Timeline of Russian inventions and technology records encompasses the history of technology in Russia, starting from the Early East Slavs and up to the modern Russian Federation, with the main focus on Russian inventions and technology records.
The entries in this timeline are mass products, technologies and single objects, mostly falling into the two categories:
This timeline includes products and technologies introduced by any citizens and peoples of Russia and her predecessor states, irregarding of ethnicity, and including inventions of naturalized immigrant citizens.
Certain innovations, achieved by a multinational cooperation, also may be included into this timeline, in case Russian side played a major role in such projects. The inventions made abroad by Russian émigrés are not reflected here, but may be found on the list of Russian inventors.
Baked milk is made by simmering milk on low heat for eight hours or longer. The product has a light brown color, a specific taste and the ability to be stored safely at room temperature for up to forty hours, much longer than most other milk beverages. It has been produced sine the ancient times, typically using a Russian oven, and nowadays it is produced on an industrial scale. Of especial popularity in Russia is soured or fermented baked milk, traditionally known as ryazhenka.[1]
Banya is a tradional Russian wet steam bath, where the bathing is performed inside special rooms or standalone wooden houses, with steam being produced by splashing water upon heated rocks. Historically, banya developed simultaneously with its closest relative, the Finnish sauna, however modern saunas converted to dry steam, while banyas continue to use wet steam. Banya temperatures may exceed 110°C, and people often hit themselves or others with bunches of dried branches and leaves from white birch, oak or eucalyptus in order to improve the circulation. It is customary to cool off in the breeze outdoors or splash around in cold water or in a lake or river. In the winter, people may roll in the snow or jump into the ice holes. After two or three sessions of sweat and cooling off, the ritual ends with drinking beverages, playing games or relaxing in good company in an antechamber to the steam room. Banya provides a strong positive effect on health, reliefs a number of deseases and strengthens the immune system.[2][3]
Blini are thin pancakes made with yeast. Blin comes from Old Slavicmlin, that means "to mill". Russian blini are made with yeasted batter, which is left to rise and then diluted with cold or boiling water or milk. Blini may have originated in the time of the Slavic unity, and they had a somewhat ritual significance for the early Slavs in pre-Christian times, since they were a symbol of the sun due to their round form. Blini were traditionally prepared at the end of the winter to honor the rebirth of the new sun (Butter Week, or Maslenitsa). This tradition was adopted by Orthodox church and is carried on to the present day.[4]
Gusli is the oldest Slavic and Russian multi-string plucked instrument. Preserved instruments discovered by archaeologists have between 5 and 9 strings with one example having 12 strings. Gusli may have derived from a Byzantine form of the Greek kythare and have a number of relative instruments, like Finnish kantele. The first mention of gusli dates back to 591AD to a treatise by the Greek historian Theophylact Simocatta which describes the instrument being used by Slavs from the area of the later Kievan Rus'. The gusli are thought to have been the instrument used by the legendary Boyan (a singer of tales) and other heroes of Russian mythology. In the later times gusli were widely used by the wandering Skomorokh musicians and entertainers.[5]
Izba is a traditional Russian countryside dwelling, a type of log house, suited to the colder climate of North-Eastern Europe and Siberia. Traditional, old-style izba construction involved the use of simple tools, such as ropes, axes, knives, and spades. Nails were not generally used, as metal was relatively expensive, and neither were saws a common construction tool. Both interior and exterior were of split tree trunks, the gap between was usually filled with river clay. From the 15th century on, the central element of the interior of izba was Russian oven. Outside izbas were often embellished by various special architectural features, for example the rich wood carving decorations on windows. Such decorative elements and the use of the Russian oven are still commonly found in many modern Russian countryside houses. [6]
Kosovorotka is a Russian skewed-collared shirt, long sleeved and reaching down to the mid-thigh, a traditional top garment from the ancient times. The name derived from koso (askew), and vorot (collar), since the collar of this shirt appears skewed when it is left unbuttoned. The collar and sleeves of kosovorotka were often decorated with a traditional Slavic ornament. It was worn by peasants and townsmen of various social categories into the early 20th century, until being displaced by less elaborate clothing. The garment is also known as a tolstovka, or the Tolstoy-shirt, because the writer Count Leo Tolstoy customarily wore one in his later years. Now kosovorotkas appear mostly as souvenirs and as scenic garments of Russian folk art ensembles.[7]
Lapti is an East Slavic variant of bast shoes. A kind of baskets fit to the shape of a foot, lapti were woven primarily from bast of the linden tree or from birchbark. They were easy to manufacture, but not very durable. In Russia lapti were worn until 1920s or 1930s as a cheap replacement for leather shoes, just like clogs in the Western Europe.[8]
Shchi is a Russian soup with cabbage as the primary ingredient, which makes it possible for the prepared dish to be stored safely for rather a long time without loosing its taste qualities. Generally it is made with either fresh cabbage or sauerkraut and other winter vegetables, although meat can be added. Shchi made with sauerkraut has a sour taste and is called sour shchi. A summer sorrel soup, also popular in pre-Revolutionary and today's Russia, is known as green shchi. Usually smetana cream is added into shchi before serving.[9]
