Question

1. A really international place. 2. Country’s brave defenders.
3. Governesses of rich children.
4. Textile business links.
5. A nice-sounding building.
6. The initial steps of commerce.

A. Moscow has always been a multicultural city. If we look back at its history, we will see that there were several foreign communities living in Moscow on a permanent basis. We all know about German people inhabiting the banks of the Yauza river, where little Peter, the future tsar of all Russia, ran around, made friends and got his first ideas of learning about ships and fleets. But what do we know about the British community of Moscow? Did it even exist?

B. The first ties between Russia and Britain were formed in the middle of the 16th century in the time of Ivan the Terrible. It was then that some wealthy British merchants founded the Muscovy Company which held a monopoly on trade between Britain and Russia until 1698. The building of its Moscow headquarters was granted to the company by the tsar in 1556 and can be still visited at 4, Varvarka Street, known to us now as The Old English Court.

С. Beginning from the time of Peter the Great, several talented British military men moved to Russia. Many of them served as army generals and navy admirals, defending Russian borders in different wars and battles. Among the most famous ones were Field Marshall James Bruce, Field Marshall Barclay de Tolly and Admiral Thomas Mackenzie, all of them of Scottish origin.

D. In the 18th century, British industrialists made themselves known in Russia. One of the most outstanding figures was Robert McGill, who lived in Moscow and served as an intermediary between Lancashire mill engineers and the Russian cotton industry, and built over 180 mills (cotton factories) in Russia. Robert McGill had a house in Spiridonovka Street and together with his wife Jane was a prominent member of the British community in Moscow.

E. If you talk to Moscow concert musicians who were active between the 1970s and the 1990s, they will tell you of the fantastic acoustics of the “Melodiya” recording studio at 8, Voznesensky Lane, which they lovingly called ‘kirche’, mistakenly thinking it was a German church. This building, designed in the English neo-gothic architectural style, was in fact built in 1885 by Robert McGilland is St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, which was used as a recording studio in Soviet times.

Answer 1

А - 1. A really international place.

В - 6. The initial steps of commerce.

С- 2. Country’s brave defenders.

D - 4. Textile business links.

E - 5. A nice-sounding building