Russia - Historical-cultural heritage of Russia. Valaam.

Valaam, also known historically by the Finnish name Valamo, is an archipelago in the northern portion of Lake Ladoga, lying within the Republic of Karelia, Russian Federation. The total area of its more than 50 islands is 36 km². The largest island is also called Valaam. It is best known as the site of the 14th century Valaam Monastery and for its natural beauty.^[1] In the 12th century, the islands were a part of the Novgorod Republic. In the 17th century, they were captured by Sweden during the Time of Troubles, but Russia reconquered them less than a century later. When the Grand Duchy of Finland was set up in the early 19th century as an autonomous part of the Russian Empire, Alexander I of Russia made Valaam a part of Finland. In 1917, Valaam became a part of newly independent Finland, but it was acquired by the USSR after the Winter War and Continuation War.

The name of the island is from the Finno-Ugric word valamo, which means the high, mountain, ground. The climate and natural history of the island are unique because of its position on Lake Ladoga. Spring begins at the end of March and a typical summer on Valaam consists of 30-35 sunny days, which is more than on the mainland. The average temperature in July is 17 °C. The winter and snow arrive in early December. In the middle of February the ice road to the nearest city of Sortavala (42 km) is traversable. The average temperature of February is minus 8 °C.

More than 480 species of the plants grow on the island, many of which have been cultivated by monks. The island is covered by coniferous woods, about 65% of which are pine. The island was visited repeatedly by emperors Alexander I, Alexander II, and other members of the imperial family. Other famous visitors include Tchaikovsky and Mendeleyev.

The island is permanently inhabited by monks and families. In 1999, there were about 600 residents on the main island; including army service personnel, restoration workers, guides and monks.^[2] There is a kindergarten, an arts and sports venue, a school and a medical center. The community on Valaam at the moment has no official administrative status. The lay inhabitants, (Валаамцы — Valaamtsy), want their settlement to receive the official status of a rural settlement that will enable them to participate in municipal elections. However the leaders of the monastery are opposed to this.

During the summer, the main island can be reached by tour boats which leave St. Petersburg at night and arrive at the island the following morning.^[3]

Russia - The 500th anniversary of birth of Ivan Feodorov.

Russia - The 300th anniversary of Cyrillic alphabet – first civil alphabet.

The Cyrillic script (pronounced /sɨˈrɪlɪk/, Bulgarian: Кирилица [kɨˈrɪlɪtsa], Russian: Кири́ллица [kʲɪˈrʲilʲɪʦə]) is an alphabet developed in the 9th century^[1] in Bulgaria, and used in the Slavic national languages of Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Russian, Rusyn, Serbian, Macedonian, Montenegrin and Ukrainian, and in the non-Slavic languages of Moldovan, Kazakh, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Tuvan, and Mongolian. It also was used in past languages of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Siberia.

The Cyrillic alphabet is also known as azbuka, derived from the old names of the first two letters of most variant Cyrillic alphabets. With the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union on 1 January 2007, Cyrillic became the third official alphabet of the European Union, following the Latin and Greek alphabets.

Cyrillic is one of the two alphabets (together with Glagolitic) used in the Church Slavonic language, especially the Old Church Slavonic variant (see Early Cyrillic alphabet). Hence, expressions such as “И is the tenth letter of the Cyrillic alphabet” typically denote that meaning; moreover, not every Cyrillic-based language uses every letter of the alphabet.

` From Wikipedia

Russia - Issue by “Europa” programme. Children' books

Russia- The XXI Olympic Winter Games.

The XXI Olympic Winter Games will be held on February 12-28, 2010, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The emblem of the Games has become a stylized figure of inukshuk - stone sculpture in the form of human being. The emblem was given the name “Ilanaak”, which from the local Indian dialect means "friend".

The stamp with the snowflake background depicts a stylized medal with the logo XXI Olympic Winter Games.

Russia- 50th anniversary of Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia.

