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International Dance Day
Photo – © Mediastock.rf
This day is dedicated to all styles of dance that exist in the world. The holiday was established in 1982 on the initiative of the International Dance Council.
It is dedicated to the French choreographer Jean-Georges Noverre, a reformer and theorist of choreographic art, who went down in history as the “father of modern ballet.”
On this day, theater groups, ballets, as well as choreographic associations, modern dance troupes, modern ballroom and folk dance ensembles celebrate their professional holiday. Every year on April 29, flash mobs, concerts, performances, and dance battles are organized.
Holy Monday for Orthodox Christians
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This is Monday of Holy Week of Lent. Holy Week among the Orthodox is dedicated to remembering the last days of the Savior’s earthly life, his suffering on the cross, death and burial.
In the first three days of Holy Week, the Church prepares Christians for dignified contemplation and heartfelt participation in the Savior’s suffering on the cross. On Holy Monday they remember the Old Testament Patriarch Joseph the Beautiful, who was sold to Egypt by his brothers out of envy and who prefigured the suffering of the Savior.
Germany handed over fragments of the Amber Room to Russia
Photo – © Sitomon/Wikipedia.org
The author of the famous Amber Room is Andreas Schlüter. He created it during the reconstruction of the palace of the Prussian king in Berlin. In 1716, Frederick William I gave the Amber Room to Peter I as a diplomatic gift. In 1717 she arrived in St. Petersburg.
Peter’s daughter Elizabeth in 1743 commissioned the famous architect Francesco Rastrelli to “repair” the room, who added gilded wood carvings, mirrors and mosaic paintings of agate and jasper to the decoration. Due to stove heating, temperature changes and drafts, the room was restored several times, including plans to carry out work in 1941.
However, during the Great Patriotic War, the occupiers stole fragments of the Amber Room and took them to Konigsberg.
When the German troops retreated, the room was dismantled and taken to an unknown location. It was only in 1997 that German authorities confiscated fragments of the mosaic from a certain notary, and then, on April 29, 2000, handed them over to Russia. The room was fully restored for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg in 2003.
Birthday of Emperor Alexander II
Photo – © Levitsky, Sergey Lvovich/Wikipedia.org
Alexander Romanov (future Russian Emperor Alexander II) was born on April 29, 1818 in the Miracle Monastery of the Moscow Kremlin, where the imperial family arrived to celebrate Easter. He was the son of Emperor Nicholas I. Alexander received an excellent education: he knew five languages, learned history, geography, mathematics, statistics, natural science, philosophy and logic.
Alexander II went down in the history of the country as the initiator of large-scale reforms, and is also known in Russian pre-revolutionary historiography as the “Tsar Liberator” (in connection with the abolition of serfdom in 1861 and the victory in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877–1878).
In foreign policy, the emperor tried to expand Russia’s influence on the countries of the Balkan Peninsula, to increase its territory through the development of Central Asia and the eastern outskirts.
Alexander II was mortally wounded on March 13, 1881 by a bomb thrown at him by Narodnaya Volya member I. Grinevitsky. On the same day, the emperor died in St. Petersburg.
Name day
The name day on this day is celebrated by Vasilisa, Galina, Irina, Leonid, Mikhail, Nika, Pavel and Timofey.
