Portal:Russia

Welcome to The Russia Portal The flag of Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the largest country in the world by land area, and extends across eleven time zones; sharing land borders with fourteen countries. Russia is the most populous country in Europe and the ninth-most populous country in the world. It is a highly urbanised country, with sixteen of its urban areas having more than 1 million inhabitants. Moscow, the most populous metropolitan area in Europe, is the capital and largest city of Russia; while Saint Petersburg is the second-largest city and cultural centre. Human settlement on the territory of modern Russia dates back to the Lower Paleolithic. The East Slavs emerged as a recognised group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries CE. The first East Slavic state, Kievan Rus', arose in the 9th century, and in 988, it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire. Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated; the Grand Duchy of Moscow led the unification of Russian lands, leading to the proclamation of the Tsardom of Russia in 1547. By the early 18th century, Russia had vastly expanded through conquest, annexation, and the efforts of Russian explorers, developing into the Russian Empire, which remains the third-largest empire in history. However, with the Russian Revolution in 1917, Russia's monarchic rule was abolished and eventually replaced by the Russian SFSR—the world's first constitutionally socialist state. Following the Russian Civil War, the Russian SFSR established the Soviet Union with three other Soviet republics, within which it was the largest and principal constituent. The Soviet Union underwent rapid industrialisation in the 1930s, amidst the deaths of millions under Joseph Stalin's rule, and later played a decisive role for the Allies in World War II by leading large-scale efforts on the Eastern Front. With the onset of the Cold War, it competed with the United States for ideological dominance and international influence. The Soviet era of the 20th century saw some of the most significant Russian technological achievements, including the first human-made satellite and the first human expedition into outer space. (Full article...) Featured article   Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia. Japanese foreign affairs minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri as American General Richard K. Sutherland watches, 2 September 1945 The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, ending the war. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. Together with the United Kingdom and China, the United States called for the unconditional surrender of Japan in the Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945—the alternative being "prompt and utter destruction". While publicly stating their intent to fight on to the bitter end, Japan's leaders (the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War, also known as the "Big Six") were privately making entreaties to the publicly neutral Soviet Union to mediate peace on terms more favorable to the Japanese. While maintaining a sufficient level of diplomatic engagement with the Japanese to give them the impression they might be willing to mediate, the Soviets were covertly preparing to attack Japanese forces in Manchuria and Korea (in addition to South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands) in fulfillment of promises they had secretly made to the US and the UK at the Tehran and Yalta Conferences. On 6 August 1945, at 8:15 am local time, the United States detonated an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Sixteen hours later, American president Harry S. Truman called again for Japan's surrender, warning them to "expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth." Late on 8 August 1945, in accordance with the Yalta agreements, but in violation of the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, and soon after midnight on 9 August 1945, the Soviet Union invaded the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. Hours later, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb, on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Emperor Hirohito ordered the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War to accept the terms the Allies had set down in the Potsdam Declaration. After several more days of behind-the-scenes negotiations and a failed coup d'état, Emperor Hirohito gave a recorded radio address across the Empire on 15 August announcing the surrender of Japan to the Allies. (Full article...) Bezhin Meadow (Бежин луг, Bezhin lug) is a 1937 Soviet propaganda film, famous for having been suppressed and believed destroyed before its completion. Directed by Sergei Eisenstein, it tells the story of a young farm boy whose father attempts to betray the government for political reasons by sabotaging the year's harvest and the son's efforts to stop his own father to protect the Soviet state, culminating in the boy's murder and a social uprising. The film draws its title from a story by Ivan Turgenev, but is based on the (largely fabricated) life story of Pavlik Morozov, a young Russian boy who became a political martyr following his death in 1932, after he supposedly denounced his father to Soviet government authorities and subsequently died at the hands of his family. Pavlik Morozov was immortalized in school programs, poetry, music, and film. Commissioned by a communist youth group, the film's production ran from 1935 to 1937, until it was halted by the central Soviet government, which said it contained artistic, social, and political failures. Some, however, blamed the failure of Bezhin Meadow on government interference and policies, extending all the way to Joseph Stalin himself. In the wake of the film's failure, Eisenstein publicly recanted his work as an error. Individuals were arrested during and after the ensuing debacle. (Full article...) The Siberian accentor (Prunella montanella) is a small passerine bird that breeds in northern Russia from the Ural Mountains eastwards across Siberia. It is migratory, wintering in Korea and eastern China, with rare occurrences in western Europe and northwestern North America. Its typical breeding habitat is subarctic deciduous forests and open coniferous woodland, often close to water, although it also occurs in mountains and spruce taiga. It inhabits bushes and shrubs in winter, frequently near streams, but may also be found in dry grassland and woods. The Siberian accentor has brown upperparts