ВВЕДЕНИЕ
Необходимость издания данного сборника текстов назрела давно. Студенты специальности 080502/8 «Экономика и управление на предприятии (туризма и гостиничного хозяйства)» сдают итоговый экзамен по иностранному языку с основами ИЭД. Итоговый экзамен практически по двум дисциплинам «Иностранный язык» и «Информационно-экскурсионная деятельность предприятий туризма (на английском языке)» введен в нашем филиале в 2004 году.
С тех пор на кафедре накопилось большое количество материала для подготовки к итоговому экзамену, в частности к первому вопросу – устной теме. По сути, первый вопрос представляет собой проведение заочной экскурсии.
Авторы пособия поставили перед собой цель – систематизировать имеющийся материал, обобщить его и в значительной степени обновить.
Данное пособие отлично подходит для подготовки к итоговому экзамену по иностранному языку с основами ИЭД. Его можно использовать для проведения семинаров по дисциплине «Информационно-экскурсионная деятельность предприятий туризма (на английском языке)». Им можно пользоваться на всех занятиях по дисциплинам «Иностранный язык» и «Деловой иностранный язык». Пособие выпущено на английском языке.
SAINT PETERSBURG
St.Petersburg is situated on the East coast of the Gulf of Finland in the delta of the Neva River, on 42 islands. The territory of the city is 606 square km, with suburbs it is about 1,439 square km. The distance from north to south is 60km; from west to east is 30km. The city is called the Venice of the North for its numerous rivers (50), canals (31), bridges (more than 530), and embankments (23). The main water way of the city is the Neva River.
The population of the city is 5m; with suburbs it is about 7m people.
The climate is damp and maritime. The weather is highly changeable. The average annual temperature is +4.3. The average annual temperature in July is +17.8 and in January is -7.8. St.Petersburg is 3 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time and is in the same time zone as Moscow.
Saint Petersburg is rather young to compare with all European capitals. It was founded by Russian Tsar Peter the Great in 1703.
The first name was St.Petersburg. The city was founded on the banks of the Neva River in the Eastern part of the Gulf of Finland and it was like a key to Paradise. So the city wasn’t named after Tsar but after St.Peter - the keeper of the keys to Paradise.
The city changed its name for three times: first – during World War I in 1914. The German name was changed into Petrograd and a little later, in 1924 the city got its name - Leningrad. In 1991 citizens voted for giving back the original name – St.Petersburg.
St.Petersburg was the capital of Russia for more than 200 years (from 1714 to 1918).
During World War II Leningrad was blockaded for about 900 days. The siege lasted from 8 September 1941 to 27 January 1944. 500,000 victims of siege were buried in the Peskaryov cemetery.
Nowadays St.Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia. It is called the cultural capital of Russia. There are 230 museums, about 100 theatres, exhibitions, clubs, universities, colleges, schools, libraries, and parks. The Pushkin Drama Theatre, the Alexandrinsky Drama Theatre, the Mariinsky Opera House are pearls of the Russian art.
The Summer Gardens, which were laid in 1704, are the oldest and most fascinating in the city. Rare trees, bushes and flowers grow there. Beautiful marble statues made by Italian sculptors and an amazing cast iron grille made by Pyotr Yegorov decorate the Summer Gardens. There is a bronze monument to the prominent Russian fabulist Ivan Krylov (by sculptor Klodt) in the Summer Gardens. The city is famous for its magnificent architectural ensembles of the 18-19 centuries.
In St.Petersburg tourists usually start sightseeing from Palace Square, the largest and most beautiful one. One cannot help admiring the ensemble in Palace Square: the Winter Palace (built by Rastrelli) was the residence of Russian tsars. The Hermitage, one of the oldest art museums in Russia, occupies the Winter Palace and four other buildings. There one can see masterpieces of the outstanding artists. The majestic palaces, cathedrals, churches and other buildings, built by famous architects, decorate St.Petersburg which is really worth seeing.
MAIN SIGHTS OF ST.PETERSBURG
In order to really understand St.Petersburg, to grasp its spirit, you have to view it as a single whole, to examine the main architectural ensembles, which formed and determined the face of Russia’s northern capital. The city is inimitable in its beauty. It is one of 8 the most beautiful cities in the world. Many of its ensembles and buildings are real masterpieces not only of Russian, but of world architecture.
A sightseeing tour around St.Petersburg starts from Palace Square. It is the historic centre of the city, one of the world’s finest architectural ensembles in the classical and Baroque styles. The immense square creates a harmonious impression.
