PBC0077: humor in history

PBC 77 approaches Moscow’s history with humor, particularly in response to the idea of the city’s grand destiny. One writer laughs at comparisons of the medieval capital and Rome, from whom it was to inherit the seat of Christianity (W331). Despite its delusions of grandeur, Moscow is still a benighted city of rude, hungry masses. Another poem humorously compares Moscow and Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance, in the Kremlin’s Dormition Cathedral (Uspenskii sobor), starting with the discordance of Orthodox choirs and ending with the idea that the Italianate cathedrals of the Kremlin bring to mind Aurora wearing a heavy Russian fur coat (W330).