Smetana is thick, yellowish-white and slightly sour-tasting cream which contains about 40 % milk fat. It is made by curdling pasteurised cream. In Russian cooking, it is used virtually in everything from appetizers and main courses to desserts. It is somewhat close to a crème fraîche (28%), but much heavier and thicker with usually 36% to 42 % milkfat or even higher, and more sour in taste. Smetana is ideal to be used in dishes requiring a long cooking time in the oven, since it will not curdle when cooked or added to hot dishes.[10]
Kokoshnik is a traditional Russian women's head-dress. It is patterned to match the style of the sarafan and can be pointed or round. It is tied at the back of the head with long thick ribbons in a large bow. The forehead is sometimes decorated with pearls or other jewellery. The word kokoshnik appeared in the 16th century, however the earliest head dress pieces of the similar type were found in the 10th-12th cc. burials in Veliky Novgorod. It was worn by girls and women on special occasions until the Russian Revolution, and subsequently was introduced into the Western fashion by Russian émigrés.[11]
Kvass or kvas, sometimes called in English a bread drink, is a fermented beverage made from black rye or rye bread (which contributes to its light or dark colour). By the content of alcohol resulted from fermentation, it is classified as non-alcoholic: up to 1.2% of alcohol, which is so low that it is considered acceptable for consumption by children. While the early low-alcoholic prototypes of kvass were known in some ancient civilizations, its modern, almost non-alcoholic form originated in the Eastern Europe. Kvass was first mentioned in the Russian Primary Chronicle, which tells how Prince Vladimir the Great gave kvass to the people among other beverages, while celebrating the Christianization of Kievan Rus'. Kvass is also known as a main ingridient in okroshka, a Russian cold soup.[12][13]
Multidomed church is a typical form of Russian church architecture, which distinguishes Russia from other Orthodox nations and Christian denominations. Indeed, the earliest Russian churches, built just after the Christianization of Kievan Rus', were multi-domed, which led some historians to speculate how Russian pre-Christian pagan temples might have looked like. Namely, these early churches were 13-domed wooden Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod (989) and 25-domed stone Desyatinnaya Church in Kiev (989-996). The number of domes typically has a symbolical meaning in the Russian architecture, for example 13 domes symbolize Christ with 12 Apostles, while 25 domes mean the same with additional 12 Prophets of Old Testament. Multiple domes of Russian churches were often made of wood and were comparatively smaller than the Byzantine domes.[14][15]
Kissel or kisel is a dessert that consists of sweetened juice, typically that of berries, thickened with arrowroot, cornstarch or potato starch, with red wine or dried fruits added sometimes. The dessert can be served either hot or cold, and if made using less thickening starch it can be drunk, which is common in Russia. Kissel was mentioned for the first time in the Primary Chronicle, where it forms part of the story of how a bisieged Russian city was saved from nomadic Pechenegs.[16][13]
Birch bark document is a document written on pieces of birch bark. This form of writing material was developed independently by several ancient cultures. In Rus' the usage of the specially prepared birch bark as a cheap replacement for pergament or paper became widespread soon after the Christianization of the country. The earliest Russian birch bark documents (likely written in the first quarter of the 11th century) have been found in Veliky Novgorod. In the total, more than 1000 such documents have been discovered, most of them in Novgorod and the rest in other ancient cities in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Many birch bark documents were written by quite a common people, that is not only by clergy or nobility. This fact led some historians to suggest that before the Mongol invasion of Rus' the level of literacy in the country might have been considerably higher than in Western Europe of the time.[17]
Koch was an ancient form of icebreaker, being a special type of small one or two mast wooden sailing ships, used for voyages in the ice conditions of the Arctic seas and Siberian rivers. Koch was developed by the RussianPomors since the 11th century, when they started settling on the White Sea shores. Koch's hull was protected by a belt of ice-floe resistant flush skin-planking (made of oak or larch) along the variable water-line, and had a false keel for on-ice portage. If a koch became squeezed by the ice-fields, its rounded bodylines below the water-line would allow for the ship to be pushed up out of the water and onto the ice with no damage. In the 19th century similar protective features were adopted to modern icebreakers.[18]
Gudok is an ancient Eastern Slavicstringmusical instrument, played with a bow. It usually had three strings, two of them tuned in unison and played as a drone, the third tuned a fifth higher. All three strings were in the same plane at the bridge, so that a bow could make them all sound simultaneously. Sometimes the gudok also had several sympathetic strings (up to eight) under the sounding board. These made the gudok's sound warm and rich. It was also possible to play the gudok while standing or dancing, which made it popular among skomorokhs. The name gudok comes from the 17th century, however the same type of instrument existed from 11th to 16th century, but was called smyk.[19]
Medovukha is an Old Slavic honey-based alcoholic beverage very similar to mead, but much cheaper and faster in making. Since the old times Slavs exported the fermented mead as a luxury product to Europe in huge quantities. Fermentation occurs naturally over 15 to 50 years, originally rendering the product very expensive and only accessible to the nobility. However, in the 11th century East Slavs found that fermentation occurred much faster when the honey mixture was heated, enabling medovukha to become a folk drink in the territory of Rus'. In the 14th century, the invention of distillation made it possible to create a prototype of the modern medovukha, however vodka was invented at the same time and gradually surpassed medovukha in popularity.[20]
A lubok depiction of the "Wall against Wall" (Stenka na Stenku) fist fighting.
