The Far East: people and culture

VII. Speak about the history of the Regional Museum.

VIII. Find 6 words concerning the history of the museum in the crossword.

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TEXT 11.

THE REGIONAL MUSEUM

The Khabarovsk Regional Museum is one of the oldest cultural establishments in our territory. It was founded in 1894 on the initiative of the Russian Geographic Society. In 1896 the current building of the museum was erected; in 1975 it was expanded to enlarge the display area. Prominent scientists took part in the organization of the museum and in collecting its displays. The museum is named after the former governor of the territory – Mr. Grodekov – who put much of his time and effort into its organization. For many years the museum was headed by the prominent Russian scientist V. Arsenyev. His prime interest was the life of the Far Eastern aborigines. His years of fieldwork provided the museum with a number of scientific records on ethnography. Today the staff of the museum is continuing the formation of the collections. The museum collections are unique; there are nearly 144,000 exhibits in different departments: nature, history, and ethnography.

HISTORY DEPARTMENT

The history department is dedicated to the history of the museum‟s development and features 100 year old exhibits: beautiful icons and crosses, some pictures of the people who sponsored the museum, and their gifts – old Russian porcelain, samovars, gas lamps, bone-carved artifacts, Russian troika bells etc.

In the centre of this department there is a display featuring the origin of the aboriginal people of the Russian Far East.

For many years scientists have been excavating in this area trying to uncover the past of the indigenous people of the Far East and to penetrate into the source of their unique culture. Numerous relics and archeological finds testify to the fact that this territory has been populated since ancient times. Man appeared here 200,000 – 150,000 years ago and had progressed from the Stone Age to the Metal Age.

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The ancestors of the local population of the Russian Far East are the Mokhe people who lived in taiga and mountains, who bred cattle and were engaged in hunting. Later they participated in the formation of the Bokhai and Chzurchzen ethnic groups.

The state of Bokhai appeared in the 7th century, after the Mokhe people lost the war against the Chinese Emperess U-Khou. It grew rapidly and soon occupied a part of the present Maritime and Khabarovsk territories. Various crafts and agriculture flourished. The Bokhai people had a written language and knew how to manufacture porcelain and iron nails. Their favourite sports were archery and horseback polo.

The Chzurchzen ethnic group was formed by the 11th century. Their economy was diverse; they were engaged in agriculture, horse breeding, hunting and fishing. Chzen people were highly qualified craftsmen, farmers and soldiers. Luxurious temples with tiled roofs, faced with the images of a rooster or Phoenix were erected in the state of Chzurchzen. Coins and decorations were molded from bronze. But in the 13th century Genghis Khan struck a crushing blow to the powerful Golden Empire of the Chzen people. Their towns were burnt to ashes, but the defeat of the Empire didn‟t mean the extinction of the ethnic group. The period from the 13th to the 17th centuries is described as a period of economic depression.

ETHNOGRAPHIC DEPARTMENT

The aboriginal people of the Russian Far East always excelled at making clothes. They primarily used fish or animal skins. Whatever the local craftsmen made, they always used different decorative techniques: appliqué, inlay, stamping, mosaic or embroidery with deer hair, root fiber, and coloured threads. For centuries the indigenous people were developing their own unique forms of applied arts, which were closely tied up with their everyday life.

Fishing was the backbone of the aboriginal peoples‟ economy and the fishing technology was highly developed in the Amur region. Different ethnic

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groups that inhabited this region lived under the same natural conditions and thus employed the same fishing methods. Fish were taken at weirs, by floating and deep nets, seines, lines and hooks. Spearing was also practised. Special instruments for fish skin processing were used.

Another important enterprise was taiga hunting. Animals such as deer and elk were hunted for meat. Sable, fox, marten, mink and raccoon were hunted for furs.

Wicker work was another major craft of the aboriginal people. Twined basketry was made of grasses and willows. They used to weave girdles, mats, carpets etc. The most valuable and all-purpose material was birch bark, known for its specific qualities: bactericidal, durable, resilient and light.