The main structures are the Winter Palace (the former royal residence), the General Staff Building, the Alexander Column and the Guards Headquarters. From the corner farthest away from Nevsky Prospect you can have a splendid panorama. In the centre is the remarkable Alexander Column which is held only by its own weight. The column was erected in 1834 to a design by Augusto Montferrand to commemorate Russia’s victory over Napoleon in the 1812 War. On the top of the column is the astonishingly expressive figure of an angel whose face is portrait likeness of Alexander I (sculptor B.Orlovsky).
The Hermitage is one of the world’s greatest museums, founded in 1764 and occupying buildings of the Winter Palace and Small, Old and New Hermitages. The museum’s collection now numbers more than 3 million items – paintings, graphic art, sculptures, applied art, coins and archeological finds.
The State Russian Museum of Fine Arts has about 300,000 items in its collection. It keeps the largest collection of Russian pictorial art. There are some unique museums in the city such as the Museum of Arctic and Antarctic, the Chamber of Curiosities, etc.
The Main Admiralty building is one of the finest architectural monuments in the city and a unique example of Russian Classicism. It is the hub of the city centre, uniting three squares: Palace, Decembrists’ and St.Isaac’s ones. The gilded spire of the Admiralty, topped by a caravel-shaped weathervane, is 72meters above the city. It is one of the symbols of St.Petersburg.
Away to the left of Palace Square is the city’s main thoroughfare, Nevsky Prospect. In order to get a feel of the city, one should walk it from one end to the other because this is the quintessence of St.Petersburg, the symbol of its outstanding historical culture. There are many theatres, museums, publishing houses, hotels and important shops, the National Library of Russia in and around it. It is adorned by such remarkable works of architecture as the Kazan Cathedral (architect A. Voronikhin), the Anichkov and Stroganov Palaces and the Alexandrinsky Theatre, etc. Every building here is part of the history of the city.
Saint Isaac’s Cathedral is one of the world’s most beautiful churches. The weighty mass of St. Isaac’s Cathedral dominates the skyline of St.Petersburg. Its gilded dome covered with 100kg of pure gold, soars over 100meters into the air, making it visible far out onto the Gulf of Finland. The Cathedral was commissioned by Alexander I in 1818 and took more than three decades to complete. Its architect, August Montferrand, pulled out all the stops in his design, incorporating dozens of kinds of stone and marble into the enormous structure and lading its vast interior with frescoes, mosaics, bas-reliefs, and the only stained glass window in the Orthodoxy. Both the exterior and the interior of the cathedral deserve prolonged observation, and the view from the dome is stupendous.
Peter I, who laid the foundation of not only St.Petersburg but a whole new Russia, became established in the popular memory as Peter the Great, creator of the Russian Empire, a ruler who directed the country into course of dynamic development on the heels of the greatest European powers. That is why he is depicted in the monument that stands by the Neva opposite Vasilyevsky Island. The Bronze Horseman became one of the chief sights of the city. One of the finest equestrian statues in the world, it was designed and unveiled by the sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet. The rider’s head was moulded by Mary-Ann Collot, a pupil of Falconet.
Alexander II, who succeeded Nicolas I, has gone in history as liberator-tsar. In 1861 he issued a decree finally abolishing serfdom. By a wicked irony of fate the revolutionary movement selected this Tsar a target for assassination. In memory of Alexander II, the magnificent Church of Resurrection of Christ, popularly known as Our-Saviour-on-the-Split-Blood, was constructed on the site of the fatal attack, close to Nevsky Prospect. The church’s unique decorations, both interior and exterior, include icons and panels made from majolica and mosaic created by the leading Russian artists of the XIX century.
One of the city’s most important historical and architectural monuments Peter and Paul Fortress was founded on 27 May 1703 to defend St.Petersburg against enemy raids. From the middle of the 18th century it contained Russian political prison. The complex included Peter and Paul Cathedral, designed by Dominico Trezzini, which is the city’s tallest building (the height of the spire is 121.8meter), the house of the grandfather of the Russian navy, where exact copy of Peter I’s little boat is kept and the Mint.
There is not enough time to describe even briefly all the main sights of St.Petersburg – they are so thick on the ground in the central part of the city and so many historical events are associated with them.
THE HERMITAGE
The world-famous Hermitage Museum is the pride of St.Petersburg. It occupies the buildings of the former imperial residence. There are about 3 million works of art there which represent all the times and peoples. Founded by Catherine the Great in 1764 as a private imperial collection, the Hermitage has become the largest public art museum.
The basis of its collection is the picture gallery. Here you can admire masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, Velasquez, Van Dyke and the Impressionists.
