The Beauty of Odesa: Road 2

Odesa is a beautiful city located in the Odesa Oblast of the Ukraine. The city was originally founded as a naval fortress in 1793 on territory annexed from Turkey. Odesa is known for it's beautiful landscape as well as its architecture. The city itself is a mixture of ancient Greek themed styles with modern art deco. One of the most beautiful buildings in Odesa is the Odesa Opera House: It was first opened 1810 and destroyed in a fire in 1873. The modern building was constructed by Fellner and Helmer in baroque style and opened in 1867. The luxurious hall follows rococo style. Its unique acoustics allow it to deliver a whisper from the stage to any part of the hall. 

  The theater was the first building to use electric illumination and employed Edison Ele

ctricity to do so. The opera house itself sits on shifting ground and is in danger of collapse. The first cracks appeared almost immediately after its construction. The theaters eastern half sagged almost seven inches in its first 3 years and the six walls began to tilt. Gleb Dranov, who sang at the opera house for 25 years, worked 5 years previously as a geologist and is helping oversee the repairs and stability construction. Here is a wonderful video of the Opera House at Night:

Interesting article on renovations to Ukraine's historic wooden churches

The Chicago Tribune suggests that efforts to improve or modernize Ukraine's wooden churches is in fact destroying them:

When Ukraine gained its independence, villagers embraced the return of religious freedom, but many viewed their wooden churches as eyesores—rickety, difficult to maintain and ripe for renovation or demolition.

"People stopped feeling that all of these churches have value—not material value, but spiritual or emotional value," Salyuk said. "Now, many people look at churches not as sacred buildings, but as houses which need to be rebuilt or renovated."

In many cases, those renovations make preservationists shudder. In the village of Stary Yar, 24 miles northwest of Lviv, a makeover of the 450-year-old Our Blessed Virgin of Pokrova, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, amounted to nailing tin plating painted yellow onto the wooden exterior. Inside, walls that had been covered with centuries-old paintings have been concealed behind particle board amateurishly decorated by a village artist.

"You can see this church is almost totally covered with metal, which makes it look like a submarine," said Rev. Stepan Kobasyar, whose diocese includes Stary Yar. "I can encourage the priest here and the parishioners to take the metal down, but I can't make them do it.

"This is the attitude of people who don't understand the value of a wooden church," he said.

This could be an interesting topic for further exploration. Here's the link in case anyone is interested!

The Swallow's Nest Castle

As we saw in class, the Swallow's Nest Castle is a popular landmark of Crimea. Before the castle was built, a small cottage occupied the cliff. It was built for a Russian general in 1895 and was called "The Love Castle". However, in 1911 a German man who had been very successful in the oil business purchased the cottage and within two years built the castle that we can see today. Over the years, the castle passed through many hands and had many different uses. It was a restaurant in 1914, a tourist spot in 1917 , and acted as the meeting place for a reading club in 1930.

The use of the building came to an abrupt halt in 1927. An earthquake judged to be a 6 or 7 on the Richter scale led to a large crack in the cliff the castle lies on. Renovation did not begin until 1968, and a majority of the work involved inserting a concrete plate to strengthen the cliff. It opened as an Italian restaurant in 1975 and still serves the tourists coming through.

Finally, there are many legends that come along with the castle. One of the funnier ones I found involves a young man in love who is rejected by his mistress. "Apparently", to win the girl's heart he continually rode a horse up to the cliff and then jumped off falling all the way to the sea. He always survived, and therefore that implies that his "infinite love and the magic/power of the castle" made him lucky enough to continually jump off the cliff. Below is a video of a tourist taking in the view:

Korovai: Ukrainian wedding cakes (or more accurately, breads)

As Svitlana knows, I have a minor obsession with baking, and I've been curious about Ukrainian korovai for awhile now. I decided to take this opportunity to find out a little more about this ancient Slavic tradition.

Korovai are intricately designed breads that are baked for and historically have been served at Ukrainian weddings. These days, a simple bread (and perhaps a more modern, Western-style cake) may be served to the happy couple and their guests, and the korovai may be mostly for display purposes. Some couples go so far as to dry out and/or varnish their korovai so that they can display them around their houses for years to come.

As you can see from the photo, korovaii have incredible detail and display many of the same symbols found on the similarly intricate pysanky. The bread itself is made of wheat, and the wreath wrapped around it is typically made of periwinkle, a symbol of love and purity. The bread may also be adorned with berries, flowers, and ribbons. However, what's perhaps most impressive about a korovai are the carefully crafted bread figures that adorn it. Doves represent the couple, and the 'tree of life' in the center of the cake symbolizes the newlyweds' building a nest, in this case, home and and family, together. Other prominent symbols include suns, moons, flags, flowers, and elaborate braiding.

