The Russian-Finnish Borderlands: Territorial Changes, Population Transfers, and Linguistic Changes

An earlier GeoCurrents post mentioned Finns among the nationalities deported by the Soviets before and during World War II. As it turns out, the situation in the Finnish borderlands is rather more complicated than that. The territory between St. Petersburg and Helsinki is home to a number of ethnic groups whose histories range from cultural and linguistic assimilation to population transfer to outright ethnic cleansing.

The Hermitage Museum: From St. Petersburg to Amsterdam

The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia is one of the largest and oldest museums in the world. Its collections comprise nearly three million items, including imperial porcelain, superb Rembrandts, ancient cameos, Madonnas by Da Vinci, marble sculptures by Canova, colorful paintings by Matisse, and a large numismatic collection. Although the exhibits occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, only a small fraction of its outstanding collection can be displayed at any given time. To make these art works available to as wide a public as possible, the Hermitage has opened several branches abroad, the oldest and largest of which is Hermitage Amsterdam.

Mapping “Global Cities”

The concept of the “global city” (or “world city”) has gained traction over the past several decades. The original formulation was rather vague, but a number of more rigorous definition have emerged. A commendable Wikipedia article provides lists of top global cities derived from five ranking systems, as can be seen in the table posted here.
 
 
 

 
The Wikipedia article in question …

UNESCO convenes in St Petersburg to consider Heritage sites

Representatives of 21 nations convened in St Petersburg, Russia on June 24, 2012 to consider additional sites to be added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, as well as to discuss measures for protection of 35 sites already listed.

Kyshtym-57: A Siberian Nuclear Disaster

On September 29, 1957 residents of the Chelyabinsk area in the extreme southwestern corner of Siberia saw a pillar of smoke and dust up to a kilometer high, glimmering with orange-red light. A week later, on October 6, a local Chelyabinsk newspaper published the following note (translation mine):
“Last Sunday night… many residents of Chelyabinsk observed a peculiar glimmer in the …

Celebrating Buddhism in Russia

A Buddhist art exhibit opened in Saint Petersburg, Russia as a key event of the Days of Tibetan Culture in Saint Petersburg festival, which run through March 18. Elsewhere in Russia, Days of Buddhist Culture have been celebrated by hundreds of Buddhists who took a plunge in near-freezing Lake Baikal.