No less remarkable than the museum holdings are the Hermitage’s magnificent buildings and rooms: the Winter Palace used for the official and private life of the Russian Emperors, as well as the Small, Old and New Hermitages and the Hermitage Theatre erected specially to accommodate masterpieces of art. They are linked together by roofed passages and form a remarkable architectural ensemble.
The Winter Palace plays an important part in the Neva panorama now. It was built in the 18th century by the architect Rastrelli for the Empress Elizabeth. Each of the facades is designed differently. The northern façade faces the Neva. The main façade is the southern one. It faces Palace Square. Its center is cut with 3 entrance arches.
The building’s decorativeness is of particular interest. Window casings, a number of vases and statues decorate the building. The Palace represents the Baroque style.
The building impresses by its dimensions too. There are 1050 halls and rooms in it, 1945 windows and 115 staircases.
The Field Marshal, Armory, Alexander and Malachite halls are of considerable artistic value. The Malachite Hall is especially notable. It is a sample of malachite decoration for a whole interior. In the gallery of 1812 you can see portraits of generals, participants of the 1812 Patriotic War.
European painting is represented by the works of different national schools and ages. Halls in the south of the Winter Palace contain the displays of English, German and French painting and other forms of art.
The Hermitage collections rank with such world museum collections as the Louvre, the British Museum, and the National Arts Gallery in the USA by their richness.
MOSCOW
Moscow is a subject of the Russian Federation, a federal city, and the Russian capital. It is home to bodies of state and local government, and has its own coat of arms, flag and anthem.
Moscow is the political and business centre of Russia, as well as the nation’s seat of power and home to its leading economic and financial institutions, over half of the country’s commercial and specialized banks, representative offices of major Russian companies, and leading world corporations.
Russia’s existing transport system is Moscow-centred, generating the main freight and passenger traffic routes in the capital and making for the creation of the national trade and distribution centre on the basis of the Moscow transport hub, containing just shy of 70% of the country’s overall warehouse space. The Moskva River water transport artery connects Moscow to five seas: the Sea of Azov, the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, and the White Sea.
Moscow is the economic centre of Russia, the main supplier of goods and services, human resources, scientific and innovative solutions, and advanced technologies. Such sectors as fuel and energy, industry, transport, trade, communications, tourism, and education are considered promising for investment.
Moscow accounts for over 60% of total investment in Russia, and one third of the city budget is formed at the expense of foreign economic activity, while one quarter of the country foreign trade is also accounted for by the Russian capital.
There are also special economic zones and technological parks actively being created on the city’s territory.
One third of the country’s academic workers are concentrated in Moscow. More than one million undergraduate students and some 50,000 graduate students are doing their studies in the Russian capital.
38% of the country’s historic sites are concentrated in Moscow, 200 of which are included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Over 70% of all foreign tourists arriving in Russia visit Moscow.
Moscow, which is home to nearly 9% of the country’s overall population (resident population including newcomers), is a multinational city facilitating world-standard conditions for living and working, as well as studying, and taking part in sports and recreation.
Moscow is situated in the centre of the European part of Russia, in the interfluve of the Oka and Volga rivers and the centre of the Moscow region.
Its area is 1,081square meters.
Resident population, according to the Federal State Statistics Services as of January 1, 2008, is 10.5 million people.
Moscow was founded or, strictly speaking, first mentioned in the Hypatian Codex, in 1147.
At present Moscow is divided into 123 districts and 10 administrative boroughs.
Moscow has over 5,500 restaurants, over 600 museums, historic estates, and art galleries, over 350 sports arenas, stadiums, swimming pools, and skating rinks. It also has 200 hotels, over 100 theatres and concerts halls, and over 100 gardens and parks.
Over 6,800 representative offices of foreign companies are registered in Moscow. Around 300 international exhibitions and fairs are held in the capital each year.
More than 4m tourists visited Moscow every year, with most of the visitors arriving from Germany, the United States, and China, as well as Great Britain, France, Turkey, Italy, Israel, Japan, and Spain.
SIGHTS OF MOSCOW
The first written record of Moscow dates back to 1147, to the reign of Great Prince Yuri of Kiev, Vladimir Monomakh’s son. He was nicknamed Dolgoruky (long-armed) for his unification policy. Yuri Dolgoruky is considered to be the founder of Moscow and in commemoration of this an equestrian statue by the sculptor S. V. Orlov was erected in Tverskaya Street.
The history of the Moscow Kremlin goes back to olden times. Since time immemorial the Moscow Kremlin has been the centre of Russian statehood, the residence of Russian tsars and hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Under Dmitry Donskoy in 1367-1368, the white-stone walls and towers of the Kremlin were erected and Moscow began to be called white-stone. Later the first brick buildings appeared there and it largely acquired its present appearance and dimensions.
