Russian Travel Guide

География вкуса. Картофель с жюльеном из лисичек и брусничным соусом

Ilmen lake

Lake Ilmen in the western part of Novgorodskaya Oblast is a lake with character and the eighth largest lake in Europe. Some academics have drawn a connection between the lake’s name and the Russian word “il,” acknowledging the multi-metre thickness of “il” — or “silt” — on the bottom of Lake Ilmen. A more widely spread explanation of its name is that Ilmen is a Finno-Ugric word. A version of it, “Ilmer,” used to be found in chronicles. Translated the word means “lake which makes the weather.” This translation is surprisingly accurate with regards to reality — Lake Ilmen plays an important role in determining the weather in the surrounding area. The old village of Vzvad is considered Ilmen’s fishing capital. Presenter Nadezhda Lebedeva visits to check out the town’s tried fishing practices and even casts a line herself. She also gets to touch the Ilmen glint – a geologi...

The history of the baron Kelkh mansion

Tchaikovsky Street in the centre of St. Petersburg is home to one of the city’s most interesting and beautiful mansions, the home of the Kelch family. Nowadays most often referred to as the Lawyers’ House, at the end of the 19th century, the mansion and its grounds belonged to Barbara Kelch and her husband, Baron Alexander Kelch. They hired talented architects Vladimir Chagin and Vasily Schone to redo the house. Not only did these men rebuild the building’s façade, but they also decorated the interiors of the mansion, transforming it into a luxurious palace. Still today the elegant home preserves magnificent rooms such as the Gothic Dining Room, the White Hall, the Oak Study and the Main Staircase, which are overwhelming in their grandeur. It is obvious that when designing these rooms Chagin and Schone used styles associated with the historicism popular at the turn of the 20t...