Маршрут для иностранных туристов по Смоленску

МУНИЦИПАЛЬНОЕ БЮДЖЕТНОЕ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ГИМНАЗИЯ №4 города СМОЛЕНСКА

«Маршрут для иностранных туристов по Смоленску»

(учебное исследование)

Выполнила работу: Колядина Эльвира Сергеевна,

                      обучающаяся 9 класса

                                                    Руководитель:Галко Алина Олеговна,      

                                                           учитель английского языка

Смоленск

2018

Contents

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………….3
2. The main part…………………………………………………………………..5

1. Tourism industry………………………………………………………….5
2.   Plan of the town ……………………………………………………….…6
3. The most popular sights in Smolensk …………………………………….7

3. Research work……………………………………………………………..….11
4. Conclusion………………………………………………………………….....16

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………….....

2

Introduction

Smolensk is my home town. I was born there and I love my place. Recently I have noticed that there aren’t many tourists in Smolensk. I find it odd because Smolensk has a really incredible and rich history! In my opinion, the main problem of shortage of tourists is lack of curious tours about Smolensk. If we offer a diverting and informative tour in Smolensk, tourists will come to look at this captivating town.We can show our place to many people from different countries. This is what makes the topic of my research so relevant and up-to-date.

The aim of my research work is to make an amazing route in Smolensk for foreigners.

To cope with the task I am going to find out what is the most attractive for foreign tourists and find it in Smolensk. After that I want to make and arrange abrochure about a trip in Smolenskfor tourists in English.

The objects of my research work are foreign travelers (I can use a special mobile app “Speaky” to connect with them) and my town, of course.

The subject of my work is an interesting trip for foreigners in Smolensk.

My purpose is to make my place more colorful and famous among people from different countries.

In order to achieve this purpose I must solve several problems.

• Find foreign travelers on Facebook
• Ask them about the most interesting places they have ever seen
• Find these points in my home town
• Make fascinating photos of Smolensk for the tour brochure
• Create a trip for foreigners in Smolensk
• Make a brochure about this trip
• Work out the advertising on the Internet

The hypothesis of my research work is: if I make a wonderful trip around Smolensk for foreigners, our city will become popular among different countries and tourists (especially from Europe). Tourists would come to our native town to know something new and interesting, because Smolensk has a really rich history. Furthermore, due to the growing number of tourists we can raise the infrastructure of the town. What is more, Smolensk can give more workplaces for people who live there, for example: tourist guides, hotel administrators, drivers, animators and others.

This activity is enthralling for me. I tried to make this research work useful and informative for you. It was very exciting to communicate with real people from other countries and discuss with them cultures, traditions and festivals of different countries and to describe my native town to them. When I communicated with them, I agitated them for a trip to Smolensk. The most difficult thing for me was to formalize the information and my thoughts in the research work.

I have chosen this topic because I consider it quite useful for my town.I think that this topic is very relevant today, because now tourism is very popular and Smolensk has all chances to be one of the most famous towns in Europe.    

The tourism industry

The travel and tourism industry is one of the biggest and fastest growing industries in the world. This unit will give you an introduction to the industry, providing a sound basis for further study.

What is tourism? Defining tourism is not a simple matter, as it is a complex industry made up of many different businesses, the common theme being that they provide products and services to tourists.

Motivating factors

Why do people travel? One point is that there are two basic reasons for traveling: ‘wanderlust’ and ‘sunlust’. Many young people have the desire to travel and see other cultures and experience how other people live; this is wanderlust. Other people want to go somewhere warm and escape from our climate for a while; this is sunlust. There are some other motivating factors. These include:

• Relaxation
• Escape from a boring job/family/home
• Socialisation with friends – e.g. hen/stag parties
• Rest
• Prestige.

 These motivating factors have not really changed over the years. However, the ways we are able to indulge them have changed, as enabling factors have changed.

Enabling factors

You might have motivators for wanting to go on holiday, but there are reasons why you cannot go. The obvious ones are time and money. If you can’t afford it you can’t go. Many tourists find staying in a home environment charming and an opportunity to experience local culture.

Accommodation

There are many different types of accommodation available in the travel and tourism industry. They include:

· Hotels

· Guest accommodation

· Holiday parks and campsites

· Self-catering

· Youth hostels

· Campus.

As you can see, tourism is one of the most important parts in our life. Nowadays, tourism became very popular and indispensable to develop it in our town and in the whole country.

Plan of the town

Now I would like to proceed and come closer to the object of my research work. Smolensk is one of the hundreds of towns of our great country, but it certainly is one of the most important in the history of  Russia. It’s not only a hero-town, but it has various cultural and historical attractions.  

