Marco Ruffo who designed the new palace for the prince. The Kremlin walls as they now appear are those designed by Solarius, completed in 1495. The Kremlin's Great Bell Tower was built in 1505–08 and augmented to its present height in 1600. A trading settlement, or posad, grew up to the east of the Kremlin, in the area known as Zaradye (Зарядье). In the time of Ivan III, the Red Square, originally named the Hollow Field (Полое поле) appeared. In 1508–1516, the Italian architect Aleviz Fryazin (Novy) arranged for the construction of a moat in front of the eastern wall, which would connect the Moskva and Neglinnaya and be filled in with water from Neglinnaya. This moat, known as the Alevizov moat and having a length of 541 metres (1,775 feet), width of 36 metres (118 feet), and a depth of 9.5 to 13 metres (31–43 feet) was lined with limestone and, in 1533, fenced on both sides with low, four-metre-thick (13-foot) cogged-brick walls. Tsardom (1547–1721) Further information: Tsardom of Russia Saint Basil's Cathedral, built in 1561 In the 16th and 17th centuries, the three circular defenses were built: Kitay-gorod (Китай-город), the White City (Белый город) and the Earthen City (Земляной город). However, in 1547, two fires destroyed much of the town, and in 1571 the Crimean Tatars captured Moscow, burning everything except the Kremlin.[38] The annals record that only 30,000 of 200,000 inhabitants survived. View of 17th-century Moscow (1922 drawing by Apollinary Vasnetsov) The Crimean Tatars attacked again in 1591, but this time were held back by new defense walls, built between 1584 and 1591 by a craftsman named Fyodor Kon. In 1592, an outer earth rampart with 50 towers was erected around the city, including an area on the right bank of the Moscow River. As an outermost line of defense, a chain of strongly fortified monasteries was established beyond the ramparts to the south and east, principally the Novodevichy Convent and Donskoy, Danilov, Simonov, Novospasskiy, and Andronikov monasteries, most of which now house museums. From its ramparts, the city became poetically known as Bielokamennaya, the "White-Walled." The city's limits as marked by the ramparts built in 1592 are now marked by the Garden Ring. Three square gates existed on the eastern side of the Kremlin wall, which in the 17th century, were known as Konstantino-Eleninsky, Spassky, Nikolsky (owing their names to the icons of Constantine and Helen, the Saviour and St. Nicholas that hung over them). The last two were directly opposite the Red Square, while the Konstantino-Elenensky gate was located behind Saint Basil's Cathedral. "Sigismundian" Plan of Moscow (1610), named after Sigismund III of Poland, is the last city plan compiled before the destruction of the city in 1612 by retreating Polish troops and subsequent changes to the street network. Orientation: north is at the right, west at the top The Russian famine of 1601–03 killed perhaps 100,000 in Moscow. From 1610 through 1612, troops of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied Moscow, as its ruler Sigismund III tried to take the Russian throne. In 1612, the people of Nizhny Novgorod and other Russian cities conducted by prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin rose against the Polish occupants, besieged the Kremlin, and expelled them. In 1613, the Zemsky sobor elected Michael Romanov tsar, establishing the Romanov dynasty. The 17th century was rich in popular risings, such as the liberation of Moscow from the Polish–Lithuanian invaders (1612), the Salt Riot (1648), the Copper Riot (1662), and the Moscow Uprising of 1682. During the first half of the 17th century, the population of Moscow doubled from roughly 100,000 to 200,000. It expanded beyond its ramparts in the later 17th century. It is estimated, that in the middle of the 17th century, 20% of Moscow suburb's inhabitants were from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, practically all of them being driven from their homeland to Moscow by Muscovite invaders.[39] By 1682, there were 692 households established north of the ramparts, by Ukrainians and Belarusians abducted from their hometowns in the course of the Russo-Polish War (1654–1667). These new outskirts of the city came to be known as the Meshchanskaya sloboda, after Ruthenian meshchane "town people". The term meshchane (мещане) acquired pejorative connotations in 18th-century Russia and today means "petty bourgeois" or "narrow-minded philistine".[40] The entire city of the late 17th century, including the slobodas that grew up outside the city ramparts, are contained within what is today Moscow's Central Administrative Okrug. Numerous disasters befell the city. The plague epidemics ravaged Moscow in 1570–1571, 1592 and 1654–1656.[41] The plague killed upwards of 80% of the people in 1654–55. Fires burned out much of the wooden city in 1626 and 1648.[42] In 1712 Peter the Great moved his government to the newly built Saint Petersburg on the Baltic coast. Moscow ceased to be Russia's capital, except for a brief period from 1728 to 1732 under the influence of the Supreme Privy Council. Empire (1721–1917) Main article: Moscow Governorate Further information: Russian Empire Panorama of Moscow in 1819-1823 A panoramic view of Moscow from the Spasskaya Tower in 1819–1823 Moskva riverfront in the 19th century After losing the status as the capital of the empire, the population of Moscow at first decreased, from 200,000 in the 17th century to 130,000 in 1750. But after 1750, the population grew more than tenfold over the remaining duration of the Russian Empire, reaching 1.8 million by 1915. The 1770–1772 Russian plague killed up to 100,000 people in Moscow.[43] Bookshops at the Novospassky Bridge in the 17th century, by Apollinary Vasnetsov By 1700, the building of cobbled roads had begun. In November 1730, the permanent street light was introduced, and by 1867 many streets had a gaslight. In 1883, near the Prechistinskiye Gates, arc lamps were installed. In 1741 Moscow was surrounded by a barricade 40 kilometres (25 mi) long, the Kamer-Kollezhskiy barrier, with 16 gates at which customs tolls were collected. Its line is traced today by a number of streets called val ("ramparts"). Between 1781 and 1804 the Mytischinskiy water pipe (the first in Russia) was built. In 1813, following the destruction of much of the city during the French occupation, a Commission for the Construction of the City of Moscow was established. It launched a great program of rebuilding, including a partial replanning of the city-centre. Among many buildings constructed or reconstructed at this time was the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Kremlin Armoury, the Moscow University, the Moscow Manege (Riding School), and the Bolshoi Theatre. In 1903 the Moskvoretskaya water supply was completed. In the early 19th century, the Arch of Konstantino-Elenensky gate was paved with bricks, but the Spassky Gate was the main front gate of the Kremlin and used for royal entrances. From this gate, wooden and (following the 17th-century improvements) stone bridges stretched across the moat. Books were sold on this bridge and stone platforms were built nearby for guns – "raskats". The Tsar Cannon was located on the platform of the Lobnoye mesto. The road connecting Moscow with St. Petersburg, now the M10 highway, was completed in 1746, its Moscow end following the old Tver road, which had existed since the 16th century. It became known as Peterburskoye Schosse after it was paved in the 1780s. Petrovsky Palace was built in 1776–1780 by Matvey Kazakov. Napoleon retreating from the city during the Fire of Moscow, after the failed French Invasion of Russia When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, the Moscovites were evacuated. It is suspected that the Moscow fire was principally the effect of Russian sabotage. Napoleon's Grande Armée was forced to retreat and was nearly annihilated by the devastating Russian winter and sporadic attacks by Russian military forces. As many as 400,000 of Napoleon's soldiers died during this time.[44] Cathedral Square during the coronation of Alexander I, 1802, by Fyodor Alekseyev Moscow State University was established in 1755. Its main building was reconstructed after the 1812 fire by Domenico Giliardi. The Moskovskiye Vedomosti newspaper appeared from 1756, originally in weekly intervals, and from 1859 as a daily newspaper. The Arbat Street had been in existence since at least the 15th century, but it was developed into a prestigious area during the 18th century. It was destroyed in the fire of 1812 and was rebuilt completely in the early 19th century. In the 1830s, general Alexander Bashilov planned the first regular grid of city streets north from Petrovsky Palace. Khodynka field south of the highway was used for military training. Smolensky Rail station (forerunner of present-day Belorussky Rail Terminal) was inaugurated in 1870. Sokolniki Park, in the 18th century the home of the tsar's falconers well outside Moscow, became contiguous with the expanding city in the later 19th century and was developed into a public municipal park in 1878. The suburban Savyolovsky Rail Terminal was built in 1902. In January 1905, the institution of the City Governor, or Mayor, was officially introduced in Moscow, and Alexander Adrianov became Moscow's first official mayor. When Catherine II came to power in 1762, the city's filth and the smell of sewage were depicted by observers as a symptom of disorderly lifestyles of lower-class Russians recently arrived from the farms. Elites called for improving sanitation, which became part of Catherine's plans for increasing control over social life. National political and military successes from 1812 through 1855 calmed the critics and validated efforts to produce a more enlightened and stable society. There was less talk about the smell and the poor conditions of public health. However, in the wake of Russia's failures in the Crimean War in 1855–56, confidence in the ability of the state to maintain order in the slums eroded, and demands for improved public health put filth back on the agenda.[45] Soviet period (1917–1991) City plan of Moscow, 1917 External video video icon Song from the Soviet film In November 1917, upon learning of the uprising happening in Petrograd, Moscow's Bolsheviks also began their uprising. On November 2 (15), 1917, after heavy fighting, Soviet power was established in Moscow.[46] Then Vladimir Lenin, fearing possible foreign invasion, moved the capital from Petrograd (Saint Petersburg) back to Moscow on March 12, 1918.[47] The Kremlin once again became the seat of power and the political centre of the new state. With the change in values imposed by communist ideology, the tradition of preservation of cultural heritage was broken. Independent preservation societies, even those that defended only secular landmarks such as Moscow-based OIRU were disbanded by the end of the 1920s. A new anti-religious campaign, launched in 1929, coincided with the collectivization of peasants; the destruction of churches in the cities peaked around 1932. In 1937 several letters were written to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to rename Moscow to "Stalindar" or "Stalinodar," one from an elderly pensioner whose dream was to "live in Stalinodar" and had selected the name to represent the "gift" (dar) of the genius of Stalin.[48] Stalin rejected this suggestion, and after it was suggested again to him by Nikolai Yezhov, he was outraged, saying "What do I need this for?". This was following Stalin banning the renaming of places in his name in 1936.[49] During World War II, the Soviet State Committee of Defence and the General Staff of the Red Army were located in Moscow. In 1941, 16 divisions of the national volunteers (more than 160,000 people), 25 battalions (18,000 people), and four engineering regiments were formed among the Muscovites. Between October 1941 and January 1942, the German Army Group Centre was stopped at the outskirts of the city and then driven off in the course of the Battle of Moscow. Many factories were evacuated, together with much of the government, and from October 20 the city was declared to be in a state of siege. Its remaining inhabitants built and manned antitank defenses, while the city was bombarded from the air. On May 1, 1944, a medal "For the defence of Moscow" and in 1947 another medal "In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow" was instituted. Both German and Soviet casualties during the Battle of Moscow have been a subject of debate, as various sources provide somewhat different estimates. Total casualties between September 30, 1941, and January 7, 1942, are estimated to be between 248,000 and 400,000 for the Wehrmacht and between 650,000 and 1,280,000 for the Red Army.[50][51][52] Funeral procession at the funeral of Joseph Stalin, 1953 External video video icon Stalins USSR in 1953 During the postwar years, there was a serious housing crisis, solved by the invention of high-rise apartments. There are over 11,000 of these standardised and prefabricated apartment blocks, housing the majority of Moscow's population, making it by far the city with the most high-rise buildings.