National anthem author laid to rest

Published time: August 29, 2009 21:11
Edited time: August 30, 2009 01:11

Legendary poet Sergey Mikhalkov, the author of both Soviet and Russian national anthems, has been buried in Moscow with full military honors.

He was laid to rest at the Novodevichy cemetery, where Russia’s most prominent figures are buried. The tomb of Sergey Mikhalkov is next to singer Lyudmila Zykina, often referred to as “Russian Edith Piaf”, and the outstanding ballerina Galina Ulanova.

Prior to his burial, thousands of Russians, including some government officials, came to pay their final respects at the Christ the Savior Cathedral in central Moscow.

Sergey Mikhalkov died on Thursday at the age of 96.

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Mikhalkov was chosen to breathe new life into the old tune, and in 2001 Russia received its new anthem.

Sergey Mikhalkov was also hailed as an author of children's literature, as several generations have been raised on his poems.

Nowadays he is better known as the father of two leading Oscar-winning Russian film makers, Nikita Mikhalkov and Andrey Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky.

Comments (2)

toma 30.08.2009 18:36

this is rather ridiculous. The only country I know today with always changing official history to make it look glorious is Hungary. Everyone except them accept history that happened a thousand years ago. Then their participation in world wars was undeniable, their intentions imperialist. If the info I have is correct, then their national hero Imre Nagy was one of seven murderers of Car´s family. Also a famous in USSR was Bela Kun, who not only was responsible for about 600 civiliand killed with Magyar soviet revolutionaries in 1919, when ended in failure, he moved to future USSR to hang as much as a hundred thousand former whites who were given amnesty -executed by his company. Even he paid tho, in ´38. I wonder really how much do they pay you for your manipulative work. Or you just wait for some propaganda agency hire you? Do you see that by whitewashng your history by equalling communism and national socialism you try to look like saints? You arent them, Ukrainian SS, Vlasov´s betrayers and others were no heroes. Baltics may have been in a bad position, but that doesnt mean it should be russophobic like you- work either for free or Russia of course spins history only a little bit to look better, but that the treacherous west always stands to their word, which they dont. Those who cant look at what they were doing now try to fool undeducated masses.

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Marzipan6 30.08.2009 02:57

Got to hand it to him – not everyone gets to write the words to three different official versions of his country’s national anthem (the original Soviet version, the revised Soviet version and the post-Soviet version). It’s indicative of how vigorously Russia keeps re-inventing itself and yet somehow, still stays exactly the same. And of course, besides the three versions mentioned, which represent three Russian views of itself, there are two further Russian national anthems in living memory – the tsarist anthem, and Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” which served briefly after the Soviet collapse. Makes it very hard for Russia’s neighbours to know which version of Russia to use as a reference point, as the wrong choice earns instant and severe disapproval from Moscow. Along with changing anthems, Russia’s take on its own history keeps changing, but still never quite hitting the target. Even in Soviet times, a favourite joke claimed that Russia is the only country in the world whose past is unpredictable. I don’t know of any serious Russian attempt to publicly analysis of this startling instability of the national psyche, nor to offer a remedy for it. Nor to even acknowledge the problem.

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