and wings, with bright chestnut streaking on its back and a greyish-brown rump and tail. The head has a dark brown crown and a long, wide pale yellow supercilium ("eyebrow"). All plumages are quite similar. The nest is an open cup in dense shrub or a tree into which the female lays four to six glossy deep blue-green eggs that hatch in about ten days. Adults and chicks feed mainly on insects, typically picked off the ground, but sometimes taken from vegetation. In winter, the accentors may also consume seeds or feed near human habitation. (Full article...) Giovanni Antonio Grassi SJ (anglicized as John Anthony Grassi; 10 September 1775 – 12 December 1849) was an Italian Catholic priest and Jesuit who led many academic and religious institutions in Europe and the United States, including Georgetown College in Washington, D.C., and the Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide in Rome. Born in the Republic of Venice, Grassi was a promising student of mathematics and the natural sciences, especially astronomy. He completed his studies at the Jesuit College in Polotsk, in the Russian Empire, in 1804 and was appointed rector of the Institute for Nobles. The following year, he was ordered to replace the last remaining Jesuit missionary in China; this began a five-year journey across Europe in which he was ultimately unable to secure passage to the distant country. He instead began teaching at Stonyhurst College in England. (Full article...) Photo, c. 1914 Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (Russian: Анастасия Николаевна Романова, romanized: Anastasiya Nikolaevna Romanova; 18 June [O.S. 5 June] 1901 – 17 July 1918) was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. Anastasia was the younger sister of Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, and Maria (commonly known together as the OTMA sisters) and was the elder sister of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia. She was murdered with her family by a group of Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918. (Full article...) Costume sketch for the titular Firebird by Léon Bakst, 1910 The Firebird (French: L'Oiseau de feu; Russian: Жар-птица, romanized: Zhar-ptitsa) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who collaborated with Alexandre Benois and others on a scenario based on the Russian fairy tales of the Firebird and the blessing and curse it possesses for its owner. It was first performed at the Opéra de Paris on 25 June 1910 and was an immediate success, catapulting Stravinsky to international fame and leading to future Diaghilev–Stravinsky collaborations including Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913). The Firebird's mortal and supernatural elements are distinguished with a system of leitmotifs placed in the harmony dubbed "leit-harmony". Stravinsky intentionally used many specialist techniques in the orchestra, including ponticello, col legno, flautando, glissando, and flutter-tonguing. Set in the evil immortal Koschei's castle, the ballet follows Prince Ivan, who battles Koschei with the help of the magical Firebird. (Full article...) Launch of Izmail in 1915 The Borodino-class battlecruisers (Russian: Линейные крейсера типа «Измаил») were a group of four battlecruisers ordered by the Imperial Russian Navy before World War I. Also referred to as the Izmail class, they were laid down in late 1912 at Saint Petersburg for service with the Baltic Fleet. Construction of the ships was delayed by a lack of capacity among domestic factories and the need to order some components from abroad. The start of World War I slowed their construction still further, as the imported components were often not delivered and domestic production was diverted into areas more immediately useful for the war effort. Three of the four ships were launched in 1915 and the fourth in 1916. Work on the gun turrets lagged, and it became evident that Russian industry would not be able to complete the ships during the war. The Russian Revolution of 1917 halted all work on the ships, which was never resumed. Although some consideration was given to finishing the hulls that were nearest to completion, the three furthest from completion were sold for scrap by the Soviet Union during the early 1920s. The Soviet Navy proposed to convert Izmail, the ship closest to completion, to an aircraft carrier in 1925, but the plan was cancelled after political manoeuvring by the Red Army cut funding and she was eventually scrapped in 1931. (Full article...) Laika (/ˈlaɪkə/ LY-kə; Russian: Лайка, IPA: [ˈlajkə]; c. 1954 – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who was one of the first animals in space and the first to orbit the Earth. A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, launched into low orbit on 3 November 1957. As the technology to re-enter the atmosphere had not yet been developed, Laika's survival was never expected. She died of hyperthermia hours into the flight, on the craft's fourth orbit. Little was known about the effects of spaceflight on living creatures at the time of Laika's mission, and animal flights were viewed by engineers as a necessary precursor to human missions. The experiment, which monitored Laika's vital signs, aimed to prove that a living organism could survive being launched into orbit and continue to function under conditions of weakened gravity and increased radiation, providing scientists with some of the first data on the biological effects of spaceflight. (Full article...) Oganesson is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Og and atomic number 118. It was first synthesized in 2002 at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, near Moscow, Russia, by a joint team of Russian and American scientists. In December 2015, it was recognized as one of four new elements by the Joint Working Party of the international scientific bodies IUPAC and IUPAP. It was formally named on 28 November 2016. The name honors the nuclear physicist Yuri Oganessian, who played a leading role in the discovery of the heaviest elements in the periodic table. Oganesson has the highest atomic number and highest atomic mass of all known elements. On the periodic table of the elements it is a p-block element, a member of group 18 and the last member of period 7. Its only known isotope, oganesson-294, is highly radioactive, with a half-life of 0.7 ms and, as of 2025, only five atoms have been successfully produced. This has so far prevented any experimental studies of its chemistry. Because of relativistic effects, theoretical studies predict that it would be a solid at room temperature, and significantly reactive, unlike the other members of group 18 (the noble gases). (Full article...) A Russian postcard of Petropavlovsk Petropavlovsk (Russian: Петропавловск) was the lead ship of her class of three pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy during the last decade of the 19th century. The ship was sent to the Far East almost immediately after entering service in 1899, where she participated in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion the next year and was the flagship of the First Pacific Squadron. At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, Petropavlovsk took part in the Battle of Port Arthur, where she was lightly damaged by Japanese shells and failed to score any hits in return. On 13 April 1904, the ship sank after striking one or more mines near Port Arthur, in northeast China. Casualties numbered 27 officers and 652 enlisted men, including Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov, the commander of the squadron, and the war artist Vasily Vereshchagin. The arrival of the competent and aggressive Makarov after the Battle of Port Arthur had boosted Russian morale, which plummeted after his death. (Full article...) Manuscript miniature, part of double portrait with Empress Maria, Vatican Library Manuel I Komnenos (Greek: Μανουήλ Κομνηνός, romanized: Manouḗl Komnēnós; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (Greek: Πορφυρογέννητος; "born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean. His reign saw the last flowering of the Komnenian restoration, during which the Byzantine Empire experienced a resurgence of military and economic power and enjoyed a cultural revival. Eager to restore his empire to its past glories as the great power of the Mediterranean world, Manuel pursued an energetic and ambitious foreign policy. In the process he made alliances with Pope Adrian IV and the resurgent West. He invaded the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, although unsuccessfully, being the last Eastern Roman emperor to attempt reconquests in the western Mediterranean. The passage of the potentially dangerous Second Crusade through his empire was adroitly managed. Manuel established a Byzantine protectorate over the Crusader states of Outremer. Facing Muslim advances in the Holy Land, he made common cause with the Kingdom of Jerusalem and participated in a combined invasion of Fatimid Egypt. Manuel reshaped the political maps of the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean, placing the kingdoms of Hungary and Outremer under Byzantine hegemony and campaigning aggressively against his neighbours both in the west and in the east. (Full article...) Fram leaves Bergen on 2 July 1893, bound for the Arctic Ocean Nansen's Fram expedition of 1893–1896 was an attempt by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen to reach the geographical North Pole by harnessing the natural east–west current of the Arctic Ocean. In the face of much discouragement from other polar explorers, Nansen took his ship Fram to the New Siberian Islands in the eastern Arctic Ocean, froze her into the pack ice, and waited for the drift to carry her towards the pole. Impatient with the slow speed and erratic character of the drift, after 18 months Nansen and a chosen companion, Hjalmar Johansen, left the ship with a team of Samoyed dogs and sledges and made for the pole. They did not reach it, but they achieved a record Farthest North latitude of 86°13.6′N before a long retreat over ice and water to reach safety in Franz Josef Land. Meanwhile, Fram continued to drift westward, finally emerging in the North Atlantic Ocean. The idea for the expedition had arisen after items from the American vessel Jeannette, which had sunk off the north coast of Siberia in 1881, were discovered three years later off the south-west coast of Greenland. The wreckage had obviously been carried across the polar ocean, perhaps across the pole itself. Based on this and other debris recovered from the Greenland coast, the meteorologist Henrik Mohn developed a theory of transpolar drift, which led Nansen to believe that a specially designed ship could be frozen in the pack ice and follow the same track as Jeannette wreckage, thus reaching the vicinity of the pole. (Full article...) Dubnium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Db and atomic number 105. It is highly radioactive: the most stable known isotope, dubnium-268, has a half-life of about 16 hours. This greatly limits extended research on the element. Dubnium does not occur naturally on Earth and is produced artificially. The Soviet Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) claimed the first discovery of the element in 1968, followed by the American Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in 1970. Both teams proposed their names for the new element and used them without formal approval. The long-standing dispute was resolved in 1993 by an official investigation of the discovery claims by the Transfermium Working Group, formed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, resulting in credit for the discovery being officially shared between both teams. The element was formally named dubnium in 1997 after the town of Dubna, the site of the JINR. (Full article...) German reconnaissance picture of Sovetsky Soyuz taken in June 1942 The Sovetsky Soyuz-class battleships (Project 23, Russian: Советский Союз, 'Soviet Union'), also known as "Stalin's Republics", were a class of battleships begun by the Soviet Union in the late 1930s but never brought into service. They were designed in response to the Bismarck-class battleships being built by Germany. Only four hulls of the fifteen originally planned had been laid down by 1940, when the decision was made to cut the program to only three ships to divert resources to an expanded army rearmament program. These ships would have rivaled the Imperial Japanese Yamato class and America's planned Montana class in size if any had been completed, although with significantly weaker firepower: nine 406-millimeter (16 in) guns compared to the nine 460-millimeter (18.1 in) guns of the Japanese ships and a dozen 16-inch (406 mm) on the Montanas. The failure of the Soviet armor plate industry to build cemented armor plates thicker than 230 millimeters (9.1 in) would have negated any advantages from the Sovetsky Soyuz class's thicker armor in combat. (Full article...) A natural diamond crystal Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond as a form of carbon is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of electricity, and insoluble in water. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, but diamond is metastable and converts to it at a negligible rate under those conditions. Diamond has the highest hardness and thermal conductivity of any natural material, properties that are used in major industrial applications such as cutting and polishing tools. They are also the reason that diamond anvil cells can subject materials to pressures found deep in the Earth. Because the arrangement of atoms in diamond is extremely rigid, few types of impurity can contaminate it (two exceptions are boron and nitrogen). Small numbers of defects or impurities (about one per million of lattice atoms) can color a diamond blue (boron), yellow (nitrogen), brown (defects), green (radiation exposure), purple, pink, orange, or red. Diamond also has a very high refractive index and a relatively high optical dispersion. (Full article...) Selected picture Cathedral of Christ the Savior Photograph: Joaquim Alves Gaspar The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is a church in Moscow, Russia, south-west of the Kremlin, which was consecrated in 1883. With an overall height of 105 metres (344 ft), it is the tallest Orthodox Christian church in the world. Moscow State University Photograph: Dmitry A. Mottl The current main building of the Moscow State University in Sparrow Hills, Moscow, Russia. Designed by Lev Rudnev and completed by 1953, the 240-metre (790 ft) tall structure was the tallest building in Europe until the completion of the Messeturm in 1990. A Boyar Wedding Feast Painting credit: Konstantin Makovsky A Boyar Wedding Feast is an oil-on-canvas painting created by Russian artist Konstantin Makovsky in 1883. The boyars were members of the highest rank of the feudal aristocracy of Russia in the 16th and 17th centuries, and a wedding was an important social event. In this painting, the guests are depicted toasting a newlywed couple. They stand at the head of the table, where the groom sees his bride without her veil for the first time; she appears timid and bashful as the men toast for the first kiss. Behind the couple, the Lady of Ceremony gently urges on the bride. A roasted swan is being brought in on a large platter, the last dish to be served before the couple retires to the bedroom. The work is in the collection of the Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, in Washington, D.C. Peter and Paul Fortress Photograph: Andrew Shiva Peter and Paul Fortress is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded by Czar Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706 to 1740. Through the early 1920s, it was used as a prison and execution ground by the Bolshevik government. Since then, it has been adapted as the central and most important part of the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg, which occupies most of the fortress building save the structure occupied by the Saint Petersburg Mint. Lugano by Prokudin-Gorsky Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky Credit: Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky was a Russian pioneer of color photographer. This view of Lugano was most likely taken in 1909. Although James Clerk Maxwell made the first color photograph in 1861, the results were far from realistic until Prokudin-Gorsky perfected the technique with a series of improvements around 1905. His process used a camera that took a series of monochrome pictures in rapid sequence, each through a different colored filter. Prokudin-Gorskii then went on to document much of the country of Russia, travelling by train in a specially equipped darkroom railroad car. Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum Photo: Florstein The Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum is a lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo, near Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1811, the school produced 286 graduates, including the poet Anton Delvig and statesman Dmitry Tolstoy, before it was moved to Saint Petersburg in 1844. Nilov Monastery on Stolobnyi Island in Lake Seliger in Tver Province, Russia Nilov Monastery Credit: Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky This photo of the Nilov Monastery on Stolobny Island in Tver Oblast, Russia, was taken by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky in 1910 before the advent of colour photography. His process used a camera that took a series of monochrome pictures in rapid sequence, each through a different coloured filter. By projecting all three monochrome pictures using correctly coloured light, it was possible to reconstruct the original colour scene. Sukhoi Su-30 Photo: Sergey Krivchikov The Sukhoi Su-30 is a twin-engine, two-seat supermanoeuverable fighter aircraft developed by Russia's Sukhoi Aviation Corporation. It is a multirole fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions. Its primary users are Russia, India, China, Venezuela, and Malaysia. Locomotive U-127 Photograph: Harveyqs Locomotive U-127 is a 4-6-0 steam locomotive of class U, preserved at the Museum of the Moscow Railway next to Paveletsky Rail Terminal in Moscow. Built in 1910, the locomotive was badly damaged during the Russian Civil War but restored in May 1923. The following year it hauled head of state Vladimir Lenin's funeral train from Gerasimovskaya to Paveletsky station. For the next 13 years it continued in passenger service, until it was withdrawn in 1937, restored, and preserved. Chesme Column Photograph credit: Andrew Shiva The Chesme Column is a victory column in the Catherine Park at the Catherine Palace, a former Russian royal residence in Tsarskoye Selo, a suburb of Saint Petersburg. It was erected to commemorate three Russian naval victories in the 1768–1774 Russo-Turkish War, including the Battle of Chesma in 1770. The column is made from three pieces of white-and-pink marble; decorated with the rostra of three ships' bows, and crowned by a triumphal bronze statue depicting a Russian eagle trampling a crescent moon, the symbol of Turkey. Bronze plaques on three sides of the pedestal depict scenes from the battles, and the campaign is described on the plaque on the fourth side. Ivan Tsarevich Artist: Viktor Vasnetsov A painting depicting Ivan Tsarevich, one of the main heroes of Russian folklore, riding a magic carpet after having captured the Firebird, which he keeps in a cage. This work was Viktor Vasnetsov's first attempt at illustrating Russian