[53] Apartments were built and partly furnished in the factory before being raised and stacked into tall columns. The popular Soviet-era comic film Irony of Fate parodies this construction method. The city of Zelenograd was built in 1958 at 37 kilometres (23 miles) from the city centre to the north-west, along with the Leningradskoye Shosse, and incorporated as one of Moscow's administrative okrugs. Moscow State University moved to its campus on Sparrow Hills in 1953. In 1959 Nikita Khrushchev launched his anti-religious campaign. By 1964 over 10 thousand churches out of 20 thousand were shut down (mostly in rural areas) and many were demolished. Of 58 monasteries and convents operating in 1959, only sixteen remained by 1964; of Moscow's fifty churches operating in 1959, thirty were closed and six demolished. Soviet parade outside Hotel Moskva on the Manezhnaya Square, 1964 On May 8, 1965, due to the actual 20th anniversary of the victory in World War II, Moscow was awarded a title of the Hero City. Victory Day celebration on Red Square, May 9, 1975 The Moscow Ring Road (MKAD) was opened in 1961. It had four lanes running 109 kilometres (68 miles) along the city borders. The MKAD marked the administrative boundaries of the city of Moscow until the 1980s when outlying suburbs beyond the ring road began to be incorporated. In 1980, Moscow hosted the Summer Olympic Games, which were boycotted by the United States and several other Western countries due to the Soviet Union's involvement in Afghanistan in late 1979. In 1991 Moscow was the scene of a coup attempt by conservative communists opposed to the liberal reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev. Recent history (1991–present) View of the Floating bridge in Zaryadye Park, with the Red Square and the Moscow Kremlin in the distance Tverskaya Street, the main radial street in the city When the USSR was dissolved in the same year, Moscow remained the capital of the Russian SFSR (on December 25, 1991, the Russian SFSR was renamed the Russian Federation). Since then, a market economy has emerged in Moscow, producing an explosion of Western-style retailing, services, architecture, and lifestyles. The city has continued to grow during the 1990s to 2000s, its population rising from below nine to above ten million. Mason and Nigmatullina argue that Soviet-era urban-growth controls (before 1991) produced controlled and sustainable metropolitan development, typified by the greenbelt built in 1935. Since then, however, there has been a dramatic growth of low-density suburban sprawl, created by heavy demand for single-family dwellings as opposed to crowded apartments. In 1995–1997 the MKAD ring road was widened from the initial four to ten lanes. In December 2002 Bulvar Dmitriya Donskogo became the first Moscow Metro station that opened beyond the limits of MKAD. The Third Ring Road, intermediate between the early 19th-century Garden Ring and the Soviet-era outer ring road, was completed in 2004. The greenbelt is becoming more and more fragmented, and satellite cities are appearing at the fringe. Summer dachas are being converted into year-round residences, and with the proliferation of automobiles there is heavy traffic congestion.[54] Multiple old churches and other examples of architectural heritage that had been demolished during the Stalin era have been restored, such as the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. In 2010s Moscow's Administration has launched some long duration projects like the Moja Ulitsa (in English: My Street) urban redevelopment program[55] or the Residency renovation one.[56] By its territorial expansion on July 1, 2012, southwest into the Moscow Oblast the area of the capital more than doubled, going from 1,091 to 2,511 square kilometers (421 to 970 sq mi), resulting in Moscow becoming the largest city on the European continent by area; it also gained an additional population of 233,000 people.[57][58] The annexed territory was officially named Новая Москва (New Moscow). Geography Location Satellite view of Moscow and its nearby suburbs Moscow is situated on the banks of the Moskva River, which flows for just over 500 km (311 mi) through the East European Plain in central Russia, not far from the natural border of the forest and forest-steppe zone. 49 bridges span the river and its canals within the city's limits. The elevation of Moscow at the All-Russia Exhibition Center (VVC), where the leading Moscow weather station is situated, is 156 metres (512 feet). Teplostan Upland is the city's highest point at 255 metres (837 feet).[59] The width of Moscow city (not limiting MKAD) from west to east is 39.7 km (24.7 mi), and the length from north to south is 51.8 km (32.2 mi). Time Main article: Moscow Time Moscow serves as the reference point for the time zone used in most of European Russia, Belarus and the Republic of Crimea. The areas operate in what is referred to in international standards as Moscow Standard Time (MSK, МСК), which is 3 hours ahead of UTC, or UTC+3. Daylight saving time is no longer observed. According to the geographical longitude the average solar noon in Moscow occurs at 12:30.[60] Climate Main article: Climate of Moscow VDNKh after rain Moscow has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb) with long, cold (although average by Russian standards) winters usually lasting from mid-November to the end of March, and warm summers. More extreme continental climates at the same latitude- such as parts of Eastern Canada or Siberia- have much colder winters than Moscow, suggesting that there is still significant moderation from the Atlantic Ocean despite the fact that Moscow is far from the sea. Weather can fluctuate widely, with temperatures ranging from −25 °C (−13 °F) in the city and −30 °C (−22 °F) in the suburbs to above 5 °C (41 °F) in the winter, and from 10 to 35 °C (50 to 95 °F) in the summer.[61] Petrovsky Palace on Leningradsky Avenue in winter Typical high temperatures in the warm months of June, July, and August are around a comfortable 20 to 26 °C (68 to 79 °F), but during heat waves (which can occur between May and September), daytime high temperatures often exceed 30 °C (86 °F), sometimes for a week or two at a time. In the winter, average temperatures normally drop to approximately −10 °C (14 °F), though almost every winter there are periods of warmth with day temperatures rising above 0 °C (32 °F), and periods of cooling with night temperatures falling below −20 °C (−4 °F). These periods usually last about a week or two. The growing season in Moscow normally lasts for 156 days usually around May 1 to October 5.[62] The highest temperature ever recorded was 38.2 °C (100.8 °F)[63] at the VVC weather station and 39.0 °C (102.2 °F) in the center of Moscow and Domodedovo airport on July 29, 2010, during the unusual 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat waves. Record high and average temperatures were recorded for January, March, April, May, June, July, August, November, and December in 2007–2022.[64] The average July temperature from 1991 to 2020 is 19.7 °C (67.5 °F). The lowest ever recorded temperature was −42.1 °C (−43.8 °F) in January 1940. Snow, which is present for about five months a year, often begins to fall mid-October, while snow cover lies in November and melts at the beginning of April. On average, Moscow has 1731 hours of sunshine per year, varying from a low of 8% in December to 52% from May to August.[65] This large annual variation is due to convective cloud formation. In the winter, moist air from the Atlantic condenses in the cold continental interior, resulting in very overcast conditions. However, this same continental influence results in considerably sunnier summers than oceanic cities of similar latitude such as Edinburgh. Between 2004 and 2010, the average was between 1800 and 2000 hours with a tendency to more sunshine in summer months, up to a record 411 hours in July 2014, 79% of possible sunshine. December 2017 was the darkest month in Moscow since records began, with only six minutes of sunlight.[66][67] Temperatures in the centre of Moscow are often significantly higher than in the outskirts and nearby suburbs, especially in winter. For example, if the average February temperature in the north-east of Moscow is −6.7 °C (19.9 °F), in the suburbs it is about −9 °C (16 °F).[68] The temperature difference between the centre of Moscow and nearby areas of Moscow Oblast can sometimes be more than 10 °C (18 °F) on frosty winter nights. Climate data for Moscow (VVC) normals 1991–2020, records 1879–present Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °C (°F) 8.6 (47.5) 8.3 (46.9) 19.7 (67.5) 28.9 (84.0) 33.2 (91.8) 34.8 (94.6) 38.2 (100.8) 37.3 (99.1) 32.3 (90.1) 24.0 (75.2) 16.2 (61.2) 9.6 (49.3) 38.2 (100.8) Average high °C (°F) −3.9 (25.0) −3 (27) 3.0 (37.4) 11.7 (53.1) 19.0 (66.2) 22.4 (72.3) 24.7 (76.5) 22.7 (72.9) 16.4 (61.5) 8.9 (48.0) 1.6 (34.9) −2.3 (27.9) 10.1 (50.2) Daily mean °C (°F) −6.2 (20.8) −5.9 (21.4) −0.7 (30.7) 6.9 (44.4) 13.6 (56.5) 17.3 (63.1) 19.7 (67.5) 17.6 (63.7) 11.9 (53.4) 5.8 (42.4) −0.5 (31.1) −4.4 (24.1) 6.3 (43.3) Average low °C (°F) −8.7 (16.3) −8.8 (16.2) −4.2 (24.4) 2.3 (36.1) 8.1 (46.6) 12.2 (54.0) 14.8 (58.6) 13.0 (55.4) 8.0 (46.4) 3.0 (37.4) −2.4 (27.7) −6.5 (20.3) 2.6 (36.7) Record low °C (°F) −42.1 (−43.8) −38.2 (−36.8) −32.4 (−26.3) −21 (−6) −7.5 (18.5) −2.3 (27.9) 1.3 (34.3) −1.2 (29.8) −8.5 (16.7) −20.3 (−4.5) −32.8 (−27.0) −38.8 (−37.8) −42.1 (−43.8) Average precipitation mm (inches) 53 (2.1) 44 (1.7) 39 (1.5) 37 (1.5) 61 (2.4) 78 (3.1) 84 (3.3) 78 (3.1) 66 (2.6) 70 (2.8) 52 (2.0) 51 (2.0) 713 (28.1) Average rainy days 8 6 9 15 16 16 15 16 16 17 13 8 155 Average snowy days 25 23 15 6 1 0 0 0 0.3 5 17 24 116 Average relative humidity (%) 85 81 74 68 67 72 74 78 82 83 86 86 78 Mean monthly sunshine hours 33 72 128 170 265 279 271 238 147 78 32 18 1,731 Percent possible sunshine 14 27 35 40 53 53 52 51 38 24 13 8 34 Average ultraviolet index 0 1 2 3 5 6 6 5 3 1 1 0 3 Source 1: Pogoda.ru.net,[69][70] Thermograph.ru,[71] Meteoweb.ru (sunshine hours)[72] Source 2: Weather Atlas (UV)[73] Climate data for Moscow (VVC) normals 1961–1990 Recent changes in Moscow's regional climate, since it is in the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere, are often cited by climate scientists as evidence of global warming[citation needed], though by definition, climate change is global, not regional. During the summer, extreme heat is often observed in the city (2001, 2002, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2021). Along with a southern part of Central Russia,[78][79] after recent years of hot summer seasons, the climate of the city gets hot-summer classification trends. Winter also became significantly milder: for example, the average January temperature in the early 1900s was −12.0 °C (10.4 °F), while now it is about −7.0 °C (19.4 °F).[80] At the end of January–February it is often colder, with frosts reaching −30.0 °C (−22.0 °F) a few nights per year (2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013). The last decade was the warmest in the history of meteorological observations of Moscow. Temperature changes in the city are depicted in the table below: Climate data for Moscow (2009–2018, VVC) Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Average high °C (°F) −6 (21) −3.6 (25.5) 2.4 (36.3) 11.4 (52.5) 20.1 (68.2) 22.6 (72.7) 25.8 (78.4) 23.9 (75.0) 16.7 (62.1) 7.9 (46.2) 2.1 (35.8) −2.4 (27.7) 10.2 (50.4) Daily mean °C (°F) −7.9 (17.8) −6 (21) −1 (30) 6.9 (44.4) 14.7 (58.5) 17.6 (63.7) 20.7 (69.3) 18.9 (66.0) 12.9 (55.2) 5.5 (41.9) 0.7 (33.3) −3.9 (25.0) 6.6 (43.9) Average low °C (°F) −9.7 (14.5) −8.3 (17.1) −4.5 (23.9) 2.3 (36.1) 9.4 (48.9) 12.5 (54.5) 15.6 (60.1) 13.8 (56.8) 9.1 (48.4) 3.1 (37.6) −0.7 (30.7) −5.4 (22.3) 3.1 (37.6) Mean monthly sunshine hours 37 65 142 213 274 299 323 242 171 88 33 14 1,901 Source: weatheronline.co.uk[81] Wind direction in Moscow from 2002 to 2012 (average values) North Northeast East South East Southern Southwest West Northwest 15% 6.8% 7.8% 12.2% 12.6% 14.6% 16.4% 14.5% Source: world-weather.ru Demographics Population Moscow population pyramid as of the 2021 census Historical population Year Pop. ±% 1897 1,038,625 —     1926 2,019,500 +94.4% 1939 4,137,000 +104.9% 1959 5,032,000 +21.6% 1970 6,941,961 +38.0% 1979 7,830,509 +12.8% 1989 8,967,332 +14.5% 2002 10,382,754 +15.8% 2010 11,503,501 +10.8% 2021 13,010,112 +13.1% Population size may be affected by changes in administrative divisions. According to the results of the 2021 Census, the population of Moscow was 13,010,112;[6] up from 11,503,501 recorded in the 2010 Census.[82] Graphs are temporarily unavailable due to technical issues. Population of Moscow by year Life expectancy at birth in Moscow, with calculated gender difference Ethnic groups See also: Ethnic groups in Moscow Ethnicity Year 1897[83][a] 1939[84] 1959[85] 1970[86] 1979[87] 1989[88] 2002[89] 2010[82] 2021[90] Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Population % % of ethnicity declared Population % % of ethnicity declared Russians 987,044 95.0% 3,614,430 87.4% 4,507,899 88.6% 6,301,247 89.2% 7,146,682 90.1% 7,963,246 89.7% 8,808,009 84.8% 9,930,410 86.3% 91.6% 9,074,375 69.7% 90.2% Tatars 4,288 0.1% 57,687 1.4% 80,489 1.6% 109,252 1.5% 131,328 1.7% 157,376 1.8% 166,083 1.6% 149,043 1.3% 1.4% 84,373 0.6% 0.8% Armenians 1,604 0.1% 13,682 0.3% 18,379 0.4% 25,584 0.4% 31,414 0.4% 43,989 0.5% 124,425 1.2% 106,466 0.9% 1.0% 68,018 0.5% 0.7% Ukrainians 4,478 0.4% 90,479 2.2% 115,489 2.3% 184,885 2.6% 206,875 2.6% 252,670 2.8% 253,644 2.4% 154,104 1.3% 1.4% 58,788 0.5% 0.6% Azerbaijanis – – 677 – 2,528 – 4,889 – 7,967 0.1% 20,727 0.2% 95,563 0.9% 57,123 0.5% 0.5% 37,259 0.3% 0.4% Uzbeks – – 659 – 2,478 – 5,973 – 4,222 – 9,183 0.1% 9,183 0.1% 35,595 0.3% 0.3% 29,526 0.2% 0.3% Jews 5,070 0.4% 250,181 6.0% 239,246 4.7% 251,350 3.6% 222,900 2.8% 174,728 2.0% 79,359 0.8% 53,145 0.5% 0.5% 28,014 0.2% 0.3% Georgians – – 4,251 0.1% 6,365 0.1% 9,563 0.1% 12,180 0.2% 19,608 0.2% 54,387 0.5% 38,934 0.3% 0.4% 26,222 0.2% 0.3% Tajiks – – 184 – 1,005 – 1,652 – 1,221 – 2,893 – 35,385 0.4% 27,280 0.2% 0.2% 22,783 0.2% 0.2% Belarusians 1,016 – 24,952 0.6% 34,370 0.7% 50,257 0.7% 59,193 0.7% 73,005 0.8% 59,353 0.6% 39,225 0.3% 0.4% 17,632 0.1% 0.2% Kyrgyz – – 77 – – – – – 1,173 – 3,044 – 4,102 – 18,736 0.2% 0.2% 16,858 0.1% 0.2% Others – – 76,173 225,031 2.0% 2.1% 595,543 4.6% 5.9% No ethnicity declared – – 668,409 5.8% – 2,950,721 22.7% – Total 1,038,591 100% 4,137,018 100% 5,085,581 100% 7,061,008 100% 7,931,602 100% 8,875,579 100% 10,382,754 100% 11,503,501 100% 100% (10,835,092) 13,010,112 100% 100% (10,059,391) Notes  Taken from language of respondents 668,409 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.