The baking of korovai is perhaps as interesting as the finished result. In the past, an odd number of women (in Eastern Slavic cultures, odd numbers are luckier than even ones, and you shouldn't offer a bouquet containing an even number of flowers unless at a funeral), usually seven, would gather to make the korovai. These korovainytsy would provide the ingredients needed to make the bread: seven eggs, seven cups of flour, water from seven different wells, etc. They'd make the bread together, singing traditional songs that accompanied each step of the baking process.

Ultimately, the korovai is symbolic not only of a new couple united, but a new couple welcomed into a community.

Massandra Winery

Another attraction in the tourist town of Yalta, the Massandra Winery has a fascinating history. The unique collection which includes bottles which are more than 150-200 years of age is hidden in the tunnels within Crimean mountains. I chose to research it because it demonstrates how history has perpetrated Ukrainian culture and is still extremely relevant.

The Massandra winery was built in the 19th century to supply the needs of the Tsars' court. Every year during the Russian winter, the Tsars took the imperial family to their summer palace in Yalta where they relaxed away from the pressures of power and entertained guests on the shores of the Black Sea. (Much like people do today!) Wine was an integral part of their daily lives, as they held extravagant parties, celebrated communion in the imperial chapel and sometimes dined as a family.

In 1894, Tsar Nicholas II decided to build his own winery there. It was an enormous undertaking. Work on the cellars took three years as miners dug deep into the mountainside to create a labyrinth of 21 tunnels that to this day rank among the finest cellars in the world. The cellars are also exceptionally solid and strong - when violent earthquakes caused widespread damage in the region in 1920, the cellars of Massandra were completely unscathed.

While I was researching the winery, I found an article about a 2004 event by Sotheby’s of London in which the bottles of wine from the Massandra Winery were being auctioned. The bottles, bearing the imperial seal, had survived both the Communist revolution and Nazi invasion! Money from the sales invested by into the preservation of the winery.

When the area was engaged in civil war after the 1917 the wine collection was placed under special defense. To protect the Tsar's wine from looters it was bricked up in tunnels built in the 1890s by an army of laborers who burrowed deep into a hillside to create some of the world's finest and coolest wine cellars. More than twenty years later, when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the entire collection was packed up and taken to three secret locations. Only that year's vintage, which was still in vats, could not be saved and Massandra's director ordered that it be poured into the Black Sea.

Today, the Massandra Winery claims to hold the biggest wine collection in the world. Besides history and process of wine making, tourists have an opportunity to join wine tasting in the halls of Massandra Winery.

The Massandra Winery was fascinating to me because it represents a cultural connection between historical figures and today’s generation of Yalta tourists. Also, I was interested to learn about a different facat of Ukrainian culture. Normally, I wouldn't associate Ukrainians with having exceptional taste in wine, yet the experts' interest in the wine auctions has certainly changed my perception.

Livadia Palace

As mentioned in class, Livadia Palace was the summer home of the last Russian Tsars and Nikolai II. I was interested in finding out more about this historic building and what it has been used for throughout the years.

Livadia Palace originally belonged to the Potocki family, an aristocratic Polish family. In the 1860s a large palace, a small palace, and a church were built there, and Livadia became a summer residence for the Russian Imperial family. Both Alexander II and Alexander III spent great deals of time at the palace, and Alexander III died in the smaller palace. In 1909 Nicholas II, Alexander III's son, had the two palaces torn down and a new larger palace was constructed on the site. On September 11, 1911 the Livadia Palace that still stands today was inaugurated.

Since Nikolai II's stays at Livadia, the palace has been utilized in numerous ways. As mentioned in class, in 1925 the first sanatorium for peasants was opened in Livadia Palace. Also mentioned in class, in 1945 the Yalta Conference was held at Livadia Palace. Today Livadia Palace is a museum with most of its historical artifacts lost or destroyed throughout the years. The palace has also served as a location for international summits by Ukrainian authorities.

The Palace, which is built in a Neo-Renaissance style, has over 116 rooms and numerous patios and towers, all of which are built in a variety of styles. The interiors of the rooms also vary in style - from Pompeian to English-inspired rooms, the palace offers a variety of architectural influences. Sofia Rotaru, a Ukrainian female singer, announced in 2008 that she will oversee the reconstruction of Livadia Palace. Rotaru is the first female singer to be awarded the People's Artist of the USSR and celebrated her 60th anniversary at Livadia Palace.

