Who are the Russian people? How have they expressed their character and inner conflicts in their art and culture? And, as Russia’s long-awaited democracy develops, how will the Russian people redefine themselves culturally, spiritually, and politically?

Timeline
Experience Russian culture and history through an interactive timeline from 850 A.D. to present day with hundreds of images, movies and audio tracks.

The Series
Learn about the PBS series and the people behind it with biographies, location maps, program summaries, air dates, and indexes to the interviews and artwork from the series.

Reference
Explore Russia and Russian culture within this section which includes a glossary, bibliography, media index, Web links and lesson plans

Forums
Connect with others to discuss topics inspired by the series and the site in the Viewer’s Forum at PBS.

This Interactive Timeline is a companion to The Face of Russia series, tracing the general chronology of Russian culture. This remarkable journey through ten centuries of art, architecture, music, dance and cinema reveals the major events that shaped Russian culture.

Click on highlighted text or images to explore expanded descriptions and media-rich content. Scroll through the timeline chronologically, or jump directly to a specific period using the “timeline key” at the top.

For more than a millenium, Russia has struggled with issues and ideas that have altered and shaped its culture and art. Russia’s ten centuries tell a tale of enduring ambivalence towards the West in all its manifestations: from ancient Byzantium, to autocratic Prussia, to revolutionary France, NATO, and contemporary America. From the West came religion, military prowess, radical ideas, architectural forms, art, and music. To the West Russia gave ethereal icons, beautiful art and churches, haunting music, brilliant prose and poetry, supreme athletes and dancers, and path-breaking cinema. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and its Communist alliance in 1991, Russia is again undergoing great changes, attempting to blend traditional ways with ideas from abroad.

Who are the Russian people? How have they expressed their character and inner conflicts in their art and culture? And, as Russia’s long-awaited democracy develops, how will the Russian people redefine themselves culturally, spiritually, and politically?

The Face of Russia takes viewers on a remarkable journey through history—to sacred monasteries and magnificent churches that have served as monuments to Christianity since late in the tenth century; to grand palaces of St. Petersburg and the great architectural masterpieces that dot the shoreline of the Baltic Sea; and to twentieth-century Russia where new forms of music and cinema are emerging. Along the way, the series reveals how the Russian people find inspiration in the evocative art of their past—and hope in the emerging images of their future.

Expansion over the centuries made Russia an empire filled with dozens of nationalities, each with its own distinctive culture. The Face of Russia explores the dominant strains of Russian culture, essentially a tale of three cities: Kiev, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. The series draws upon the resources of Russia’s major cultural institutions and details spectacular new discoveries and restorations in architecture and archaeology. The footage, combined with recordings from rare Russian scores and the Library of Congress, provides a remarkable look at both the historical and human aspects of Russian art and culture.


Companion book

A sweeping new analysis from the U.S. Librarian of Congress and preeminent expert on Russian culture. For bulk/institutional sales contact HarperCollins customer service at 1-800-242-7737



Videotapes

Air Dates

James Billington

The Crew

Behind the Scenes

Program Summaries

Locations

Interviews

Artwork

This section contains information for those who would like to learn more about Russia and Russian culture. The Glossary provides definitions of Russian words used in The Face of Russia television programs. The Bibliography and the Web links list additional sources of information, including maps and works of art. For teachers there are Lesson Plans for elementary through high school grades. And finally, for a bit of added interest, visitors can view the Cyrillic alphabet and find out about its origins.

Lesson Plans

Cyrillic Alphabet

Glossary

Bibliography

Web Links

Media Index