[91] Vital statistics The official population of Moscow is based on those holding "permanent residency". According to Russia's Federal Migration Service, Moscow holds 1.8 million official "guests" who have temporary residency on the basis of visas or other documentation, giving a legal population of 13.3 million. The number of Illegal immigrants, the vast majority originating from Central Asia, is estimated to be an additional 1 million people,[92] giving a total population of about 14.3 million. Total fertility rate:[93] 2010 - 1.25 2014 - 1.34 2015 - 1.41 2016 - 1.46 2017 - 1.38 2018 - 1.41 2019 - 1.50 2020 - 1.47 Births (2016): 145,252 (11.8 per 1000) Deaths (2016): 123,623 (10.0 per 1000) Religion Religion in Moscow (2020)[94][95] Russian Orthodoxy   55% Atheism and irreligion   28% Islam   8% Other religions   3% Other Christians   2% Undeclared   4% Clockwise from left: The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, demolished during the Soviet period and reconstructed from 1990–2000; Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception; Moscow Cathedral Mosque; and Moscow Choral Synagogue Christians form the majority of the city's population; most of whom adhere Russian Orthodox Church. The Patriarch of Moscow serves as the head of the church and resides in the Danilov Monastery. Moscow was called the "city of 40 times 40 churches"—prior to 1917. Moscow is Russia's capital of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which has been the country's traditional religion. Other religions practiced in Moscow include Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Yazidism, and Rodnovery. The Moscow Mufti Council claimed that Muslims numbered around 1.5 million of 10.5 million of the city's population in 2010;[96] There are four mosques in the city.[97] Cityscape See also: List of tallest buildings in Moscow Architecture Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, a masterpiece of Russian architecture The State Historical Museum, an example of the Neo-Russian style The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, an example of Neo-Byzantine architecture Moscow's architecture is world-renowned. Moscow is the site of Saint Basil's Cathedral, with its elegant onion domes, as well as the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Seven Sisters. The first Kremlin was built in the middle of the 12th century. Medieval Moscow's design was of concentric walls and intersecting radial thoroughfares. This layout, as well as Moscow's rivers, helped shape Moscow's design in subsequent centuries. The Kremlin was rebuilt in the 15th century. Its towers and some of its churches were built by Italian architects, lending the city some of the aurae of the renaissance. From the end of the 15th century, the city was embellished by masonry structures such as monasteries, palaces, walls, towers, and churches. The city's appearance had not changed much by the 18th century. Houses were made of pine and spruce logs, with shingled roofs plastered with sod or covered by birch bark. The rebuilding of Moscow in the second half of the 18th century was necessitated by constant fires and the needs of the nobility. Much of the wooden city was replaced by buildings in the classical style.[98] For much of its architectural history, Moscow was dominated by Orthodox churches. However, the overall appearance of the city changed drastically during Soviet times, especially as a result of Joseph Stalin's large-scale effort to "modernize" Moscow. Stalin's plans for the city included a network of broad avenues and roadways, some of them over ten lanes wide, which, while greatly simplifying movement through the city, were constructed at the expense of a great number of historical buildings and districts. Among the many casualties of Stalin's demolitions was the Sukharev Tower, a longtime city landmark, as well as mansions and commercial buildings The city's newfound status as the capital of a deeply secular nation, made religiously significant buildings especially vulnerable to demolition. Many of the city's churches, which in most cases were some of Moscow's oldest and most prominent buildings, were destroyed; some notable examples include the Kazan Cathedral and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. During the 1990s, both were rebuilt. Many smaller churches, however, were lost.[99] GUM department store, facing the Red Square Ostankino Tower, the tallest freestanding structure in Europe, and the eighth-tallest in the world While the later Stalinist period was characterized by the curtailing of creativity and architectural innovation, the earlier post-revolutionary years saw a plethora of radical new buildings created in the city. Especially notable were the constructivist architects associated with VKHUTEMAS, responsible for such landmarks as Lenin's Mausoleum. Another prominent architect was Vladimir Shukhov, famous for Shukhov Tower, just one of many hyperboloid towers designed by Shukhov. It was built between 1919 and 1922 as a transmission tower for a Russian broadcasting company.[100] Shukhov also left a lasting legacy to the Constructivist architecture of early Soviet Russia. He designed spacious elongated shop galleries, most notably the GUM department store on Red Square,[100] bridged with innovative metal-and-glass vaults. One of the Seven Sisters, Hotel Ukraina, is the tallest hotel in Europe, and one of the tallest hotels in the world Zhivopisny Bridge, the highest cable-stayed bridge in Europe Perhaps the most recognizable contributions of the Stalinist period are the so-called Seven Sisters, seven massive skyscrapers scattered throughout the city at about an equal distance from the Kremlin. A defining feature of Moscow's skyline, their imposing form was allegedly inspired by the Manhattan Municipal Building in New York City, and their style—with intricate exteriors and a large central spire—has been described as Stalinist Gothic architecture. All seven towers can be seen from most high points in the city; they are among the tallest constructions in central Moscow apart from the Ostankino Tower, which, when it was completed in 1967, was the highest free-standing land structure in the world and today remains the world's seventy-second tallest, ranking among buildings such as the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, Taipei 101 in Taiwan and the CN Tower in Toronto.[101] The Soviet goal of providing housing for every family, and the rapid growth of Moscow's population, led to the construction of large, monotonous housing blocks. Most of these date from the post-Stalin era and the styles are often named after the leader then in power (Brezhnev, Khrushchev, etc.). They are usually badly maintained. Although the city still has some five-story apartment buildings constructed before the mid-1960s, more recent apartment buildings are usually at least nine floors tall, and have elevators. It is estimated that Moscow has over twice as many elevators as New York City and four times as many as Chicago. Moslift, one of the city's major elevator operating companies, has about 1500 elevator mechanics on call, to release residents trapped in elevators.[102] Stalinist-era buildings, mostly found in the central part of the city, are massive and usually ornamented with Socialist realism motifs that imitate classical themes. However, small churches—almost always Eastern Orthodox– found across the city provide glimpses of its past. The Old Arbat Street, a tourist street that was once the heart of a bohemian area, preserves most of its buildings from prior to the 20th century. Many buildings found off the main streets of the inner city (behind the Stalinist façades of Tverskaya Street, for example) are also examples of bourgeois architecture typical of Tsarist times. Ostankino Palace, Kuskovo, Uzkoye and other large estates just outside Moscow originally belong to nobles from the Tsarist era, and some convents, and monasteries, both inside and outside the city, are open to Muscovites and tourists. Modern methods of skyscraper construction were implemented in the city for the first time with the ambitious MIBC. Attempts are being made to restore many of the city's best-kept examples of pre-Soviet architecture. These restored structures are easily spotted by their bright new colors and spotless façades. There are a few examples of notable, early Soviet avant-garde work too, such as the house of the architect Konstantin Melnikov in the Arbat area. Many of these restorations were criticized for alleged disrespect of historical authenticity. Facadism is also widely practiced.[103] Later examples of interesting Soviet architecture are usually marked by their impressive size and the semi-Modernist styles employed, such as with the Novy Arbat project, familiarly known as "false teeth of Moscow" and notorious for the wide-scale disruption of a historic area in central Moscow involved in the project. Borovitskaya square, Monument to Vladimir the Great and Pashkov House Plaques on house exteriors will inform passers-by that a well-known personality once lived there. Frequently, the plaques are dedicated to Soviet celebrities not well known outside (or often, like with decorated generals and revolutionaries, now both inside) of Russia. There are also many "museum houses" of famous Russian writers, composers, and artists in the city. Moscow's skyline is quickly modernizing, with several new towers under construction. In recent years, the city administration has been widely criticized for heavy destruction that has affected many historical buildings. As much as a third of historic Moscow has been destroyed in the past few years[104] to make space for luxury apartments and hotels.[105] Other historical buildings, including such landmarks as the 1930 Moskva hotel and the 1913 department store Voyentorg, have been razed and reconstructed anew, with the inevitable loss of historical value. Critics blame the government for not enforcing conservation laws: in the last 12 years, more than 50 buildings with monument status were torn down, several of those dating back to the 17th century.[106] Some critics also wonder if the money used for the reconstruction of razed buildings could not be used for the renovation of decaying structures, which include many works by architect Konstantin Melnikov[107] and Mayakovskaya metro station. Some organizations, such as Moscow Architecture Preservation Society[108] and Save Europe's Heritage,[109] are trying to draw the international public attention to these problems.[110] Panoramic view of Moscow4.jpg Panoramic view of Moscow3.jpg Panoramic view of Moscow Panoramic view of Moscow Parks and landmarks See also: List of Moscow tourist attractions Red Square is a World Heritage Site. There are 96 parks and 18 gardens in Moscow, including four botanical gardens. There are 450 square kilometres (170 sq mi) of green zones besides 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi) of forests.[111] Moscow is a very green city, if compared to other cities of comparable size in Western Europe and North America; this is partly due to a history of having green "yards" with trees and grass, between residential buildings. There are on average 27 square meters (290 sq ft) of parks per person in Moscow compared with 6 for Paris, 7.5 in London and 8.6 in New York.[112] Gorky Park Gorky Park (officially the Central Park of Culture and Rest named after Maxim Gorky), was founded in 1928. The main part (689,000 square metres or 170 acres)[112] along the Moskva river contains estrades, children's attractions (including the Observation Wheel water ponds with boats and water bicycles), dancing, tennis courts and other sports facilities. It borders the Neskuchny Garden (408,000 square metres or 101 acres), the oldest park in Moscow and a former imperial residence, created as a result of the integration of three estates in the 18th century. The Garden features the Green Theater, one of the largest open amphitheaters in Europe, able to hold up to 15 thousand people.[113] Several parks include a section known as a "Park of Culture and Rest", sometimes alongside a much wilder area (this includes parks such as Izmaylovsky, Fili and Sokolniki). Some parks are designated as Forest Parks (lesopark). Dream Island, the largest indoor theme park in Europe Izmaylovsky Park, created in 1931, is one of the largest urban parks in the world along with Richmond Park in London. Its area of 15.34 square kilometres (5.92 sq mi) is six times greater than that of Central Park in New York.