Traditional Russian Souvenirs

When people travel somewhere, they usually try to buy some souvenirs or guide books that will remind them about their trip, something typical of the local culture.

Practise saying the words

Gzhel Porcelain

The Matryoshka

Doll’s House

The Russian Matryoshka Museum is home to a collection of 400 Matryoshka dolls. The dolls are wooden with beautiful decorations. Some of them represent characters from Russian literature, fairy tales and politics. Most of the dolls have five to seven pieces, but some sets are really big and have fifty pieces. The biggest piece is one metre high and the smallest one is one centimetre high.

Zhostovo painting

Russian Pottery Toys

Nearly every place has something special that is produced there and that people are proud of. Some places have become famous thanks to these industries or products.

• Look at the pictures and say what these places are famous for.
• ex. 2, p. 132

is made from/ is made of...

We usually say made of when we are identifying the material used to make something: The book is made of paper. When a material is changed into a completely different form to make something, we often use made from: Paper is made from wood.

My home town is famous for...

Samovar - Words of The World

Tula pryaniki

Gzhel is the name of two rural localities in Ramensky District, Moscow Oblast, Russia, 52 kilometers (32 mi) southeast from the center of Moscow. It gave its name to Gzhel ceramics.

Gzhel stands on the banks of the Gzhelka River, known from the 1451 charter of Sophia of Lithuania, mother of Vasily II of Moscow, as Kzhelya.

Russian Souvenir

Gzhel is a style of ceramics which takes its name from the village of Gzhel and surrounding area, where it has been produced since 1802.

Samovar

Resourses

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Russian_souvenirs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gzhel

Zhostovo painting is an old Russian folk handicraft of painting on metal trays, which still exists in a village of Zhostovo in the Moscow Oblast. It appeared in the early 19th century mainly under the influence of the Ural handicraft of flower painting on metal.

The most widely used motif of the Zhostovo painting is a bunch of mixed garden and wild flowers, which is simple and laconic in its essence. The edges of a tray are painted with a light golden ornament calledорка uborka. A finished tray is then covered with three layers of light lacquer and polished to brilliance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhostovo_painting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tula_gingerbread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIm8boGBW3M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7FFx41A7iE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETZpQLEiQuU&feature=related

Russian Lace and Shawls

Khokhloma Style

Gzhel Porcelain

Russian Pottery Toys

• Do you like to buy souvenirs when you go somewhere?
• What things do you usually buy?
• Have any of you travelled abroad?
• What souvenirs did you buy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9cEY23NI8Q&feature=related

Read more about:

Matryoshka

Russian Souvenirs

Zhestovo tray

http://www.visitrussia.com/souvenirs.htm

http://www.fromrussia.com/

Palekh Lacquer Boxes

Traditional Russian Souvenirs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Russian_souvenirs

Look at these things and say what souvenirs you would choose for your foreign friend.

Example: I'd choose Dymkovo toys. It's really Russian and it's funny.

Russian Lace and Shawls

Palekh Lacquer Boxes

souvenir

clay

craft

lace

porcelain

pottery

shawl

tray

Russian lace from Vologda, Yelets and Mikhailov is

fascinating. Russians lace makers have won recognition at international fairs for their masterpieces.

You can admire Pavlov-Posad shawls. Shawls have always been an important part of a Russian woman’s national costume.

Khokhloma Style

Tula samovars and pryaniki

What other typical Russian souvenirs do you know?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uyXwmUT774&feature=related

The painted lacquerwork items

are known all over the world.

Palekh articles are the most famous.

Palekh craftsmen succeeded in developing a highly original

painting style which includes

a black background,

gracefully silhouetted figures

from Russian fairy tales,

sophisticated colour schemes

and exquisite ornamental patterns.

In their picturesque miniatures

Palekh artists show the sights

of their native country, their people,

folk traditions, their celebrations,

songs and labour full of hope and optimism.

The famous Khokhloma style is remarkable for its

lavish patterns inspired by

folk tableware.

This style is distinguished

by the characteristic gold

background and fine

brushwork.

The History of the Matryoshka Doll

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7LjWTxHPNA&feature=related

• The Matryoshka doll came to Russia from Japan at the end of the 19th century.
• The first Matryoshka was a girl in a print dress, a white apron and a bright shawl, carrying a rooster under her arm.
• There were six other dolls inside her.
• The doll looked very Russian and soon became popular.
• The name Matryoshka came from the common Russian name Matryona.
• Today, Matryoshkas are made in many parts of Russia.

By the 18th century, tea was part and parcel of Russian life and had become very much a national drink. Family affairs were settled around the tea table. Asking one to sit down to tea became a traditional sign of hospitality. Tradition demanded that the water be boiled in a samovar. Tula is famous for its samovars. Tula samovars were famed highly on the inner market and abroad and became the symbol of Tula hospitality and family comfort as well as a sign of prosperity. Russian tea is served with a lump of sugar and lemon, along with various jams and preserves, honey and Russian cookies or pies. The famous Tula gingerbreads are called pryaniki.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUDU8vjxVeI&feature=relmfu

Answer the following questions:

• What are the dolls in the pictures made of?
• Why are they called Matryoshkas?
• How many Matryoshka dolls are there in the museum?
• How many pieces do doll sets usually have?
• When did Matryoshkas first come to Russia?
• What did the first Matryoshka look like?

КЛИП ТУЛЬСКИЙ ПРЯНИК

• The Dymkovo toys have extremely simple forms.
• They are painted in bright ornamental patterns against a white background.
• The tradition of Dymkovo comes to life in the figures of red-cheeked nannies and scenes of tea drinking and public merry-making.
• The Filimonovo toys have elongated shapes and are painted in green, yellow and blue stripes.

Tula gingerbread is a type of printed gingerbread from the city of Tula, the most famous kind of Russian gingerbreads.

Usually the Tula gingerbread looks like a rectangular tile or a flat figure. Modern Tula gingerbreads usually contain jam or condensed milk, while in the old times they were made with honey.

Gingerbreads are known in Tula since 17th century. The first mention of the Tula gingerbread is in Tula сensus book of 1685.

There is a museum called «Tula gingerbread», opened in Tula in 1996.

Today Tula gingerbreads are made at confectionery factories «Staraya Tula» and «Yasnaya Polyana», and also by several small companies.

Russian Dolls - Words of the World

Let's have a break!

Russian Souvenirs

Read about two places which have become extremely popular thanks to the things that are produced there and find the answers to the guestions:

• What is the place famous for?
• When did the industry start?
• What is the thing made from?
• What is it used for?
• ex. 3, p. 133

Present a story on an Internet site for people who would like to visit your area and write about something your home town is famous for.

What special things is our regional centre Tula famous for? What things are our people proud of?

craft

?

food

industry