In Voice of Russia's weekly entertaining show From Moscow With Love with its unrivaled hosts Vasily Strelnikov and Natalia Stefanova will tell you about the most interesting events in Moscow, Russia and the World. In this episode, Natasha dreams of Prince Charles, goes hiking again and makes potions to cure high blood pressure. Meanwhile, Vasily visits a 19th century estate, a vintage car collection museum, and catches a nasty cold. Also, listeners' letters and we follow up on a story we did earlier about an old, rusty television tower in Moscow, which may not have to be demolished after all!
Nataly: Vasily, I heard you spent your weekend hiking? Where did you go?
Vasily: I went to see the wonderful Arhangelskoe Estate, 20 kilometers west of Moscow on the high Moskva River bank. Arkhangelskoye is an incredible monument of Russian artistic culture, which has won worldwide renowned thanks not only to the striking beauty of its architectural ensemble and parks, but also its unique museum collection. The vastness of the place is unbelievable! The estate was acquired in 1810 by the wealthiest grandee of the time, Prince Nikolai Yusupov, though not for profit, but notably, as a “source of joy.” Arkhangelskoye emerged as the center of Moscow’s high life, hailing the elite of the Russian gentry, famous politicians, poets and essay writers as its guests. I’ll leave a link or two at our facebook fan site. After that, we drove to the nearby Vehicle Museum - one of the largest in Europe and the largest in Russia private museum of vintage technical equipment. The best antique machinery of the last century, military hardware, weapons, aviation, motorcycles, and of course retro cars - more than 1000 exhibits all tolled. I especially enjoyed the Soviet made limousines for Russian leaders of the 60’ s 70’s and 80’s - the so called bullet proof Zills. So, all that walking around in the sunshine plus a short break in the shade for some coffee and a sneaky draft or burst of cool air got me sick. But let me tell you and our listeners about the Vehicle Museum. The entire collection belongs to private collector Vadim Zadorozhny. This museum is the largest private museum of vintage technical equipment in Russia and one of the largest in Europe. The collection includes military hardware, aviation, motorcycles, and vintage cars. There are more than 1000 exhibits and they are growing all the time. Just a few examples of what you can find here: there’s the parade car of Yuri Gagarin, early examples of Russian aviation along with a British Lend Lease Hurricane fighter with Red Army markings. This museum has the largest collection of German WW2 motorbike sidecar combinations you can imagine. I even found an old Soviet military field communications post. There’s even a cafe with a WW2 Russian army field kitchen, where you can sample a typical Soviet Army meal ration of porridge and meat or barley and mincemeat with classic Russian black bread and tea.
Nataly: Well, apart from that nasty cold, I see you got your share of impressions. Good for you. I love Archangelskoye and visited it a few times, though it was many years ago.
Vasily: Later that evening we went to Sparrow Hills or Lenin Hills, as they were known in Soviet times. It’s a hill, overlooking Moscow with a fantastic view of the city. In summer, it’s a place where all lovers of motorbikes hang out. Tough Russian bikers and their high heeled girlfriends!
There was a live band playing, kids running around and folks from all over Russia and the world, strolling, enjoying the atmosphere and the view. See the photos on our Facebook Fan site.
Nataly: Oh, yes, the view from Sparrow Hills is breathtaking. One of the things you can see from there is the world famous Shukhov broadcasting tower, which we spoke of a few shows back.
Vasily: Yes, the sad part about the tower is that the authorities were considering tearing it down, because there were no funds for a major reconstruction job.
Nataly: Vas, I’ve got wonderful news! The Tower has been saved, and I’m very happy that I also took part in saving it.
A muscovite, by the name of Andrei Stadnikov launched a campaign some time ago to save the Shukhov tower from dismantling. Eighteen thousand people signed a petition to the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, dozens of meetings were held all over Moscow, and finally, on July 3d the Ministry of Culture announced that the tower would not be dismantled! Deputy Minister of culture Grigori Pirumov said several ministries had agreed with the experts’ opinion and supported their initiative to leave the historical monument intact in its original place. Moreover, the tower will be renovated.
Vasily: Great news, Natasha, but how did you help to save the tower?
Nataly: I was among the 18 thousand who signed the petition. And it worked! Hurrah!!!
