Winter is very close! Steam bath is very popular with locals especially in winter season and many people living even in big cities in private houses or apartments with all modern conveniences still go from time to time to public "banya" - our famous steam baths - please find the history of one of Moscow main and most beautiful places below - Sanduny. City news and exhibition information followig it.

Sincerely,
Helen Isaeva

Sanduny Bath House Moscow Since 1808

What is Russia famous for? Winter, Vodka, Caviar? Yes, and of course Banya (Bath). Sanduny is the unique place in Moscow to experience Russian Banya and learn its historical traditions. The Sanduny Bath House is the oldest public bath house in Russia. Founded by an actor Sila Sandunov in 1808, the Sanduny Bath House is a complex which consists of several buildings. The authentic Russian Bath House traditions and the interiors of these bath houses are kept identical to the historical ones that are dated back to 1896 and had been designed by B. Freidenberg, architect from Vienna, Austria. Nowadays, The Sanduny Bath House is the unique recreational center that can meet expectations of the most demanding customer.

Three baths departments for gentlemen and two for ladies, with spacious lounge zones, swimming pools and classical Russian steam rooms, private rooms with 8 separated bath house areas and Jacuzzi; they are distinguished by authentic Russian style decorations including a traditional Russian stove; beauty salons and a spa-center "The Sanduny Orient", which offers the services of a hairdresser, a cosmetologist, a nail specialist, and also injection cosmetology; a restaurant with Russian, Uzbek and Chinese cuisines and a laundry service. And for those, who would like to keep the good memories of our baths, the "Sandunov" shop is open. The great history and "museum" interiors, and also the variety and the highest level of services make The Sanduny Bath House a unique monument of purity and hospitality.

The history of the famous Moscow baths is closely connected with the names of Sila Sandunov and Elizabeth Uranova, who were the actors of the court theater of the Empress Catherine II. Having married the lovers, the monarchess presented them with the diamonds, which Sandunov used to buy a land plot to establish family business there - the baths for higher society. By 1808 the construction works had been finished.The Sanduny became the center of public life of the capital. Comfortable rooms with expensive furniture and silver tubs supplies were created for the noblemen.

In 1890 the Sanduny were inherited by the millionaire's daughter Vera Firsanova. Her husband A.N. Gonetskiy decided to have the Sanduny reconstructed and transform the baths into a real palace. He had visited a lot of countries with long traditions of baths, had studied not only the architecture of the baths complexes, but also their technical arrangements.
When he returned to Moscow, Gonetskiy invited Boris Freidenberg, who was one of the best Viennese architects of the time, to work for him. His project was implemented in 1896. Eclectic frontiespieces of the three-storied palace were created with the elements of baroque, rococo, Revival style, gothic, classicism and industrial style. However the extravagant architecture of the baths was far from becoming their main peculiarity. The new Sanduny were the revolution of the baths business - the engineering systems did not have any analogues in Moscow. Almost all technical innovations of the time found their application here.

In 1991 The Sanduny Bath House entered the State record keeping system as the architectural monument of Moscow. Nowadays The Sanduny Bath House is the model of the Russian bath and bathing recreation.

3D Skating Rink at Gorky Park in Moscow

This year stereorink in Gorky Park will offer 3D photo zone, music and optical illusions.

Visitors will be able to watch an ice show, take pictures, listen to music and ice skate. Gorky Park's stereorink with new ice paths opened on November 23rd with a spectacular show of skate dancing, a theatrical performance and fireworks. The food court, ticket offices, skate rental and locker room pavilions will be painted with curving lines of blue and white to create an illusion of moving waves. A 10-metre cube with dynamic lighting is located in the place of the central fountain. One of the pedestrian paths will be turned into a light tunnel. Dance floor for the skating rink's visitors are open at the end of the central alley. Every week stereo parties will be held there. A marathon of winter DJ sessions started on November 23rd. A 3D photo zone is adjacent to the dance floor.

Cultural News

Kazimir Malevich. Exhibition "More than Just the "Black Square"
Nov 23, 2017 - Feb 25, 2018, at VDNH's Pavilion of the Worker and the Peasant Woman, Moscow.
Kazimir Malevich was the founder of the artistic and philosophical school of suprematism, and his ideas about forms and meaning in art would eventually constitute the theoretical underpinnings of non-objective, or abstract, art. Malevich worked in a variety of styles but his most important and famous works concentrated on the exploration of pure geometric forms (squares, triangles and circles) and their relationships to each other and within the pictorial space. His early experiments as a painter led him towards the invention of suprematism, a bold visual language of abstract geometric shapes and stark colors, epitomized by the "Black Square". This new exhibition demonstrates all the different styles the great artist worked in by showcasing works from all periods of his artistic career.

Exhibition "The Winter Palace and the Hermitage in 1917", St. Petersburg
Since 25 October, 2017 till 14 January, 2018 an exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution of 1917 is open at the State Hermitage Museum. This exhibition tells the history of the Winter Palace and the Hermitage in the period of the February and October Revolutions, when in the palace complex was located a military hospital and the residence of the Russian Provisional Government. The Hermitage is more than just a museum, it is a monument of Russian history and its walls witnessed the most important events which changed everything once and forever.