The Last Week…

I’ve been having mixed feelings about leaving Russia. I fly home to New York City on May 24th, which means that as of right now I only have five full days left here. Honestly I can’t believe how fast time has flown by. When I think about going home I get excited about seeing my family and friends and sleeping in my own bed. The prospect of food that has flavor and/or spice makes me giddy with happiness. So does the thought of being within walking distance of restaurants with any cuisine I want; just one of the perks of being from New York. I’ve already spoken with my parents and asked for them to take me out for Mexican food as well as make a home-cooked steak the first week I’m back.

For the past two weeks or so I was getting pretty comfortable with the idea of going home. I had the position that yes, I’d like to stay in Russia and work on my Russian and see some new sights, but I’d also be just fine going back to the U.S. Now it’s different. I’m not quite sure how it happened. All I know is that I was sitting on a bus with Sarah today and we passed through a section of town that we had never been to before. At that moment it hit me that we were leaving in less than a week. Perhaps that concept had never fully sunk in before.

I thought about it today and I realized that there is still so much of this city that I have yet to even venture into, and there is so much of Russia that I have yet to experience. Who knows when I will be here again? I’m finally comfortable living here, finally settled in. I don’t get nervous anymore when I talk to people. Granted I’m not very good at Russian but I am still able to get by, which I think is a huge improvement. I almost wish I could stay for another term to work on my speaking now that my comprehension skills have drastically improved and I am finally comfortable engaging in basic conversation. I’m worried about losing my Russian when I get home.

I don’t want to say goodbye to some of my friends here, and then there are other people on the program that I wish I had more time to get to know better. I’m worried about going home and finding that my friends have changed, or that they might not like how I’ve changed or won’t be able to relate to me. I’m worried about how my parents will accept me when I come home. They had a difficult enough time with me when I came back after spending six weeks in India. While Indian culture is even further removed from American culture than Russian, I only spent six weeks there while I have spent four months here. After coming back from India I had severe culture shock and ended up completely changing friend groups. I would really prefer not to go through all the messiness of reverse culture shock, but that may be an inevitability. The worst part is when you come home from a long time abroad and people expect you to be exactly the same as when you left, which is impossible. You might not even realize how much you’ve changed, or even that you’ve changed at all until you notice that people don’t want to accept the way you act and start pining for the old you.

I’m nervous about it all. While yes there are people back in the States that I want to see, I’m getting more uncomfortable knowing that I have a flight on Friday. I don’t want to leave Russia yet. I’m not ready.

Victory Day

This past Thursday, May 9th was Victory Day and all of St. Petersburg was out in full force to celebrate the end of WWII and the defeat of the Nazis. There were two parades; one in the morning in the square in front of the Winter Palace, and then a much larger one in the evening that went down all of Nevsky Prospect. The second parade was the veterans march and it was absolutely mobbed with people. Sarah, Alec, and I got really lucky and managed to snag a spot in the very front row right at the start of the parade so we had an excellent view of the entire procession. Along with the expected members of the military, there were also older veterans from WWII sitting in trucks with their family members, also well as some of the survivors of the Siege of Leningrad. Much to our surprise and amusement we also saw the KPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) tagging on to the end of the parade. The “Cult of Stalin” as we called them all carried signs with hammers and sickles and pictures of the different leaders of the Communist Party on them. There were quite a few pictures of Stalin’s face in the crowd.

I have never seen Russians so happy in public as I did on Victory Day. Everyone was waving flags (many were the flag of the Soviet Union), people were smiling, laughing, shouting out congratulations and thank-you’s to the veterans. Some of the women in the parade were handing out flowers to the people watching or giving balloons to the children. There was one woman who I think was a survivor of the siege who was so overwhelmed that she was sitting and weeping in her truck as she waved to everyone she passed by.

The parade ended at the Palace Square where a stage was set up for performances in honor of the veterans. The show lasted until 10pm. The two columns that stand at the tip of Vasilevsky Island were then lit and fireworks were set off from the cannons in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

The three of us, Sarah, Alec, and I, talked about it all later. While we were all impressed with the day’s events we couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed that there was no equivalent back in the United States. We have Veterans’ Day as a national holiday, but no one every seems to care about it very much. Americans tend to take it for granted and think of it as just a day off from work or school. We might pause for a moment to acknowledge the men and women who fought for our country, but we never truly appreciate them and we don’t even come close to the level of respect that the Russians do. Perhaps it’s because we have not had a war on American soil that has happened in anyone’s life time. All the wars in recent history have been far away and therefore don’t have the same impact they would have if they had taken place at home. Still, we could not help regretting this and wishing that the U.S. had a holiday as celebrated as Russia’s Victory Day.