Russian fist fighting is an ancient Russiancombat sport, basically similar to modern boxing, but featuring some indigenous techniques and often fought in collective events called Stenka na Stenku ("Wall against Wall"). It has existed since the times of Kievan Rus', first mentioned in the Primary Chronicle under year 1048. The government and the Russian Orthodox Church often tried to prohibit the fights, however the fist fighting remained popular until the 19th century, while in the 20th century some of the old techniques were adopted for the modern Russian martial arts.[21][13]
Pernach was a type flanged mace developed since the 12th century in the region of Kievan Rus' and later widely used throughout Europe. The name comes from the Russian word перо (pero) meaning feather, reflecting the form of pernach that resembled an arrow with feathering. The most popular variety of pernach had six flanges and was called shestopyor (from Russian shest' and pero, that is six-feathered). Pernach was the first form of the flanged mace to found wide usage. It was perfectly suited to destroy the plate armour and plate mail. In the later times it was often used as a symbol of power by the military leaders in Eastern Europe.[22]
Shashka is a special kind of sabre, a very sharp, single-edged, single-handed, and guardlesssword. In appearance, the shashka is midway between a full sabre and a straight sword. It has a slightly curved blade, and could be effective for both slashing and thrusting. Originally shashka was developed in the 12th century by Circassians in the Northern Caucasus, whose lands were integrated into the Russian Empire in the 18th century. By that time shashka was adopted as their main cold weapon by Russian Cossacks.[23]
Treshchotka, sometimes referred in plural as treshchotki, is a Russian folk musicidiophone instrument which is used to imitate hand clapping. Basically it is a set of small boards on a string that get clapped together as a group. There are no known documents confirming usage of treshchotka in the ancient Russia, however the remnants of what might have been the earliest 12th century treshchotka were recently found in Novgorod.[24]
Bear spear or rogatina was a medieval type of spear used in bear hunting and also against other large animals, like wisents and war horses. The sharpened head of a bear spear was enlarged and usually had a form of a bay leaf. Right under the head there was a short crosspiece that helped fixing the spear in the body of an animal. Often it was placed against the ground on its rear point, which make it easier to hold the weight of attacking beast. The Russian chronicles first mention rogatina as a military weapon under the year 1149, and as a hunting weapon under the year 1255.[25]
Sokha is a light wooden plough which could be pulled by one horse. Its origin was in the north Russia, most likely in the Novgorod Republic, where it was used at least since the 13th century. A characteristic feature of sokha construction is the bifurcated plowing tip (рассоха), so that a sokha has two plowshares, later made of metal, which cut the soil. Sokha is an evolution of a scratch-plough by an addition of a spade-like detail which turns the cut soil over (in regular ploughs the curved mouldboard both cuts and turns the soil).[26]
Preparation of pelmeni, with khokhloma handicraft seen on the background.
Onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles an onion, after which they are named. Such domes are often larger in diameter than the drum upon which they are set, and their height usually exceeds their width. The whole bulbous structure taper smoothly to a point. Onion dome is the predominant form for church domes in Russia, and though the earliest preserved Russian domes of such type date from the 16th century, the illustrations of the old chronicles indicate that they were used since the late 13th century.[28]
Lapta is a Russianball game with bat, similar to modern baseball. The game is played outside on a field the size of 20 x 25 sazhens (about 140 x 175 feet). The points are earned by hitting the ball, served by a player of the opposite team, and sending it as far as possible, then runnig across the field to the kon line, and if possible running back to the gorod line. The running player should try to avoid being hit with the ball, which is thrown by the opposing team members. The most ancient balls and bats for lapta were found in the 14th-century layers during excavations in Novgorod.[29].
Zvonnitsa is a large rectangular structure containing multiple archs or beams that carry bells, where bell ringers stand on its basement level and perform the ringing using long ropes, like playing on a kind of giant musical instrument. It was an alternative to bell tower in the medieval architecture of Russia and some Eastern European countries. Zvonnitsa appeared in Russia in the 14th century and was widely used until the 17th century. Sometimes it was mounted right atop the church building, resulting in the special type of church called pod zvonom ("under ringing") or izhe pod kolokoly ("under bells"). The most famous example of such kind of a church is the Church of St. Ivan of the Ladder adjacent to Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Moscow Kremlin.[30][31]
Sarafan is a long, shapeless jumper dress of pinafore type, a part of the traditional Russian folk costume by women and girls. Sarafans could be of single piece construction with thin shoulder straps over which a corset is sometimes worn, giving the shape of the body of a smaller triangle over a larger one. It comes in different styles such as the simpler black, flower- or check-patterned versions formerly used for everyday wear, or the elaborate brocade versions formerly reserved for special occasions. Chronicles first mention it under the year 1376, and since that time it was worn well until the 20th century. It is now worn as folk costume for performing Russian folk songs and folk dancing. Plain sarafans are still designed and worn today as a summer-time light dress.[32][33]
Bardiche was a long poleaxe, that is a type of weapon combining the features of axe and polearm, known primarily in the Eastern Europe where it was used instead of halberd. Occasionally the weapons of such form were made in Antiquity and Early Middle Ages, but the regular and massive usage of bardiches started in the early 15th century Russia. Likely, it was developed from the Scandinavianbroad axe, but in Scandinavia it appeared only in the late 15th century. In the 16th century bardiche became a weapon associated with streltsy, Russian guardsmen armed with firearms, who used bardiches to rest handguns upon when firing.[34]
Boyar hat, also known as gorlatnaya hat, was a fur hat worn by Russian nobility between the 15th and 17th centuries, most notably by boyars, for whom it was a sign of their social status. The higher hat indicated the higher status. In average, it was one ell in height, having the form of a cylinder with more broad upper part, velvet or brocade top and the main body made of fox, marten or sable fur. Today the hat is sometimes used in the Russian fashion.[35]
Gulyay-gorod (literally "wandering town") was a mobile fortification made from large wall-sized prefabricated shields set on wagons or sleds, a development of the wagon fort concept. The usage of installable shields instead of permanently armoured wagons was cheaper and allowed more possible configurations to be assembled. Such mobile structures were used mostly in the open steppe, where few natural shelters could be found. The wide-scale usage of gulyay-gorod started during the Russo-Kazan Wars, and later it was often used by the Ukrainian Cossacks.[36]
