Over the centuries, the Valaam islands have been abandoned, they have been the setting for bloody wars, they have flourished in peace time, they have seen incredible spiritual feats, and they have seen betrayal. Their calling — to be a bulwark of the Russian Orthodox faith — remains unchanged, however. Host Alexander Uvarov learns about the troubled history of one of the oldest monasteries in Russia. This cloister has repeatedly come back from the brink to be reborn with evermore strength.
The Neva River is changeable, sudden and sweeping — she reminds of a woman who knows perfectly well that she has the right to act on any whim. The river is one of the most beautiful and deepest in Europe. It doesn’t have a typical river regime — that is to say that it doesn’t overflow in the spring or lose depth in the summer. The Neva carries its waters from Lake Ladoga to the Baltic Sea’s Gulf of Finland and flows through the centre of one of the most beautiful cities in Russia, St. Petersburg, and has played witness to many key moments in Russian history.In this RTG TV film we explore the Neva throughout the seasons. In the winter the great river is covered in ice and the Nevskaya Zastava icebreaker is the only thing powerful enough to push through its frozen waters. In autumn the river threatens to overflow, sometimes even spilling over onto the banks of the city. Every spring thousa...