[112] Bauman Garden, officially founded in 1920 and renamed in 1922 after the bolshevik Nikolay Bauman, is one of the oldest parks in Moscow. It is standing on the site of the former Golitsyn estate and eighteenth-century public garden.[114] Novodevichy Convent is a World Heritage Site. Sokolniki Park, named after the falcon hunting that occurred there in the past, is one of the oldest parks in Moscow and has an area of 6 square kilometres (2.3 sq mi). A central circle with a large fountain is surrounded by birch, maple, and elm tree alleys. A labyrinth composed of green paths lies beyond the park's ponds. Losiny Ostrov National Park ("Elk Island" National Park), with a total area of more than 116 square kilometres (45 sq mi), borders Sokolniki Park and was Russia's first national park. It is quite wild, and is also known as the "city taiga" – elk can be seen there. The Church of Ascension in Kolomenskoye is a World Heritage Site. Tsytsin Main Botanical Garden of Academy of Sciences, founded in 1945 is the largest in Europe.[115] It covers the territory of 3.61 square kilometres (1.39 sq mi) bordering the All-Russia Exhibition Center and contains a live exhibition of more than 20 thousand species of plants from around the world, as well as a lab for scientific research. It contains a rosarium with 20 thousand rose bushes, a dendrarium, and an oak forest, with the average age of trees exceeding 100 years. There is a greenhouse taking up more than 5,000 square metres (53,820 square feet) of land.[112] The All-Russian Exhibition Center (Всероссийский выставочный центр), formerly known as the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (VSKhV) and later Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (VDNKh), though officially named a "permanent trade show", is one of the most prominent examples of Stalinist-era monumental architecture. Among the large spans of a recreational park, areas are scores of elaborate pavilions, each representing either a branch of Soviet industry and science or a USSR republic. Even though during the 1990s it was, and for some part still is, misused as a gigantic shopping center (most of the pavilions are rented out for small businesses), it still retains the bulk of its architectural landmarks, including two monumental fountains (Stone Flower and Friendship of Nations) and a 360 degrees panoramic cinema. In 2014 the park returned to the name Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy, and in the same year, huge renovation works had been started.[116] Lilac Park, founded in 1958, has a permanent sculpture display and a large rosarium. Moscow has always been a popular destination for tourists. Some of the more famous attractions include the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site, Moscow Kremlin and Red Square,[117] which was built between the 14th and 17th centuries.[118] The Church of the Ascension at Kolomenskoye, which dates from 1532, is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and another popular attraction.[119] Near the new Tretyakov Gallery there is a sculpture garden, Museon, often called "the graveyard of fallen monuments" that displays statues of the former Soviet Union that were removed from their place after its dissolution. Other attractions include the Moscow Zoo, a zoological garden in two sections (the valleys of two streams) linked by a bridge, with nearly a thousand species and more than 6,500 specimens.[120] Each year, the zoo attracts more than 1.2 million visitors.[120] Many of Moscow's parks and landscaped gardens are protected natural environments. Zaryadye31.jpg GL(176155)(10).webp Victory park on Poklonnaya Hill1.jpg Zaryadye Park VDNKh Victory park on Poklonnaya Hill Moscow rings Moscow's road system is centered roughly on the Kremlin at the heart of the city. From there, roads generally span outwards to intersect with a sequence of circular roads ("rings"). The first and innermost major ring, Bulvarnoye Koltso (Boulevard Ring), was built at the former location of the 16th-century city wall around what used to be called Bely Gorod (White Town).[121] The Bulvarnoye Koltso is technically not a ring; it does not form a complete circle, but instead a horseshoe-shaped arc that begins at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and ends at the Yauza River. The second primary ring, located outside the Boulevard Ring, is the Sadovoye Koltso (Garden Ring). Like the Boulevard Ring, the Garden Ring follows the path of a 16th-century wall that used to encompass part of Moscow.[121] Moscow as viewed from the International Space Station, January 29, 2014 The Third Ring Road, was completed in 2003 as a high-speed freeway. The Fourth Transport Ring, another freeway, was planned, but cancelled in 2011. A system of chordal highways will replace it. Aside from the aforementioned hierarchy, line 5 of Moscow Metro is a circle-shaped looped subway line (hence the name Koltsevaya Liniya, literally "ring line"), which is located between the Sadovoye Koltso and Third Transport Ring. Two modern overlapping lines of Moscow Metro form "two hearts": Line 14. Since September 10, 2016, Moscow Central Circle renovated railroad (former Moskovskaya Okruzhnaya Zheleznaya Doroga) was introduced as Line 14 of Moscow Metro. The cone-shaped railroad initially opened in 1908 (freight-only railway from 1934 until the 2016 reopening). Line 11. Another circle metro line - Big Circle Line (Bolshaya Koltsevaya Liniya) is under construction and will be finished in 2023. Kakhovskaya-Savyolovskaya western half of the line was launched in late 2021. The outermost ring within Moscow is the Moscow Ring Road (often called MKAD, acronym word for Russian Московская Кольцевая Автомобильная Дорога), which forms the cultural boundary of the city, and was established in the 1950s. It is to note the method of building the road (usage of ground elevation instead of concrete columns throughout the whole way) formed a wall-like barrier that obstacles building roads under the MKAD highway itself). Before 2012 expansion of Moscow, MKAD was considered an approximate border for Moscow boundaries. Outside Moscow, some of the roads encompassing the city continue to follow this circular pattern seen inside city limits, with the notable examples of Betonka roads (highways A107 and A108), originally made of concrete pads. In order to reduce transit traffic on MKAD, the new ring road (called CKAD - Centralnaya Koltsevaya Avtomobilnaya Doroga, Central Ring Road) is now under construction beyond the MKAD. Transport rings in Moscow Length Name Type 9 km Boulevard Ring – Bulvarnoye Koltso (not a full ring) Road 16 km Garden Ring – Sadovoye Koltso ("B") Road 19 km Koltsevaya line (Line 5) Metro 35 km Third Ring Road – Third Transport Ring – Tretye Transportnoye Koltso (TTK) Road 54 km Little Ring of the Moscow Railway, re-opened as Moscow Central Ring (MCC) – Line 14 Railway 20.2 km Bolshaya Koltsevaya line – Line 11 Metro 109 km Moscow Automobile Ring Road – Moskovskaya Koltsevaya Avtomobilnaya Doroga (MKAD) Road Culture Tretyakov Gallery Museums and galleries One of the most notable art museums in Moscow is the Tretyakov Gallery, which was founded by Pavel Tretyakov, a wealthy patron of the arts who donated a large private collection to the city.[122] The Tretyakov Gallery is split into two buildings. The Old Tretyakov gallery, the original gallery in the Tretyakovskaya area on the south bank of the Moskva River, houses works in the classic Russian tradition.[123] The works of famous pre-Revolutionary painters, such as Ilya Repin, as well as the works of early Russian icon painters can be found here. Visitors can even see rare originals by early 15th-century iconographer Andrei Rublev.[123] The New Tretyakov gallery, created in Soviet times, mainly contains the works of Soviet artists, as well as of a few contemporary paintings, but there is some overlap with the Old Tretyakov Gallery for early 20th-century art. The new gallery includes a small reconstruction of Vladimir Tatlin's famous Monument to the Third International and a mixture of other avant-garde works by artists like Kazimir Malevich and Wassily Kandinsky. Socialist realism features can also be found within the halls of the New Tretyakov Gallery. The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts Another art museum in the city of Moscow is the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, which was founded by, among others, the father of Marina Tsvetaeva. The Pushkin Museum is similar to the British Museum in London in that its halls are a cross-section of exhibits on world civilisations, with many copies of ancient sculptures. However, it also hosts paintings from every major Western era; works by Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, and Pablo Picasso are present in the museum's collection. The State Historical Museum of Russia (Государственный Исторический музей) is a museum of Russian history located between Red Square and Manege Square in Moscow. Its exhibitions range from relics of the prehistoric tribes inhabiting present-day Russia, through priceless artworks acquired by members of the Romanov dynasty. The total number of objects in the museum's collection numbers is several million. The Polytechnical Museum,[124] founded in 1872 is the largest technical museum in Russia, offering a wide array of historical inventions and technological achievements, including humanoid automata from the 18th century and the first Soviet computers. Its collection contains more than 160,000 items.[125] The Borodino Panorama[126] museum located on Kutuzov Avenue provides an opportunity for visitors to experience being on a battlefield with a 360° diorama. It is a part of the large historical memorial commemorating the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812 over Napoleon's army, that includes also the triumphal arch, erected in 1827. There is also a military history museum that includes statues, and military hardware. Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics under the Monument to the Conquerors of Space at the end of Cosmonauts Alley is the central memorial place for the Russian space officials. The Shchusev State Museum of Architecture is the national museum of Russian architecture by the name of the architect Alexey Shchusev near the Kremlin area. Moscow will get its own branch of the Hermitage Museum in 2024, with authorities having agreed upon the final project, to be executed by Hani Rashid, co-founder of New York-based 'Asymptote Architecture' - the same bureau that's behind the city's stock market building, the Busan-based World Business Center Solomon Tower and the Strata Tower in Abu-Dhabi.[127] The Bolshoi Theatre Performing arts Moscow is the heart of the Russian performing arts, including ballet and film, with 68 museums[128] 103[129] theaters, 132 cinemas and 24 concert halls. Among Moscow's theaters and ballet studios is the Bolshoi Theatre and the Malyi Theatre[130] as well as Vakhtangov Theatre and Moscow Art Theatre. The Moscow International Performance Arts Center,[131] opened in 2003, also known as Moscow International House of Music, is known for its performances in classical music. It has the largest organ in Russia installed in Svetlanov Hall. There are also two large circuses in Moscow: Moscow State Circus and Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard[132] named after Yuri Nikulin. The Mosfilm studio was at the heart of many classic films, as it is responsible for both artistic and mainstream productions.[133] However, despite the continued presence and reputation of internationally renowned Russian filmmakers, the once prolific native studios are much quieter. Rare and historical films may be seen in the Salut cinema, where films from the Museum of Cinema[134] collection are shown regularly. International film festivals such as the Moscow International Film Festival, Stalker, Artdocfest, and Moscow Jewish Film Festival are staged in Moscow. Sports See also: Football in Moscow The Luzhniki Stadium hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics and the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final. SC Olimpiyskiy was built for the 1980 Summer Olympics. Over 500 Olympic sports champions lived in the city by 2005.[135] Moscow is home to 63 stadiums (besides eight football and eleven light athletics maneges), of which Luzhniki Stadium is the largest and the 4th biggest in Europe (it hosted the 1998–99 UEFA Cup, 2007–08 UEFA Champions League finals, the 1980 Summer Olympics, and the 2018 FIFA World Cup with 7 games total, including the final). Forty other sports complexes are located within the city, including 24 with artificial ice. The Olympic Stadium was the world's first indoor arena for bandy and hosted the Bandy World Championship twice.[136] Moscow was again the host of the competition in 2010, this time in Krylatskoye.