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Official channel for the Russian Embassy in the Republic of South Africa - Latest foreign policy, cultural, economic news. We take digital diplomacy seriously, share information on all things Russia-related
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📆 151 years ago, on 1 April 1873, Sergei Rakhmaninov was born, an outstanding Russian composer, pianist and conductor.

🎼 His work combined principles of St.Petersburg and Moscow schools with Western European traditions which later gave way to his personal style. Due to this approach, Sergei Rakhmaninov is often referred to as “the most Russian composer”.

🎼 His best known works include “Aleko” opera (1892), written at the age of 19 as a graduation work at the Moscow Conservatory, “Piano Conserto No. 2”, “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”, “Prelude in C-sharp minor” and others.

S.Rakhmaninov’s music can be heard in such popular movies as “Groundhog Day” (1993), “Limitless” (2011) and “A Russian Youth” (2019).

🎧 Listen to the best of Sergei Rakhmaninov following the LINK

#OutstandingRussians #RussianCulture
📆 92 years ago, on 4 April 1932, Andrei Tarkovsky was born, a Russian filmmaker, writer and film theorist. Among his best-known works as film director are feature films “Ivan’s Childhood” (1962), “Andrei Rublev” (1966), “Solaris” (1972), “Mirror” (1975), “Stalker” (1979), “Nostalghia” (1983) and “The Sacrifice” (1986). Throughout his lifetime Tarkovsky was awarded prizes of Venice, Cannes, Moscow film festivals, BAFTA.

Several of his works are enlisted as the best films of all time.

🎬Tarkovsky’s influence is seen in modern movies. “The Revenant” (2015) containing citations and borrowings from Tarkovsky’s works is the most up-to-date example.

#RussianCulture #RussianCinema #USSR #SovietCinema #OutstandingRussians #andreitarkovsky #ivanschildhood #russiancinema
📆 188 years ago, on 6 April 1836, Nikolay Sklifosovsky was born, a prominent Russian surgeon, physiologist and professor, author of more than 70 works in battlefield medicine and abdominal surgery.

As a surgeon he participated in several military campaigns where he gained practical experience.

☝️ N.Sklifosovsky is known to have developed and introduced aseptic and antiseptic methods which are now essential part of surgery. As a follower of N.Pirogov he contributed greatly to the development of anesthesia.

🌐 N.Sklofosovsky enjoyed all-Russian and international credibility due to which he could raise funds for planning and construction of the “Clinical Town” at Devichye Pole in Moscow with numerous clinics and scientific institutes under the aegis of Imperial Moscow University.

#RussianScience #OutstandingRussians
📆 #OTD, on 14 April 1745, Denis Fonvizin was born, a Russian playwright, author of comedies, considered the founder of Russian comedy of manners genre.

Fonvizin graduated from the Moscow Imperial University. At civil service he entered in 1769 he became the secretary of Nikita Panin, head of Russia’s College of Foreign Affairs and one of his most trusted persons.

✍️ Fonvizin started literary activity back in his student years, when he translated fables and satirical pieces from German.

Today he is mostly known for comedy plays “The Brigadier-General” (1769) and “The Minor” (1782).

💬 Fonvizin is believed to have been told after the premiere of “The Minor” in St.Petersburg: “You should die, Denis, as you won’t write anything better”. The comedy is to date successfully staged in Russian theatres.

#OutstandingRussians #RussianCulture
📆 #OTD, on 15 April 1765, Mikhail Lomonosov passed away, an outstanding Russian scientist (the first major one in Russia) and writer, polymath ranking alongside famous Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Nikola Tesla.

✍️ His spheres were natural science, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, history, art, philology, astronomy and others.

Lomonosov contributed greatly to the formation of modern Russian literary language.

Lomonosov’s father was a prosperous peasant-fisherman, but Mikhail’s passion was not business. He left for Moscow aged 19, studied in the Slavic Greek Latin Academy, in Kiev, St.Petersburg, then abroad.

🎓 Upon returning to Russia in 1741 he was named an Adjunct of the Russian Academy of Science, becoming its full member in 1745. Eager to improve Russian education system he joined his patron Count Ivan Shuvalov in founding Moscow University which bears his name today.

⚛️ He is deservingly regarded as the “Father of Russian Science”. Many of his scientific accomplishments were relatively unknown outside Russia until long after his death and gained proper appreciation only in late XIX and XX centuries.

