Monday 4 January 2016

Quiz Answer


Three people correctly identified the photo of this beautifully crafted object - they were my blogging friends Gina, Janneke and Helen.  The resounding endorsement of approval from any audience at a ballet would surely applaud you all with calls of "bravo, bravo"
The clues were a Russian Orthodox Church, a Russian Orthodox Cross, purple pansy pottery cemetery memorials, 1996 was the year that the object was completed
"As long as my ballets are danced, I will live"

In accordance with his last wishes, Rudolf Nureyev, who died in Paris on 6th January 1993, was buried in the Russian cemetery at Sainte-Geneviève-des-bois.
I am pleased that in 1982 I had the opportunity to see Nureyev dance in his own highly acclaimed production of Romeo and Juliet at the London Coliseum.  I can picture him now as Romeo dancing to Prokofiev's haunting music. The striking and memorable costumes worn by the London Festival Ballet chorus along with the stage set were all designed by Ezio Frigerio who was also the designer of Rudolf's resplendent tomb. This dazzling mosaic memorial resembles one of the oriental kilim rugs that Nureyev collected and loved so much.


 The Russian cemetery at Sainte-Geneviève-des-bois, near Paris, is far larger than I had imagined it would be. It houses many interesting and notable memorials and tombs of White Russians who arrived in Paris following the Bolshevik Revolution. I shall return to the cemetery again in another post.

46 comments:

  1. Amazing and incredible. A wonderful piece of work and a wonderful memorial! I was searching for Russian Orthodox things in Turkey which is probably why I didn't find anything! Thank you so much for sharing this, I have learned something new and will be off to find out more now that I know what I am looking for. So glad that you got to see him dance and to see his memorial/grave. xx

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    1. The blue skies and sunshine in Paris was probably the reason why you went searching in Turkey. How can it be that just an hour away over the Channel we had warm sunshine and no rain for a whole week whilst the UK was being bombarded with rain and flooding? It's a mystery to me.
      Glad you enjoyed learning about this incredible tomb.

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  2. Dear Rosemary, We saw Nureyev dance in Düsseldorf many years ago. I think that we all remember the magic partnership of Fonteyn and Nureyev.

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    1. Dear Gina - I saw Fonteyn dance too, it was amazing the way that she continue to dance into her late 50's

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  3. I was blessed with a husband who not only loved Ballet but knew dancers, took me to my first ballet .. we saw the ballet in Paris and in London and in Argentina as well as the NYC Ballet and the American ( my children saw the Nutcracker for Christmas each year ) and I got to enjoy seeing Baryshnikov and all the greats .. I count myself as one of the very Lucky ones.... Watching Carla Fracci do 32 fouettes ... Lucky me :)

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    1. I too think that I have been fortunate to have seen so many of the great dancers. Carlos Acosta was thrilling to watch, and I saw Darcy Bushell dance in the Nutcracker on New Year's Day 2000.

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    2. The Nutcracker was the first ballet I saw , my husband took me our first Christmas together .. then we took our children when they were old enough to sit still that long. When my husband asked our little boy how he liked it, he said he liked the music the best lol

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    3. The Nutcracker is a good introduction to ballet for children, and it makes for a bit of magic on stage at Christmas time. It became a Christmas tradition for us too to
      take our children.

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  4. Well I'm blown away - and even with your extra heads up yesterday, and much searching until late last night, I still didn't get it Rosemary! How beautiful, and to think that all the times I've been in Paris I didn't know about his beautiful gravesite!
    Congratulations to Gina, Janneke and Helen., smart ladies all.
    I learned a lot of history during my search - from the Russia Republic to Estonia to Slovakia to Norway - never even considered Paris though! I'm surprised though that not a single online search for 'great mosaics of the world' not a single one showed this exquisite piece of art.
    Great fun and many thanks for your generous words regarding my blog dear friend.
    Hugs - Mary

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    1. I am sorry that you spent so much time looking Mary but it sounds as if you came out of the search with a far richer understanding of history. Strangely last night a new serial of War and Peace began which linked into so much that I have also learnt since visiting this Russian cemetery.
      I tried googling it myself from the clues I gave and the tomb did come up i.e I put in Russian Orthodox church, cemetery, and mossaic, and up it came up.
      It is a wonderful piece of work.
      Thanks for trying so hard Mary, next time you are in Paris you must go and see it for yourself.

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    2. My husband used to tease me about visiting graveyards wherever I went. I love Pere LaChaise .. reading those tomb stones was like going through the best museum ..

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    3. We must both be sitting at our computers at the same time - I did a post on Père LaChaise here if you are interested in looking. It was a haunt of mine too.
      http://wherefivevalleysmeet.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/pere-lachaise-cemetery-paris.html

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  5. Wow, that is AMAZING. I'd love to see it in person someday.

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    1. Hope you do have the opportunity to Debra

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  6. This is so wonderful and beautiful to cover a grave. I had never known it would be this.Thanks for sharing this.

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    1. I am pleased that you enjoyed finding out about this beautiful mosaic tomb

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  7. Hello Rosemary, Your clues were too out of my ordinary range for me to connect, but I should have realized that the fixed drapery had a funereal vibe to it, akin to those draped urns you often see in cemeteries. You were lucky to see such a great artist in performance.
    --Jim

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    1. Hello Jim - I went to the ballet with a group of friends and we were all excited at the prospect of seeing Nureyev dance. Now that he is no longer here I realise how fortunate I was to have seen him and have those memories.

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  8. It's beautiful and lucky you to have seen him dance!

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    1. It is beautiful and does not disappoint at all. We were both excited when we finally spotted it.

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  9. Happy New Year, Rosemary! What an honor to have seen him danced - lucky you! Rudolf Nureyev left us way too early. And I didn't know he was buried so near Paris. The mosaic piece is stunning. Cheers

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    1. In retrospect I now realise how fortunate I was Loi - Happy New Year to you too.

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  10. We attended a Russian Ballet show with leading dancers from Bolshoi and I was just thinking of him, one the most charismatic stars who died so young. How fortunate you are to have seen him dance Rosemary!
    Happy New Year!
    Olympia

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    1. Dear Olympia - isn't it strange the way one person happens upon a similar subject to yourself at the same time - it has happened to me time and time again. New Year greetings to you and your family.

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  11. It must have been wonderful to see him dance.The mosaic memorial is so colourful and unusual! I hope you had a good time in France with your family. Sarah x

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    1. Dear Sarah - the mosaic did not disappoint at all, the weather was perfect with the sun shinning on the gold. I am so pleased that I had the opportunity to see Rudolf Nureyev dancing Romeo accompanied by my favourite piece of music.

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  12. Hello Rosemary, A beautiful post. I do not do well with quiz's so thrilled that I knew this.
    Wishing you a great new week and new year.

    Helen xx

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    1. It was lovely to hear from you Helen and well done. I assume that you have seen it - once seen never forgotten? A Happy New 2016 to you and yours.

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  13. That is a wonderful story Rosemary. I did get to see Margot Fonteyn dance here in Launceston some years ago. Both were excellent dancers.

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    1. I saw Margot Fonteyn too, but she was nearing the end of her dancing years and no longer a prima ballerina.

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  14. Well, I never would have guessed it was a grave decoration. How absolutely spectacular.

    Ms Soup

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    1. It is totally unique and spectactular - glad that you enjoyed finding out about it

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  15. Wow, great - even while I was at a loss I learned something, thank you!

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  16. Thank you Rosemary, would never have guessed this, always learning something new here, love it !

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  17. Hi Rosemary, I've just been catching up on some of your recent posts. You never cease to amaze me with the beauty of your photography and the effort you go to in describing the background to them. So many interesting stories and snippets. What exotic places you have been visiting of late.
    I never saw Rudolph Nureyev dance but I did deliver a pot of hot water to his hotel room when I was waitressing in Oxford in the 80s.
    Wishing you a fabulous 2016!

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    1. Thanks for your kind comment Wendy - I hope that you managed to see him when you delivered the pot of hot water to his hotel room.

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    2. Yes, he was there in the room, but he must have been having a bad day as he didn't say a word to me. It was interesting to see him in person nonetheless!

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  18. Wonderful photos and the mosaic is really beautiful.
    Hugs

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  19. What a beautiful and astonishing work of mosaic art, Rosemary. I have never heard about it before, and would love to see it in reality. I too saw Nureyev dance, on two occasions whenhe came to Australia. He was so incredible, and had that magical partnership with Dame Margot Fonteyn.

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    1. The tomb lived up to my expectations Patricia - we are both fortunate to have those memories of him.

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  20. What an extraordinary and beautiful tomb. I would never have guessed that is what your photos portrayed.

    I'm very sorry for my long absence, for some unknown reason Blogger dropped me from your list of followers and your blog also fell off my Feedly feed. It's only when I thought I hadn't seen a post from you for a long time and came to visit that I realised what must have happened. Now to catch up....

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    1. It is so lovely to hear from you Perpetua - strangely in the last couple of weeks I have lost about 15 people from Google Friend Connect but I understand that the same thing has happened to others. Does Google want us all to transfer to a Google+ account? I for one do not see the need to.
      Nureyev's tomb is quite extraordinary and beautifully made. Even close up it is difficult to believe that it is not made out of fabric until you touch it.

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