Ukha is a Russian soup, made with broth and fish like salmon or cod, root vegetables, parsley root, leek, potato, bay leaf, lime, dill, green parsley and spiced with black pepper, cinnamon and cloves. Fishes like perch, tenches, sheatfish and burbots were used to add flavour to the soup. Ukha as a name in the Russian cuisine for fish broth was established only in the late 17th to early 18th centuries. In earlier times this name was first given to thick meat broths, and then later chicken. Beginning from the 15th century, fish was more and more often used to prepare ukha, thus creating a dish that had a distinctive taste among soups.[37]
Russian oven or Russian stove is a unique type of oven/furnace that first appeared in the early 15th century. The Russian oven is usually placed in the centre of the izba, a traditional Russian dwelling, and plays an immense role in the traditional Russian culture and way of life. It is used both for cooking and domestic heating and is designed to retain heat for long periods of time. This is achieved by channeling the smoke and hot air produced by combustion through a complex labyrinth of passages, warming the bricks from which the oven is constructed. In winter people may sleep on top of the oven to keep warm. As well as warming and cooking, the Russian oven can be used for washing. A grown man can easily fit inside, and during the Great Patriotic War some people escaped the Nazis by hiding in ovens. The porridge or the pancakes prepared in such an oven may differ in taste from the same meal prepared on a modern stove or range. The process of cooking in the Russian oven can be called "languor" - holding dishes for a long period of time at a steady temperature. Foods that are believed to acquire a distinctive character from being prepared in a Russian oven include baked milk, pearl barley, mushrooms cooked in sour cream, or even a simple potato.[38][39]
Rassolnik is a Russian soup made from pickled cucumbers, pearl barley and pork or beef kidneys, though a vegetarian variant also exists. The dish is known from the 15th century, when it was initially called kalya. The key part of rassolnik is rassol, a liquid based on the juice of pickled cocumbers with some additions, famous for its usage in anti-hangover treatment.[40]
Russian vodka is perhaps the world's most famous national brand of vodka, that is a distilledliquor, composed solely of water and ethanol with possible traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is one of the world's most popular liquors. It is made by fermentation of rye, wheat, potatoes, grapes, or sugar beetmolasses. Alcoholic content usually ranges between 35 to 50 percent by volume. The standard Russian vodka is 40 percent alcohol by volume (80 proof). Exact origins of vodka cannot be traced definitively, but almost certainly vodka as a beverage comes from 14th-15th century Eastern Europe. Russia often is named the birthplace of vodka. The distillation apparatus was known in Moscow from the late 14th century and was used to produce spirit, the precursor of vodka. According to Russian food historian William Pokhlyobkin, the first original recipe of Russian vodka was produced around 1430 by a monk called Isidore from Chudov Monastery inside the Moscow Kremlin.[41]
Kokoshnik is a semicircular or keel-like exterior decorative element in the traditional Russian architecture, a type of corbelblind arch. The name was inspired by the traditional Russian women's head-dress. Kokoshniks were used in the Russian church architecture from the 16th century, while in the 17th century their popularity reached its highest point. Kokoshniks were placed on walls, at the basement of tented roofs or tholobates, or over the window frames, or in rows above the vaults.[42]
Tented roof masonry was a technique widely used in the Russian architecture in the 16th-17th centuries. Before that time tented roofs (conical, or actually polygonal roofs) were made of wood and used in the wooden churhes. These hipped roofs are thought to have originated in the Russian North, as they prevented snow from piling up on wooden buildings during long winters. Wooden tents also were used to cover towers in kremlins, or even applied in some common buildings, like it was in the Western Europe, but the thin, pointed, nearly conical roofs of the similar shape made of brick or stone became a unique form in the Russian church architecture. Some scholars, however, argue that hipped roofs have something in common with European Gothicspires, and even tend to call this style 'Russian Gothic'. The Ascension church of Kolomenskoye, built in 1532 to commemorate the birth of the first Russian TsarIvan IV, often is considered the first tented roof church, but the recent studies show that the earliest use of the stone tented roof was in the Trinity Church in Alexandrov, built in 1510s.[43]
Russian abacus or schety (literally "counts") is a decimal type of abacus that has a single slanted deck in a unique vertical layout, with ten beads on each wire (except one wire which has four beads, for quarter-ruble fractions, that is usually near the user). It was developed in Russia since the late 16th century, at the time when abacus already was falling out of use in the Western Europe. However, the decimality of the Russian abacus (explained by Russian ruble's being the world's first decimal currency) and its simplicity (compared to the previous European and Asian versions) led to the wide usage of this device in Russia well until the advent of electronic calculators in the late 20th century.[44]
Saint Basil's Cathedral is perhaps the most famous Russian Orthodox cathedral, a symbol of Moscow and Russia. It was designed by Postnik Yakovlev on the order of Ivan IV of Russia and built on the Moscow's Red Square in 1555–1561, to commemorate the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. The unique feature of the Saint Basil's Cathedral is the fact that it is a complex of multiple temples put together. The original building, known as "Trinity Cathedral", contained eight side churches covered with onion domes and arranged around the ninth, central tented roof church of Intercession; the tenth church was erected in 1588 over the grave of venerated local FoolVasily (Basil). In the 16th and the 17th centuries the cathedral, perceived as the earthly symbol of the Heavenly City, was popularly known as the "Jerusalem" and served as an allegory of the Jerusalem Temple in the annual Palm Sunday parade attended by the Patriarch of Moscow and the Tsar. Its striking design, shaped as a flame of a bonfire rising into the sky, has no analogues in the world architecture, and only twice it was attempted to be reproduced in the Russian architecture, namely in the St. Peter's and Paul Cathedral in Petergof and in the Church of the Savior on Blood in St. Petersburg.[46][47]
Great Abatis Line, or Bolshaya Zasechnaya Cherta in Russian, was the largest fortification line of abatis type, built by the Grand Duchy of Moscow and later the Tsardom of Russia. Its purpose was to protect Russia from the raids of nomads of the Eastern European steppes, such as the Crimean Tatars. As a fortification construction stretching for hundreds kilometers, the Great Abatis Line is analogous to the Great Wall of China and the Roman Limes. Most of its length consisted of abatis, that is the barrier built from the felled trees arranged as a barricade. It was also fortified by ditches and earth mounds, palisades, watch towers and natural features like lakes and swamps. Stone and wooden kremlins of the towns were also included in the Great Abatis Line, as well as the smaller forts called ostrogs. The Great Abatis Line was built south of Moscow between the Bryansk woods and Meschera swamps starting from the 12th century, and was officially completed in 1566, exceeding 1000 km in length.[48]
A view of the Tsar Cannon, showing its massive bore and cannonballs, and the Lion's head cast into the carriage.