[137] That arena has also hosted the World Speed Skating Championships. There are also seven horse racing tracks in Moscow,[111] of which Central Moscow Hippodrome,[138] founded in 1834, is the largest. CSKA Arena during a game of KHL, considered to be the second-best ice hockey league in the world Moscow was the host city of the 1980 Summer Olympics, with the yachting events being held at Tallinn, in present-day Estonia. Large sports facilities and the main international airport, Sheremetyevo Terminal 2, were built in preparation for the 1980 Summer Olympics. Moscow had made a bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. However, when final voting commenced on July 6, 2005, Moscow was the first city to be eliminated from further rounds. The Games were awarded to London. The most titled ice hockey team in the Soviet Union and in the world, HC CSKA Moscow comes from Moscow. Other big ice hockey clubs from Moscow are HC Dynamo Moscow, which was the second most titled team in the Soviet Union, and HC Spartak Moscow. The most titled Soviet, Russian, and one of the most titled Euroleague clubs, is the basketball club from Moscow PBC CSKA Moscow. Moscow hosted the EuroBasket in 1953 and 1965. Moscow had more winners at the USSR and Russian Chess Championship than any other city. The most titled volleyball team in the Soviet Union and in Europe (CEV Champions League) is VC CSKA Moscow. In football, FC Spartak Moscow has won more championship titles in the Russian Premier League than any other team. They were second only to FC Dynamo Kyiv in Soviet times. PFC CSKA Moscow became the first Russian football team to win a UEFA title, the UEFA Cup (present-day UEFA Europa League). FC Lokomotiv Moscow, FC Dynamo Moscow and FC Torpedo Moscow are other professional football teams also based in Moscow. Otkrytiye Arena, home of FC Spartak Moscow Otkrytiye Arena, home of FC Spartak Moscow   VEB Arena, home of PFC CSKA Moscow VEB Arena, home of PFC CSKA Moscow   VTB Arena, home of FC Dynamo Moscow and HC Dynamo Moscow VTB Arena, home of FC Dynamo Moscow and HC Dynamo Moscow   RZD Arena, home of FC Lokomotiv Moscow RZD Arena, home of FC Lokomotiv Moscow Moscow houses other prominent football, ice hockey, and basketball teams. Because sports organisations in the Soviet Union were once highly centralized, two of the best Union-level teams represented defence and law-enforcing agencies: the Armed Forces (CSKA) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Dinamo). There were army and police teams in most major cities. As a result, Spartak, CSKA, and Dinamo were among the best-funded teams in the USSR. The Irina Viner-Usmanova Gymnastics Palace is located in the Luzniki Olympic Complex. The building works started in 2017 and the opening ceremony took place on June 18, 2019. The investor of the Palace is the billionaire Alisher Usmanov, husband of the former gymnast and gymnastics coach Irina Viner-Usmanova. The total surface of the building is 23,500 m2, which include 3 fitness rooms, locker rooms, rooms reserved for referees and coaches, saunas, a canteen, a cafeteria, 2 ball halls, a Medical center, a hall reserved for journalists, and a hotel for athletes.[139] Because of Moscow's cold local climate, winter sports have a following. Many of Moscow's large parks offer marked trails for skiing and frozen ponds for skating. The Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, which hosted games of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Moscow hosts the annual Kremlin Cup, a popular tennis tournament on both the WTA and ATP tours. It is one of the ten Tier-I events on the women's tour and a host of Russian players feature every year. SC Olimpiyskiy hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, the first and so far the only Eurovision Song Contest arranged in Russia. Slava Moscow is a professional rugby club, competing in the national Professional Rugby League. Former rugby league heavyweights RC Lokomotiv have entered the same league as of 2011. The Luzhniki Stadium also hosted the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens. In bandy, one of the most successful clubs in the world is 20 times Russian League champions Dynamo Moscow. They have also won the World Cup thrice and European Cup six times. MFK Dinamo Moskva is one of the major futsal clubs in Europe, having won the Futsal Champions League title once. When Russia was selected to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the Luzhniki Stadium got an increased capacity, by almost 10,000 new seats, in addition to a further two stadiums that have been built: the Dynamo Stadium, and the Spartak Stadium, although the first one later was dismissed from having World Cup matches. Football clubs Club Founded League League Rank Stadium Spartak Moscow 1922 Premier League 1st Otkrytiye Arena CSKA Moscow 1911 Premier League 1st VEB Arena Lokomotiv Moscow 1923 Premier League 1st RZD Arena Dynamo Moscow 1923 Premier League 1st VTB Arena Torpedo Moscow 1924 Premier League 1st Eduard Streltsov Stadium Veles Moscow 2016 FNL 2nd Avangard Stadium Rodina Moscow 2015 FNL 2nd Spartakovets Stadium Entertainment See also: List of shopping malls in Moscow Arbat Street, in the historical centre of Moscow The city is full of clubs, restaurants, and bars. Tverskaya Street is also one of the busiest shopping streets in Moscow. The adjoining Tretyakovsky Proyezd, also south of Tverskaya Street, in Kitai-gorod, is host to upmarket boutique stores such as Bulgari, Tiffany & Co., Armani, Prada and Bentley.[140] Nightlife in Moscow has moved on since Soviet times and today the city has many of the world's largest nightclubs.[141] Clubs, bars, creative spaces and restaurants-turned-into-dancefloors are flooding Moscow streets with new openings every year. The hottest area is located around the old chocolate factory, where bars, nightclubs, galleries, cafés and restaurants are placed.[142] Dream Island is an amusement park in Moscow that opened on February 29, 2020.[143][144] It is the largest indoor theme park in Europe. The park covers 300,000 square meters. During the park's construction, 150 acres of nature trees unique and rare animals and birds and plants on the peninsula were destroyed. The appearance is in the style of a fairytale castle similar to Disneyland. The park has 29 unique attractions with many rides, as well as pedestrian malls with fountains and cycle paths. The complex includes a landscaped park along with a concert hall, a cinema, a hotel, a children's sailing school, restaurants, and shops. Authorities Moscow authorities See also: Government of Moscow, Mayor of Moscow, Moscow City Duma, and Charter of the city of Moscow Government of Moscow According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, Moscow is an independent federal subject of the Russian Federation, the so-called city of federal importance. The Mayor of Moscow is the leading official in the executive, leading the Government of Moscow, which is the highest organ of executive power. The Moscow City Duma is the City Duma (city council or local parliament) and local laws must be approved by it. It includes 45 members who are elected for a five-year term on Single-mandate constituency basis. From 2006 to 2012, direct elections of the mayor were not held due to changes in the Charter of the city of Moscow, the mayor was appointed by presidential decree. The first direct elections from the time of the 2003 vote were to be held after the expiration of the current mayor in 2015, however, in connection with his resignation of his own free will, they took place in September 2013. Local administration is carried out through eleven prefectures, uniting the districts of Moscow into administrative districts on a territorial basis, and 125 regional administrations. According to the law "On the organization of local self-government in the city of Moscow", since the beginning of 2003, the executive bodies of local self-government are municipalities, representative bodies are municipal assemblies, whose members are elected in accordance with the Charter of the intracity municipality. Federal authorities See also: White House (Moscow) and State Duma The House of the Government of the Russian Federation In Moscow, as in a city endowed with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the legislative, executive, and judicial federal authorities of the country are located, with the exception of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, which has been located in Saint Petersburg since 2008. The supreme executive authority - the Government of the Russian Federation - is located in the House of the Government of the Russian Federation on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment in the center of Moscow. The State Duma sits on Okhotny Ryad. The Federation Council is located in a building on Bolshaya Dmitrovka. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Court of Arbitration of the Russian Federation are also located in Moscow. In addition, the Moscow Kremlin is the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation. The president's working residence in the Kremlin is located in the Senate Palace. Safety A BMW 5 Series of the Moscow Police on patrol According to the ranking of the safest cities made by The Economist Moscow occupies the 37th position with a score of 68,5 points percent.[145] The general level of crime is quite low.[146] More than 170,000 surveillance cameras in Moscow are connected to the facial recognition system. The authorities recognized the successful two-month experiment with automatic recognition of faces, gender, and age of people in real-time - and then they deployed the system to the whole city. The network of video surveillance unites access video cameras (95% of residential apartment buildings in the capital), cameras in the territory and in buildings of schools and kindergartens, at the MCC stations, stadiums, public transport stops, and bus stations, in parks, underground passages.[147] The emergency numbers are the same as in all the other regions of Russia: 112 is the Single Emergency Number, 101 is the number of the Fire Service and Ministry of Emergency Situations, 102 is the Police one, 103 is the ambulance one, 104 is the Emergency Gas number.[148] Moscow's EMS is the second most efficient one among the world's megacities, as reported by PwC during the presentation of the international study Analysis of EMS Efficiency in Megacities of the World.[149] Administrative divisions Main article: Administrative divisions of Moscow Federal city of Moscow Coat of arms of Moscow City administrative divisions 12 City districts 125 City settlements 21 Moscow is divided into 12 administrative districts: Moscow all districts.svg Central Administrative Okrug Northern Administrative Okrug North-Eastern Administrative Okrug Eastern Administrative Okrug South-Eastern Administrative Okrug Southern Administrative Okrug South-Western Administrative Okrug Western Administrative Okrug North-Western Administrative Okrug Zelenogradsky Administrative Okrug Novomoskovsky Administrative Okrug Troitsky Administrative Okrug Territorial change of Moscow from 1922 to 1995 The entire city of Moscow is headed by one mayor (Sergey Sobyanin). The city of Moscow is divided into twelve administrative okrugs and 125 districts. The Russian capital's town-planning development began to show as early as the 12th century when the city was founded. The central part of Moscow grew by consolidating with suburbs in line with medieval principles of urban development when strong fortress walls would gradually spread along the circle streets of adjacent new settlements. The first circular defence walls set the trajectory of Moscow's rings, laying the groundwork for the future planning of the Russian capital. The following fortifications served as the city's circular defense boundaries at some point in history: the Kremlin walls, Zemlyanoy Gorod (Earthwork Town), the Kamer-Kollezhsky Rampart, the Garden Ring, and the small railway ring. The Moscow Ring Road (MKAD) has been Moscow's boundary since 1960. Also in the form of a circle are the main Moscow subway line, the Ring Line, and the so-called Third Automobile Ring, which was completed in 2005. Hence, the characteristic radial-circle planning continues to define Moscow's further development. However, contemporary Moscow has also engulfed a number of territories outside the MKAD, such as Solntsevo, Butovo, and the town of Zelenograd. A part of Moscow Oblast's territory was merged into Moscow on July 1, 2012; as a result, Moscow is no longer fully surrounded by Moscow Oblast and now also has a border with Kaluga Oblast.[150] In all, Moscow gained about 1,500 square kilometers (580 sq mi) and 230,000 inhabitants. Moscow's Mayor Sergey Sobyanin lauded the expansion that will help Moscow and the neighboring region, a "mega-city" of twenty million people, to develop "harmonically."[57] All administrative okrugs and districts have their own coats of arms and flags as well as individual heads of the area. In addition to the districts, there are Territorial Units with Special Status. These usually include areas with small or no permanent populations. Such is the case with the All-Russia Exhibition Centre, the Botanical Garden, large parks, and industrial zones. In recent years, some territories have been merged with different districts. There are no ethnic-specific regions in Moscow, as in the Chinatowns that exist in some North American and East Asian cities. And although districts are not designated by income, as with most cities, those areas that are closer to the city center, metro stations or green zones are considered more prestigious.[151] Moscow also hosts some of the government bodies of Moscow Oblast, although the city itself is not a part of the oblast.[152] Economy See also: Economy of Russia Overview Largest private companies based in Moscow (ranked by 2019 revenues) Moscow corporation Russia 1 Lukoil 1 2 X5 Retail Group 3 3 Novatek 6 4 Nornickel 9 5 UC Rusal 11 6 Sibur 13 7 SUEK 15 8 MTS 17 9 Metalloinvest 18 10 EuroChem 21 11 MegaFon 22 12 M.video 24 13 TMK 25 14 Mechel 26 Source: Forbes[153] Moscow International Business Center, one of the largest financial centres of Europe and the world Moscow has one of the largest municipal economies in Europe and it accounts more than one-fifth of Russia's gross domestic product (GDP).