1. The Cathedral was ordered by Ivan the Terrible to mark the 1525 capture of Kazan from Mongol forces.
2. Nothing is known about the builders, Barma and Postnik Yakovlev, except their names and the fact that Ivan had them blinded so that they could not create anything to compare.
3. In fact, when built, the Cathedral was all red to match the red-brick Kremlin.
4. In 1860 during rebuilding, the Cathedral was painted with a more complex and integrated design, and has remained unchanged since.
5. St. Basil's Cathedral was only saved thanks to the courage of Russian people.
6. The Cathedral is now a museum.
7. In St. Basil's you can walk along the narrow, winding gallery, covered in beautiful stained glass windows.
IV. Match the words and their definitions.
1) legend; 2)folklore; 3) prison; 4) cathedral; 5) design.
a) the traditional beliefs and stories of a people and the study of these;
b) any wonderful story coming down from the past, but not verifiable by historical record;
c) a plan or scheme formed in the mind of something to be done; preliminary conception; idea intended to be expressed in a visible form or carried into action;
d) a place in which a person is kept in captivity, a building to which persons are legally committed while awaiting trial or for punishment;
e) the principal church in a diocese, so called because in it the bishop has his official chair or throne.
V. Translate into English:
VI. Translate into Russian:
genuine history
dubious legend
helmeted dome
onion dome
winding gallery
VII. What happened in these years?
1552, 1560, 1860.
VIII. What are these names connected with in the text:
Ivan the Terrible, Basil the Blessed, Postnik Yakovlev, Pyotr Baranovsky.
IX. Work in pairs. Ask 10 questions to the text.
X. Retell the text.
The Palace of Versailles
Louis XIV's magnificent chateau evolved in three major phases. The Sun King first intended Versailles to be a retreat from the responsibilities of government. Between 1661 and 1668, the architect Louis Le Vau (16121670), the gardener André Le Nôtre (16131700), and the painter Charles Le Brun (16191690) collaborated to create a palace suitable for the Sun King to entertain favoured courtiers. When Louis XIV decided in 1668 that Versailles was to become a royal residence, able to house his full court for months at a time, he ordered extensive additions. Le Vau drew up plans to frame the Old Chateau in a terraced "envelope" of white stone. The envelope included state apartments for the king and queen, the salons of which were each dedicated to one of the seven planets known to orbit the Sun. The king's own bedchamber, echoing the theme articulated in the chateau's gardens, depicted scenes from the myth of Apollo.
|
|
|
Work on the chateau and its gardens was by no means complete when Louis XIV permanently installed his family, court, and government at Versailles in 1682. Jules Hardouin-Mansart (16461708) oversaw the final enlargement of the palace and adjacent buildings that would eventually house five thousand courtiers and as many government officials, guards, and servants. It was Mansart who designed the legendary Hall of Mirrors. Running almost the entire length of the chateau's western facade, the gallery was sheathed in mirrors, furnished with solid silver chandeliers, and crowned by ceiling panels by Le Brun that depicted pivotal episodes from the Sun King's life. Meanwhile, Le Nôtre continued to expand the gardens, adding grottoes, ornamental lakes, and a Grand Canal so vast the navy could perform maneuvers on it. Construction on Louis XIV's palace ceased only with the completion of the Chapel Royal in 1710.
The exterior of Versailles changed little over the course of the eighteenth century. Louis XV (ruled 17151774) came to loathe his great-grandfather's formal palace and added little to it. Although he commissioned the Royal Opera designed by Jacques-Ange Gabriel (16981782), he was far more interested in increasing the privacy of his own apartments. Louis XVI (ruled 17741792), the last of the Bourbons to rule at Versailles, also concentrated on interior renovations. His queen, Marie Antoinette (17551793), concerned herself with the Petit Trianon, a bucolic palace on the grounds of Versailles. After a revolutionary crowd triumphantly carried the ill-fated king and his family back to Paris in 1789, the chateau fell empty. The history of Versailles as the residence of the French kings officially ended in 1837, when Louis-Philippe declared that the royal chateau was to become a museum celebrating "all of France's glories."
Active vocabulary:
chateau - ,
retreat -
courtier -
bedchamber -
by no means -
to oversee -
adjacent building -
to sheath - ,
chandelier - ,
pivotal -
to loathe - ,
EXERCISES
I. Answer the following questions:
1. How many major phases did Versailles evolve in?
2. Who worked on the palace in the first phase?
3. What was the Old Chateau framed in?
4. What were the salons dedicated to?
5. What was depicted in the king's bedchamber?
6. Who oversaw the final enlargement of the palace?
7. How did the Hall of Mirrors look inside?
8. What did Louis XV commission to Jacques-Ange Gabriel?
9. What did Louis-Philippe declare?
II. Find in the text the synonyms for the following words:
stage, artist, to comprise, to supervise, whole, to stop, renewal.
III. Fill the gaps in the following sentences:
1. The Sun King first... Versailles to be a... from the responsibilities of...
2.... and... in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries... the cathedral even more.
3. When Louis XIV... in 1668 that Versailles was to become a royal... he ordered... additions.
4. The king's own..., echoing the theme... in the chateau's gardens, depicted... from the myth of Apollo.
5. Work on the chateau and its... was by no means complete when Louis XIV... installed his family,..., and government at Versailles in 1682.
|
|
|
6. Running almost the entire length of the chateau's western..., the gallery was sheathed in..., furnished with solid silver..., and crowned by ceiling panels by Le Brun.
7. Marie Antoinette,... herself with the Petit Trianon, a... palace on the... of Versailles.
8. After a... crowd triumphantly carried the... king and his family back to Paris in 1789, the chateau fell...