#OutstandingRussians #RussianCulture #RussianScience
📆 35 years ago, #OTD in 1989, a brilliant Soviet diplomat Andrei Gromyko, who served as Soviet Union’s Foreign Minister in 1957-1985, passed away aged 79.

His diplomatic career began in 1939, when he was appointed head of the U.S. division of the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, and subsequently – senior counsellor at the Embassy of the USSR in Washington.

🇷🇺🇺🇸 In 1943, he became the Ambassador to the US at the age of 34.

🇺🇳 A.Gromyko stood at the origins of the United Nations. On 26 June 1945, he was among the representatives of the 50 nations who signed the Charter of the United Nations establishing the whole framework of the UN system.

☝️ Later he became the USSR’s first permanent representative to the UN.

In 1957 Mr.Gromyko began his long tenure as the Soviet Foreign Minister. He became renowned for his extensive knowledge of international affairs and his negotiating skills. His firm commitment to promoting Soviet interests on the international scene earned him the nickname “Mr. No” among Western journalists and experts.

🤝 The motto of his diplomatic career was “10 years of negotiations are better than 1 day of war.”

✍️ A.Gromyko contributed greatly to the development of the system of international treaties. On behalf of the Soviet Government, he proposed over 100 initiatives in the area of disarmament. In 1963 he launched the initiative of concluding the Partial Test Ban Treaty.

☝️ With his involvement, numerous important international agreements have been developed and signed, including the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972, the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties of 1972 and 1979, the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 and many others.

#OutstandingRussians
#AndreiGromyko
📆 88 years ago, on 7 July 1936, Soviet diplomat Georgy Chicherin passed away, who served as People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs in 1918 – 1930.

He was born to a noble family thought to be related to Alexander Pushkin.

🎓 G.Chicherin entered the imperial diplomatic service after graduating from the University of St.Petersburg (1897) but became involved in the Russian revolutionary movement and resigned in 1904.

👉 He resumed his diplomatic career in 1918 participating in the final stage of negotiations in Brest-Litovsk with Germany and subsequently assuming the post of People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs.

🤝 As a chief of Soviet diplomacy, G.Chicherin concluded treaties with Estonia, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Germany contributing to breaking the international isolation imposed on Soviet Russia after the October Revolution of 1917.

✍️ G.Chicherin spoke all major European languages and a number of Asian ones.

#OutstandingRussians #RussianHistory #SovietHistory
📆 130 years ago, #OTD in 1894, Pyotr Kapitsa was born, an outstanding Soviet physicist and 1978 Nobel Prize Winner.

P.Kapitsa turned to physics thanks to Abram Ioffe, the “father of Soviet physics” who noticed the promising student of the Petrograd Technical Institute and invited him to join his laboratory team.

🎓 In 1921, P.Kapitsa left for England to carry on his studies at the University of Cambridge under Ernest Rutherford. He soon gained acclaim among his colleagues as a talented engineer and experimenter.

He stayed in England until 1934 and contributed significantly to international scientific exchange.

⚛️ Upon his return to Russia, in 1935 P.Kapitsa was appointed director of the specially established Institute of Physical Problems in Moscow, where he installed his former equipment from the Mond Laboratory in Cambridge after it was purchased by the Soviet government.

🌟 During World War II, P.Kapitsa became responsible for the entire Soviet industry’s production of liquid oxygen and supervised the construction of large plants based on machines he invented.

👉 In 1978, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics “for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics” and was also cited for his long term role as a leader in the development of this area. He shared the prize with Arno Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson of USA.

#OutstandingRussians #RussianHistory #SovietHistory
📆 #OTD in 1856, Apollinarius Vasnetsov was born. Younger brother to the renowned painter Viktor Vasnetsov, Apollinarius carved out his own legacy as an artist, scientist, historian, and poet of Russian nature.

While he studied history and archaeology, his art focused on native landscapes and the old city of Moscow.

Growing up in the small village of Ryabovo in Vyatka province, Apollinarius was deeply influenced by his father, a priest with a passion for natural sciences and astronomy. His father’s love for the Motherland was instilled in his children, shaping Apollinarius’s own appreciation for the Russian North.

🎨 This deep connection is vividly portrayed in his masterpiece, “Motherland,” and in his monumental landscapes such as “Taiga in the Urals. Blue Mountain” and “Mountain Lake. Ural.” His epic vision culminates in the evocative “Elegy,” which won a silver medal at the Paris World Exhibition.

