Russian Matryoshka

Russian Matryoshka

Twenty Interesting Facts You Never Knew About Russia

1. The Romanov dynasty lasted 300 years. It began with sixteen year old Mikhail Romanov in 1613 and ended with Nicholas Romanov in 1917.

2. Chess is taught in all Russian schools, it is part of the curriculum like maths and science

3. Matryoshka dolls are erroneously referred to as babushkas in English speaking countries. The word babushka means old woman / grandmother in Russian whereas matryoshka means woman with many children.

4. Fire fighting foam was invented by the Russian engineer and chemist Aleksandr Loran in 1902

5. Russia is the largest country in the world, it has 11 times zones and its mass circles half the globe

6. Leo Tolstoy had thirteen 13 children with his wife Sophia. On the eve of their wedding he gave her his diaries detailing his extensive sexual past.

7. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy is one of the few cities in the world completed inaccessible by road. The only way to get there is by air or sea

8. Russian born Ayn Rand (Alisa Zionv'yevna Rosenbaum) is one of the most influential female writers of the 20th century

9.. In 1961 Russian pilot Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, a feat which made him an international celebrity.  His life was tragically cut short, however, when he died in a plane crash in 1968 aged 34. 

10. Wedding rings are worn on the right hand in Russia

11. Women outnumber men in Russia by ten million. This is due to the country's high rate of alcohol abuse and suicide among young men.

12. Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula is home to some 160 volcanoes with 29 still active

13. The radiator was invented in St. Petersburg by Russian Franz San Galli

14. Russia was one of the first countries to introduce decimal currency in 1704

15. The periodic table of elements was compiled by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869

16. When giving flowers in Russia and other Eastern European countries it is the custom to always give a bouquet consisting of odd numbers to someone who is living. Even numbers are given only at funerals.

17. Artificial leather known as "kirza" was invented in Russia in 1935

18. Powdered milk was invented in Russia

19. Russia produced some of the world's greatest writers including Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Alexander Pushkin and  Leo Tolstoy

20. At a Russian wedding it is considered very impolite not to be intoxicated

About the Author

Tatiana Lestal is an Estonian Australian writer who has been working in the British and Australian film and television industries for the past 15 years. She is passionate about film and an avid fan of French cinema. Tatiana has been involved in the running of many film festivals and in the production of short films. In her spare time Tatiana's interests include travel, photography, chess and comedy sketch writing.

ten easy points...teachers and or russians. HELP!?

does anyone know how i could make my own matryoshka doll? not of wood though. ha. im teaching a class of 9th graders about the dolls and i need ideas for activties to do with them....help?!

With Easter around the corner, one cheap and easy way to make matryoshkas would be to buy three varying sizes of hollow plastic eggs and allow your students to paint them/apply stickers. Hot gluing the bottoms of the largest eggs to small bases of circular cardboard would allow the assemblies to balance upright once they are complete.

P.S.
> Good acrylic paint would probably be the best option for decorations
> Scraps of sandpaper can be used to rough up the surface of the eggs to make the paint adhere better

Amazing Russian Matryoshkas Designed for Vogue