News and interesting facts, Russian study abroad experience

History of the Learn Russian in the EU logo: symbols of Russian and the European Union

What are the most popular symbols of Russia that are strongly associated with its language and culture?   They are definitely a bear, Matryoshka, vodka, balalaika, and golden domes. We probably could have used most of these symbols on our logo and made up something funny and amusing. However, we decided to choose a symbol that […]

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History of the Learn Russian in the EU logo: symbols of Russian and the European Union

News and interesting facts, Russian study abroad experience

History of the Learn Russian in the EU logo: symbols of Russian and the European Union

What are the most popular symbols of Russia that are strongly associated with its language and culture?   They are definitely a bear, Matryoshka, vodka, balalaika, and golden domes. We probably could have used most of these symbols on our logo and made up something funny and amusing. However, we decided to choose a symbol that directly associates Daugavpils with the Russian culture – domes of the Russian Orthodox cathedral

the Saints Boris and Gleb Cathedral

The domes you can see on our logo are the ones of the Saints Boris and Gleb Cathedral in Daugavpils. It is one of the most magnificent cathedrals in Latvia. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century, when Daugavpils (then Dvinsk or Dinaburg) was a part of the Russian Empire. The construction was supported with the money provided by the Russian Military Ministry. The cathedral was built in the Neo-Russian style. The Saints Boris and Gleb Cathedral is the largest Orthodox church in Latvia, it can hold up to 5 thousand people.

Why the cathedral is named after the Saints Boris and Gleb? During the Russian-Swedish war of 1656 – 1658, Dinaburg was besieged and captured by the Russian army ot the Tzar Alexey Mikhailovich (the father of Peter the Great) on the day of Saints Boris and Gleb and then renamed to Borisoglebsk.

the flag of the European Union

The stars on the blue background are borrowed from the flag of the European Union, which Latvia is part of. This should symbolize the symbiosis of European and Russian cultures in Daugavpils. Since the time the logo was created its design has not been changed dramatically. It just became more modern and neat.

The  Learn Russian in the EU logo reflects a real nature of the city of Daugavpils. Daugavpils is the largest Russian-speaking city in the European Union. It is a place where Russian and European cultures have been intertwined for centuries. It makes Daugavpils an excellent place for immersion into the Russian environment staying within the borders of the European Union.

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News and interesting facts

Why do people speak Russian in Daugavpils?

As it seems to us, Daugavpils is the best place to learn Russian now, because our city is situated in the EU and NATO, but at the same time 90% of the city’s population speak Russian at home.

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Research publications

ЭТЮД О ДВИНСКЕ

Etude on Dvinsk by F.Fedorov

The Baltic region is one of the most catastrophe prone regions of the 2nd millennium, especially its second part; it is the centre of attraction of ‘geopolitical’ interests of the European world. Probably the most tragic fate has befallen to the eastern part of the present Latvia and its multi-titled town of Dinaburg – Dvinsk – Daugavpils. During its 730 years long history, the town went through five rather autonomous periods of development, five different lives (German, Polish, Russian, Latvian, Soviet), and at the beginning of the 1990s it entered into the 6th period.

The history of Dinaburg – Dvinsk – Daugavpils is the history of five attempts by the town to begin its life anew; and this is determined not only by the fact that the town was four times burned down and had to start life from scratch, but first and foremost because each of these periods was characterized by a total change of ethnos and the socio-cultural field.

The present article deals with the cultural space of the town in one of the most efficient periods of its development – from the 1860s till World War I.

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