Tsar Cannon is an enormous cannon, commissioned in 1586 by Russian Tsar Feodor and cast by Andrey Chokhov. It is the largest bombard by caliber. The cannon weighs 39.312 metric tonnes and has a length of 5.34 m (17.5 ft). Its bronze-cast barrel has a calibre of 890 mm (35.0 in), and an external diameter of 1,200 mm (47.2 in). Along with a new carriage, the 2 ton cannonballs surrounding the cannon were added in 1835 and are larger than the diameter of its barrel; in fact, it was originally designed to fire 800 kg stone grapeshot. The cannon is decorated with reliefs, including one depicting TsarTsar Feodor on a horse, hence the name of the cannon, though now the word Tsar is associated more with the supreme size of the weapon. Several copies of the cannon were made in the 21st century and installed in Donetsk and several Russian cities, while the original Tsar Cannon is in the Moscow Kremlin.[49][50]
Bochka roof or simply bochka (Russian: бочка, barrel) is the type of roof in the traditional Russian architecture that has a form of half-cylinder with elevated and sharpened upper part, resembling the sharpened kokoshnik. Typically made of wood, bochka roof was extensively used both in the church and civilian architecture in the 17th-18th centuries. Later it was sometimes used in the Russian Revival style buildings.[51]
Gorodki arranged in the pushka (cannon) pattern behind the gorod line.
Gorodki or townlets is an old Russian folk sport whose popularity has spread also to Scandinavia and the Baltic States. Similar to bowling, the aim of the game is to knock out groups of skittles arranged in some pattern by throwing a bat at them. The skittles, or pins, are called gorodki (literally little cities or townlets), and the square zone in which they are arranged is called the gorod (city). The game is mentioned in the old Russian chronicles and was known at least from the 17th century, since one of the famous players in gorodki was young Peter I of Russia.[52]
Russian Mountains were winter sled rides held on specially constructed hills of ice, sometimes up to 200 feet tall, being the predecessor to the modern roller coaster. Known from the 17th century, the slides were built to a height of between 70 and 80 feet, consisted of a 50 degree drop, and were reinforced by wooden supports. In the 18th century they were especially popular in St. Petersburg and sorroundings, from where by the late 1700s their usage and popularity spread to Europe. Sometimes wheeled carts were used instead of tracks, like in the Katalnaya Gorka built in Catherine II's residence in Oranienbaum. The first such wheeled ride was brought to Paris in 1804 under the name Les Montagnes Russes (French for "Russian Mountains"), and the term Russian Mountains continues to be a synonym for roller coaster in many countries today.[53]
Bird of Happiness is the traditional North Russian wooden toy, carved in the shape of a bird. It was invented by Pomors, the inhabitants of the White and Barents Sea coastline. The Bird of Happiness is made without glue or other fasteners, by elaborate carving of thin petals for the bird’s wings and tail and than using a special method of spreading and curving them. Similar methods are also used in other products of the North Russian handicraft. The amulet is usually made of pine, fir, spruce, or Siberian cedar. It is suspended inside a house, guarding the family hearth and well-being.[54]
Dymkovo toys, also known as the Vyatka toys or Kirov toys are moulded painted clay figures of people and animals (sometimes in the form of a pennywhistle). It is an old Russian folk handicraft which still exists in a village of Dymkovo near Kirov (former Vyatka). Traditionally, the Dymkovo toys are made by women. Up until the 20th century, this toy production had been timed to the spring fair called свистунья (svistunya), or whistler. The first recorded mentioning of this event took place in 1811, however it is believed to have existed for some 400 years, thus dating the history of Dymkovo toy at least from the 17th century.[55][56]
Troika (тройка, "triplet" or "trio") is a traditional Russian harness driving combination, using three horses abreast, usually pulling a sleigh. It differs from most other three-horse combinations in that the horses are harnessed abreast. In addition to that, the troika is the world's only multiple harness with different horse gaits – the middle horse trots and the side horses canter. At full speed a troika could reach 45–50 kilometres per hour (28–31 mph), which was a very high speed on land for vehicles in the 17th-19th centuries, making the troika closely associated with the fast ride. The troika was developed from the late 17th century, first being used for speedy delivering of mail, and having become common by the late 18th century. It was often used for travelling in stages where teams of tired horses could be exchanged for fresh animals to transport loads and people over long distances.[57][58]
Khokhloma is the name of a Russian wood painting handicraft, known for its vivid flower patterns, red and gold colors over the black background, and the distinctive effect on the cheap and light wooden tableware or furniture, making it look heavier, metal-like and glamourous. It first appeared in the second half of the 17th century, at least from 1659, in today's Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and was named after the large trade settlement Khokhloma. The handicraft owes its origin to the Old Believers, who, fleeing from persecutions of officials, took refuge in local woods and tought some of the icon painting techniques to the local craftsmen, such as the usage of a goldish color without applicating real gold. Nowadays khokhloma is one of the symbols of Russia, and apart from its usage in making tableware, furniture and souvenirs, it can be be found in the wider context, for example in paintings on Russian airliners.[59]
Tula gingerbread is a type of printed gingerbread from the city of Tula, the most known kind of Russian gingerbreads. Usually the Tula gingerbread looks like a rectangular tile or a flat figure. Modern Tula gingerbreads usually contain jam or condensed milk, while in the old times they were made with honey. The first mention of the Tula gingerbread is in Tula сensus book of 1685.[60]
Balalaika is a stringed instrument with a characteristic triangular body and 3 strings (or sometimes 6, in 3 courses), perhaps the most known national Russian musical instrument. The balalaika family of instruments includes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest, the prima balalaika, sekunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass balalaika and contrabass balalaika. The earliest mention of balalaika is found in a 1688 document, and initially it was an instrument of skomorokhs (sort of Russian free-lance musical jesters). In 1880s the modern standard balalika was developed by Vasily Andreev, who also started a tradition of balalaika orchestras, which finally led to the popularity of the instrument in many countries outside Russia.[61]
Table-glass or granyonyi stakan (literally faceted glass) is a type of drinkware made from especially hard and thick glass and having a faceted form. Granyonyi stakan has certain advantages over the other drinkware, since due to its form and hardness it is more difficult to break. It is arguably more handy in usage on moving trains or rolling ships, where it is less prone to decline and fall, or slip from hands, and less likely to be broken when hitting the floor. A legend says that the first known Russian faceted glass was given as a present to TsarPeter the Great from a glass-maker called Yefim Smolin, living in Vladimir Oblast. He boasted to Tsar that his glass couldn't be broken. Tsar Peter liked the present, however, after drinking some alcoholic beverage from it, he threw the glass on the ground and managed to break it. Still Peter didn't punished the glass-maker, and the production of such glasses continued, while the Russian tradition of breaking drinkware on certain occasions originated from that episode.[62]
Decimal currency is a currency that is based on one basic unit and a sub-unit which is a power of 10, typically 100. Most modern currencies adhere to this pattern. Russia was the first country to introduce such a currency after decimalisation if its financial system in 1704, during the reign of Peter the Great, when Russian ruble was made equal to 100 kopecks.[63]
Yacht club is a sports club specifically related to sailing and yachting. The oldest yacht club in the world, according to the date of establishment, is Neva Yacht Club, founded by the Russian TsarPeter the Great in 1718 in St. Petersburg (likely, the idea had been deviced as early as 1716, when the First Neva Shipyard started building civilian vessels). Though, since it was not a purely voluntary association of members, but an organisation founded by Tsar's decree, the Neva Yacht Club's being the world's oldest is challenged by the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Ireland, founded in 1720. Both clubs have gone through periods of dormancy and undergone various name changes.[64][65]
A rebar or reinforcing bar is a common metal bar (typically made of steel), used in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures. Rebars were known in construction well before the era of the modern reinforced concrete, since some 150 years before its invention rebars were used to form the carcass of the Leaning Tower of Nevyansk in Russia, built on the orders of the industrialistAkinfiy Demidov starting fronm 1725. The purpose of such construction is one of the many mysteries of the tower. The cast iron used for rebars was of very high quality, and there is no corrosion on them up to this day.[66]
The cast iron dome was a type of dome based on the cast iron rather than made from stone or brick, like it was in the ancient or medieval domes. The first application of this technology is found in the mysterious Leaning Tower of Nevyansk, completed in 1732. The inner part of the tower's tented roof was the first cast irondome in the world. The second time, this technique was applied only some 100 years later, during the reconstruction of the Mainz Cathedral in Germany in 1826, while the third time it was used in the dome of Saint Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, built in 1840s. The very top of the tower was crowned with a gilded metallic sphere with spikes. Since it was grounded through the rebars of the tower carcass, it acted like a lightning rod. Thus, the Russian duilders de facto created the first lightning in the Western world some 25 years before Benjamin Franklin, however it is not known whether that was made intentionally.[66]