Woodworking was another domestic craft in which many kinds of tools were used. Wood was used for dwellings, sleds, boats, and domestic utensils.

In the North, hunting and deer breeding provided the basis for the aboriginal people‟s economy. Their clothes had to meet the local weather conditions and were usually made of skins and furs. Dog breeding was highly developed and dog transport was the preferred mode of transportation in winter.

NATURAL RESOURCES

This department is fully devoted to the flora and fauna of this region and gives some information of the natural resources of the territory.

The flora and fauna of the Far East is known for its peculiar combination of northern and southern nature. A real wonder of this area is the Far Eastern taiga where southern vines, aralia, gin-seng and yew-trees take shelter under huge cedars, and cork trees peacefully grow side by side with spruces. There are many unique medicinal plants such as aralia, eleutherococuss, gin-seng, Far Eastern Magnolia Vine and others. Pine trees (or cedars) symbolize the Far

Eastern taiga. Cedar oil doesn‟t evaporate and doesn‟t freeze in winter. Cedar nuts are used against gastritis; needles are used against scurvy, and resin and rind are used as an antiseptic and wound healing medicine.

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The Russian Far East is rich in animal life and is one of the major sources of furs in the world. Among the most common mammals found in the region are fox, otter, wolf, hare, elk, reindeer, bear, sable, seal and walrus. There are about 110 types of carnivorous animals, some of which are endangered species such as the tiger, leopard, red wolf and some others.

Assignments from the text “Lore Museum”

I.Give Russian equivalents to the words in bold type and learn them. Check their pronunciation in the dictionary.

II.Find in the text English equivalents for the following words and wordcombinations:

-старинное культурное заведение края

-русское географическое общество

-современное здание музея

-увеличить выставочную площадь

-научные записи в области этнографии

-собранные коллекции музея

-иконы и кресты

-изделия из кости

-коренные народы Дальнего Востока

-проникнуть вглубь

-свидетельствовать о

-пройти путь от каменного до металлического века

-выращивать скот

-иметь письменный язык

-заниматься сельским хозяйством, охотой и рыбной ловлей

-квалифицированные мастера

-сооружать роскошные храмы

-отливать монеты из бронзы

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-нанести сокрушающий удар

-золотая империя Джурдженей

-период экономического упадка

-коренные народы Дальнего Востока

-этнические группы

-населять

-обрабатывать рыбьи шкуры

-охотиться из-за мяса/меха

-домашние ремесла

-плести, ткать

-предпочтительный способ передвижения

-укрываться под

-расти бок о бок с

-испаряться

III.Say in one word:

-to arrange or spread out for public view

-of or concerning people or living things that have existed in a place from the earliest times

-the scientific description of the different races of the human beings

-a large metal container used esp. in Russia to boil water for making tea

-to uncover (something from an earlier time under the earth) by digging

-a job or trade needing skill, esp. with one‟s hands

-the art or sport of shooting arrows

-to cause to fail

-a long period of seriously reduced business activity and high unemployment

-to form threads into material by drawing one thread at a time under and over a set of longer threads stretched out on a loom

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-a fishing net with weights along one edge causing it to hang straight down and enclose fish when the ends are drawn together

-(a piece of decorative work produced by) the fitting together of small pieces of coloured stone, glass etc., so as to form a pattern or picture

-decorative work of one material sewn or stuck onto a larger surface of another material

-the business of keeping animals or plants for the purpose of obtaining new and better kinds, or young for sale

-a house, flat etc., where people live

-all the animals living wild in a particular place or belonging to a particular age in history

-all the plants of the particular place, country, or period

-the soft thin hair that grows thickly over the body of some types of animals such as bears, rabbits, cats etc.

-a disease marked by bleeding and caused by not eating fruit and vegetables with vitamin C

-to cause to change into steam and disappear

-a type of animal or plant which is in danger of becoming extinct

IV. Find in the text synonymous expressions for the following words and word-combinations:

-outstanding scientists

-He was most of all interested in the life of the Far Eastern aborigines.