folk tales and inaugurated a famous series of paintings on the themes drawn from Russian folklore. Hotel Astoria (Saint Petersburg) Photograph: Florstein Hotel Astoria is a five-star hotel located on Saint Isaac's Square in Saint Petersburg. Commissioned in 1910 by the Palace Hotel Company to host visitors to the Romanov tercentenary, the hotel was designed by Fyodor Lidval and first opened in 1912. After the October Revolution, it continued to be used as a state-operated hotel, though during World War II it was also a field hospital. The hotel, now owned by Rocco Forte Hotels, has been renovated several times, most recently in 2012. Ivan Goremykin Photograph: Unknown; restoration: Adam Cuerden Ivan Goremykin (1839–1917) was a Russian prime minister during World War I. A politician with archconservative views, after some time in the Ministry of Justice, he transferred to the Ministry of the Interior in 1891. He held the rank of prime minister from May to July 1906 and again from 1914 to 1916; during both terms his effectiveness was strongly limited by opposition from the State Duma. In the aftermath of the October Revolution, Goremykin was recognized as a member of the Tsarist government and killed by a street mob. St. Isaac's Square Image from: Detroit Publishing Co. (1905 catalogue) A photochrom of St Isaac's Square in St Petersburg, Russia from the 1890s, as seen from the dome of St Isaac's Cathedral towards Marie Palace. Behind the palace, the capital of the Russian Empire is seen all the way to the Trinity Cathedral. The square is dominated by the equestrian Monument to Nicholas I. The Last Day of Pompeii Painting: Karl Bryullov The Last Day of Pompeii is an oil painting on canvas completed by the Russian artist Karl Bryullov between 1830 and 1833. The painting is based on sketches the artist completed in 1828 while visiting Pompeii, a city destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. It is now held in the State Russian Museum. Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov/Élie Metchnikoff Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov Credit: This image comes from Gallica Digital Library and is available under the digital ID btv1b6926750k/f1 Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov is the Russian scientist who discovered phagocytes and won the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Alexei Leonov Photograph credit: NASA; retouched by Coffeeandcrumbs Alexei Leonov (1934–2019) was a Soviet cosmonaut, Air Force major general, writer, and artist. On 18 March 1965, he became the first human to conduct a spacewalk, exiting the capsule during the Voskhod 2 mission for 12 minutes and 9 seconds. At the end of the spacewalk, his spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space to the point that he had great difficulty re-entering the airlock, forcing him to open a valve to deflate his suit. His second trip into space took place ten years later, when he was commander of Soyuz 19, the Soviet half of the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, the first joint space mission between the Soviet Union and the United States. The crater Leonov on the far side of the Moon is named after him. This picture shows Leonov photographed in 1974, wearing a lapel pin with a version of the emblem for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, which was then in development. Kikin Hall Photograph: Florstein Kikin Hall, commissioned by Alexander Kikin in 1714, is one of the oldest buildings in Saint Petersburg. Incomplete at the time of Kikin's execution, the building was seized by the Russian crown and used for a variety of purposes. In the 1950s, Irina Benois arranged for the restoration of the dilapidated building. It is now home to a music school. Mohammed Alim Khan, Emir of Bukhara, 1911 Mohammed Alim Khan Credit: Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky An early colour photograph of the Emir of Bukhara, Mohammed Alim Khan, in 1911, taken by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky as part of his work to document the Russian Empire from 1909 to 1915. Alim Khan, a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, was the last emir of the Manghud dynasty. He reigned from 1911 to 1920, fleeing to Afghanistan when the Bolsheviks annexed Bukhara and proclaimed the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic. Did you know... ... that the Armenian oil magnate Alexander Mantashev (pictured) handpicked 50 talented young Armenians and sent them to study at the best universities of continental Europe? ... that St. Cyril's Monastery in Kiev, Ukraine was closed by the Tsarist Government and its living quarters were converted into a hospital and later an insane asylum, which lasted until the mid-late 20th century? ... that Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia was urged by her mother-in-law to testify in the case of Anna Anderson, the woman who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia? In this month February 28, 1609 - Vasili IV of Russia ceded border territory to Sweden in exchange for military aid against the government of False Dmitry II. February 13, 1619 - Feodor Romanov, Michael's father, was released from Polish prison and allowed to return to Russia. February 22, 1711 - Government reform of Peter the Great: Peter established the Governing Senate to pass laws in his absence. February 27, 1768 - Repnin Sejm: Delegates of the Sejm adopted a treaty ensuring future Russian influence in Polish internal politics. February 27, 1919 - Lithuania was absorbed into the Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia. Selected food or cuisine – A Pozharsky cutlet served with mashed potatoes, mushroom sauce and sliced cucumber A Pozharsky cutlet (Russian: пожарская котлета, pozharskaya kotleta, plural: пожарские котлеты, pozharskie kotlety; also spelled Pojarski) is a breaded ground chicken or veal patty that is typical of Russian cuisine. A distinct feature of this cutlet is adding butter to minced meat, which results in an especially juicy and tender consistency. The dish was created in the beginning of the 19th century in Russia and later adopted by French haute cuisine. (Full article...) List of selected food/cuisine articles Ryazhenka Russian wine Udmurt cuisine Chicken Kiev Guriev porridge Oladyi Tushonka Paskha Dressed herring Shchi Stroganina Vologda butter Mors (drink) Chebureki Tula pryanik Kurnik (pirog) Peremech Krasnaya Polyana Balsam Tarasun Pirozhki Pastila Coulibiac Selected biography – Chekhov in 1889 Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (/ˈtʃɛkɒf/; Russian: Антон Павлович Чехов, IPA: [ɐnˈton ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ ˈtɕexəf]; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre. Chekhov was a physician by profession. "Medicine is my lawful wife," he once said, "and literature is my mistress." Chekhov renounced the theatre after the reception of The Seagull in 1896, but the play was revived to acclaim in 1898 by Konstantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre, which subsequently also produced Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and premiered his last two plays, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. These four works present a challenge to the acting ensemble as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers a "theatre of mood" and a "submerged life in the text." The plays that Chekhov wrote were not complex, but easy to follow, and created a somewhat haunting atmosphere for the audience. (Full article...) List of featured biographies Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia Ivan Bagramyan Leonhard Euler Nikita Filatov Nikita Khrushchev Manuel I Komnenos Laika Vladimir Lenin El Lissitzky Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia Sergo Ordzhonikidze Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Dmitri Shostakovich Eduard Streltsov Sviatoslav I of Kiev Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Irakli Tsereteli Aleksandr Vasilevsky Nikita Zotov Vladimir Putin In the news 19 February 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure At least one person is killed and 14 others are injured in Russian missile and drone strikes across Ukraine, including a large drone attack on energy infrastructure in Odesa that leaves 160,000 residents without heating and electricity. (The Kyiv Independent) 19 February 2025 – Peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Ukraine–United States relations Amid deteriorating relations between both countries, U.S. President Donald Trump calls Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "dictator" and says he has done a "terrible job" while warning "he is not going to have a country left" soon. (BBC News) Russia–United States relations Russian President Vladimir Putin praises the high-level talks with the U.S. in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as a "first step" towards restoring full diplomatic ties with the United States. (The Moscow Times) More Did you know (auto generated) ... that former Czech Army doctor Marek Obrtel returned his military decorations from NATO operations in 2014, citing his pro-Russian and anti-American views? ... that Russian money, known as qiang tie by locals, was used as legal currency in some regions of China for decades? ... that Russian pianist Pavel Kushnir died on a hunger strike after his arrest for anti-war videos posted on a YouTube channel with five subscribers? ... that after the liberation of towns in Ukraine during the Ukrainian Kharkiv counteroffensive, authorities found evidence of numerous Russian torture chambers? ... that Russia launched an Iranian satellite into orbit just three weeks after Putin and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei vowed to cooperate against the West? ... that Wallachian statesman Radu Golescu, who worked with Russian occupiers in 1806, was described as "immeasurably thirsty for wealth, and mean-spirited"? Categories Category puzzle Select [►] to view subcategories Russia Russia-related lists Buildings and structures in Russia Client states of Russia Culture of Russia Economy of Russia Education in Russia Environment of Russia Geography of Russia Government of Russia Health in Russia History of Russia Organizations based in Russia Russian people Politics of Russia Society of Russia Spies for Russia Images of Russia Russia stubs WikiProjects Parent projects WikiProject Countries • WikiProject Asia • WikiProject Europe Main project WikiProject Russia Sister projects WikiProject Caucasia • WikiProject Soviet Union • Russian, Soviet and CIS military history task force of the Military history WikiProject • Soviet and post-Soviet cinema task force of the Film WikiProject What are WikiProjects? Selected quote Featured content Extended content Featured articles 2nd Red Banner Army 1964 European Nations' Cup final 2016 Irkutsk mass methanol poisoning Nadezhda Alliluyeva Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia Antarctica Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and the Belyayev circle Bezhin Meadow Black stork Borodino-class battlecruiser Borscht Caspian expeditions of the Rus' Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Moscow) Diamond Dubnium Battle of Dürenstein Russian battleship Dvenadsat Apostolov Leonhard Euler William Feiner Nikita Filatov Anna Filosofova The Firebird Giovanni Antonio Grassi Gurian Republic History of Poland (1945–1989) House with Chimaeras Jeannette expedition Nikita Khrushchev Manuel I Komnenos Tadeusz Kościuszko Battle of Kunersdorf Kylfings Laika Vladimir Lenin Lieutenant Kijé (Prokofiev) Nestor Makhno The Motherland Calls Fridtjof Nansen Nansen's Fram expedition National anthem of Russia Nihonium Oganesson Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia Olga Constantinovna of Russia Sergo Ordzhonikidze Russian battleship Oslyabya Pallas's leaf warbler Russian battleship Peresvet Peresvet-class battleship Russian battleship Petropavlovsk (1894) Petropavlovsk-class battleship Russian battleship Pobeda Polar bear Russian battleship Poltava (1894) Russian battleship Potemkin Battle of Prokhorovka Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and The Five Rainbow trout Russian battleship Retvizan Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov The Rite of Spring Russian battleship Rostislav Russian occupations of Beirut Russian battleship Sevastopol (1895) Shuttle–Mir program Siberian accentor Russian battleship Slava Sovetsky Soyuz-class battleship Nadezhda Stasova Igor Stravinsky Eduard Streltsov Surrender of Japan Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Tennessine 1907 Tiflis bank robbery Tiger Tintin in the Land of the Soviets Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic Maria Trubnikova Irakli Tsereteli Operation Uranus Viatkogorgon Wage reform in the Soviet Union, 1956–1962 Winter War Władysław II Jagiełło Woolly mammoth Nikita Zotov Featured lists 2014 Winter Olympics medal table Fyodor Dostoevsky bibliography First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union List of heads of state of the Soviet Union List of