Arkhangelskoye

Arkhangelskoye is a small town a short distance west of Moscow. It's best known for its artists' village, nestled deep in a spectacular birch forest not far from an Energia rocket factory. When we visited, the village was closed to visitors, which meant we could walk around but couldn't do more than peer into the galleries.

The buildings in the artists' village were designed in the French style by the architect Chevalier de Huerne.

From a vantage point at the edge of the artists' village, we gazed out over a large clearing in the forest, in which cows could be seen to graze.

A path leads away from the village chapel (which was preparing for a wedding when we visited) down into the forest, past a small playhouse for children modeled after Baba Yaga's hut from Russian mythology. If you're not familiar with the name, building Baba Yaga's hut for kids is a bit like building them a gingerbread house with a toy oven.

The path crosses a streambed, which we followed down to the shore of a lake opposite a small farm. There was a loud group of people having a party further down the shore; we surmised that they were probably getting the groom drunk before the wedding that afternoon.

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