Good morning, dear friends! ☕️🙂

🎨 Tarussa: The City Saved Not by the Railway, but by Its Absence

Friends, Friday is the right time for stories about places where time passes a little differently. Today we are traveling to a small town on the high bank of the Oka, sometimes referred to as the “Russian Barbizon.” A place where economic isolation ultimately became a cultural advantage.

Welcome to Tarussa.

🛡️ An Ancient Town on the Oka

Tarussa was first mentioned in the chronicles in 1246—as the center of a small principality. Archaeological finds, however, show that a fortified settlement had already existed at this site considerably earlier.

The town lies on the Oka’s high left bank, near the mouth of the Tarussa River. In the 16th century, it formed part of the defensive line along the Oka, which was intended to protect the Moscow region against attacks from the south.

Tarussa never developed into a major commercial or industrial center, however. The nearby towns of Serpukhov and Aleksin were economically more important, and Tarussa remained in their shadow.

🚂 The Railway That Never Came

In the 19th century, something happened that decisively influenced Tarussa’s further development: the railway bypassed the town.

That was a disadvantage for the economy. The population grew slowly, and no large factories were built. In 1897, only 1,876 people lived here. At the same time, the old layout of the streets and houses changed considerably more slowly than in the rapidly growing neighboring towns.

Thus, over the long term, an economic disadvantage became an advantage: Tarussa preserved much of its small-town character.

🎨 The “Russian Barbizon”

From the end of the 19th century onward, the picturesque landscape increasingly attracted artists, writers, and other representatives of the cultural intelligentsia. They sought peace, nature, and a life away from the big city.

Tarussa eventually acquired the nickname “Russian Barbizon”—a reference to the French village of Barbizon, which had become a famous meeting place for landscape painters in the 19th century.

Names such as Marina Tsvetayeva, Viktor Borisov-Musatov, Nikolai Krymov, Vasily Polenov, Konstantin Paustovsky, and Bella Akhmadulina are associated with Tarussa.

Paustovsky later described Tarussa as a special refuge for people from the arts and sciences.

🏛️ The Struggle to Preserve the Old Cityscape

The story became particularly interesting in the second half of the 20th century. Artists, writers, architects, and committed residents worked to ensure that Tarussa would not lose its historic character to large-scale modern development.

Konstantin Paustovsky also publicly campaigned for the town in the early 1960s and drew attention to its problems.

The result is still visible today: the historic center has largely preserved its small-town scale. Instead of a cityscape dominated by high-rises, visitors find low-rise houses, old streets, churches, and plenty of greenery.

🏛️ What You Can See Today

Among the best-known buildings is the Peter and Paul Cathedral from the late 18th century, which defines the town center. The Church of the Resurrection is one of Tarussa’s oldest surviving religious buildings.

There is also the Paustovsky House Museum, the Tsvetayev Family Museum, and the Tarussa Art Gallery.

And, of course, the landscape itself remains an important part of the town: the high bank of the Oka, the old streets, and the views of the river—precisely the surroundings that have drawn artists and writers to Tarussa for more than a century.


Give a ❤️ if you liked it, and save the post!

📍 The coordinates of the place: available here

💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Netanyahu Causes a Scandal at the UN: “You Are Moral Cowards”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a scathing speech before the UN General Assembly on Thursday, September 24. He condemned what he described as a global anti-Jewish conspiracy and rejected criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza. The appearance took place against the backdrop of international isolation and a struggle for political survival in the upcoming elections in Israel, as reported by The Guardian.

When Netanyahu took the podium, dozens of delegates left the General Assembly hall at the UN headquarters. The chair had no choice but to bang the gavel and call the hall to order. Palestinian representatives who organized diplomatic missions explained their departure during Netanyahu’s speech by saying that they wanted to “send a clear signal to Netanyahu and his government” that no one was prepared to “support, condone, or be complicit in his genocide, his war crimes, and the illegal occupation,” which, as all peace-loving states and peoples demanded, had to end.

“If there are still other moral cowards sitting in this hall, I call on them to leave,” Netanyahu said before moving on to his prepared remarks.

He claimed that the world was facing an existential threat from Iran and suggested that just a few missiles from Tehran would be enough to destroy the UN. He also referred to the quiet support for Israel’s actions from the world’s heads of state and government, which could not be expressed publicly.

He called Turkish President Erdoğan a “tyrant” who “harbors Hamas terrorists.” He also condemned Mamdani as the “antisemitic mayor of New York” and declared that Israel’s war in Gaza was not genocide — “the opposite of genocide.”

By the end of Netanyahu’s speech, the New York police had arrested more than 100 demonstrators, including several locally elected officials.

💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Ukrainian women are receiving mass summonses from recruitment centers — for now, for data verification

The notices call on women liable for military service to report to the recruitment offices in order to verify their personal data. However, registration in the military register does not automatically mean mobilization: under the applicable regulations, women can be recruited for military service only on a voluntary basis.

The dispatch of the call-up notices is already being linked to possible preparations for expanding mobilization to women. Officially, however, there has so far been no talk of mandatory conscription. The issue has nevertheless already been discussed several times at various levels of the country’s leadership.


💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN