WhereIsRussia?RussiaRussiaisahugecountrythatispartofbothEurope

andAsia.WhereIsRussia?Itistheworld’slargestcountry.Itborders14othercountries,includingChina,NorthKoreaandNorway.ItistwiceasbigasAustralia!RussiaFactsandFiguresOfficialLanguage:RussianCapitalCity:MoscowLandmarks:SaintBasil’sCathedral,TheWinterPalace,TheKremlinandRedSquareNaturalLandmarks:Volgariver,CaspianSea,MountElbrusand

LakeBaikalPopulation:146millionMajorReligions:ThemainreligionisChristianity,followedbyIslam,BuddhismandJudaismFlagTheRussianflagismadeofwhite,blueandredhorizontalstripes.Therearelotsofdifferentthoughtsastowhatthecoloursmeanbutmanybelievetheyrepresent:whitenobilitybluehonestyredcourageFamousRussiansMariaSharapovatennisplayerLeoTolstoyauthorPyotrIlyichTchaikovskyComposerofclassicalmusicWassilyKandinskyartist“MariaSharapova2014”by[cirodelia47]islicensedunderCCBY2.0LeoTolstoyLeoTolstoywasaRussianauthor.Hisfullname

wasCountLevNikolayevichTolstoybuthewas

oftenreferredtoas‘Leo’inEnglish.Tolstoywasbornon9thSeptember1828anddiedon20thNovember1910.Heisregardedasoneofthegreatestwritersofalltime.Tolstoy’sfamousworksinclude:WarandPeaceTheKingdomofGodIsWithinYouAnnaKareninaTolstoywasnominatedfortheNobelPrizeinLiteratureeveryyearbetween1902and1906andtheNobelPeacePrizein1901,1902and1910butheneverwon.MariaSharapovaMariaSharapovaisatennisplayerbornon19thApril1987.Shebecametheworldnumber1femalesinglestennisplayerin2005,becomingthefirstRussianwomantodothis.Shehaswon36singlestitles,includingfiveGrandSlamtitles:FrenchOpen(2)AustralianOpenWimbledonUSOpenShealsowonthreedoublestitles.Sharapovaretiredfromprofessionaltennison

26thFebruary2020.“MariaSharapova2014”by[cirodelia47]islicensedunderCCBY2.0WassilyKandinskyWassilyKandinskywasafamousartist.HewasborninMoscowon16thDecember

1866anddiedon13thDecember1944.Heisthoughtofasoneofthefirstandmostinfluentialabstractartists.Hisartworkisverycolourfulandissupposedtorepresentinnerfeelings.PyotrIlyichTchaikovskyTchaikovskywasafamouscomposerduringtheRomanticperiod

ofmusic.Hewasbornon7thMay1840anddiedon6thNovember1893.The1812OvertureSwanLakeTheNutcrackerSleepingBeautyHeismostfamousforgrandpiecesofmusicandballets,including:LandmarksStBasil’sCathedralTheKremlinMountElbrusLakeBaikalTheWinterPalaceStBasil’sCathedralisaChristianchurchin

RedSquare,Moscow.StBasil’sCathedralItisoneofthemostfamousbuildingsin

theworld.ItsofficialnameisCathedraloftheIntercessionoftheMostHolyTheotokos

ontheMoat.StBasil’sCathedralwasbuiltbetween1555and1561.Itsshapeisdesignedtoresembletheflamesofabonfirerisingintothesky.Today,itispartlyusedasamuseum,althoughservicesarestillheldthereonSundaymornings.Thecurrentstructurewasbuiltbetween1482and

1495,althoughmoremodernbuildings,suchastheStateKremlinPalace,havebeenaddedovertime.TheKremlinisafortifiedgroupofbuildings

inthecentreofMoscow.TheKremlinItincludesfivepalacesandfourcathedralswithinitswalls,aswellasamuseum.TheKremlinistheofficialresidenceofthePresidentofRussia.MountElbrusMountElbrusisthehighestmountainin

Europe.Itmeasures5642mhigh.Ithastwosummits,bothofwhichare

dormantvolcanoes.Itisbelievedtohave

lasteruptedaroundAD50.ItisfoundinthesouthofRussia.intheCaucasusmountains.MountElbrusisalsoknownas‘MingiTau’bytheTurkicpeople.Thisnamemeans‘resemblingathousandmountains’inreferencetothemountain’ssize.LakeBaikalLakeBaikalislocatedinthesouthofthe

SiberianregionofRussia,justnorthofthe

borderwithMongolia.Itisthelargestfreshwaterlakeintheworldand

ishometothousandsofspeciesofplantsandanimals,suchasBaikalseals,AlpineharesandSiberianreddeer.Itisthoughttobethedeepestlakeintheworld,measuring1642matitsdeepestpoint.Itisalsooneoftheclearestlakesintheworld.Inwinter,thewateroftenfreezesbecauseofthelowtemperatures.Today,theWinterPalaceisusedasamuseum

forartandcultureandisoneofthemostvisited

museumsintheworld.TheWinterPalaceTheWinterPalacewastheofficialresidence

ofRussianEmperorsbetween1732and1917.ThecurrentbuildingisthefourthWinterPalacetohavestoodinthelocation.Ithasbeenchangedmanytimesandhadtoberebuiltafterafirein1837.TraditionalFoodTraditionalRussianfoodsareverydiverseandhaveinfluencesfrommanyregions.Sometraditionaldishesinclude:Borscht-asoursoupmadefrombeetroot.Blini–atypeofpancakethatcanbeeatenwithlotsoffillings,suchasmushrooms,honey,sourcream,caviar,cheeseandmeat.TraditionalFoodShchi–ahotcabbagesoup.BeefStroganoff–beefservedinasaucewithsourcream.Kasha–asimplemealmadeofamixtureofgrains.AlphabetTheRussianlanguageiswrittenusingtheCyrillicalphabet.Theseletterslookdifferenttothoseusedinmanylanguagesaroundthe