RUSSIA
My step-dad was on the board of Regents at Utah State University. Seventy people and
friends from Utah State signed up for the tour. Stalin had died and the new chairman Nikita
Khrushchev allowed Americans to come. We were the first tourist group from the U.S. to enter.
We met at the S.L.C. International Airport, flew to NY, Amsterdam and finally Helsinki,
Finland. A train took us to Moscow where we stayed a week. We visited Red Square, and
watched the changing of the Guard.
We saw St. Basil’s Cathedral. It was in a state of restoration
and closed to the public stands as
Moscow’s most famous artistic work
of architecture. St. Basil’s is Russia’s most recognizable
building, and gives to the Russian
people the same sort of symbol of romantic pride as the Eiffel
Tower provides to the French. Legend
says that Ivan the Terrible blinded the architect after he
was finished to prevent him from
building another cathedral as magnificent. Originally, its sides
were wooden, but during the reign of
Catherine II the Great, the walls were reconstructed in the
same stone seen today, and covered
in swirling colors and designs. There are more than 400
icons painted between the 14th and
19th centuries by the most famous schools of Novgorod and
Moscow hanging on the walls. A
narrow pathway leads you from one alter to another, passing
through a wooden spiral staircase so
well hidden in a wall that it was only found during the 1970
restoration of the cathedral. Taking
in the medieval aura and mystical spirituality of St. Basil’s
imbues visitors
We also walked through the “Gum”. Department store, which was the
world’s largest at that
time.
To be continued…
DR.KARL WALLACE D.D.S.
To read more about my trip to Russia go to: w.w.w.karlwallaceblog.blog.com
