I'm trying to decide which box at the Mariinsky Theatre (old stage) could be permanently allocated to an extremely respected and famous retired ballet dancer, who comes (usually by himself) to watch performances most nights. He's elderly, so something close to the stage where he can see better would be ideal. I don't want to give him the Tsar's box ( Read more... )

I'm trying to find out how often the aurora borealis can be seen from Arkhangelsk. About once a year? A few times a year? Once every few years ( Read more... )

My question concerns forms of address in Russia under Stalinist rule, around 1940, in particular the terms tovarishch (comrade) and grazhdanin (citizen ( Read more... )

Hey guys! Long time lurker, first time poster. If I get anything wrong, sorry!

SETTING: Turn of the century Russian Empire
SEARCH TERMS: Alian name meaning ; Alian name origin ; Alian Russian name ; Alian Jewish ; Alianovna [which brought me back to the character I'm trying to research FOR, oops] ; variations of all of the above ( Read more... )

Hello little_details, you have been extremely helpful to me in the past, and now I have some (hopefully final!) questions for you about the novel I am writing. It's broadly set in Leningrad between the 1920s and 1940s, though I will be more specific in terms of timing in my individual questions. I have done a lot of research (internet-based and book-based) and ( Read more... )

Googled: procedure for defection ussr, how did soviets defect, embassy accepting defector ussr, papers needed for defector ussr, asylum for defectors 1980s, and other various permutations ( Read more... )

Googled: authenticating works of art, authenticating faberge eggs, dating of precious metals, would an art expert authenticate a faberge egg, would a jeweler authenticate a faberge egg, how to tell forgery of objet d'art, and various permutations thereof ( Read more... )

I've got a moment coming up where my character, a young woman who was taken to be part of a secret Soviet operative program when she was little more than a toddler (yes, Natasha Romanoff), makes reference to her very early experiences with firearms. I want her to mention a specific make, as she's trying to hammer home just what her upbringing was ( Read more... )

Does anyone know anything about the practice of firing off cannons to alert the population of St. Petersburg to the flooding of the Neva River? There are a couple of references to it in Dostoyevsky, which is how I found out about it, but nothing very substantial ( Read more... )

I'm working on a story that's a fusion with an old Russian fairy tale my grandmother used to tell me. The story itself is set at an undisclosed time in an undisclosed place (probably 17th or 18th century Europe for argument's sake, but it's not really necessary to the story). My main character is a prince who lost his parents when he was very young ( Read more... )