A Trip to the Russian Countryside

This past weekend we went on a group trip to Pskov, a city in western Russia that lies close to the Estonian border. We stayed about two hours outside of the city in the country within walking distance of Alexander Pushkin’s Mikhailovsky Estate. The area was absolutely beautiful and was the perfect place to spend a couple of days. I think we were all getting tired of the city life in St. Petersburg and were longing to see some nature. Don’t get me wrong, St. Petersburg is a great city with lots to see and many places to explore, but sometimes you just need a break from city life.

Right after we arrived at our hotel, which was more like a motel with several small cabins and a banya (Russian bath house), I went for a hike with a couple of friends. Since the sun doesn’t go down until very late (around 10 or 10:30pm) we were able to stay out for quite a while and get ourselves lost in the forest. I didn’t even mind so much when I got stuck in a bog and had to get pulled out. It was the first time we had seen grass and leaves on trees in Russia and it was the first time we could walk outside without coats, so nothing could make me complain.

Although we didn’t have much time to explore Pskov, I think most of use were happy just travelling around to different nearby villages and seeing the sights there such as the old ruins at Izborsk. For the first time ever I was able to drink water in Russia that hadn’t first been boiled and filtered! One of the attractions in Izborsk is the Slavensky Springs, which are supposed to bring health, love, and beauty to people who drink from it. The water is perfectly clean and safe to drink, which is a rarity here in Russia.

I’m very glad that we were able to leave the city for a bit and experience a different side of Russia. The people that we met there were also much more religious than most of the people I’ve met from St. Petersburg or Moscow. Of course this also makes sense because, aside from the Pushkin estate, Pskov is known for its churches and monasteries. One woman we met was very happy that she could practice her English with us and told us that “it is unfortunate, but Pskov does not get many English-speaking visitors.” I guess most tourists in Russia head straight for the cities. It’s a shame because they really are missing out on some beautiful regions.

Another woman that we met in Izborsk made a comment that I have been thinking about for the past couple of days. She said that Russia was cursed because Russians murdered the last Tzar and his entire family, and that if people would only accept that it was a mistake, then Russia might be saved. I found this religious take on the past ninety years of Russian history intriguing, especially after spending the last few months in an atheistic household. I wonder what my host mother’s response would have been if she had overheard this statement.

All in all it was a good trip. Some people on the program were commenting that they would be content finishing up the program out in the country and not go back to St. Petersburg. Unfortunately my camera died before we even reached Pskov, so I don’t have a single picture to put on this blog.

What is Nationalism?

There’s something that’s been on my mind for a while now.  This entire time I’ve been in Russia the very nature of Russian nationalism has confused me.  When I talk with my host mother she says that she’s proud of her country, that Russia has the best culture in the world.  When I went to the synagogue for Passover dinner back in March the people there shared a similar sentiment. Granted, they were also saying that Judaism was “number one”, but also agreed to a certain extent in Russia’s superiority.  In my opinion there’s nothing wrong with having national pride and loving one’s own culture and heritage; however, from just walking around the city and living in St. Petersburg day in and day out, I tend to find anything but nationalism.

Go into any store in St. Petersburg and they will be playing American or British music.  The advertisements for movies are all for movies straight from Hollywood.  The publicity posters for various actors, comedians, and musicians are for primarily western artists.  Yes, there are signs for Vitas and other Russian singers, but there are just as many, if not more billboards for Lana Del Ray, Elton John, Eddie Izzard, and the latest Bruce Willis movie.  When I talk to people about this I always get the same response.  “Our music is awful and boring and it all sounds the same.  American music is much better.  Our movies are terrible.  The actors can’t act, the directors can’t direct.”

