"Epic Paintings and Fairy TalesCity of... " a Nizhniy Novgorod Travel Page by Anya_D

<font size=2 color=purple><b> In the old VT version this city was listed as 'Gorky', however, it is not its historical name. Good or bad, this city is not 'Gorky' any more. The historical name of it is Nizhny Novgorod, which was given back to the city in early 90-s of the previous century. The word 'Gorky' is a pen-name of Alexei Peshkov, a writer famous for his pro-soviet works ('On the bottom', 'Mother'), and this pen-name means 'bitter'. The writer is reported to take such a 'bitter' pen-name as a symbol of a bitter life of ordinary people in Russia. He was born in Nizhny Novgorod, that is why our soviet leaders thought it was most appropriate to rename the city into this strange word.<p>Below you will find some information about... not Nizhny Novgorod, but Murom, a town once known as the home for Ilya Muromets, a Russian knight, or <i>bogatyr</i> in Russian, an epic hero, and also a saint, who is reported to use his incredible strength to defend our country from enemies long long time ago, at the dawn of appearance of Russia as a state.<p>The picture above is a painting by Victor Vasnetsov (1848-1926), a greatest Russian artist, who is mostly famous for his lyric works depicting topics of Russian epic folklore. The picture is called "Bogatyrs", and is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. It depicts 3 knights: Dobrynia Nikitich, Ilya Muromets and Alesha Popovich.<p>The city of Murom is situated on the border of Vladimir and Nizny Novgorod regions. To get there from Moscow, you must take a train from Kazansky railway station, the trip will take 5-6 hours.<p>Please see <a href=http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/9726/>the travelogue</a> for more Vasnetsov's paintings.