Old Russia Marches On in Historic Smolensk

SMOLENSK, Western Russia -- If all the grandiose construction projects, flash designer shops and golden arches of McDonald's make it tough to see the soul of Old Russia in Moscow, take a trip to Smolensk.


About 300 kilometers west of Moscow, the historic city of about 500,000 people sits on the banks of the Dnieper River, its giant green and white Uspensky Sobor, or Cathedral of the Assumption, visible from every part of town.


"We have always had lots of foreigners visiting our town," says Galina Arkadyevna, 63, who sells ice cream on Bolshaya Sovietskaya Ulitsa in central Smolensk. "It is a nice city, typically Russian from top to bottom."


Smolensk has retained its old-fashioned charms. Babushki sell piping-hot pirozhki, or little hot pies, on the street corners, and local restaurants offer traditional Russian food at reasonable prices.


The city center consists mostly of buildings constructed in the beginning of the last century, typically three-stories, plastered and painted in various pastel shades.


"If you want to see what Russia of the 19th century looked like, come here, to the center of Smolensk. The buildings are the same and their color has not changed since the time when they were constructed," says a very old women walking across the street with her granddaughter.


"I have lived in Smolensk for all my life, but sometimes the fact that I see modern cars on the streets instead of horse carriages surprises me."


The city's main sight is the cathedral, the second largest in Russia after the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, newly rebuilt to replace the one demolished under Stalin. The Uspensky Sobor not only survived Soviet times but was one of the few in the country to remain open.


It was built in memory of those killed defending the town from Poles in the early 1600s, and completed only in 1740. Ten people worked for 12 years to complete the 10-meter-high gilded iconostasis alone.


"For all of Russia's history, the place the Uspensky stands now was a church place," says Father Feofan, a priest at the cathedral. The first wooden church was built in 1101 and stood for five centuries.


"But during the war [with the Poles] the old cathedral was destroyed by an explosion in its underground wine cellar," he said.


Just in time for the Polish siege, the city's fortress wall was completed in 1602 during the reign of Boris Godunov. Considered one of the finest architectural achievements of the time, the wall combined military purpose with artistic style. "Young people call it our China wall," says one old local man. "It is great. ... I cannot imagine who could take a fort like that by storm."


The lower part of the wall was made of massive stones, while the upper part was made of bricks, constructed to hide the archers defending the city. The crowning jewels of the wall were its 38 towers, each decorated differently inside.


The wall originally stretched for 6 kilometers. About half of it remains, as well as 15 of its towers.


Smolensk held out for 20 months before falling to the Poles, who ruled the city until it was returned to Russia at the end of the 17th century.


Twice more in the coming centuries Smolensk would try to fend off foreign invaders marching toward Moscow. In 1812 it was the scene of a two-day battle against Napoleon's armies, and in World War II the battle of Smolensk raged from July to September 1941.


Just as in years past, the streets of Smolensk are full of older women selling pirozhki from wooden trays. They call out "pirozhki, hot pirozhki" to tempt people walking past.


"I have been selling pirozhki all my life," says Galina Vasilyevna, 54. "My mother sold them, her mother sold them. All generations have done it. It is a tradition in our family. I have pirozhki with cabbage, with strawberry jam, with mushrooms, fish and rabbit."


She wakes up at 6 a.m. to put the pirozhki into her old-fashioned oven to bake. An hour later, she is selling them on the street for 2 rubles (9 cents) each. On a good day, she figures she makes a profit of about 30 rubles.


"I finish selling about 6 p.m. and right away I start making the dough for the next day. I finish my day at midnight because I have a big family to feed."


Besides the street sellers, Smolensk has numerous small restaurants and taverns where people enjoy Russian food and Minskoye beer produced in Belarus, which costs just 12 rubles.


The restaurant U Samovara, on Ulitsa Dzerzhinskogo, is furnished all in wood and has an old Russian feel, down to the peasant boots hanging as decoration on the wall.


A visiting Frenchman named Jacques says he was surprised how inexpensive genuine Russian food is once you get out of the capital.


"In Moscow where I work everything is very expensive and the atmosphere in restaurants is very artificial," he says. "Here I see what Russian cuisine is really like."


Where else would you find a whole baked sucking pig with a crackling crust for just 400 rubles [$18] or a whole huge sturgeon roasted on a spit for just 1,000?" he says.


Blinnaya, on Bolshaya Sovietskaya Ulitsa, is another place popular among the city's visitors.


"You can have here all kinds of blini that exist in Russian traditional meals," says Yelena, a waitress at Blinnaya. "But the most popular thing among the foreigners is blini with caviar. They like it with Russian vodka because it's cheap."


But even inexpensive restaurants are not affordable for most people living in Smolensk, who are paid less money than in Moscow. The average salary is about 600 rubles.


The cheapest way to feed yourself in Smolensk is to buy food at the central market at Kolkhoznaya Ploshchad, where prices are about 15 percent lower than in Moscow. Always crowded, the market provides the residents of Smolensk with milk, meat, pickles and mushrooms. Most of the food is brought in from Belarus.


Despite the tough economic times, Smolensk has a rich cultural life. The city has three theaters, the largest of which is the Drama Theater, where tickets cost just 10 rubles.


Young people, though, prefer to go clubbing and there are several night clubs in Smolensk. One of the biggest is So-nice, located on the central Smirnov Square, which plays techno and has no cover charge.


"I like coming here because it is a club for people my own age," says Yelena, 18. "Of course it's not a Moscow club where they have modern equipment, but we love coming here, even though it's not cheap. For the beer I paid 20 rubles." The club, which has a dance floor and a small bar, is the most expensive in town.


"Whatever you do - clubbing or walking at night - you are completely safe," says a police officer named Anatoly, patrolling near the club. "People are not aggressive here. The town is not very big and people very often know one another. If you did something wrong it would be known tomorrow."


There is one place in town whose clientele is mostly New Russian: a pizza joint called Domino, where about 20 people get together every night.


"They come here driving expensive cars and the jazz music they listen to is very noisy," says Maria Sergeyevna, who lives nearby. "It's for young people of style who have money."


How to Get There


Smolensk is a five-hour bus ride or six hours on the train from Moscow. One-way bus tickets cost 75 rubles, while the train is 150 rubles or 250 rubles, depending on the class. Buses and trains leave from the Belorussky Station.


Where to Stay


The Rossiya Hotel on Ulitsa Dzerzhinskogo, the most expensive in town, has luxury double rooms for 600 rubles, while its cheapest rooms are 150 rubles.


Tsentralnaya Hotel, on Lenin Square, has doubles for 480 rubles, but also rooms for as little as 50 rubles.