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A women’s monastery in the heart of Riga; pretty flowers, and a long history

01 Jul 2025

Молчание- золото Silence is golden   To continue what has become a series on Riga’s Orthodox heritage- an aspect of Latvian and Russian culture which, in my opinion, ...
13 Jun 2025

Yesterday, Joolee, a student from Alaska, and I walked through Riga's Moscow District to reach the Grebenshchikov Old Believers' House of Prayer. Old Believers represent a ...
24 May 2025

Above; the manuscript Vidin Miscellany, written in 'Middle Bulgarian' circa 1360     Hwæt. We Gardena in geardagum, þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ...
25 Jan 2025

A few weeks ago I invited you to witness the Christmas Liturgy in the Orthodox Cathedral here in Riga. Today, I would like to introduce you to Janis Pommers (1876-1934), ...
22 Jan 2025

In a recent post we looked at the beautiful and beautifully honest personal diary of Leo Tolstoy. Today, we are looking at the diary of another giant of Russian literature; ...
03 Jul 2024

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Among other Russian historical figures, Tsar Peter I might be at the top of the list. Commonly referred to as Peter the Great, his memory has long survived through history. ...
17 Sep 2023

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To speak like a native, it is important to keep some idioms up your sleeve to bring out during conversation. However, some of these idioms have literal translations which are ...
22 Aug 2023

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Despite Russia now using the Gregorian Calendar like the rest of the world, the Julian Calendar played a significant role in the history of Russia. It was only in 1918 that ...
17 Aug 2023

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The Russian language has been influenced by a variety of other languages over its history, reflecting its interactions with neighbouring and distant cultures. Whilst some ...
10 Jul 2023

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Russian spelling hasn't always looked the way it does now. Even a brief look at old documents reveal variations in spelling and unfamiliar letters. So where did this change ...
22 Sep 2021

The whole world is divided into 24 time zones, and Russia alone covers eleven of them, making it the country with the most consecutive time zones in the world. The time in ...
04 Aug 2021

Потемкинские деревни, which can be translated as Potemkin villages, is a curious idiom found in Russian, which is also sometimes used in English. It is used to describe a ...
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