Mass Media Overview
President Medvedev Discovered in Vologda why Men are Not Lace-makers
18.02.2009 09:58
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Wednesday, 11 February 2009
President Dmitri Medvedev visited the Vologda Kremlin, which houses a famous collection of lacework. During his examination of the exhibition, the president was astonished at fine craftsmanship of the master lace-makers. "I now understand why these crafts are not common amongst men. They have less patience (than women do)", Mr Medvedev said after visiting the exhibition. However, Ludmila Korotaeva, the General Director of the Vologda Kremlin, who conducted the tour of the exhibition, said that recently a man competed in a lace-making competition, and he could fabricate lace as well as any woman.
The Vologda Kremlin has a collection of over 3,000 items crafted by Vologda master lace-makers. Amongst the collection is gold lace from the 17th and 18th centuries, which are the oldest items on exhibition. One of the halls of the museum showcases Vologda bobbin lacework. Such items are often more than 3 metres (10 feet) in length. In the shops, such a masterpiece will cost about 30,000 roubles (851 USD. 660 euros. 592 UK pounds).
The Vologda Whitestone Kremlin, which has been named a federal architectural monument, includes buildings that represent the religious and civil architecture of the 16th through the 19th centuries. The oldest structure in the Vologda Kremlin is the Cathedral of St Sophia, built in the 16th century on the orders of Tsar Ivan Grozny. It is modelled on the Cathedral of the Assumption in the Moscow Kremlin. A bell-tower next to the cathedral rises to a height of over 78 metres (256 feet). The Vologda Kremlin has an area of more than 10,000 square metres (2.5 acres), and it contains natural-science, historical, and art museums, as well as other exhibition halls, which contain more than 400,000 pieces of art, including ancient icons, manuscripts, early printed books, and articles crafted by Vologda silversmiths.