[154] As of 2021, the GRP of Moscow reached almost ₽24.5 trillion(US$332 billion).[155] GMP of Moscow Region was ₽31.3 trillion or around US$425 billion. Moscow Exchange The average gross monthly wage in the city is ₽123,688[156] (US$2,000), which is around twice the national average of ₽66,572 (US$1,000), and one of the highest among the federal subjects of Russia. Moscow is home to the third-highest number of billionaires of any city in the world,[157] and has the highest number of billionaires of any city in Europe. It is the financial center of Russia and home to the country's largest banks and many of its largest companies, such as oil giant Rosneft. Moscow accounts for 17% of retail sales in Russia and for 13% of all construction activity in the country.[158][159] Since the 1998 Russian financial crisis, business sectors in Moscow have shown exponential rates of growth. Many new business centers and office buildings have been built in recent years, but Moscow still experiences shortages in office space. As a result, many former industrial and research facilities are being reconstructed to become suitable for office use. Overall, economic stability has improved in recent years; nonetheless, crime and corruption still hinder business development. Industry Primary industries in Moscow include the chemical, metallurgy, food, textile, furniture, energy production, software development and machinery industries. The Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant is one of the world's leading producers of military and civil helicopters. Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center produces various space equipment, including modules for space stations Mir, Salyut and the ISS as well as Proton launch vehicles and military ICBMs. Sukhoi, Ilyushin, Mikoyan, Tupolev and Yakovlev aircraft design bureaus also situated in Moscow. NPO Energomash, producing the rocket engines for Russian and American space programs, as well as Lavochkin design bureau, which built fighter planes during WWII, but switched to space probes since the Space Race, are in nearby Khimki, an independent city in Moscow Oblast that have largely been enclosed by Moscow from its sides. Automobile plants ZiL and AZLK, as well as the Voitovich Rail Vehicle plant, are situated in Moscow and Metrovagonmash metro wagon plant is located just outside the city limits. The Poljot Moscow watch factory produces military, professional and sport watches well known in Russia and abroad. Yuri Gagarin in his trip into space used "Shturmanskie" produced by this factory. The Electrozavod factory was the first transformer factory in Russia. The Kristall distillery[160] is the oldest distillery in Russia producing vodka types, including "Stolichnaya" while wines are produced at Moscow wine plants, including the Moscow Interrepublican Vinery.[161] The Moscow Jewelry Factory[162] and the Jewellerprom[163] are producers of jewelry in Russia; Jewellerprom used to produce the exclusive Order of Victory, awarded to those aiding the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II. There are other industries located just outside the city of Moscow, as well as microelectronic industries in Zelenograd, including Ruselectronics companies. Gazprom, the largest extractor of natural gas in the world and the largest Russian company, has head offices also in Moscow, as well as other oil, gas, and electricity companies. Moscow hosts headquarters of the many of telecommunication and technology companies, including 1C, ABBYY, Beeline, Kaspersky Lab, Mail.Ru Group, MegaFon, MTS, Rambler&Co, Rostelecom, Yandex, and Yota. Some industry is being transferred out of the city to improve the ecological state of the city. Cost of living See also: Hotels in Moscow Tretyakovsky Proyezd Nikolskaya Street During Soviet times, apartments were lent to people by the government according to the square meters-per-person norm (some groups, including people's artists, heroes, and prominent scientists had bonuses according to their honors). Private ownership of apartments was limited until the 1990s when people were permitted to secure property rights to their inhabited places. Since the Soviet era, estate owners have had to pay the service charge for their residences, a fixed amount based on persons per living area. The price of real estate in Moscow continues to rise. Today, one could expect to pay $4,000 on average per square meter (11 sq ft) on the outskirts of the city[164] or US$6,500–$8,000 per square meter in a prestigious district. The price sometimes may exceed US$40,000 per square meter in a flat.[165][166][167] It costs about US$1,200 per month to rent a one-bedroom apartment and about US$1,000 per month for a studio in the center of Moscow. A typical one-bedroom apartment is about thirty square metres (320 square feet), a typical two-bedroom apartment is forty-five square metres (480 square feet), and a typical three-bedroom apartment is seventy square metres (750 square feet). Many cannot move out of their apartments, especially if a family lives in a two-room apartment originally granted by the state during the Soviet era. Some city residents have attempted to cope with the cost of living by renting their apartments while staying in dachas (country houses) outside the city. In 2006, Mercer Human Resources Consulting named Moscow the world's most expensive city for expatriate employees, ahead of perennial winner Tokyo, due to the stable Russian ruble as well as increasing housing prices within the city.[168] Moscow also ranked first in the 2007 edition and 2008 edition of the survey. However, Tokyo has overtaken Moscow as the most expensive city in the world, placing Moscow at third behind Osaka in second place.[169] In 2008, Moscow ranked top on the list of most expensive cities for the third year in a row.[170] In 2014, according to Forbes, Moscow was ranked the 9th most expensive city in the world. Forbes ranked Moscow the 2nd most expensive city the year prior.[171] In 2019 the Economist Intelligence Unit's Worldwide Cost of Living survey put Moscow to 102nd place in the biannual ranking of 133 most expensive cities.[172] ECA International's Cost of Living 2019 Survey ranked Moscow at number 120 among 482 locations worldwide.[173] Public utilities Heating The heating of buildings in Moscow, like in other cities in Russia is done using central heating system. Before 2004, state unitary enterprises were responsible to produce and supply heat to the clients by the operation of heating stations and heating distribution system of Mosgorteplo, Mosteploenergo, and Teploremontnaladka which gave service to the heating substations in the north-eastern part of the city. Clients were divided between the various enterprises based on their geographical location. A major reform launched in 2004 consolidated the various companies under the umbrella of MIPC which became the municipal heat supplier. Its subsidiaries were the newly transformed Joint-stock companies. The city's main source of heating is the power station of Mosenergo which was reformed in 2005, when around ten subsidiaries were separated from it. One of the newly independent companies was the District Heating Network Company (MTK) (Russian: Московская теплосетевая компания). In 2007 the Government of Moscow bought controlling stakes in the company.[174] City services "Our city" is a geo-information portal created in 2011 under the mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin with the aim of building a constructive dialogue between Moscow residents and the city's executive authorities. The portal is being developed by the State Public Institution "New Management Technologies" together with the Moscow Department of Information Technologies. In its 10 years of operation, more than 1.7 million users have joined the portal, and during this time it has become an effective tool for monitoring the state of urban infrastructure.[175] Education Further information: Education in Russia Moscow State University There are 1,696 high schools in Moscow, as well as 91 colleges.[111] Besides these, there are 222 institutions of higher education, including 60 state universities[111] and the Lomonosov Moscow State University, which was founded in 1755.[176] The main university building located in Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills) is 240 metres (790 ft) tall and when completed, was the tallest building on the continent.[177] The university has over 30,000 undergraduate and 7,000 postgraduate students, who have a choice of twenty-nine faculties and 450 departments for study. Additionally, approximately 10,000 high school students take courses at the university, while over two thousand researchers work. The Moscow State University library contains over nine million books, making it one of the largest libraries in all of Russia. Its acclaim throughout the international academic community has meant that over 11,000 international students have graduated from the university, with many coming to Moscow to become fluent in the Russian language.[178] The I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University named after Ivan Sechenov or formerly known as Moscow Medical Academy (1stMSMU) is a medical university situated in Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1785 as the faculty of the Moscow State University. It is a Russian Federal Agency for Health and Social Development. It is one of the largest medical universities in Russia and Europe. More than 9200 students are enrolled in 115 academic departments. It offers courses for post-graduate studies. Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University The Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University (formerly known as Russian State Medical University) is a medical higher education institution in Moscow, Russia founded in 1906. It is fully accredited and recognized by Russia's Ministry of Education and Science and is currently under the authority of the Ministry of Health and Social Development. Named after Russian surgeon and pedagogue N.I. Pirogov (1810-1888), it is one of the largest medical institutions and the first university in Russia to allow women to acquire degrees. Moscow is one of the financial centers of the Russian Federation and CIS countries and is known for its business schools. Among them are the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation; Plekhanov Russian University of Economics; The State University of Management, and the National Research University - Higher School of Economics. They offer undergraduate degrees in management, finance, accounting, marketing, real estate, and economic theory, as well as Masters programs and MBAs. Most of them have branches in other regions of Russia and countries around the world. The main building of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University Bauman Moscow State Technical University, founded in 1830, is located in the center of Moscow and provides 18,000 undergraduate and 1,000 postgraduate students with an education in science and engineering, offering technical degrees.[179] The Moscow Conservatory building The Moscow Conservatory,[180] founded in 1866, is a prominent music school in Russia whose graduates include Sergey Rachmaninoff, Alexander Scriabin, Aram Khachaturian, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Alfred Schnittke. The Russian State Institute of Cinematography, the world's oldest film school The Gerasimov All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography, abbreviated as VGIK, is the world's oldest educational institution in Cinematography, founded by Vladimir Gardin in 1919. Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin, and Aleksey Batalov were among its most distinguished professors and Mikhail Vartanov, Sergei Parajanov, Andrei Tarkovsky, Nikita Mikhalkov, Eldar Ryazanov, Alexander Sokurov, Yuriy Norshteyn, Aleksandr Petrov, Vasily Shukshin, Konrad Wolf among graduates. Moscow State Institute of International Relations, founded in 1944, remains Russia's best- known school of international relations and diplomacy, with six schools focused on international relations. Approximately 4,500 students make up the university's student body and over 700,000 Russian and foreign-language books—of which 20,000 are considered rare—can be found in the library of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.[181] Other institutions are the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, also known as Phystech, the Fyodorov Eye Microsurgery Complex, founded in 1988 by Russian eye surgeon Svyatoslav Fyodorov, the Moscow Aviation Institute, the Moscow Motorway Institute (State Technical University), and the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology has taught numerous Nobel Prize winners, including Pyotr Kapitsa, Nikolay Semyonov, Lev Landau and Alexander Prokhorov, while the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute is known for its research in nuclear physics.