-Understand and explain the past of the local population.

-Understand what their unique culture is based on.

-People have lived on this territory since ancient times.

-Various crafts and agriculture were developing quickly and successfully.

-Their primary occupations were agriculture, horse breeding, hunting and fishing.

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-They made their clothes according to the weather.

-The department is fully devoted to the life of animals and plants of this territory.

-They were also engaged in taiga hunting.

-Fishing provided the main support of the aboriginal peoples‟ economy.

V. Make 5-7 questions for each part of the text.

VI. Retell the text.

VII. Act out a dialogue between an American who has come to see the museum and the guide who works there.

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TEXT 12.

THE KHABAROVSK MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

The Khabarovsk Museum of Fine Arts was established in 1931. The same year the main body of the collection was formed. A great number of works of art, about 1,100 exhibits, came from top Russian museums: the Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Art Museum in Moscow and from the world famous Hermitage. The very first treasures of the collection were purchased in 1902 by Mr. Grodekov – the governor-general of this area at that time.

At first the collection was displayed within the Khabarovsk Regional Museum. In 1927, the collection was moved into the former synagogue premises.

The edifice now dedicated to the arts in Khabarovsk, was opened at the turn of the century as a night club for the local military. Recently it was renovated and the Museum of Fine Arts got some extra facilities – a creative activity workshop, a depository and a restoration unit, and a small auditorium where candle-light chamber concerts are staged.

The museum collection is being continuously expanded. At present it has over 10,000 pieces of Russian and Western art as well as a unique collection of Far Eastern Aboriginal Applied Arts.

The exhibition of Russian art

The gems of the collection are icons from Mediaeval Russian Art, which represent the soul of Russia and its national pride. Icons are images intended to aid the veneration of the holy subjects they depict, sometimes believed able to grant good luck, fulfill wishes or even perform miracles.

The museum contains breath-taking wood painted icons from the 15-17th centuries. They belong to the Golden Age of Russian icon-painting which gave Russian Art such brilliant artists as Theophanes the Greek, Andrei Rublev, Dionysius and Simon Ushakov. Icon-painting is an objective art; it expresses realities of life. Two icons on display called “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ”

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and “Descent into Hell” are good proof. The subject is traditional but does not just illustrate “The Holy Writ”, but is philosophical and moralizing as well.

The 18th century left a treasure trove of portrait paintings. Some portraits on display are pure imitations of low artistic value. The others, however, have a personal touch and perfection of line. Portraits of Catherine the Great and her favourite Gregory Orlov were created by unknown masters but can easily compete with European paintings of the same period.

At that time artists also practiced a historical genre based on subjects from the Bible, Greek mythology and legends. There is Sukhodolsky‟s painting “The battle of the Greeks and Amazons”. Its narrative aspect is based on a wellknown plot from Greek mythology. Another fantastic depiction is Timoshevsky‟s work called “The First Christian Martyrs in Russia” which is fully devoted to one of the Russian legends. Both oils bear the most important features of classic painting: austerity of composition, thoroughness of details and theatrical poses and gestures.

Especially well shown at the Khabarovsk Museum of Fine Arts are the works of Russian landscape painters of the second half of the 18th century (Shishkin, Kuinji and Korovin). Landscape is a poetic genre; it conveys the inner world of a human being through the perception of nature.

Realism became a predominant artistic standpoint in Russian painting in the 19th century. The exhibition of the arts museum in Khabarovsk contains a portrait, a landscape and a small sketch belonging to the Peredvizhniki.

The beginning of the 20th century is known as a period of profound crisis in classical realism. Artists were obsessed with new, innovative trends –

Cubism, Avant-garde, Neo - primitivism and various Futurist variations. An example of decorative formalistic primitivism is Konchalovsky‟s sketch. The major idea of formalistic art was to depart from the set rules of traditional painting and create absolutely new trends based on the abstract and naïve perception of life.