battlecruisers of Russia List of International Space Station spacewalks List of World Heritage Sites in Russia List of administrative and municipal divisions of Adygea List of ambassadors of Russia to Austria List of heads of government of Russia List of leaders of the Soviet Union Premier of the Soviet Union World Figure Skating Championships cumulative medal count A-Class articles 51st Army (Russia) Soviet cruiser Admiral Isachenkov Arena (countermeasure) Battle of the Kalka River Battle of Berlin Bolesław I's intervention in the Kievan succession crisis Russian battleship Borodino Cho Ki-chon Evacuation of East Prussia Finnish Civil War Yuri Gagarin Russian battleship Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya SS Iowan Soviet cruiser Kalinin Third Battle of Kharkov Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov Łódź insurrection Soviet cruiser Marshal Voroshilov Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 Operation Winter Storm Petlyakov Pe-3 Petlyakov Pe-8 Siege of Viborg (1710) Smolensk War Sukhoi Su-37 Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria First Battle of Târgu Frumos Wallachian Revolution of 1848 Yermolayev Yer-2 Good articles 5th Mechanised Corps (Soviet Union) 2005 UEFA Super Cup 2007 Nevelsk earthquake 2008 UEFA Champions League final 2014 Russian Grand Prix 2015 Russian Grand Prix 2016 Russian Grand Prix Russian submarine AG-22 Khachatur Abovian Russian monitor Admiral Chichagov Soviet cruiser Admiral Isachenkov Admiral Lazarev-class monitor Russian cruiser Admiral Makarov Admiral Nakhimov-class cruiser Russian monitor Admiral Spiridov Admiral Spiridov-class monitor Aeroflot Flight 593 Ivan Aivazovsky Anna Akhmatova Alexander Alekhine Alekseyev I-212 Amak Volcano Amber Room American premieres of Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 Amnya complex Russian battleship Andrei Pervozvanny Andrei Pervozvanny-class battleship Andrei Rublev (film) Annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire Anya (Anastasia) Arab–Khazar wars Battle of Arcadiopolis (970) Operation Arctic Fox Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic Alexander Atabekian Australia in the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War Elisabeth Bagréeff-Speransky Russian cruiser Bayan (1900) Operation Barbarossa Fanya Baron Basil II Battle of Bautzen (1945) Battle of the Kalka River Battle of Grunwald Battle of Kinburn (1855) Battle of Kostiuchnówka Battle of Narva (1944) Russian cruiser Bayan (1907) Bayan-class cruiser Bear Beautiful Heartache Dina Belenkaya Maxim Berezovsky Alexander Berkman Evgeni Berzin Białystok Black Sea raid Bohrium Bolesław I's intervention in the Kievan succession crisis Bolshoy Ice Dome Battle of Borodino Borodino-class battleship Russian battleship Borodino Botik of Peter the Great Boz (king) Leonid Brezhnev Sergey Brin Samuel J. Briskin Russian monitor Bronenosets Brown bear Bucha massacre Pavel Buchnevich Vladimir Bukovsky Pavel Bure Valeri Bure Campaign of Grodno Ilie Cătărău Chakh Akhriev Russian monitor Charodeika Charodeika-class monitor Alexei Cherepanov Soviet cruiser Chervona Ukraina Russian battleship Chesma (1886) Cho Ki-chon Mount Cleveland (Alaska) Conflict Intelligence Team Siege of Constantinople (860) Continuation War Crime and Punishment SS Czar Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev Declaration of Independence of Azerbaijan Nina Demme Dendy Denisovan Deportation of the Kalmyks Deportation of the Meskhetian Turks Elisabeth Dmitrieff Russian cruiser Dmitrii Donskoi Dnestr radar Yakov Dzhugashvili Francis Dzierozynski Russian monitor Edinorog Russian battleship Ekaterina II Ekaterina II-class battleship Elektron (satellite program) Eliza Stephens Siege of Erivan (1804) Eurasian Land Bridge 1960 European Nations' Cup final Evening Bells (painting) Evrovidenie Russian battleship Evstafi Evstafi-class battleship Expedition 1 The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks Feminism in Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup final First Partition of Poland Flerovium Fresh Wind. Volga Yuri Gagarin Russian battleship Gangut (1911) Gangut-class battleship Vera Gedroits Russian frigate General Admiral Russian battleship Georgii Pobedonosets German atrocities committed against Soviet prisoners of war Jacques Gershkovitch Abraham Goldfaden Golos Truda Mikhail Gorbachev Aleksandra Goryachkina Greater Germanic Reich Greek Volunteer Legion Russian cruiser Gromoboi Soviet frigate Grozyashchiy Ewelina Hańska Hero of the Russian Federation History of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1648) History of the Soviet Union (1964–1982) Ilyushin Il-6 Ilyushin Il-20 (1948) Ilyushin Il-30 Ilyushin Il-32 Ilyushin Il-40 Russian battleship Imperator Aleksandr III Imperator Aleksandr II-class battleship Russian battleship Imperator Aleksandr II Russian battleship Imperator Aleksandr III (1901) Russian battleship Imperator Nikolai I (1916) Russian battleship Imperator Nikolai I (1889) Russian battleship Imperator Pavel I Russian battleship Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya Imperatritsa Mariya-class battleship Russian battleship Imperatritsa Mariya In the Ploughed Field: Spring Russian battleship Ioann Zlatoust SS Iowan Operation Iskra Ivan Palmaw Ivan the Terrible (1945 film) Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan Paweł Jasienica Milla Jovovich Joy (dog) Typhoon Judy (1989) Soviet submarine K-222 Soviet cruiser Kaganovich Battle of Kalbajar Soviet cruiser Kalinin Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle Daria Kasatkina Garry Kasparov Eugene Kaspersky Battle of Kay Georgi Kinkladze Antonín Kinský (footballer, born 1975) Andrei Kirilenko (politician) Soviet cruiser Kirov Kirov-class cruiser Russian ironclad Kniaz Pozharsky Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov Abram Kofman Kola Peninsula Russian monitor Koldun Soviet cruiser Komintern Sakhalin Koreans Kosmos 1408 Alexei Kosygin Soviet cruiser Krasny Kavkaz Soviet cruiser Krasny Krym Russian ironclad Kreml Kronshtadt-class battlecruiser Kronstadt rebellion Krüper's nuthatch Battle of Kursk Svetlana Kuznetsova Lada (mythology) The Landlady (novella) Siege of Lankaran The Last Ringbearer Russian monitor Latnik Russian monitor Lava Lavochkin La-7 Lavochkin La-150 Lavochkin La-152 Lazar the Serb Legacy of Leonid Brezhnev Revolutionary activity of Vladimir Lenin Mykola Leontovych Lesopoval Yulia Lipnitskaya Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko Livermorium Livonian War Łódź insurrection Loveless (film) German cruiser Lützow (1939) Roman