Peoples' Friendship University of Russia - one of the largest and most prestigious universities of Moscow, it has a status of the University of the Federal Level, one of the five best universities of Russia. Peoples' Friendship University was established by the Resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers on February 5, 1960, and on February 5, 1992 according to the Government's decision it was renamed into Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. The special feature of the PFUR is its multinationality: among students, graduate students and trainees – there are representatives of 450 nationalities and ethnic groups from more than 131 countries.

Russia - The 150th anniversary of birth of Anton Chekhov (1860-1904).

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov , was a Russian short story writer,playwright and physician, considered to be one of the greatest short-story writers in the history of world literature.His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Chekhov practised as a doctor throughout most of his literary career: "Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress."

Russia The 100th anniversary of birth of Anatoly Serov (1910-1939)

Anatoly Serov, Hero of the Soviet Union, entitled with 2 times Orders of Red Banner, order of Lenin.

Anatoly Serov was born on 20 March 1910 in Vorontsovka in the North Urals region (according to other sources he was born on 2 April 1910).

He enlisted into the Red Army in 1929 and joined the Bolshevik Party in 1931.

He attended the Orenburg Military Air College, from which he graduated on 17 December 1931. Initially he served in the Leningrad area, but was then sent to the Far East. He worked as a test pilot until spring 1937.

Serov fought in the Spanish Civil War and he arrived probably in the country in May-June 1937. During this conflict he flew under the name `Rodrigo Mateu`. Totally he claimed eight victories in 48 fights. In 1938 he returned to the URSS.

For his bravery in Spain he was decorated with two Order of Red Banner, a Gold Star of Hero of the Soviet Union along with an Order of Lenin and promoted to colonel. Later in 1938 he was promoted to Chief of the Air Inspectorate of the Soviet Union. Next year he was promoted to the rank of General Leitenant. Anatoly died in an air crash on 11th of May 1939, during a long-range training flight in UTI-4 trainer, together with the female pilot Major Polina Osipenko. They were both buried in the walls of Kremlin.

To remember A. K. Serov, his name was given to a little industrial town in the Sverdlovsk region, a Flying School at Bataisk, a Technical School and other Soviet State institutes.

The stamp represents the portrait of A. Serov and aircraft I-15.

Russia- V.S. Grizodubova. 100th birth anniversary FDC.

Valentina Stepanovna Grizodubova, Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of Socialist Labour, entitled with 2 times Orders of Lenin, order of October Revolution, 1st class of Order of the Great Patriotic War, Order of the Red Banner of Labour, Order of Red Star and Various other awards.

She was one of the first Soviet Woman Pilots, On September 24-25, 1938 as the commander of the crew she completed the flight of the Rodina (Russian for "Motherland"), the ANT-37 airplane, setting an international women's record for a straight-line distance flight. Since March 1942 she took part in the Great Patriotic War.

In the 1940s she served as the sole female member of the "Extraordinary State Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of the Crimes of the Fascist German Invaders and Their Accomplices, and of the Damage They Caused to Citizens, Collective Farms, Public Organizations, State Enterprises, and Institutions of the USSR" (Chrezvychainaia gosudarstvennaia komissiia or Чрезвычайная Государственная Комиссия; ChGK), appointed to investigate Nazi war crimes in the Soviet Union.

Grizodubova was the Honorary Citizen of Penza. There is a monument to her in Moscow.

Moscow, Russia.

A nice postcard from Moscow, Russia. One of my favourite country.

Actually, this is a very nice card of Mayakovskaya Station (Маяковская) on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line (Замоскворецкая линия), Line 2 of Moscow Metro(Russian: Московский метрополитен, Moskovskiy metropoliten). Considered to be one of
the most beautiful in the system, it is one of the finest examples of pre-World War II
Stalinist Architecture making it one of the most famous Metro stations in the world.
The name as well as the design is a reference to Futurism and its prominent Russian
exponent Vladimir Mayakovsky.

Manys thanks to Diana for this nice card from St. Petersburg

Russia

Many thanks to Oksana from Russia fot this very nice postcard~ since Military is one of my prefered theme when collecting stamps