It’s the same thing when it comes to politics.  I have tried countless times to get my host family to discuss the political situation in Russia.  They always say the same thing.  “The government is corrupt, the politicians are all on the take.  Everyone is a liar and can’t be trusted.  No one cares about the people.  The economy is lousy, things are expensive.” In general they feel that life is miserable. The average person in their twenties is looking for an out, which is why so many of the girls latch onto the American boys the first chance they have.  Milen has already told me that she does not want to stay in Russia and that she’s learning English so she can leave for good and go live in Britain.  I even tried to talk to Natalia Gennadyevna about literature, thinking that at least she would be proud of Russia’s plethora of famous authors.  Even that didn’t work.  Russian authors irritate her because they’re too moody or verbose. Her favorite writer is none other than Ernest Hemingway. It’s all very sad really.

So this brings me to my question: where does Russian nationalism come from?  If so many people here complain about how much they hate their government, their politics, their economy, their music, their movies and arts, sometimes even their literature, then what is it that they love so much?  Isn’t culture preserved and expressed through the arts?  How can someone say that their culture is the best in the world if that same person dislikes everything their culture produces and is looking for the first out they come across?  I thought that this would make more sense over the course of the term, but it’s only left me more confused than before.

Political Shows and Power Plays

I just had a disturbing conversation with my host mother over breakfast. It started with me asking her how she got her news; whether it was from the tv or from newspapers. She responded that she does not really pay attention much to the news and politics because it is of no interest to her and does not affect her daily life. From what I’ve been hearing, this seems to be a common theme in Russia. People tend not to pay attention to politics and news because they think it is uninteresting and not worth their time or energy to keep up to date on current events. Of course, this isn’t restricted just to Russians, as it is also a common mentality back in the States. What was upsetting to me were conclusions she has drawn about those current events that are impossible to not hear about. In this case it was Osama bin Laden’s death and 9/11.

The problem is that Russians are drawing conclusions about and other governments by projecting their own views about their own government onto others. For example, everyone in Russia knows that the Russian government is corrupt and that elections are always falsified. We were talking about this in my politics class the other day when we were discussing the various political parties in Russia. I asked my professor why people don’t try to fix the overwhelming corruption in politics if people are so unhappy with the political process. His answer was this: “everyone knows elections are falsified. It’s common knowledge. People don’t do anything because they are comfortable with the status-quo. Some students even get money for helping rig elections and workers receive benefits from Putin’s government for voting for United Russia (Putin’s party).” I asked him why people bother to vote at all if they know that United Russia will win every time because of pre-decided elections. He said that some people want to make a statement or are pushed to go vote by their employers, by the government, or by some other authority figure. However, most people know that if they do not vote, their ballot will still be used. He said that sometimes people just go to the voting booth to pick up their ballot and bring it home, because if they don’t show up someone will cast a vote for them.

Ok so Russian politics is extremely corrupt. Since everyone is on the take, everyone is a liar, and this is the way things have always been, people are resigned to the status-quo and would prefer staying out of politics all together. I can understand that. Personally that’s far too fatalistic for my taste and is a rather depressing way of looking at the world, but I can also accept that I have this opinion because of my own cultural values. As Americans were value our political freedom and place far more trust in the political process than most. My host mother, and most Russians who don’t take any interest in keeping up to date with politics and world events, assume that all other governments are just like their own.

Natalia Gennadyevna, my host mom, genuinely believes that Osama bin Laden is still alive and that the Twin Towers were destroyed by the American government. The former seems to been common idea here. They say that because Obama had bin Laden’s body dumped at sea and never brought it back to the US, there is no physical proof that he is dead. Osama bin Laden’s death was only a show used to send the rest of the world and a way to strengthen Obama’s political power.

As for the World Trade Center, she is convinced that the towers did not fall at the hands of terrorists. How did she come to this conjecture? An American “documentary” told her so. This movie (she couldn’t remember the name) was widely seen throughout Russia and convinced many people, those who are like her and don’t pay much attention to the news and distrust politics, that the US government is to blame for the events that happened on September 11th. According to this movie it was structurally impossible for the towers to have fallen in the manner they did. An airplane crashing into the upper stories of the buildings would not have caused them to collapse on themselves. The only way this could have happened was if the supports on each level were weakened, perhaps by explosives. Natalia Gennadyevna is also convinced that there were no planes that were flown into the towers and that they were added into the video feed after the fact. The story was then pushed in the media and all the witnesses at the Trade Center heard it enough times that they came to believe that they too saw two planes hit the towers. I tried to tell her that this was not true, that there is live footage of the event, that people saw it with their own eyes, that there are audio recordings from passengers on the flights telling us that the planes were hijacked, but she wouldn’t believe any of it. In her mind I have already been hopelessly brainwashed by my media and my government.