Lyashenko Lysenkoism Šćepan Mali Igor Mangushev Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia Maritime fur trade Soviet cruiser Marshal Voroshilov Soviet cruiser Maxim Gorky Brad McCrimmon Mediterranean campaign of 1798 Angelina Melnikova Vera Menchik Mendelevium Metro Exodus Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia Adam Mickiewicz Anastas Mikoyan Mikoyan-Gurevich DIS Mikoyan-Gurevich I-250 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-1 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 Tamara Milashkina Military history of the Aleutian Islands Milk War USS Milwaukee (CL-5) Ministry of Finance (Soviet Union) Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union) Ministry of Justice (Soviet Union) Mir EO-19 Soviet cruiser Molotov Vyacheslav Molotov Moscovium Mount Gareloi Nakhichevan uezd Mikayel Nalbandian Russian battleship Navarin Nazarov cyclization reaction Russian ironclad Ne Tron Menia Russian submarine Nerpa (K-152) Nobelium Northern War of 1655–1660 Russian monitor Novgorod Alexander Novikov Oleg the Wise Operation Ring Operation Winter Storm Orthodox Church in America Russian battleship Oryol Russian cruiser Pallada (1906) Sophia Parnok Partition Sejm Russian monitor Perun Russian ironclad Pervenets Peter I Island Petlyakov Pe-3 Petlyakov Pe-8 Russian ironclad Petr Veliky Russian battleship Petropavlovsk (1911) Russian ironclad Petropavlovsk Phintella parva Nikolai Podgorny Polikarpov DI-1 Polikarpov I-3 Polikarpov I-5 Polikarpov I-6 Polikarpov I-185 Polikarpov ITP Polikarpov TIS Polikarpov VIT-1 Polish October Polish–Russian War of 1792 Political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union Russian battleship Poltava (1911) Valeri Polyakov Stanisław August Poniatowski Poor Folk Nina Popova (official) Grigory Potemkin Prague Spring Prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine Progress M1-5 Sergei Prokofiev Ivan Provorov Bolesław Prus Punch-up in Piestany Purple heron Pussy Riot Ayn Rand Soviet frigate Razumnyy Romanian Volunteer Corps in Russia Russian cruiser Rossia Russian cruiser Rurik (1906) Russian monitor Rusalka Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 Russian Five Ivan the Russian Russian Protective Corps Russian Spaniel Russian Toy Russian citizenship law Russian language in Israel Russian military deception Russo-Georgian War Ruthenium Rutherfordium Elena Rybakina Rye Nikolai Ryzhkov Sack of Shamakhi Salyut 6 Samarium Russian submarine Sankt Peterburg Olga Sapphire Pavel Schilling Schism of the Russian Church Sea of Japan naming dispute Seaborgium Second Partition of Poland Russian battleship Sevastopol (1911) Coat of arms of Sevastopol Russian ironclad Sevastopol Roza Shanina Soviet destroyer Shaumyan Anna Shcherbakova Sergei Shirokov Siberian nuthatch Siege of Smolensk (1632–1633) Siege of Viborg (1710) Nina Simonovich-Efimova Sinhanch'on Russian battleship Sinop Russian battleship Sissoi Veliky Kateryna Skarzhynska Boris Skossyreff Russian monitor Smerch Smolensk War Boris Snetkov Solaris (1972 film) Solovetsky Stone (Saint Petersburg) Anna Sorokin Soviet ultimatum to Lithuania Soyuz TM-30 Sputnik 1 St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery Joseph Stalin Stalingrad-class battlecruiser Konstantin Stanislavski Stranger in Moscow Russian monitor Strelets The Student (short story) Sukhoi Su-9 (1946) Sukhoi Su-33 Sukhoi Su-35 Sukhoi Su-37 Sulumbek of Sagopshi Summit Series Mikhail Suslov Suwałki Gap Svalbard Kato Svanidze Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria Swimming at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay Szczerbiec T48 Gun Motor Carriage Tallinn offensive Olga Taratuta Tartu offensive Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia Tear down this wall! Valentina Tereshkova Term limits in Russia Russian monitor Tifon Nikolai Tikhonov Kristina Tkach Transport in the Soviet Union Russian battleship Tri Sviatitelia Russian battleship Tsesarevich Russian submarine Tula (K-114) Tupolev Tu-12 Tupolev Tu-75 Tupolev Tu-80 Tupolev Tu-85 Tupolev Tu-142 German submarine U-255 UEFA Euro 1972 final Russian monitor Uragan Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Nikolai Vavilov Vavilovian mimicry Russian monitor Veschun Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Vilna offensive Virgin of Vladimir Russian monitor Vitse-admiral Popov Russian cruiser Vladimir Monomakh Vladimirka (painting) Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 Volin Vorontsov Palace (Alupka) Soviet cruiser Voroshilov Lake Vostok Edgar de Wahl Wallachian Revolution of 1848 Walrus Wanted (2008 film) Background of the Winter War Władysław IV Vasa World War II Yahoo data breaches Yakovlev Yak-15 Yam fortress Gennady Yanayev Yaropolk Iziaslavich Yermolayev Yer-2 Józef Zajączek Zavodovski Island Pallas's cat Topics Related portals Tasks Привет and Welcome! The following is a list of things you can do: Cleanup: A cleanup listing for this project is available. See also the list by category, the tool's wiki page and the index of WikiProjects. Deletion sorting: Please see the collection of discussions on the deletion of articles related to Russia - compiled by WikiProject Deletion sorting Help out with articles placed in Category:Russia articles needing attention Notability: Articles with notability concerns, listed at WikiProject Notability Rate the Unassessed Russia articles in the Russia WikiProject. Requested articles: Russian Union of Journalists, Bureau for Russian Emigrants in Manchuria, Assel River, Todzha Depression, Municipal reform of Catherine II, Vennik, More... Requested images: Transaero head office, Domodedovo Airport Stubs: Building and structure stubs, Company stubs, Geography stubs, History stubs, Military stubs, People stubs, University stubs, More... Tag the talk pages of Russia-related articles with the {{WikiProject Russia}} banner. Russian editions of Wikimedia projects Associated Wikimedia The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: Commons Free media repository Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals Wikidata Free knowledge base Wikinews Free-content news Wikiquote Collection of quotations Wikisource Free-content library Wikiversity Free learning tools Wikivoyage Free travel guide Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus Wikiproject information Discover Wikipedia using portals List of all portals The arts portal Biography portal Current events portal Geography portal History portal Mathematics portal Science portal Society portal Technology portal Random portal WikiProject Portals