Among ancient buildings in the Kremlin there are churches (the Dormition Cathedral, the Archangel Cathedral, the Annunciation Cathedral)and the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great, built in 1600 by Russian architects under Boris Godunov.
At the foot of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower on a granite base is the world’s largest bell, the 210ton Tsar Bell. It was cast in the Kremlin by the foundry man Ivan Motorin and his son Mikhail in 1733-35.
The Tsar Cannon is an interesting specimen of sixteenth-century foundry work. It was cast of bronze in 1586 by the Russian master Andrei Shchokhov. It weighs nearly 40tons.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier commemorates the soldiers of the Soviet Army who perished at the front during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45. The memorial was erected under the supervision of architects D. Budrin, V. Klimov and Yu.Rabayev. The sculptor was V. Tomsky. On the black granite slab burns the eternal flame of glory. The inscription reads: Your name is unknown but your deed is eternal.
The Armoury Chamber, a treasure-house, is a part of the Grand Kremlin Palace’s complex. It is situated in the building constructed in 1851 by architect Konstantin Ton. The museum collections were based on the precious items that had been preserved for centuries in the tsars’ treasury and the Patriarch’s vestry.
The Armoury, Diamond Fund, is the oldest museum in Russia housing the richest collection of decorative and applied art of Russia, European and Eastern countries of the 4th-early 20th centuries. It also has the collection of ancient weaponry, fabrics, cookware, furniture, jewelry, carriages, gold and platinum nuggets, precious stones, including one of the largest diamonds in the world.
Red Square, with an average length of 400m and average breadth of 150m, is the central square not only of Moscow but of the whole Russia. Since the time of Ivan III (15th century), this has been the scene of great public events, mainly political – rallies, demonstrations and processions. In earlier times Red Square was also a place of execution. Its name, however, does not come from the blood. In Old Slavonic Krasny (red) also meant beautiful, since red was regarded as a particular beautiful colour. The translation Red Square ( instead of Beautiful Square) which is now universally used became established only in the 20th century.Russian people say: “Red Square is the heart of Moscow”.
Many would think that St.Basil’s Cathedral alone would justify a visit to Moscow. This extraordinary building – the supreme achievement of 16th century architecture in Moscow – is now a branch of the State Historical Museum. With its ground-plan in the form of an eight-pointed star, its nine churches and its bizarre domes, its vivid colours and its heterogeneous assortment of architectural elements, the church was originally built by Ivan the Terrible in 1555-61. It was called the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin to commemorate the capture of Kazan, capital of the khanate of Kazan, on the festival of the Intercession of the Virgin in 1552. The architects of the cathedral were Postnik and Barma.
The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts is Moscow’s equivalent to St.Petersburg’s enormous Hermitage Museum, and boasts an impressive collection ranging from Roman antiquities to canvasses by Gauguin. This museum was established in 1912 by the father of the famous Russian poet Marina Tsvetayeva, who was well renowned in Moscow as a Professor of Art History at Moscow State University. The museum houses an extensive collection of ancient art and artifacts, including Egyptian, Assyrian, Ancient Greek and Roman pieces, West European art from the Middle Ages through the mid-20th century. It also has the largest collection of French impressionist works in Russia.
The Tretyakov Gallery houses one of the most celebrated and extensive collections of Russian art and artifacts in the world. The gallery was named after the financier and entrepreneur Pavel Tretyakov (1832-98), who donated approximately 2,000 works of Russian art from his own private collection to the city of Moscow at the end of the 19th century. Along with his paintings, Tretyakov also generously donated his own house and surrounding buildings, which became the original premises of the gallery. The buildings were designed by the famous Russian artist Viktor Vasnetsov.
Now the Tretyakov Gallery is a major museum housing a collection of Russian art that traces the development of Russian culture from the 11th through the early 20th century. A visit to the Tretyakov Gallery is a definite must for anyone interested in Russian art and culture.
Among the most famous museums of Moscow you can visit the Central Museum of Armed Forces, the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, the State Historical Museum, and the State Literary Museum.
THE MOSCOW KREMLIN
The Kremlin is the heart of Moscow. It is a wonderful architectural ensemble with 3 magnificent cathedrals, the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great, palaces, fortress walls and 20 towers.
The high wall which surrounds the Kremlin is 21.5kilometers long. It was built by Russian builders, supervised by Italian architects in the 15th century. The 20 towers on the Kremlin wall were built for decoration in the 17th century, when Moscow stopped being a fortress.