I’m not mad at her so much as I am mad at those idiots who made the film. Irritated with her, yes of course, disturbed by what she said, certainly. But as a New Yorker who was born and raised on the island of Manhattan, conspiracy theorists who believe this kind of garbage and then pass it off as fact are what really make my blood boil. I was in New York when it all happened, I remember everything, I remember how I felt, the terror everyone felt. I remember seeing the missing persons posters everywhere in the weeks and months that followed. I remember listening to the stories of the people who were down at Ground Zero when it happened and witnessed everything first hand. I remember watching the smoke drift out over the Hudson River and I remember all of the rumors that were flying around the day that it happened. I went to school with people whose had parents or siblings or friends died in the towers. So when someone comes along and makes up stories about how the Bush government blew up the towers in order to start a war, it would be an understatement to say that I get upset.

Those people who then put these lies on film and push them as true are just as much to blame for our world image as the government they detest so much. If people in Russia are watching such filth and believing it, then these conspiracy theorists are only giving the rest of the world more reasons not to trust the United States and think our government is controlled by power-hungry manipulative liars. If you want to help the American people and improve our global image, do us all a favor and take your paranoid lying filth elsewhere.

City Between Two Worlds

We arrived back in St. Petersburg around noon on Sunday the 7th. After spending a week in Istanbul, all I really want right now is to go back. Istanbul was perfect place to take a break for a week. The city is beautiful, the food delicious, the weather warm, the people friendly. And to cap it all off, there were flowers everywhere instead of snow. Back in St. Petersburg there is still snow on the ground and it also hailed yesterday, but they say that this isn’t normal for April and that the weather should be much warmer than it is. You know it’s bad when the Russians are complaining about the weather. All I can say is that I’m getting tired of this unending winter.

The first morning in Istanbul we were all woken up at 5am by what we quickly realized was the call to prayer. It was a bit irritating at first, but we got used to it until it no longer woke us up in the morning and sometimes during the day we would stop what we were doing just to listen to it. In the mornings we would go down to the hostel’s café and have breakfast and then head out to explore the city. The hostel was in a fantastic location: only about a five minutes walk from the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, and the Basilica Cistern. The Blue Mosque was stunning and when I first walked in there my jaw dropped. The high domed ceilings, the mosaics and patterned walls, the scripted phrases from the Qur’an written in beautiful calligraphy, it was incredible. The pictures don’t do it justice by a long shot. The same is true for the pictures of the Hagia Sophia, which didn’t impress me so much by its beauty as it did by its age.

The Blue Mosque

The Hagia Sophia

We also found our way over to the spice market, where I went slightly crazy over all the spices and Turkish delight samples the merchants were handing out. There was the traditional Turkish delight that you could buy in any grocery store back in the States, but then there were high-end ones as well: some covered in chocolate, some in saffron, so coated with rose petals, and some with pomegranates. The men in Turkey are also very forward and flirted with us a lot, but mostly it was just so we check out their shops and buy their goods. One day we were invited into a rug merchant’s shop over by the Grand Bazaar (which is a colossal maze I might add), given tea, and asked to sit down and chat. His sons must have brought out a hundred different rugs to show us. Hannah and Emma left, mostly because Emma was feeling uncomfortable because the owner was hitting on her. Kate, Alec, and I ended up staying a little longer and walked out with one small rug each. I probably shouldn’t have spent my money on it, but how often are you in Turkey and how often can you say that you bought your rug in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar?

Other than that we also visited a few more mosques, the Archeological Museum, and the Tokapi Palace. We also made our way over to the Taksim neighborhood, which is where most of the nightlife is in Istanbul. Most of the clubs are over there but during the day it seemed more like a business district judging from the number of people wearing suits. Istanbul is a curious city when it comes to clothing. The city is split between the European side and the Asian side, and this divide is also reflected in the clothing. There were plenty of women walking around with headscarves and some women were in burqas and veils, but then there were just as many with loose hair and shorter skirts. However, most women did have some sort of scarf on them, whether it was on their heads, or around their necks.

