Peter the Great in Omsk
Peter the Great is too well known to repeat his exploits and successes, his creation of the Russian Navy, and his transformation of Russia into a world power. However, Peter the Great is coming to Omsk; a collection of 228 items has been brought from the hermitage in St. Petersburg to the Omsk Hermitage Museum. Actually, Peter the Great founded Omsk himself, as he commanded a fort to be built at the confluence of the Omsk and Irtysh Rivers as protection from raiders who would sweep up from the south on horses and plunder Russian settlements. And Peter the Great can be seen today. In Miami, Florida, at the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Vladimir, I once picked up a pamphlet written by the Australian diocese about Peter the Great. Well, the pamphlet wrote about him as if he were a saint. Probably, a more balanced outlook is needed. After all, Peter the Great got rid of the Patriarch of Russia and made the church an apendage of the state. This was a major blow, as the church in history often served as a counterbalance to the Tsar, or Byzantium Emperor. Peter I probably feared the church had gotten too involved politically, especially with his ambitious sister Sophia. And Peter the Great started importing Western customs into Russia. The aristocrats began the incredible divide that led each landowner, prince, count, or other aristocrat to live in a world completely divided from the average peasant. This would culminate in the October Revolution. In the Miami church, actually, the children of the last aristocrats were still alive. Old Mr. Ustinov helped serve at the church altar, and his daughter was the priest's wife. Mr. Ustinov's mother was Princess Shakovsky, who owned a large house on the Fontanka, and his father was an Ustinov who owned the beautiful estate of Grabova, including another vacation home on the French Riviera. Alexander Ustinov once showed me the Penza maps where his father's estate was and pictures of their luxury French-style villa, which is still standing today. Mr. Ustinov himself had lived the most abject of lives, having a company he worked for go bankrupt, and after that, when he was supposed to have retired, he was forced to find work by working in McDonald's or being a security guard at night in a parking lot. This latter job almost cost him his life when a man got in through his car window and throttled him, leaving him for dead along the Miami highway. At any rate, Peter the Great will be in Omsk for several months, and the collection gives much food for thought.
Peter the Great is too well known to repeat his exploits and successes, his creation of the Russian Navy, and his transformation of Russia into a world power. However, Peter the Great is coming to Omsk; a collection of 228 items has been brought from the hermitage in St. Petersburg to the Omsk Hermitage Museum. Actually, Peter the Great founded Omsk himself, as he commanded a fort to be built at the confluence of the Omsk and Irtysh Rivers as protection from raiders who would sweep up from the south on horses and plunder Russian settlements. And Peter the Great can be seen today. In Miami, Florida, at the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Vladimir, I once picked up a pamphlet written by the Australian diocese about Peter the Great. Well, the pamphlet wrote about him as if he were a saint. Probably, a more balanced outlook is needed. After all, Peter the Great got rid of the Patriarch of Russia and made the church an apendage of the state. This was a major blow, as the church in history often served as a counterbalance to the Tsar, or Byzantium Emperor. Peter I probably feared the church had gotten too involved politically, especially with his ambitious sister Sophia. And Peter the Great started importing Western customs into Russia. The aristocrats began the incredible divide that led each landowner, prince, count, or other aristocrat to live in a world completely divided from the average peasant. This would culminate in the October Revolution. In the Miami church, actually, the children of the last aristocrats were still alive. Old Mr. Ustinov helped serve at the church altar, and his daughter was the priest's wife. Mr. Ustinov's mother was Princess Shakovsky, who owned a large house on the Fontanka, and his father was an Ustinov who owned the beautiful estate of Grabova, including another vacation home on the French Riviera. Alexander Ustinov once showed me the Penza maps where his father's estate was and pictures of their luxury French-style villa, which is still standing today. Mr. Ustinov himself had lived the most abject of lives, having a company he worked for go bankrupt, and after that, when he was supposed to have retired, he was forced to find work by working in McDonald's or being a security guard at night in a parking lot. This latter job almost cost him his life when a man got in through his car window and throttled him, leaving him for dead along the Miami highway. At any rate, Peter the Great will be in Omsk for several months, and the collection gives much food for thought.