"Russia's size, the diversity of its peoples and its unique geographical position straddling East and West have created a culture that is both inward and outward looking. Its history reflects the tension between very different approaches to what culture can and should be, and this tension shapes the vibrancy of its arts today. The highly successful first edition of Rzhevsky's Companion has been updated to include post-Soviet trends and new developments...

Eighteen half-hour tours of the Hermitage Museum collections, highlighting works from ancient China and Egypt and European art from Greece and Rome through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to the 20th century. Some material on St. Petersburg, Peter the Great, and the architecture of the museum building. Each tour is devoted to a place or period and examines two or three dozen works, with commentary. Guide includes index by artist. Still-frame viewing...

Concentrates on the time between the 1905 and 1917 revolutions.