On Thursday we took the ferry out to the Prince’s Islands, which are about an hour off the coast of the city and was even home to some Russian expatriates. It was a nice break from the bustle of the city and we enjoyed having a day where we weren’t being sold at or hit on by young Turkish men and shop owners. The next day we decided to take the ferry over to the Asian side, which had a very different feel to it. The Asian side lacks the historical sites and various attractions that the European side has, and because of that it is far less touristy, which was exactly what we liked about it. It was not as clean and we may have been one of the few white people there, but it also felt more genuine and we didn’t feel like the locals were putting up an image for the tourists.

Prince’s Islands

I also have more to add to my count for mistaken nationalities. In Russia people have mistaken me for Russian, Ukrainian, and Israeli. In Turkey, aside from accurately calling me American, I was also asked if I was Turkish and Arab. At first I thought they were joking, but after that happened more than once, I figured that they really did think that. I don’t think I look Turkish or Arab at all, but there were several shot owners, including someone from the hostel, who were surprised when I said my family was not Arab. Go figure.

Then on Saturday night we had one last dinner and then headed out to the airport for a redeye back to Russia. Now I’m sitting in my room on my day off and writing this as I look out the window. The sky is blue, a nice change, but there’s still snow everywhere and people are still walking around in furs and down jackets. No flowers, no grass. It’s all a bit depressing really. I hope it gets warm soon.

Moscow!

I know it’s been a while since my last post. Things have been pretty busy lately so I haven’t had much time. First we had several exams in our classes, what I guess could have been the equivalent to midterms back in the states. Some went better than others. Grammar was really tough, mostly because over fifty percent of it was on verbs of motion and the multitude of prefixes that accompany them. Even though I’ve had several different classes that have covered this topic and I have now lived in Russia for two months, I still have a lot of trouble explaining myself with verbs of motion. But everyone else is still struggling with it too, and the topic is supposed to be one of the hardest to learn, so at least I’m not alone. However, our conversation teacher did say that we were getting much better which made us all very happy. I guess we didn’t do too poorly on her exam!

Then on Thursday the night of March 28 we all hoped on the overnight train from St. Petersburg to Moscow. As much as everyone tends to complain about Moscow being too busy and crowded and it’s people far too rude, I liked it, maybe even better than St. Petersburg. Of course that could have been because I’ve been living in St. Petersburg for a while now and may just need a break. In any case, I liked the business of Moscow. It reminded me more of back home in New York where people are ambitious and need to go to meetings and appointments relatively on time (Russians are notorious for never showing up on time for anything). The women in Moscow also seemed more laid back than their St. Petersburg counterparts. They didn’t wear as much makeup, didn’t dress like they were planning to go to the club, and seemed less snooty.

The metro in Moscow was slightly confusing and certainly not as easy as St. Petersburg’s metro, but it was definitely much more accessible. It almost seemed like there was a metro stop every couple of blocks. I also have to admit that I was a little skeptical about all the stories I had heard about the Moscow metro. So many people have gushed over how beautiful it was that I though that maybe they were slightly exaggerating just how extravagant it was. Of course there are certain stops that are more economical than artistic, but for the most part, and certainly the brown metro line, which travels in a circular route around the city and connects to every other line in the system, is beautiful. Each one is unique but still highly Soviet. In one station there were images of hammers and sickles every couple of paces.  In another station there were mosaics of happy citizens working in the fields or in various industries.

Unfortunately we didn’t have much time in Moscow, only the weekend, but we still managed to see some of the main attractions including Red Square, the Kremlin, and the Arbat. The Arbat was an interesting street, but far too touristy for my taste. Red Square was impressive. However when we returned there on Saturday to go visit St. Basil’s, the entire square including the cathedral was closed off for cleaning. I also didn’t get to see Lenin’s mummified body, something I was really looking forward too. The entire building where his body is kept was under repairs as well. Very disappointing. On Saturday morning we went on a guided tour of the Kremlin where we visited the armory with it’s gorgeous treasure trove of artifacts: silver goblets, amber tea sets, Bibles with gold covers studded with hundreds of diamonds and semi precious stones, coronation gowns of some of the most famous rulers of Russia, chariots that were used to take emperors and empresses to one historic event or another. We also saw several of the cathedrals that are located within the Kremlin. They were all beautiful, but after visiting each one, I don’t think I’ll be able to look at another icon again for a while.