[182] The highest Russian military school is the Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Although Moscow has a number of famous Soviet-era higher educational institutions, most of which are more oriented towards engineering or the fundamental sciences, in recent years Moscow has seen a growth in the number of commercial and private institutions that offer classes in business and management. Many state institutions have expanded their education scope and introduced new courses or departments. Institutions in Moscow, as well as the rest of post-Soviet Russia, have begun to offer new international certificates and postgraduate degrees, including the Master of Business Administration. Student exchange programs with numerous countries, specially with the rest of Europe, have also become widespread in Moscow's universities, while schools within the Russian capital also offer seminars, lectures, and courses for corporate employees and businessmen. Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow is one of the largest science centers in Russia. The headquarters of the Russian Academy of Sciences are located in Moscow as well as research and applied science institutions. The Kurchatov Institute, Russia's leading research and development institution in the fields of nuclear energy, where the first nuclear reactor in Europe was built, the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems and Steklov Institute of Mathematics are all situated in Moscow. There are 452 libraries in the city, including 168 for children.[111] The Russian State Library,[183] founded in 1862, is the national library of Russia. The library is home to over 275 km (171 mi) of shelves and 42 million items, including over 17 million books and serial volumes, 13 million journals, 350,000 music scores and sound records, and 150,000 maps, making it the largest library in Russia and one of the largest in the world. Items in 247 languages account for 29% of the collection.[184][185] The State Public Historical Library, founded in 1863, is the largest library specialising in Russian history. Its collection contains four million items in 112 languages (including 47 languages of the former USSR), mostly on Russian and world history, heraldry, numismatics, and the history of science.[186] In regard to primary and secondary education, in 2011, Clifford J. Levy of The New York Times wrote, "Moscow has some strong public schools, but the system as a whole is dispiriting, in part because it is being corroded by the corruption that is a post-Soviet scourge. Parents often pay bribes to get their children admitted to better public schools. There are additional payoffs for good grades."[187] Transportation Main article: Transportation in Moscow Metro Main article: Moscow Metro Moscow Metro route map with planned stations Mayakovskaya station opened in 1938. The Moscow Metro system is famous for its art, murals, mosaics, and ornate chandeliers. It started operation in 1935 and immediately became the centrepiece of the transportation system. More than that it was a Stalinist device to awe and reward the populace, and give them an appreciation of Soviet realist art. It became the prototype for future Soviet large-scale technologies. Lazar Kaganovich was in charge; he designed the subway so that citizens would absorb the values and ethos of Stalinist civilisation as they rode. The artwork of the 13 original stations became nationally and internationally famous. For example, the Sverdlov Square subway station featured porcelain bas-reliefs depicting the daily life of the Soviet peoples, and the bas-reliefs at the Dynamo Stadium sports complex glorified sports and the physical prowess of the powerful new "Homo Sovieticus" (Soviet man).[188] The metro was touted as the symbol of the new social order—a sort of Communist cathedral of engineering modernity.[189] Soviet workers did the labour and the artwork, but the main engineering designs, routes, and construction plans were handled by specialists recruited from the London Underground. The Britons called for tunneling instead of the "cut-and-cover" technique, the use of escalators instead of lifts, and designed the routes and the rolling stock.[190] The paranoia of Stalin and the NKVD was evident when the secret police arrested numerous British engineers for espionage—that is for gaining an in-depth knowledge of the city's physical layout. Engineers for the Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company were given a show trial and deported in 1933, ending the role of British business in the USSR.[191] Today, the Moscow Metro comprises twelve lines, mostly underground with a total of 203 stations. The Metro is one of the deepest subway systems in the world; for instance, the Park Pobedy station, completed in 2003, at 84 metres (276 ft) underground, has the longest escalators in Europe. The Moscow Metro is the busiest metro system in Europe, as well as one of the world's busiest metro systems, serving about ten million passengers daily (300,000,000 people every month).[192] Facing serious transportation problems, Moscow has plans for expanding its Metro. In 2016, the authorities launched a new circle metro railway that contributed to solving transportation issues, namely daily congestion at Koltsevaya Line.[193] Due to the treatment of Metro stations as possible canvas for art, characterized by the fact that workers of Moscow would get to see them every day, many Stalin-era metro stations were built in different "custom" designs (where each station's design would be, initially, a massive installation on a certain theme. For example, Elektrozavodskaya station was themed solely after nearby lightbulb factory and ceramic ribbed lightbulb sockets);[194] the tradition of "Grand Designs" and, basically, decorating metro stations as single-themed installations, was restored in late 1979. More recently, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin has introduced comforts ranging from WiFi and USB ports and Apple Pay — while opening new stations at a breakneck pace. Moscow's metro is one of the world's busiest, handling 2.6 billion passengers in 2019.[195] In the Russian capital, there are over 21.5 thousand Wi-Fi access points, in student dormitories, in parks, cultural and sports institutions, and within the Garden Ring and the Third Transport Ring. From September 2020 to August 2021, 1,700 new access points to urban Wi-Fi were launched in Moscow.[196] The structure of the Wi-Fi network allows citizens to use the Internet without re-authorization.[197] Monorail Two trains of the Moscow Monorail Main article: Moscow Monorail The Moscow Metro operates a short monorail line (line 13). The line connects Timiryazevskaya metro station and Ulitsa Sergeya Eisensteina, passing close to VDNH (and Line 6 Metro station "V.D.N.Kh."). The line opened in 2004. It accepts overgound interchanges, no additional fare is needed if a ride was spent at Moscow Metro within previous 90 minutes. Bus, trolleybus and electric bus Main article: Electric buses in Moscow Moscow has the largest fleet of electric buses in Europe, with 500 operating as of October 2020.[198] As Metro stations outside the city center are far apart in comparison to other cities, up to 4 kilometres (2.5 mi), a bus network radiates from each station to the surrounding residential zones. Moscow has a bus terminal for long-range and intercity passenger buses (Central Bus Terminal) with a daily turnover of about 25 thousand passengers serving about 40% of long-range bus routes in Moscow.[199] Every major street in the city is served by at least one bus route. Many of these routes are doubled by a trolleybus route and have trolley wires over them. With the total line length of almost 600 kilometres (370 miles) of a single wire, 8 depots, 104 routes, and 1740 vehicles, the Moscow trolleybus system was the largest in the world. But municipal authority, headed by Sergey Sobyanin, began to destroy the trolleybus system in Moscow in 2014 due the planned replacement of trolleybuses by electric buses. In 2018 Moscow trolleybus system has only 4 depots and dozens of kilometers of unused wires. Almost all trolleybus wires inside Garden Ring (Sadovoe Koltso) were cut in 2016–2017 due to the reconstruction of central streets ("Moya Ulitsa"). Opened on November 15, 1933, it is also the world's 6th oldest operating trolleybus system. In 2018 the vehicle companies Kamaz and GAZ have won the Mosgortrans tender for delivering 200 electric buses and 62 ultra-fast charging stations to the city transport system. The manufacturers will be responsible for the quality and reliable operation of the buses and charging stations for the next 15 years. The city will be procuring only electric buses as of 2021, replacing the diesel bus fleet gradually. According to expectations, Moscow will become the leader amongst the European cities in terms of electric and gas fuel share in public transport by 2019.[200] All bus stations and terminals of Moscow are now connected to free Wi-Fi. One may use it in international bus stations Salaryevo, South Gate and North Gate, and in bus terminals Varshavskaya and Orekhovo. As much as 48 hot spots were installed there.[201] Moscow cable car Cable cars passing across the Moskva River and the Luzhniki Stadium Main article: Moskva River cable car On November 26, 2018, the mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin took part in the ceremony to open the cable car above the Moskva River. The cable car will connect the Luzhniki sports complex with Sparrow Hills and Kosygin Street. The journey from the well-known viewpoint on Vorobyovy Gory to Luzhniki Stadium will last for five minutes instead of 20 minutes that one would have to spend on the same journey by car. The cable car will work every day from 11 a.m. till 11 p.m. The cable car is 720 meters (2,360 ft) long. It was built to transport 1,600 passengers per hour in all weathers. There are 35 closed capsules designed by Porsche Design Studio to transport passengers. The booths are equipped with media screens, LED lights, hooks for bikes, skis, and snowboards. Passengers will also be able to use audio guides in English, German, Chinese and Russian. Tram Main article: Trams in Moscow A Vityaz-M tram passing by the Tverskaya Zastava Square Moscow has an extensive tram system, which first opened in 1899.[202] The newest line was built in 1984. Its daily usage by Muscovites is low, making up for approximately 5% of trips because many vital connections in the network have been withdrawn. Trams still remain important in some districts as feeders to Metro stations. The trams also provide important cross-links between metro lines, for example between Universitet station of Sokolnicheskaya Line (#1 red line) and Profsoyuznaya station of Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Line (#6 orange line) or between Voykovskaya and Strogino. Some routes used to connect downtown with sleep districts, like route 3. Tram map of Moscow There are three tram networks in the city: Krasnopresnenskoye depot network with the westernmost point at Strogino (depot location) and the easternmost point near platform Dmitrovskaya. This network became separated in 1973, but until 1997 it could easily have been reconnected by about one kilometre (fifty chains) of track and three switches. The network has the highest usage in Moscow and no weak points based on turnover except to-depot lane (passengers serviced by bus) and tram ring at Dmitrovskaya (because now it is neither a normal transfer point nor a repair terminal). The Apakov depot services the south-western part from the Varshavsky lane – Simferopolsky boulevard in the east to the Universitet station in the west and Boulevard lane at the center. This network is connected only by the four-way Dubininskaya and Kozhevnicheskaya streets. A second connection by Vostochnaya (Eastern) street was withdrawn in 1987 due to a fire at the Dinamo plant and has not been recovered, and remains lost (Avtozavodsky bridge) at 1992. The network may be serviced anyway by another depot (now route 35, 38). Main three depot networks with railway gate and tram-repair plant. In addition, tram advocates have suggested that the new rapid transit services (metro to City, Butovo light metro, Monorail) would be more effective as at-grade tram lines and that the problems with trams are only due to poor management and operation, not the technical properties of trams. New tram models have been developed for the Moscow network despite the lack of expansion. Taxi Commercial taxi services and route taxis are in widespread use. In the mid-2010s, service platforms such as Yandex.Taxi, Uber and Gett displaced many private drivers and small service providers and were in 2015 servicing more than 50% of all taxi orders in Moscow.[203][204] Russian tech firm Yandex is testing self-driving taxis in Moscow. Yandex's fleet of around 170 driverless cars has travelled more than 14 million kilometres. Robotaxis will available through the company's Yandex.Go application in Yasenevo district.[205] Railway Komsomolskaya Square known as Three Station Square thanks to three ornate rail terminal situated there: Leningradsky, Yaroslavsky, and Kazansky Several train stations serve the city. Moscow's ten rail terminals (or vokzals) are: Belorussky Rail Terminal Kazansky Rail Terminal Kiyevsky Rail Terminal Kursky Rail Terminal Leningradsky Rail Terminal Paveletsky Rail Terminal Rizhsky Rail Terminal Savyolovsky Rail Terminal Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal Vostochny railway Terminal The high-speed Sapsan train links Moscow with Saint Petersburg. The terminals are located close to the city center, along with the metro ringline 5 or close to it, and connect to a metro line to the centre of town. Each station handles trains from different parts of Europe and Asia.