The town is divided into three large parts. With a map of Smolensk on areas you can find the following urban areas: Promishlenny district, Leninsky district and Zadneprovsky district.

Between Promishlenny and Leninsky district is Sovetsky street. It is one of the most important roads of the town.

In Leninsky district there is Dzerzhinsky street. It is an important transportation thoroughfare, which connects the Dnieper and the Pobedy square.

In the Northern part of the city on the Bank of the river is Zadneprovsky district. It is considered the longest of all areas. Within it is an important railway junction, a bus station and the airport military value. On the territory there are the tram and bus routes. The Moscow highway refers to major highways, street Avtozavodskaya, Lavochkin and Frunze.

The map of  Smolensk with streets in good quality will help you to find the Promishlenny district. On its territory there are more than 150 streets. Among the important highways may be noted Gagarin Avenue, Babushkin street and Kirov street. The district places 180 hectares of green areas. There are three large parks.

Using routes of Smolensk on the map, you can start a tour with the Lopatinsky garden. It is a green area with splendid green areas, beautiful alleys of the historical monuments.

From the Park you can get to the Lenin square. Nearby is a beautiful Park, the entrance to which is a major attraction –Gromovaya tower of the Smolensk Fortress Wall.

Walking the streets of the city, you can find the following attractions:

On Parkoviy street there is the Church of Archangel Michael, which is an ancient monument of old Russian architecture.

The oldest Museum complex of the city is the Museum – reserve. It is possible to find it on Communisticheskiy street. It was created in the 19th century. The Museum has collected more than 600 exhibits.

On Studencheskiy street you can visit the unusual Museum of Russian vodka.

The oldest building structure of the city is the city fortress, which is located on Lenin street.

Interesting views can be seen in various theaters of the town: youth theatre, drama educators, drama theatre named after Griboyedov and chamber theatre.

Smolensk is an ancient city with a rich cultural heritage. Guests will enjoy the historic part with a great Park area and a variety of cultural and historical objects.

The most popular sights in Smolensk

Now I see it appropriate to talk about the main attractions of  Smolensk.

Uspenskiy cathedral

Especially serious was the damage inflicted during the great Siege of Smolensk (1609–11).

According to the official legend, the remaining defenders of the city locked themselves in the temple and then set fire to the gunpowder in the ammunition depot in the temple’s basement on June 3, 1611. The explosion that followed caused the roof of the temple to collapse, killing all the people inside, who preferred death to being taken prisoner by the Poles. It is unclear, though, what happened in reality except that the ammunition depot in the basement really did explode. It was not unusual in medieval Russia, when a city was overrun for civilians to seek asylum in temples, so it is likely it was not defenders but civilianswho died in that explosion. What caused the explosion will probably forever remain an open question: it could have been a Masada-style suicide but it might well have been an accident.

The old cathedral survived the explosion, however. On September 9, 1627, the bishop Lew Rzewuski pleaded Lew Sapieha to preclude "the 500-year-old church" from being converted into a Roman Catholic temple, which would violate the terms of Smolensk's surrender to the Poles in 1611. In a 1636 engraving, the cathedral is represented as being covered with a temporary wooden roof.

New Cathedral

The current 6-pillared 5-domed edifice was constructed over a period of almost 100 years due to flaws in the original design and its implementation – at one point one of the walls collapsed – but it was eventually completed in 1772. The building’s baroque design is impressive, especially looking up from the base of a wall. Viewed from certain locations it often looks as if it is suspended in the air because it is situated on a hill surrounded by trees, concealing the base of the building.

The Dnieper river embankment

The design area located on the river bank of Dnieper within historical center of Smolensk near architectural work of art Fortress Wall ensemble and Saint George Church, in this case delicate approach required to embankment design to match historical atmosphere. New embankment became the symbol of linking between past and future of Smolensk with priority of preservation of old town style as an ancient Russian masterpiece.

Project decisions conceived restoration and preservation of existing structures and buildings, reinforcement of river bank soil, waists removal and landscaping of premises.

The length of the embankment is 900 m.

The complex of the reconstruction includes:

• three esplanade (promenade) levels
• the architectural ensemble with a monument to Abraham and Mercurius, patron saints of Smolensk
• park area
• pedestrian and utility bridge of the suspended structure

Archeological complex Gnezdovo: history, geography and researchers

The Gnezdovo archaeological complex is the largest archeological site from the Viking Age and the period of the formation of the Old Russian state. The complex is located on the both banks of the Dnieper River at 13 km west from Smolensk. History of the Gnezdovo settlement dates back to more than 1000 years. On the territory of Russia there are few such “centenarians” where the life continues since time immemorial to this day now flowering rapidly now fading.