Nowadays you can hear the clock strike on Spasskaya Tower every quarter of an hour.
Among ancient buildings in the Kremlin there are churches and the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great, built in 1600 by Russian architects under Boris Godunov.
The Dormition Cathedral is the largest temple on the territory of the Kremlin. Inside it you can see very fine old frescoes. Some of them were restored in the 20th century. Russian tsars and emperors were crowned in the Dormition Cathedral.
The Archangel Cathedral was built by Italian architect Aleviso Novi. There you can see the Tomb of Moscow princes and tsars, the graves of Ivan the Terrible, of his son Ivan, and of his second son, tsar Fyodor.
In the Annunciation Cathedralyou will see unusual oil paintings done in the 15th and 16th centuries by Andrei Rublev and his disciples, great artists of the time.
The Granovitaya Palata (Palace) faces the same square. It is a beautiful building, built in the 15th century. In this palace Moscow tsars held magnificent receptions in honour of foreign ambassadors. The Granovitaya Palata is connected with an enormous Grand Kremlin Palace. In a large wing of the Palace there is the Armory and the Museum of Applied Art.
Other historical monuments of the Kremlin are the Tsar Cannon (16th century) and the Tsar Bell (18th century), both of enormous size and made by Russian masters. The Tsar Bell is 6meters tall and weights 210 tons. (It never worked, because when it was ready for lifting there was a bad fire in the Kremlin and it was damaged).
The Kremlin with its golden domes and magnificent towers attracts everybody’s attention and makes a great impression on tourists and guests of the capital.
For the last eight centuries the Moscow Kremlin was the witness of many glorious and tragic events of our history. Now the Moscow Kremlin is one of the greatest museums of the world. The Kremlin palaces and chambers are keeping the state regalia, invaluable icons and treasures of the tsars.
THE CHUVASH REPUBLIC
The Chuvash Republic has a rather favourable geographical position for the development of tourism. It is situated in the centre of the European part of Russia. It borders on two regions and three republics: to the West it borders on the Nizhny Novgorod region, to the North- on the Republic of Mari-El, to the East- on Tatarstan and to the South - on Mordovia and the Ulyanovsk region.
Chuvashia has an area of 18,700 square kilometers. It stretches for 190km from north to south and for about 160km from west to east.
1,359,000 people live on this comparatively small territory. 60% of the population live in towns and 40% live in the country. The density of populationis one of the highest in Russia. It is about 74.3 persons per square kilometer.
Chuvashia is a multinational republic. Representatives of sixty-two nationalities live here, including Chuvashes, Russians, Tatars, Mordovians, etc. The official languages are Chuvash and Russian.
The capital of the republic is Cheboksary. There are nine towns in Chuvashia. The second largest is Novocheboksarsk, the rest are Alatyr, Shumerlya, Kanash, Kozlovka, Yadrin, Tsivilsk, and Mariinsky Posad.
The landscape of the Chuvash land is specific. There are no mountains on its territory, but the surface is slightly hilly with a plenty of small lakes (400) and rivers (nearly 2,500). The largest lakes are Astrakhanka, Lebyazhye and Chyornoye. Among 2,500 rivers there are rather big ones (the Tsivil, Anish, Kubnya, and Kirya). The greatest advantage of the republic is the Volga River. In the northern part of the republic there is a plateau, which is crossed with many ravines. The central part of Chuvashia the Sviyazhskaya Plain has not deep valleys.
Chuvashia is not rich in mineral resources but it is rich in natural resources such as forests and mineral springs. One third of its territory is covered with forests. They are mainly situated along the Sura River and in Zavolzhye. In the south-east of the Republic there are almost no forests at all. You can see groves everywhere in Chuvashia. In the forests there are many oaks and pines. Many forests are mixed. Typical representatives of the local fauna are elks, bears, wolves, foxes, wild boars, hares, martens, otters, squirrels and hedgehogs.
There are many mineral springs in Chuvashia. That is why the balneological institution for mud cures and health centre “Chuvashia” was opened on one of them. Both traditional and non-traditional methods of treatment are used in the health centre. Besides, clean air with smells of pine tar helps improve people’s health.
Ecological zones in Chuvashia occupy approximately one third of its territory and deserve much interest as the places for recreation and ecological tourism. They are: the Prisursky State National Park, the Chavash Varmane National Park, the Zavolzhye National Park, the Cheboksary branch of the Botanical Gardens of Russia.
The climate is moderate continental. The average temperature in January is -15, in July is +19. The lowest temperature, marked there in winter, is -46 and the highest temperature in summer is +38. The precipitation is 450-500mm a year, 70% of which falls in the warm season.