Latest Episodes
21
Episode 21: Empire of Light and Colour. The Tale of Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii
The colour photographs of Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii fascinated the imperial public of the early 20th century, persuading Emperor Nicholas II to sponsor expeditions across the...
20
Episode 20: Genteel Country Lives. The Tale of the Chikhachev Family
Andrei and Natalia Chikhachev, middling nobles, spent their lives running their small estate of Dorozhaevo in Vladimir province and raising their family. In this...
19
Episode 19: Strike! The Tale of Vasilii Gerasimov
Abandoned in 1852 when scarcely two weeks old, Vasilii Gerasimov ultimately became a child worker at the Kreenholm cotton factory, where he worked for...
18
Episode 18: Russia's Last Troubadour. The Tale of Kirsha Danilov
The 1804/1818 song collection of Kirsha Danilov introduced the Russian reading public, in many ways for the first time, to the people's immensely rich...
17
Episode 17: Sex, Murder, and Orthodoxy. The Tale of Zinaida Troitskaia
On 1 December 1911, the priest's wife Zinaida Troitskaia was found murdered in the backwoods village of Alajõe in eastern Estland province. This episode...
16
Episode 16: Insulting the Tsar. The Tale of Vasilii Zverev
In this episode, we examine the history of lèse-majesté (insulting the honour of the tsar, his family, and his image) in imperial Russia through...