The Peter and Paul Cathedral is a Russian Orthodox cathedral located in St. Petersburg, Russia. It is the first and oldest landmark in St. Petersburg, built between 1712 and 1733 inside the Peter and Paul Fortress. Both the cathedral and the fortress were originally built under Peter the Great and designed by Domenico Trezzini. The cathedral is the burial place of all Russian Emperors from Peter I to Nicholas II, with the exception of Peter II. The cathedral's bell tower is the world's tallest Orthodox bell tower. Since the belfry is not standalone, but an integral part of the main building, the cathedral is sometimes considered the highest Orthodox Church in the world.[67]
The Tsar Bell , also known as the Tsarsky Kolokol or Royal Bell, is a huge bell on display on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin. The bell was commissioned by Empress Anna, niece of Peter the Great. Currently it is the largest and heaviest bell in the world, weighing 216 tons, with a height of 6.14 m (20.1 ft) and diameter of 6.6 m (21.6 ft). It was founded from bronze by masters Ivan Motorin and his son Mikhail in 1733–1735. The bell, however, was never rung because of a fire in 1737, when a huge slab (11.5 tons) cracked off while it was still in the casting pit. In 1836, the bell was placed on a stone pedestal next to the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. For a time, the bell served as a chapel, with the broken area forming the door. According to the legend, on Judgement Day the Tsar Bell will be miraculously repaired and lifted up to heaven, where it will ring the blagovest (call to prayer).[50]
The Amber Room in the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo near Saint Petersburg is a complete chamber decoration of amber panels backed with gold leaf and mirrors. It was dubbed the Eighth Wonder of the World due to its singular beauty and the large quantity of a rare material (amber is rather hard to carve). Due to its unique history it was also called World's Greatest Lost Treasure. Several generations of German and Russian craftsmen worked on this masterpiece, prompted by several generations of monarchs. Construction began in 1701 to 1709 in Prussia. In 1716 the Amber Cabinet was given by Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I to his then ally, TsarPeter I of Russia. Then it was expanded by Russian craftsmen, and by 1770, when the work was finished, the Room covered more than 55 square meters and contained over six tons of amber. It was looted during World War II by Nazi Germany, brought to Königsberg and lost in the chaos at the end of the war. In 1979-2003 Russian craftsmen again reconstructed the Amber Room in the Catherine Palace, while the location of the original one is still a mistery.[69][70]
The screw drive elevator is an elevator that uses a screw drive system instead of a hoist, like it was in the earlier elevators. The invention of the screw drive was the most important step in elevator technology since ancient times, which finally led to the creation of modern passenger elevators. The first such elevator was invented by Ivan Kulibin and installed in Winter Palace in 1793, while several years later another Kulibin's elevator was installed in Arkhangelskoye near Moscow. In 1823, an "ascending room" made its debut in London.[71]
The peaked cap has been worn by Russian Army officers (other ranks had the same cap without a peak) as a new type of forage cap since 1796 by some regiments, and from 1811 by the most of the army.
Semen Korsakov was reputedly the first to use the punched cards in informatics for information store and search. Korsakov announced his new method and machines in September 1832, and rather than seeking patents offered the machines for public use.
The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is the main and largest cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church, located in Moscow on the bank of the Moskva River. It is the tallest Eastern Orthodox church in the world. Designed by Konstantin Thon, it is an outstanding example of the Byzantine Revival architecture. The giant dome of the cathedral for the first time in history was gilded using the technique of goldelectroplating. The original building was demolished during the Soviet time, but was rebuilt once again in 1995-2000, having become a symbol of Russia's religious renaissance.[80][75]
Fire fighting foam is a foam used for fire suppression. Its role is to cool the fire and to coat the fuel, preventing its contact with oxygen, resulting in suppression of the combustion. Fire fighting foam was invented by the Russian engineer and chemist Aleksandr Loran in 1902. He was a teacher in a school in Baku, which was the main center of the Russian oil industry at that time. Impressed by the terrible and hardly extinguishable oil fires that he had seen there, Loran tried to find such a liquid substance that could deal effectively with the problem, ans so he invented his fighting foam foam.[81]
The foam extinguisher is a type of fire extinguisher based on fire fighting foam. It works and looks similar to the soda-acid type, but the inner parts are different. The main tank contains a solution of water, foam compound (usually made from licorice root) and sodium bicarbonate. The first such extinguisher was produced in 1904 by Aleksandr Loran, who invented fire fighting foam two years before.[82]
Rabbage or Raphanobrassica, was the first ever non-sterile hybrid obtained through the crossbreeding, which was an important step in biotechnology. It was produced by Georgii Karpechenko in 1928.