I guess break couldn’t have come at a better time then, because on Sunday afternoon we hopped on an airplane to Istanbul. For the moment I need to take a break from writing, so I will post about Istanbul as soon as I can.

Identity Crisis: Religious Belief in Russia

Recently I went to visit St. Isac’s Cathedral by myself to take some pictures and once again I was present during an evening service. The first time I watched a Russian Orthodox service was about a month ago in Kazansky Cathedral on Nevsky Prospect. St. Isac’s, like most churches I’ve seen here in Russia, is absolutely stunning.

I think you can get the idea from the pictures. I watched the service for a while and listened to the choir singing. The way their voices echoed off of the high ceilings and archways in the vast open space of the the cathedral was almost angelic. Now I am hardly religious and I’m not even Christian, but I felt oddly moved by it all. It was both strange to me and beautiful.

I went home and ended up getting into a conversation with my host-mother about religion and devout people, at least to the best of my ability with my shoddy Russian. Mostly it consisted of her talking a lot and me trying to keep up, occasionally chiming in with my own ideas when I felt I could adequately express myself. She has a much more Soviet mindset and thinks religion and the belief in God is pathetic and outdated. “Why would you debase yourself like that?” she asked. “Thank you God for everything, thank you for my life. I am nothing, nothing compared to you. I prostrate myself on the floor before you. I am nothing, I am dust.” She laughed and shook her head. “Very strange. This isn’t the Middle Ages anymore. We have science. It makes absolutely no sense.”

Russians seem to be caught in a bit of an identity crisis. Religion was strictly controlled during the 20th Century, so belief had little to no place in Soviet life, but before that religion was a prominent element of Russian life. One of our tour guides at the Russian Political History Museum commented a little on this. She said that today’s Russia lacks Russian culture, a sad statement. When the Bolsheviks took over in 1917 they destroyed Russian culture and replaced it with Soviet culture. Today after the fall of the USSR, Russians are living in a post-Soviet state where they have no unified identity. The Orthodox Church canonized the last Tzar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his entire immediate family. Therefore, once again there are Monarchists in Russia as well as Communists, Democrats, Socialists, Atheists, Orthodox, and many other citizens aspiring to various belief systems. People don’t know what to think or how to relate to other groups or even to their own government. Some are trapped in time, some are trying to go backwards in history, some are trying to move forward, and then you have others who are just trying to find out what on earth is going on.

Pickled Babies

I understand that the title of this particular post may be slightly unnerving or just plain disgusting; however, there is actually a place in St. Petersburg that has a large collection of pickled babies.

The Kunstkammer, which is officially titled the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, was the first museum in Russia and is home to many of Peter the Great’s personal collections as well as his very own exhibit of human abnormalities and “monsters”.  The set up of the museum is bizarre; nearly all the rooms are devoted various world cultures (a layout that is reminiscent of New York’s Natural History Museum) except for a single exhibit that houses Peter I’s collection of deformed babies and animals.

I wasn’t exactly sure how to think or what to feel when I walked into that room. It was a bit like a train wreck where I didn’t want to look but at the same time I couldn’t help myself. Walking from one exhibition case to the next and looking at all of the 300 year-old deformed babies sealed up in jars of embalming fluid was disturbing, revolting, but also strangely fascinating. There were babies with two heads, some with three arms, some with four. Some had legs that were fused together ending in a single foot, others were cyclops with a single protruding eyeball coming out of their forehead. There were babies with one head and two faces, with hair lips, with heads coming out of their stomaches, with too many digits on their hands and feet, and some whose skulls had never fully developed so they only had half a head. Some were missing limbs or heads or a torso. Then there were baby heads sitting on shelves or on stands so that people could see all of the blood vessels that would have attached to a neck had there been one.

The descriptions in the exhibit were all very frank, calling the “specimens” Peter I’s collection of “freaks” and “monsters”. So much for politically correct. One of the signs said that Peter the Great had commissioned the Kunstkammer to be built-in order to educate the common people about the science behind physical deformities. The belief at the time was that all birth defects were caused by black magic. Peter collected specimens from all over Russia in exchange for money and used them to open the country’s first public museum.

So there you go. I’m still not really sure what I think about the place. It’s quite literally Peter the Great’s own personal freak-show in formaldehyde.

Church on the Spilt Blood