In 1979 the famous British writer Arthur C. Clarke published his novel "The Fountains of Paradise" where some scientists built a very peculiar elevator, which went up to 36 kilometers. What very few people know is that this elevator did not come out of this science fiction writer’s mind. It's actually the invention of a Russian scientist who was born 122 years before the publication of this novel.

Do you want to know what happened in the last week of May in Russian history? Today we will talk about the birth of one of the most spectacular cities in the world, also about Boris Yeltsin and the announcement of the Edict of Ems. We will remember events like the return to Russia of the Amber Room at Catherine Palace

This is a blog about Russian culture, history and language, so it is only natural that one of our missions is to encourage you to learn Russian. Today we are going to give you some reasons to stop what you are doing right now, so you start learning this wonderful language.

Elton John was the first Western singer who performed in the USSR. This happened in the month of May, as it was also in May when Russia changed its capital city, when Trotsky 's arrived to the October Revolution or the first visit of a US president to Moscow.

On May 9, 1945, after six years of fighting and seventy million people killed, World War II comes to an end. It was the bloodiest conflict in the history of mankind. Today it is a holiday in Russia, where you can hear the phrase "СДнёмПобеды !" (Happy Victory Day!).

The second week of May in Russian history brings us the first television broadcast and the victory of a computer against a human being. We will talk about the 5th Congress of the Russian Labour Party and the end of the blockade on West Berlin. It was also in the second week of May when one of the world's largest military pacts was signed and when a spacecraft reached Venus.

If you jump into a wrestling ring and they tell you that you have to face an opponent who is nicknamed "the Russian Bear", "The experiment" or "Alexander the Great", we recommend you to run away and not look back. Today we are going to learn about the man behind those nicknames. He is considered the best Greco-Roman wrestler in history.

Do you want to know what happened in the first week of May in Russian history? For example, we will read about the first advertising campaign for a Western company in the USSR, or the story of a football match during a war. It was also in the first week of May when the city of Smolensk received an important icon or when Russia officially changed its flag.

Think fast: Do you know a monument or place with the name of Lenin? Surely most of you thought of the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow’s Red Square. But you could have chosen from over 5.000 different streets, squares, statues or museums around the world that are named after him. Today we will know a bit more about those places.

What happened in the last week of April in Russian history? We will see a remarkable return of a priceless work of art or the renaming of the main entrance of the Moscow Kremlin. Also, it was in late April when the first Soviet compact car was built, and the first two jet aircrafts took off.