What I found most interesting about the information I found regarding Livadia Palace is that the original two palaces were torn down and a larger palace was built to replace them. I read that Nicholas II tore down the two original palaces after his father died there. I'm not sure what the relationship was between Alexander III and Nicholas II, but I would guess that this might have something to do with why Nicholas II had a new palace built.

Below are some links to videos taken in and around Livadia Palace. The architecture is phenomenal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ1AFS1VrR4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eWlFpFPPWc

Crimean Tatar Traditional Arts

As you may remember from class, the Crimean Tatars are currently a small minority in Crimea (~6% of the population), but their group used to dominate the region. They were forced to leave in 1944 because Stalin believed that they had cooperated with the German forces. 50 years later, they have begun to return to their homeland. There has been a recent growth in Crimean Tatar non-governmental organizations (NGOs), some of which are trying to promote Crimean traditions.

I was interested in finding out about the Crimean Tatar traditions, especially artistic ones, since they weren't covered in class. To me, artwork is a powerful way of representing a culture's richness, history, and ideology. The revival of Crimean Tatar traditions, especially in the arts, will give future Crimean Tatars something to be proud of, something to show off when someone asks them about their history/ancestors.

Tatar Clothing

The people depicted in this picture are wearing traditional outfits. Women traditionally wear a long dress, while men wear baggy pants (Shalvar) and cloaks. The white scarf on the woman and black headgear on the man in the middle (called "kalpak") are traditional headgear.

Tatar Decorative Arts - Embroidery

(picture of women's headdress)
There are many beautiful objects that you should look at here. Most interesting, to me, is the embroidery in gold thread that adorns most objects. There has been a project started by Ayshe Osmanova, to teach Crimean Tatar women how to do this type of embroidery, an art that had almost disappeared. According to her, traditional embroidery motifs are simple. For example:

"One common ornament is the 'nar,' which translates as the fruit 'pomegranate.' The nar has a grain inside that is sweet. This design is embroidered almost on all ornaments, whether they are for men, women or children. It's like a talisman and is closely linked to the family. The grain itself refers to the people in the family, which should be healthy and harmonious. The design is divided into squares to refer to the house where they all live. " (see first link below)

Tatar Architecture
Tatar architecture shows clear Islamic influence. A following buildings below show off Crimean Tatar architecture. (All information from the Crimean Tatar Architecture link = link #4)

Özbek Han Mosque
Eski Kirim (Stariy Qrim), Crimea
This is the oldest Islamic building in Crimea, located in a city known as Solhat (former capital of Crimean Khans until early 16th century). It has similar architectural features to mosques in Anatolia during the Seljuk period with its square floor plan and monumental entrance with a carved wooder door. A Medrese (Islamic school) used to be next to the southern wall of this mosque, which remains can be seen from the rear of the mosque.

Palace of the Khans (Han Saray)
Bahçesaray (Bakhchisarai), Crimea
Bahçesaray was the capital of the Crimean Khanate from the early 16th century until Russian annexation in 1783. Built by Mengli Giray in the early 16th century, this palace was the residence and administrative center of the Crimean Khanate. The palace has the "State Council's Hall (Divan), reception halls, administrative and service quarters, guest rooms, the Harem, gardens, a mosque, a private chapel (mescit), and a cemetery for the Giray family" (see fourth link below). The Palace was rebuilt after the 1736 Russian attack on the city, so most of the structures are from 1737-1743. The oldest part is the Iron Gate, designed by an Italian architect in Renaissance style. The Fountain of Tears is located within an enclosed courtyard outside of the Council's Hall. After Russian annexation, the building was renovated by architects and artisans who weren't familiar with Islamic art and architecture, so today there is a great interest in restoring the palace to its original state.

Khan Mosque (Han Camii)
Gözleve or Kezlev (Yevpatoria), Crimea
As one of the few Tatar buildings that survived Russian domination, this building from the 1550s was designed by Ottoman architect Sinan and modeled after the original Fatih Mosque of Istanbul. It has one central dome, one half-dome, and three smaller domes to each side. The entrance is a wooden door on the north side. The front facade is an arcade with five smaller domes. In the 1980s, the Russians used it as a museum of archaeology, but the Tatars reclaimed it in 1990. The structure has gone through extensive renovation and restoration in order to it into a mosque again.


Links:
Ukraine: Tatar Women Rediscover Their Roots
Crimean Tatar NGOs
Crimean Tatars - most of info and all pictures from this site
Crimean Tatar Architecture