Kirza is a type of artificial leather based on the multi-layer textile fabric, modified by membrana-like substances, produced mainly in the Soviet Union and Russia as a cheap an effective replacement for natural leather. The surface of kirza imitates the pig leather. The material is mainly used in production of military boots and belts for machinery and automobiles. The name kirza is an acronym from Kirovskiy Zavod (Kirov plant), a fabric producing artificial leather, located in the city of Kirov, which was the first place of the mass production of kirza. The technology was invented in 1935 by Ivan Plotnikov and improved in 1941. Since that time kirza boots became a typical element of the uniform in the Soviet and Russian Army.[83]
The Moscow Metro, which spans almost the entire Russian capital, is the world's second most heavily usedmetro system after the Tokyo's twin subway, and the most heavily used single operator metro system. Opened in 1935, it is well known for the ornate design of many of its stations, which contain numerous examples of socialist realist art.[84]
Drag chute or braking parachute is an application of the drogue parachute for decreasing the landing distance of an aircraft below that available solely from the aircraft's brakes. For the first time drag chutes were used in 1937 by the Soviet airplanes in the Arctic that were providing support for the famous polar expeditions of the era. The drag chute allowed to land safely on the ice-floes of smaller size.[85]
Soviet and Russian drifting ice stations are important contributors to exploration of the Arctic. An idea to use the drift ice for the exploration of nature in the high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean belongs to Fridtjof Nansen, who fulfilled it on Fram between 1893 and 1896. However, the first stations to be placed right upon the drifting ice originated in the Soviet Union in 1937, when the first such station in the world, North Pole-1, started operating. More drifting ice stations were organised after World War II, and many special equipment was developed for them, such as the elevated tents to be placed on the melting ice and indicators monitoring the ice cracks.[86]
Welded sculpture is an artform in which sculpture is made using welding techniques. The first such sculpture was the famous Worker and Kolkhoz Woman by Vera Mukhina. Initially it was placed atop the Soviet pavillion at the 1937 World's Fair in Paris. The choice of welding method was explained by a giant size of the sculpture, and also was intended to demonstrate the innovative Soviet technologies.[87]
Fire-fighting sport is a sport discipline that includes a competition between various fire fighting teams in fire fighting-related exercises, such as climbing special stairs in a high floor of a mock-up house, unfolding a water hose, and extinguishing a fire using hoses or extinguishers. It was developed in the Soviet Union in 1937, while international competitions have taken place since 1968.[88]
The deep column station is a type of subway station, consisting of a central hall with two side halls, connected by ring-like passages between a row of columns. Depending on the type of station, the rings transmit load to the columns either by "wedged arches" or through purlins, forming a "column-purlin complex." The fundamental advantage of the column station is the significantly greater connection between the halls, compared with a pylon station. The first deep column station in the world is Mayakovskaya, designed by Alexey Dushkin and opened in 1938 in Moscow Metro.[89]
Sambo is modern martial art, combat sport and self-defense system developed in the Soviet Union and recognized as an official sport by the USSR All-Union Sports Committee in 1938, presented by Anatoly Kharlampiev.
The AK-47 (other names include Avtomat Kalashnikova, Kalashnikov, or AK) is a selective fire, gas operated7.62mmassault rifle, developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. The AK-47 was one of the first true assault rifles. It has been manufactured in many countries and has seen service with regular armed forces as well as irregular, revolutionary and terrorist organizations worldwide. Even after six decades, due to its durability, low production cost and ease of use, the original AK-47 and its numerous variants are the most widely used and popular assault rifles in the world; more AK-type rifles have been produced than all other assault rifles combined.[92]
A 2006 editorial written by Marc Monthioux and Vladimir Kuznetsov in the journal Carbon described the interesting and often misstated origin of the carbon nanotube. A large percentage of academic and popular literature attributes the discovery of hollow, nanometer-size tubes composed of graphitic carbon to Sumio Iijima of NEC in 1991. In 1952 L. V. Radushkevich and V. M. Lukyanovich published clear images of 50 nanometer diameter tubes made of carbon in the Soviet Journal of Physical Chemistry. This discovery was largely unnoticed, as the article was published in the Russian language, and Western scientists' access to Soviet press was limited during the Cold War. It is likely that carbon nanotubes were produced before this date, but the invention of the transmission electron microscope (TEM) allowed direct visualization of these structures.[93][94]
Tokamak T-4 was tested in 1968 in Novosibirsk, conducting the first ever quasistationary thermonuclear fusion reaction. The first actual experimental tokamak was built in 1955.
Sputnik 1, the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957, and was the first in a series of satellites collectively known as the Sputnik program.
Salyut 1 (DOS-1) (Russian: Салют-1; English: Salute 1) was launched April 19, 1971. It was the first space station to orbit Earth. Developed under supervision of Vladimir Chelomey.
Electron cooling was invented by Gersh Budker (INP, Novosibirsk) in 1966 as a way to increase luminosity of hadroncolliders. It was first tested in 1974 with 68 MeVprotons at NAP-M storage ring at INP.
The Kirov class battlecruisers of the Russian Navy are the largest and heaviest surface combatant warships (i.e., not an aircraft carrier, assault ship or submarine) currently in active operation in the world.
The Tupolev Tu-160 is a supersonic, variable-geometryheavy bomber designed by the Soviet Union. Although several civil and military transport aircraft are bigger, the Tu-160 has the greatest total thrust, and the heaviest takeoff weight of any combat aircraft, and the highest top speed as well as one of the largest payloads of any current heavy bomber. Pilots of the Tu-160 call it the “White Swan”, due to its maneuverability and anti-flash white finish.[96]
^Кирпичников А. Н., «Военное дело на Руси в XIII—XV вв.» Л., 1976 / Kirpichnikov A.N. Warfare in Russia in the 13th-15th centuries. Leningrad, 1976. (in Russian)
^Киреева Е. В. «История костюма. Европейский костюм от античности до XX века.» Москва. Просвещение. 1976 / Kireeva E. V. The history of costume. European costume from Antiquity into the 20th century. Moscow, Prosvescheniye, 1976. (in Russian)
^V.F.Shperk, "The History of Fortification" (В. Ф. Шперк, История фортификации) (1957) (in Russian)
^Pokhlebkin V. V. / Похлёбкин В. В. (2007). The history of vodka / История водки. Moscow: Tsentrpoligraph / Центрполиграф. p. 272. ISBN5-9524-1895-3. ((cite book)): External link in |ref= (help)(in Russian)
^В. И. Шмакова Комбинат «Искож» // Энциклопедия земли Вятской Киров: «О-Краткое», 2008. — Т. 10. Книга вторая. / V.I. Shmakova. "Iskozh" fabric // The Encyclopedia of Vyatka Land. Kirov, "О-Краткое", 2008. Vol. 10. part 2. ISBN978-5-91402-040-5(in Russian)
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