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The Glass Age
This astonishing material has always attracted man, providing him with incredible opportunities – to see through a solid material, to let in sunlight, to give the gift of light. However, mastering glass, giving it volume, achieving complete transparency – man has spent centuries trying to achieve all this. And every breakthrough in this field has created a revolution in architecture and a huge advance in man’s standard of living. Today, it’s used extensively in modern technology. The appearance of LCD screens has pushed the industry towards the development of ultra-thin glass. It’s a new, fascinating challenge for glass manufacturers – glass is becoming ever thinner, and yet ever stronger at the same time. Glass is gaining ground on metal, stone and plastics, it’s finding evermore applications, allowing us to say that the Stone and Iron ages are now being replaced by a new age – the G...
Russian wedding traditions — the ceremonial doll
In Ancient Rus’ dolls served as a type of companion in everyday life. They helped to ensure that peace, health, prosperity and love reigned supreme in every home. Each important event — be it a wedding or the birth of a child — had its own special doll. The Krupenichka doll — named after the Russian word for grain, «krupa» — was considered the most important doll in home. During the harvest it was filled with grain and people believed that if filled to the top, the next year’s harvest was guaranteed to be plentiful. Another doll, the Kubyshka-travnitsa, was made by filling pieces of fabric with yarrow, mint, sage and hops. Such a doll was believed to protect the home and preserve a woman’s beauty and health. The Bird Woman was more of a ceremonial doll. It was made at the end of winter with the goal of encouraging spring’s timely arrival. In village homes there were as many...
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Russian wedding traditions — the ceremonial doll
Nature reserve Island of the gulf of Kandalaksha
There are still a few places on our planet that have remained untouched by mankind, maintaining their pure nature. One such place is the Kandalaksha Nature Reserve on the Kandalaksha Gulf. Here it is nature that reigns strong with only a handful of human guests having visited – mostly defence lawyers and observers. The State Kandalaksha Nature Reserve expanded in Northern Russia. Although it may seem a rigid and cold place at first, the reserve is full of life and splendor. A short trip around parts of the Kandalaksha Reserve and the islands of the White Sea help us understand just why these lands are so carefully preserved, from what and, most important of all, why.
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