Apollinarius Vasnetsov's work continues to be celebrated by his admirers both in Russia and abroad.

#RussianArt #OutstandingRussians #RussianCulture #Vasnetsov
📆 #OTD, in 1900, the influential Russian thinker Vladimir Solovyov passed away.

✍️ Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov (January 28, 1853 - August 13, 1900) was a renowned religious thinker, mystic, poet, essayist, literary critic, and teacher.

🌟 He was also an honourary academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in fine literature.

Born in Moscow to the famous historian S.M.Solovyov, Vladimir was deeply influenced by his father's dedication and scholarly rigor.

👉 Solovyov played a pivotal role in the early 20th-century Russian spiritual revival and is celebrated as a key figure in Russian idealism. His work and ideas significantly shaped Russian philosophy and inspired countless intellectuals of his time. He is also credited with founding the movement of Christian philosophy.

#RussianLiterature #RussianCulture #OutstandingRussians
📆 Today marks what would have been the 89th birthday of the legendary Soviet/Russian actor and director Oleg Tabakov.

Oleg Tabakov left an indelible mark on cinema and theater with his iconic roles in classics like the Oscar-winning “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears” (1980), the gripping series “Seventeen Instants of Spring” (1973), and the epic “War and Peace” (1966-1967). His charm and talent also shone through in “D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers” (1978) and “A Man from the Boulevard des Capucines” (1987), among many others.

To generations of Soviet and Russian children, he’s forever remembered as the voice of Cat Matroskin from the beloved “Prostokvashino” cartoon series.

🎞 Beyond his acting, Tabakov was a towering figure in Russian theater, serving as the artistic director of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre for 18 years and helping to found and lead the influential “Sovremennik” theater.

#OutstandingRussians
📆 Today would have been the 82nd birthday of the legendary Muslim Magomayev, the celebrated Soviet, Azerbaijani, and Russian singer.

Often hailed as the “Soviet Frank Sinatra,” Magomayev earned iconic status in the USSR and beyond with his incredible vocal talent and magnetic charisma. He took immense pride in both his native Azerbaijan and Russia, famously saying that Russia was his mother, Azerbaijan his father, and that he embodied a bit of each.

🎶 Magomayev's remarkable career was highlighted by numerous accolades, including a Gold Disc at the International Festival of Recording and Music Publications (MIDEM) in Cannes, in recognition of over 4.5 million album sales.

🎧 Listen to some of his timeless musical pieces and experience the voice and spirit of a true legend that continues to inspire.

#RussianCulture #OutstandingRussians
🎶 On 20 August 1882, “The Year 1812” overture by P.Tchaikovsky, commemorating Russia’s defeat of Napoleon, was debuted in Moscow under a tent near the then-unfinished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

The piece belongs to a specific kind of musical works, to be performed at open-air venues or in large halls. It best known for its climactic volley of cannon fire, ringing chimes and a brass fanfare finale. P.Tchaikovsky noted in the manuscript score that “the bells should be large, and all of the same pitch; they should be struck in the manner of celebratory ringing”, and that the cannon should be “the instrument used in theatres to depict a cannon shot”.

🎻 Ever since its premiere, the overture has been among the best-known and most frequently performed of P.Tchaikovsky's works along with his “The Nutcracker” (1892), “The Sleeping Beauty” (1889-1890) and “Swan Lake” (1875-1876).

🎧 Dive into this masterpiece and experience its grandeur for yourself!

#RussianCulture #Tchaikovsky #OutstandingRussians
🎨 Today marks 184 years since the birth of Pavel Bryullov, a Russian landscape painter and architect, nephew of another renowned Russian artist Karl Bryullov.

He was known as an all-round man, having originally studied physics and mathematics at St.Petersburg State University. Among fellow painters, P.Bryullov was thought to have a talent for sciences, while mathematicians considered him good at music.

🖌 Check out a set of Pavel Bryullov’s selected paintings.

#RussianCulture #OutstandingRussians
📚Today marks 154 years since the birth of Alexander Kuprin, a prominent Russian writer

✍️ He started writing when he was 10. In 1881 he enrolled in the Second Moscow Military School and later went on to study at the Alexander Military Academy.

Upon graduation he served in the military and continued his literary career as a writer and a journalist.

A.Kuprin’s work “The Moloch” (1896) marked the start of his most prolific decade of writing at the turn of the century.

