Moscow & Kazan: A Cultural and Ecological Excursion
Summer 2016 quarter (Session I)
Taught by
This study-abroad program will explore two great cultural centers of Russia, Moscow and Kazan. Moscow is Russia’s Eternal City, the old and the new capital of all the Russias. In Moscow, the group will take guided tours of major historical sites, including the Moscow Kremlin, the Armory Museum, the Tretyakov Art Gallery, Novodevichi Convent and Monastery, and the Trinity-St. Sergei Monastery outside the city. Then participants will take a night train to Kazan on the Volga River, the very heartland and capital of Tatarstan, a semi-independent republic in the middle of Russia.
Kazan was the capital of the last Tatar successor state, re-conquered for Russia by Ivan the Terrible, in 1552. It is where the Asian East meets the Russian West, the population evenly divided between the Volga Tatars and Russians. The Tatars are Sunni Muslims, and the Russians are Eastern Orthodox Christians. In Kazan, student travelers will receive lectures on the culture, geography, and environmental history of Tatarstan from the faculty of Kazan Federal University. They will visit several cultural sites in and around the city, including the Kazan Kremlin, the city art museum, and archeological exhibits. The primary activities of the group in Tatarstan, however, will be several ecological field trips to protected areas, such as the Volga-Kama Nature Preserve ( Zapovednik ).
The group will then return to Moscow, where, time permitting before our flights home, we will perhaps stroll along the Arbat, pay our respects at the monument of Russia’s unknown soldier, lay some flowers at the foot of the statue of Russia’s greatest poet, Alexander Pushkin, or spend a few quiet moments in one of the city’s famous churches, listening to a Russian choir singing a sacred mass. And wherever we go, we will enjoy Russian and Tatar food, sights, sounds and hospitality.
Application and $200 deposit are due March 1, 2016. You can find more information here: https://sites.evergreen.edu/russia2016/
Program Details
Fields of Study
Preparatory for studies or careers in
Location and Schedule
Campus location
Olympia
Schedule
Offered during: Day, Evening and Weekend
Advertised schedule: Summer Session I (June 20 - July 23): Week 1: Tue/Thu 6-9:30p Weeks 2-4 (June 25 - July 17) will be spent in Russia Week 5: Tue/Thu 6-9:30p