![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmOBw-1jz3t753kYXDIj8D8BD36R_DtHsCxxs-YySs6VUlqjf_YsHjsqQmfrUtfhqGeX4kgsLlS5Kqof-JCOhoEeouSjGpA44T_6Sg6vxLIYET-D9mySMev80QWYRdME-3tAWfuovmAdM/s200/51ag8KqcqwL.jpg)
With all this talk about Russia the past few days, I'm thinking of stirring myself up and returning to James Billington's The Icon and the Axe: An Interpretative History of Russian Culture. I've been interested in Russian history and culture since taking a course in pre-Soviet and another in Soviet history with Prof. Cynthia Whittaker at Baruch back in the eighties (just as perestroika was announced).
Kiev, followed by Novogorod, then Moscow, carved a nation out of wilderness that despite all the setbacks of the past twenty years, remains the largest country in the world. In the face of a daunting climate, devastation and subjugation by the Mongols, religious schisms, civil wars, and autocracy, the Russians have perservered, and even thrived. They also have a nice, dark sense of humor about their trials and tribulations.
In more recent years, Russian Orthodoxy and its icons, saints, and hermits have intrigued me. Raised in a very Protestant tradition, and which I still hold to, there's something about the deep unworldliness of Russian Orthodox, at least in the abstract, that is striking and I'd like to get a better understanding of.
So, to "celebrate", here's a host of cool Russian art depicting heroes, cities, and legends.
In more recent years, Russian Orthodoxy and its icons, saints, and hermits have intrigued me. Raised in a very Protestant tradition, and which I still hold to, there's something about the deep unworldliness of Russian Orthodox, at least in the abstract, that is striking and I'd like to get a better understanding of.
So, to "celebrate", here's a host of cool Russian art depicting heroes, cities, and legends.
Baptism of Saint Prince Vladimir by Viktor Vasnetsov
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Vasnetsov_Bapt_Vladimir.jpg)
Kiev's great hero, Ilya Muromets
![Image result for ilya muromets:](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/c6/d7/85/c6d7856a5065d303d01e5e1aecf23889.jpg)
Heroes Dobrynya Nikitich, Ilya Muromets, and Alyosha Popovich
![Image result for ilya muromets hero:](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/f3/f0/51/f3f0514b3ddcb2d0c6355f9288605d73.jpg)
Novgorod Market by Apollinari Vasnetsov
Ancient Moscow by Apollinari Vasnetsov
![Image result for ancient russia:](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/eb/43/5d/eb435dacda09d77a8f4482c2b4ad58c4.jpg)
Ivan the Terrible Under the Walls of Kazan (1552) by Pyotr Korovin
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Siege_of_Kazan_%28Pyotr_Korovin%2C_1890%29.jpeg/800px-Siege_of_Kazan_%28Pyotr_Korovin%2C_1890%29.jpeg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Miloradovichdefense.jpg)