Against the Backdrop of Pushkin (1999)

How is the 200th anniversary of Alexander Pushkin, whose birthday is celebrated by almost every Muscovite, being celebrated in the capital? With love and grandeur: in squares and streets, in parks and squares, young people are dancing waltzes and mazurkas, actors and musicians are giving concerts, and exhibitions and literary readings are taking place in museums. But the special atmosphere is on Baumanskaya, in the corner of Moscow where the poet was born, was baptized, and lived “without knowing sorrow or trouble.” Of course, Moscow is not all of Russia. But it is here and on this day that you realize how right Ivan Shmelev was when he said that “Pushkin is Russia itself.”