Among his most outstanding works which appeared during that period are “Olesya” (1898), “The Duel” (1905), “Junior Captain Rybnikov” (1906), “Emerald” (1907), “The Pit” (1909-1915), and “The Garnet Bracelet” (1911).

#RussianCulture #RussianLiterature #OutstandingRussians
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📆 196 years ago Leo Tolstoy was born, a Russian writer, recognized as one of the greatest European novelists of all time

He came from a family of old Russian nobility in Yasnaya Polyana, an estate in the region of Tula in Central European Russia and first achieved literary acclaim in his twenties.

🌟 In 1853, when the Crimean War broke out, L.Tolstoy volunteered to the front line. He served in an artillery regiment, witnessing the siege of Sevastopol where he showed exceptional courage and received several awards.

His description of the horrors of war in “The Sevastopol Sketches” earned him further popularity.

🕊Tolstoy’s major work, “War and Peace,” appeared between the years 1865 and 1869. The epic tale is widely thought to be one of the greatest novels ever written. It tells the story of several families against the background of Napoleon’s 1812 invasion of Russia.

His other masterpiece, “Anna Karenina” (1873-77), telling of the doomed affair between a high society woman trapped in a passionless marriage and a dashing officer has been adapted to the cinema in Russia and Hollywood several times.

📚 L.Tolstoy is also became widely known as the founder of the “Tolstoyism” movement advocating non-violence. It influenced pacifist movements throughout the world and the philosophical and social views and programs of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Cesar Chavez.

👉 Read Leo Tolstoy’s “Sevastopol Sketches” (1855) at the LINK

#RussianCulture #RussianLiterature #OutstandingRussians
🎻 Today a prominent Soviet/Russian violinist & conductor Vladimir Spivakov celebrates his 80th anniversary!

He is known in Russia and abroad as the artistic director and principal conductor of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, and the founder of internationally renowned “Moscow Virtuosy” chamber orchestra.

🎶 💫 Vladimir Spivakov is also famous for his educational and humanitarian activity. In 1994 he established an international charity foundation to help Russian orphans. In 2016 he became one of the founders of the new International Violin Competition for young musicians from all over the world.

🎧 Watch a fragment of a performance of the “Moscow Virtuosy” orchestra conducted by Maestro Spivakov.

#RussianCulture #OutstandingRussians
📆 110 years ago, #OTD in 1914, Yuri Levitan was born, a primary Soviet radio announcer

🎙He is remembered to have read the Soviet Information Bureau messages about the start of the war with Germany and the victory over Nazis. He voiced information bulletins from the fronts during all four years of fighting. Soviet marshals said his voice had the power of a military division.

👉 Yuri Levitan was rumoured to be in the Third Reich’s enemies list under № 1, while Stalin was listed 2nd. 250.000 Deutschmarks were promised for killing Levitan, and a special SS unit was planning a diversion in Moscow to eliminate the radio presenter.

#OutstandingRussians #Victory79
📆 146 years ago, on 5 November 1878, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin was born, a prominent Russian & Soviet avant-garde artist.

His contemporaries called him an ancient Russian icon-painter who by a fluke had found himself in the future, thanks to his style of painting which encompassed old Russian traditions of icon-painting, Italian Renaissance and post-impressionism.

🎨 In his work, K.Petrov-Vodkin developed “spherical perspective”: a unique twist that distorted the drawing as to make the observer seem more distant.

His most famous piece is “Bathing of a Red Horse” (1912) – a symbol of the coming Russian revolution and social changes. It became an instant classic, and K.Petrov-Vodkin’s trademark.

#art #avantgarde #petrovvodkin #OutstandingRussians #fineart #icon
📆 203 years ago Fyodor Dostoyevsky was born, a world-renowned Russian writer and philosopher widely considered one of the greatest psychological novelists in the world literature.

✍️ As a writer, F.Dostoyevsky influenced a great many of western authors like F.Kafka, J.Joyce, V.Woolf, E.Hemingway as well as philosophers F.Nietzsche and J.-P. Sartre. Gabriel García Márquez and Haruki Murakami were Dostoyevsky’s fans in youth.

📚 F.Dostoyevsky’s works were translated into more than 170 languages. Until today, they are still popularly read and assigned in schools and universities. He explored and captured the depth of the human soul, surfacing emotions and feelings in times both dark and happy.

#RussianLiterature #RussianCulture #OutstandingRussians