The Gnezdovo archeological complex is protected as a heritage site of a nationwide scale by the Resolution. No1327 of the Russian Council of Ministers from 30.08.1960 and the Decision of the Smolensk Executive Committee.

Smolensk fortification

The amazing scenery of the town of Smolensk that is spilled over the picturesque hills of the Dnieper Valley can be seen from the train windows on the railway between Moscow and the European capitals. Over the city stands the Assumption Cathedral, surrounded by medieval walls and towers of the Smolensk fortress. Both structures are not only architectural, but also historical monuments-symbols of the heroic 20-month defense of the city in 1609-1611 against the 30 thousand-strong army of the Polish King Sigismund III. This defense played an important role on the future liberation of Moscow from the Polish conquerors in 1612 and in the formation of the Russian state.

The region is rich in historical and cultural monuments, there are a lot of natural and mysterious attractions. Smolensk is a place which worth to be visited by foreign tourists.

Research work

As object of my investigation, I chose Smolensk. I decided to know more about my own place, tried to find out curious facts about this mystery town. I also created a few legends to make colorful excursions for foreigners. Moreover, I made beautiful photos by myself and found incredible photos of Smolensk on the Internet to make a brochure. Finally, I made entire description of my town.

Smolensk is a historical, small town. When you walk on our streets, you can see incredible views of different historical buildings. Our Smolensk's Fortress wall is very beautiful and makes our town more fascinating. Our Uspensky cathedral is one of the most beautiful cathedrals in all Europe. My town has a very rich history: in Gnezdovo we have a unique archeological complex in all Western Europe. When you walk here, you can imagine how brave and strong Russian heroes fought with enemies to save our own place. There is an atmosphere of medieval Europe, but as soon as it is in Gnezdovo, it is no less mysterious and due to that even more interesting. Smolensk’s people perceive the city as not a promising place of residence without going deep into history and the fact that one can be proud not only of Smolensk, but of all Russia. We have a lot to show to foreigners.

In my research work I want to show how beautiful my town is and how many reasons we have to make our city one of the most amazing and mysterious places in the world. I find my research work very useful and want to realize it.

One very important point is the language barrier. In Russia, especially in Smolensk, not a lot of people can understand foreigners. I find this problem very serious, because not a lot of foreigners know Russian language. It will be a big problem to make our town an international attraction. We have not got guides who can speak English and now we can ask volunteers from students and pupils from high-school who can tell foreigners about their own place in English about free guide services. As I mentioned above, we have a really rich history and exciting views, but it is not bad if we make up incredible and mysterious legends about our town or find them in the real history of Smolensk.

Another important point is advertising of the tour especially on the international web sites. We also need a colorful brochure in English. And of course to make our city one of the most visited places, we need volunteers who can help foreigners with translating problems, services problems and to make some shows and concerts as well. In my opinion, it will be amazing both for volunteers to take part in such an interesting program and for tourists too.

I asked foreigners from different countries about the most attractive kinds of excursions for them. I gave them a few possible answer variants:

• Legends
• Historical facts
• Something ancient
• Mystery
• Modern
• New technologies
• Science
• Visit a place where famous people lived

The results of my interview you can see in application №1.

Legends of Smolensk

I asked a tour guide, about Smolensk’s legends which can attract foreigners.

Smolensk is one of the most ancient towns of Russia. For the first time it was mentioned in chronicles in 863 and it was called a large city. Today Smolensk is1154 years, but actually it is much older. Here one can find the most ancient monuments of architecture and history. A lot of myths and legends have arisen here for such a long period of time. Therefore it will be interesting to not only Russians, but also foreigners to visit this town.

The landmark of the town is Uspensky Cathedral. There you can find the replica of an ancient icon of the Mother of God written by the apostle Luka. Also here Mercury of Smolensk's sandals are kept. The hagiography tells about Mercury seeing the crying Mother of God in one of his dreams in 1238. After that he had gone to protect Smolensk from Mongol Tatars. The fight was won and Smolensk wasn't occupied. Sacred Mercury died, but, according to the legend, he himself came back to the town, carrying his head under the arm.

There are a lot of legends connected with another famous landmark of Smolensk – The Smolensk Fortress Wall. One of them says that there is a skull of Mercury’s’ horse right inside the wall. Thus a terrible curse is put on the wall and inevitable death awaits everyone who destroys it. The legend says that people can hear a horse’s neighing from the wall at hard times. It is said to warn the citizens of danger.

The eastern part of the wall was under construction in autumn, but, unfortunately, the brickwork began to crack and the builders couldn’t finish the work in time. Then a witch advised to immure into the wall the first person passing by. She explained that the soul of this person would guard the wall. The first passer-by turned out to be a young girl, a daughter of one of the builders, who brought lunch to her father. The witches’ advice was followed and the wall was built in time.