[206] There are many smaller railway stations in Moscow. As train tickets are cheap, they are the preferred mode of travel for Russians, especially when departing to Saint Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city. Moscow is the western terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which traverses nearly 9,300 kilometres (5,800 mi) of Russian territory to Vladivostok on the Pacific coast. Suburbs and satellite cities are connected by commuter elektrichka (electric rail) network. Elektrichkas depart from each of these terminals to the nearby (up to 140 km or 87 mi) large railway stations. During the 2010s, the Little Ring of the Moscow Railway was converted to be used for frequent passenger service; it is fully integrated with Moscow Metro; the passenger service started on September 10, 2016. A connecting railway line on the North side of the town connects Belorussky terminal with other railway lines. This is used by some suburban trains. Moscow Central Circle "Lastochka" train on "Luzhniki" station (Line 14) The Moskovskaya Okruzhnaya Zheleznaya Doroga formed a ring around the now-downtown Moscow since 1903, but only served as a non-electrified, fueled locomotive-only railway prior to reconstruction into MCC in 2010's. The Moscow Central Circle is a 54-kilometre-long (34 mi) urban-metro railway orbital line that encircles historical Moscow. It was built alongside Little Ring of the Moscow Railway, taking some of its tracks into itself as well. M.C.C. was opened for passenger use on September 10, 2016. MOZD is integrated as "Line 14 of Moscow Metro", and, while using railway-sized trains, can be perceived as "S-train-design circle line". The line is operated by the Moscow Government owned company MKZD through the Moscow Metro, with the Federal Government owned Russian Railways selected as the operation subcontractor. The track infrastructure and most platforms are owned by Russian Railways, while MKZD owns most station buildings. However, in S-bahn way, Moscow unified tickets "Ediniiy" and "Troika" are accepted by MCC stations. There is one zero-fee interchange for any ticket used on Moscow Metro station less than 90 minutes before entering an MCC station (and vice versa: a passenger of MCC gets 1 free interchange to Moscow Metro within 90 minutes after entering MCC station) Moscow Central Diameters An EG2Tv train arriving at the Moscow Belorussky railway station Map of the Moscow Central Diameters Another system, which forms "genuine S-Bahn" as in "suburbia-city-suburbia"-designed railway, is the Moscow Central Diameters, a pass-through railways system, created by constructing bypasses from "vokzals" final stations (e.g. by avoiding the central stations of already existing Moscow Railway, used for both intercity and urban-suburban travel before)[207] and forming a train line across Moscow's centre. Out of 5 projected lines, the first 2 lines were completed and launched on 2019-11-21 (e.g. November 21, 2019). While using the same rails as "regular" suburban trains to vokzals, MCD trains ("Ivolga" model) got distinguishing features (shape; red cabin, different windows, lesser amount of seats; big red "MЦΔ" train logo). Roads Intersection at Tverskaya Zastava Square There are over 2.6 million cars in the city daily. Recent years have seen growth in the number of cars, which have caused traffic jams and lack of parking space to become major problems. The Moscow Ring Road (MKAD), along with the Third Transport Ring and the canceled Fourth Transport Ring, is one of only three freeways that run within Moscow city limits. Several other roadway systems form concentric circles around the city. Air There are five primary commercial airports serving Moscow: Sheremetyevo (SVO), Domodedovo (DME), Vnukovo (VKO), Zhukovsky (ZIA), Ostafyevo (OSF). Sheremetyevo, the busiest airport in Russia, is ranked as the second-busiest airport in Europe. Sheremetyevo International Airport is the most globally connected of Moscow's airports, handling 60% of all international flights.[208] It is also a home to all SkyTeam members, and the main hub for Aeroflot (itself a member of SkyTeam). Domodedovo International Airport is the leading airport in Russia in terms of passenger throughput and is the primary gateway to long-haul domestic and CIS destinations and its international traffic rivals Sheremetyevo. It is a hub for S7 airlines, and most of OneWorld and Star Alliance members use Domodedovo as their international hub. Vnukovo International Airport handles flights of Turkish Airlines, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi and others. Ostafyevo International Airport caters primarily to business aviation. Moscow's airports vary in distances from the MKAD beltway: Domodedovo is the farthest at 22 km (14 mi); Vnukovo is 11 km (7 mi); Sheremetyevo is 10 km (6 mi); and Ostafievo, the nearest, is about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from MKAD.[208] There are a number of smaller airports close to Moscow (19 in Moscow Oblast) such as Myachkovo Airport, that are intended for private aircraft, helicopters and charters.[209] Water Moscow has two passenger terminals, (South River Terminal and North River Terminal or Rechnoy vokzal), on the river and regular ship routes and cruises along the Moskva and Oka rivers, which are used mostly for entertainment. The North River Terminal, built in 1937, is the main hub for long-range river routes. There are three freight ports serving Moscow. Sharing system See also: Carsharing in Moscow As of 2020, Moscow has the largest fleet of carsharing vehicles in the world, with more than 30,000 cars.[210] Moscow has different vehicle sharing options that are sponsored by the local government. There are several car sharing companies which are in charge of providing cars to the population. To drive the automobiles, the user has to book them through the app of the owning company. In 2018 the mayor Sergey Sobyanin said Moscow's car sharing system has become the biggest in Europe in terms of vehicle fleet.[211] Every day about 25,000 people use this service. In the end of the same year Moscow carsharing became the second in the world in therms of fleet with 16.5K available vehicles.[212] Another sharing system is bike sharing (Velobike) of a fleet formed by 3000 traditional and electrical bicycles.[213] The Delisamokat is a new sharing service that provides electrical scooters.[214] There are companies that provide different vehicles to the population in proximity to Moscow's big parks. Future development The 2020 development concept of Moscow International Business Center and its adjacent territory implies the construction of even more skyscrapers during the period of 2020–2027.[215][216] In 1992, the Moscow government began planning a projected new part of central Moscow, the Moscow International Business Center, with the goal of creating a zone, the first in Russia, and in all of Eastern Europe,[217] that will combine business activity, living space and entertainment. Situated in Presnensky District and located at the Third Ring, the Moscow City area is under intense development. The construction of the MIBC takes place on the Krasnopresnenskaya embankment. The whole project takes up to one square kilometre (250 acres). The area is the only spot in downtown Moscow that can accommodate a project of this magnitude. Today, most of the buildings there are old factories and industrial complexes. The Federation Tower, completed in 2016, is the second-tallest building in Europe. It is planned to include a water park and other recreational facilities; business, office, entertainment, and residential buildings, a transport network and a new site for the Moscow government. The construction of four new metro stations in the territory has been completed, two of which have opened and two others are reserved for future metro lines crossing MIBC, some additional stations were planned. A rail shuttle service, directly connecting MIBC with the Sheremetyevo International Airport is also planned. Major thoroughfares through MIBC are the Third Ring and Kutuzovsky Prospekt. Three metro stations were initially planned for the Filyovskaya Line. The station Delovoi Tsentr opened in 2005 and was later renamed Vystavochnaya in 2009. The branch extended to the Mezhdunarodnaya station in 2006, and all work on the third station, Dorogomilovskaya (between Kiyevskaya and Delovoi Tsentr), has been postponed. There are plans to extend the branch as far as the Savyolovskaya station, on the Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Line. Line 4 of Moscow Metro had the longest time intervals between train arrivals (approximately 8 minutes for Mezhdunarodnaya and Vystavochnaya branch of line 4) throughout the 2010s. However, Vystavochnaya has been expanded with Line 8A platforms (segment of future Line 11), and Mezhdunarodnaya has been upgraded with line 14 platform. The cellphone service provider MTS announced on March 5, 2021, that they would begin the country's first pilot 5G network in Moscow. 14 hotspots were positioned across the city's main tourist attractions, including Lubyanka Square near Red Square, the Moscow City financial district and the VDNKh exhibition center.[218] Media See also: Media of Russia Moscow is home to nearly all of Russia's nationwide television networks, radio stations, newspapers, and magazines. Newspapers Further information: List of newspapers in Russia English-language media include The Moscow Times and Moscow News, which are, respectively, the largest[219] and oldest English-language weekly newspapers in all of Russia. Kommersant, Vedomosti and Novaya Gazeta are Russian-language media headquartered in Moscow. Kommersant and Vedomosti are among the country's leading and oldest Russian-language business newspapers. TV and radio See also: Television in Russia The RTRN building Other media in Moscow include the Echo of Moscow, the first Soviet and Russian private news radio and information agency, and NTV, one of the first privately owned Russian television stations. The total number of radio stations in Moscow in the FM band is near 50. Moscow television networks: Channel One Russia-1 Russia-2 NTV TV Tsentr Channel 5 Rossiya Kultura Russia-24 Public Television of Russia REN TV STS TNT TV-3 Zvezda Domashny Carousel Peretz Euronews 2x2 Pyatnica! Disney Channel RBC Moskva 24 Dozhd RU.TV Petersburg – Channel 5 Moscow radio stations: "Russian (Russkoye) Radio" "Europa Plus" "DFM" "NRJ (Russia)" "Radio Maximum" "Voice of Russia (in English)" "Radio Freedom (Svoboda)" "Megapolis FM" "Radio Kultura (Culture)" "Pioneer FM" "Zvezda" "Komsomolskaya Pravda" "Orpheus" "Monte Carlo" "Love Radio" "The Main" Главная "Govorit Moskva" "Radio Dacha" "Nashe Radio" "Radio 7" "Humor FM" "Retro FM" "Ultra" "Keks FM" "Carnival" "Dobrye Pesni (Good Songs)" "Voyage FM" "Kino FM" "Finam FM" "First Popular" "Politseiskaya Volna (Police Wave)" "Radio Sport" "Radio Rossii" "Radio Podmoskovye" "Radiocompany Moscow" "UFM" "Mayak" "Business FM" "Autoradio" "Moya Semia (My Family)" "XFM" "Fresh Radio" "Silver Rain" "Chanson" "M-Radio" "Orphey" "Echo of Moscow" "Radio Jazz" "Classic Radio" "Vesti FM" "City FM" "Relax FM" "Kommersant FM" "Rock FM" "Children's Radio" "Radio Alla" "Best FM" "Next FM" "Hit FM" "Radio Record" "Capital FM Moscow" Notable people Main article: List of people from Moscow Further information: Category:People from Moscow Alexander Pushkin, the founder of modern Russian literature was born in Moscow in 1799. Alexander Pushkin, the founder of modern Russian literature was born in Moscow in 1799.   Fyodor Dostoyevsky was born in Moscow in 1821. Fyodor Dostoyevsky was born in Moscow in 1821.   Alexander Suvorov was born in Moscow in 1730. Alexander Suvorov was born in Moscow in 1730.   Peter the Great was born in Moscow in 1672. Peter the Great was born in Moscow in 1672. International relations See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Russia Twin towns – sister cities Moscow is twinned with: Almaty, Kazakhstan[220] Ankara, Turkey[221] Astana, Kazakhstan[220] Baku, Azerbaijan[222] Bangkok, Thailand[223] Beijing, China[224] Berlin, Germany[225] Bucharest, Romania[226] Buenos Aires, Argentina[227] Cusco, Peru[228] Dubai, United Arab Emirates[229] Ganja, Azerbaijan[230] Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam[231] Jakarta, Indonesia[232] Kharkiv, Ukraine[233] Ljubljana, Slovenia[234] London, United Kingdom[235] Manila, Philippines[236] New Delhi, India[237] Prague, Czech Republic[238] Pyongyang, North Korea[239] Rasht, Iran[240] Reykjavík, Iceland[241] Riga, Latvia[242] Seoul, South Korea[243] Tallinn, Estonia[244] Tashkent, Uzbekistan[245] Tehran, Iran[246] Tokyo, Japan[247] Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia[248] Vilnius, Lithuania[249] Cooperation agreements Moscow has cooperation agreements with: Bangkok, Thailand (1997)[250] Lisbon, Portugal (1997)[251] Madrid, Spain (2006)[252] Tel Aviv, Israel (2001)[253] Tunis, Tunisia (1998)[254] Yerevan, Armenia (1995)[255] Former twin towns and sister cities Brno, Czech Republic (terminated due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine)[256] Chicago, United States (suspended due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine)[257] Düsseldorf, Germany (suspended due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine)[258][259] Kyiv, Ukraine[260] Warsaw, Poland (terminated due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine)[261]
  • Condition: Used
  • Production Technique: ETCHING
  • Style: Russian
  • Type: ETCHING
  • Year of Production: 1988

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