In 2009 Russia marks 200 years since the birth of Russian classic Nikolai Gogol. Russian publishers, theater figures and filmmakers are getting ready for the jubilee.
Gogol Museum Moscow -By Kerry Kubilius, About.com
Gogol Museum Commemorates Contentious Author:
Nikolai Gogol, a Ukrainian-born writer who wrote in Russian, is claimed by both Ukraine and Russia as a their own. Whatever country Gogol would have ultimately associated himself with, we do know that he spent time in Moscow, most notably his last months, during which he destroyed one of his manuscripts. The rooms in which Gogol passed his final hours have been turned into a museum.
Refurbishment of the Gogol Museum:
The Gogol Museum, or the Gogol House (Dom Gogolya), underwent refurbishment in honor of the 200th anniversary of Gogol's birthday on April 1, 2009. Visitors to the museum can see the fireplace in which Gogol threw his manuscript for Dead Souls, a clock which shows the hour Gogol destroyed the manuscript (3 o'clock in the morning), and the parlor in which Gogol entertained his contemporaries.
MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti) - A museum devoted to Nikolai Gogol opened in Moscow on Friday in the building where the writer spent the last four years of his life.
The museum includes a mock fireplace in the parlor, where the writer burnt the second volume of his satirical novel Dead Souls hours before his death.
The clock on the mantle shows 3 a.m., the time when the novel is believed to have been destroyed. The published first volume of Dead Souls spotlighted the unseemly sides of the 19th-century Russia, while the second volume reputedly showed the good side of life.
In the parlor, frequented by many literary dignitaries during Gogol's lifetime, the writer also read his play The Inspector General, a violent satire of Russian provincial bureaucracy, to actors from the Maly Theater.
The decor was restored by museum creators based on the reminiscences of the writer's contemporaries, as few of Gogol's belongings have survived.
Exhibits in the six-room exposition feature a recently discovered original portrait of Gogol, as well as hand-written copies and printed editions of his writings.
The museum was unveiled ahead of the 200th anniversary, on April 1, of the Ukrainian-born Russian writer's birthday.
Gogol's other well-known works include satirical short stories Nose (1835-1836), which tells of an official whose nose leaves his face and lives its own life, and Overcoat (1842), a story of the life and death of an impoverished clerk extremely dedicated to his job.
SPRAZDNIKOM - RUSSKAMU NARODU HAPPY VICTORY DAY HOLIDAY - 9 MAY 2009
May 9, 2009,The Kremlin, Moscow
Speech at Reception in Honour of 64th Anniversary of Victory in Great Patriotic War
PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Dear Great Patriotic War veterans, dear colleagues and friends,
Today is a special day for our country, a day with very joyous, bright and at the same time very bitter memories.
May 9, 1945 will forever remain the closing day of the greatest tragedy of the 20th century. In calling this a Great Victory, we pay tribute to the great deeds of our people, to the unswerving spiritual force with which our people defended their right to freedom, to independence, to live, to raise children and grandchildren, and to pass on to them the spiritual values and traditions that have animated our nation for centuries.
The moral force that both our army and the Russian people demonstrated was achieved thanks to infinite love for our Motherland and by drawing on their own values and ideals concerning a free peaceful life. All the power of the Nazi war machine was powerless in this regard. And even the most tragic events of the war, the brutal blockade and deprivation that our people suffered, did not break their will nor their faith in what is right and in the future of their Motherland.
Our contemporary army is being established on this same moral foundation. It must be strong and highly professional. It must be committed to the ideals of peace and justice. The military parade which just took place demonstrated precisely these qualities. When our troops and our Armed Forces marched, when our military hardware drove past, I am sure that everyone of us here in this room was proud of our country.
Today the memory of the Great Patriotic War remains very important. I am convinced that new generations of our citizens must know how much blood and tears were shed during this period and that May 1945 gave our country not only the great joy of victory, but also a heavy responsibility for the fate of the world. Such responsibility includes responding to contemporary threats which unfortunately continue to affect peaceful people.
World War II really is the main lesson of the 20th century. Our people paid a very high price for Victory. That is why we so dearly want a peaceful future for our planet, why we value calm and stable human life and the important principles of international security. We have strengthened these principles and will continue to do so in collaboration with other states and the international community, and create a general guarantee for lasting peace in the world.
Dear friends, time marches inexorably on but in Russia May 9 will remain a sacred date for people of all generations and ages. The 65th anniversary of Victory is not far off, and of course we must do everything possible to celebrate it with dignity, as befits the descendants of the winners.
I would like to make the first toast to you, dear veterans, to peace and prosperity in our land, to a Great Victory. Happy Victory Day!
Obshestvo IRAS is the Intl Russian Literature & Art Division of the RHIO (PMOH) an NGO established June 2004 in Moscow - Russian Federation
" IRAS 1 " - Moscow Headoffice Navigator 
