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Yuri Molodkovets — the Hermitage's chief photographer
Yury Molodkovets is the head photographer at The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, a treasury of world art. There his primary job is to capture the museum’s paintings and sculptures on film, which will later be printed in various catalogues, posters, albums and postcards. In doing this Molodkovets’ goal is not to add his own interpretation and expression, but rather to catch and transfer the beauty and interpretation the pieces’ original authors hoped to portray. Even though the photographer is subject to such strict conditions, his constant interaction with such world-caliber works have undoubtedly had a strong impact on Molodkovets’ inner world. This is one of the reasons that he considers the Hermitage to be his most important and influential teacher. Molodkovets is a recognised expert at being able to see the art and beauty in the simple things which surround u...
The Uglich Case. The Beginning of The Time of Troubles
The Church of St. Dmitry on the Blood, located in the town of Uglich, is a unique document. It preserves the history of tragic events that took place at the turn of the 17th century, events that have gone down in the history of Russia as “The Time of Troubles.” They lasted 20 years, and almost destroyed the Russian state. Uglich was almost razed from the face of the Earth. Of its 40,000 inhabitants, only 500 survived. And it all began with the death of a single child, Tsarevich Dmitry. The different versions of those events to be found in legends and in the evidence assembled during the investigation in the 17th century, in an RTG film.
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The Uglich Case. The Beginning of The Time of Troubles
A View from On High. The Church Architecture of Ancient Rus
A church is like a model of a perfectly harmonious, resplendent world. And those who built them tried to inspire all visitors to sense the presence of God in it. Russia’s earliest stone churches were created by Byzantine architects in the 10th and 11th centuries. They were followed by many more, designed by Russian architects who interpreted the Byzantine canons in their own way. The exterior appearance of churches is strongly influenced by political and economic changes in society. Novgorod offers a good example of this. As soon as Novgorod completed its transition from a principality to a democratically ruled republic, its majestic cathedrals gave way to small single-dome churches built by merchant communities and neighbourhood residents. Studying the story of church architecture is akin to reading the pages of a book on Russian history. During precarious historic events, suc...
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