Over the time the towers of the Fortress wall got their names. One of them is called Jolly (Veselukha). There was a belief that witches gather for a sabbath there and a terrible ring of chains together with loud laughter frightened the citizens.

Subsequently it has become clear that these were false-coiners living in the tower. They frightened the inhabitants of the town in order no one found them there.

There is a legend which still haunts treasure-hunters. In the 17th century the Polish prince Sigismund III, leaving Smolensk region, hid the stolen gold near the Dnieper. Numerous underpasses are now filled up or immured but in chronicles there was a description of the place where he left the treasure. Up to this day treasure-hunters reread the chronicle hoping to find Sigismund’s gold. Also there is a legend that the gold carriage of Napoleon is hidden in the same tunnels under the Dnieper, Hitler himself is said to have made attempts to find it. Who knows, maybe one of us is the lucky one?

I decided to find English speaking tour guides on different websites, unfortunately, there was just one tour guide. It is one of the main problems in our town. Where can foreigners find English speaking guides? I offer to ask pupils or students who can speak English to have an excursion with foreigners. It will be interestingboth for visitors and practice for pupils and students.

I made two programs about Smolensk, they are called

• Smolensk - town of legends
• Archeological complex Gnezdovo

Now I would like you to get acquainted with them

Smolensk – town of legends

General city tour will let you know the history of ancient Russian town and see the historical excursion of the city center. Within 3 hours of personal guided tour, you will be able to see the most magnificent sights of Smolensk, appreciate its antique architecture and visit a unique Cathedral of the Assumption of Smolensk. At your desire the tour can cover in more detail the topic of Napoleonic War of 1812 or period of occupation and Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Each tour can be planned to suit your personal objectives whether you are interested in particular historical period or personality or just want to visit "must see" sights and taste local cuisine. Don't miss your chance to know amazing, subterranean historical facts and spend fascinating weekend in one of the most wonderful and remarkable Russian cities - Smolensk!

1) Lenin street (the beginning of the excursion)

2) Uspenskiy Cathedral

3) The Smolensk fortress wall

4) Lunch in “Russkiydvor” (Russian yard)

5) The Dniepr river embankment( + professional photos)

6) Lenin street (the end of excursion)

The end of excursion.

Archeological complex Gnezdovo (only summer excursion is possible)

An educational trip to Gnezdovo archaeological complex is an archaeological Museum, one of the earliest settlements of the ancient Krivichi. This is a complex of ancient monuments, burial mounds and the two FORTS. Gnezdovo is the largest burial mound in Eastern and Northern Europe, and has not only national but also global cultural and historical significance. Excavations at this place take place since 1874. A fascinating tour of the ancient FORTS will immerse you in the atmosphere of the traditional IX-HW, culture and traditions of ancient Krivichi. During the summer period on the territory of the archaeological complex are the international folklore-ethnographic festivals and celebrations, and you will be able to take part in archaeological excavations, conducting scientific expeditions from different cities of Russia.

1. Lenin street (the beginning of the excursion)
2. Archeological complex in the forest (a long and interesting excursion in the fresh air.Throughout the tour travelers will see and speak with Vikings who lived on this land)
3. Lunch (traditional Russian food which is made on fire with songs and dancing around fire)

Archeological complex on the glade (archeologists can show their findings and tell the history of their land)

4. Swimming in the Dnieper (on request)
5. Lenin Street ( the end of the excursion)

Despite the fact that Smolensk is a small provincial town it can appear to be a center of historical tourism in Smolensk region. Due to rich historical past and grasping myths and legends our home-town is likely to attract a prominent number of foreign tourists.  

Conclusion

Answering the question put in the introduction whether Smolensk can be attractive for tourists, I can certainly give a positive answer! Moreover Smolensk can be one of the most popular tourist’s attractions in Russia.

I have known the most attractive points for foreigners (the diagram of my interview you can see in application №1). And found them in my town. The most attractive in Smolensk are:

• Legends
• Some mystical places
• Rich history of the town
• Beautiful architecture of the buildings
• Archeological complex in Gnezdovo
• Places where famous people lived

All of these points are very curious for foreigners. After accomplishing this research work, I find my town very interesting and every day I want to walk here and know more interesting facts about Smolensk.

Then I made 2 programs and for every trip I made a map and a colorful poster with map for tourists. After that I created 2 advertising clips in English. One of them is about the town and another about the Archeological complex. In the clips I showed the places where the excursion will take place and told a few intriguing facts about these places. I find my research work useful for tour guides and some tour agencies.

Bibliography

1. ASGCETravel ASTTDoubleEdexcelUnit1

17

Application №1