межсезонье

At the end of the winter, the snow which covers the ground most of the Russian soil disappears and make the diversity of the landscapes more visible. This moment of transition between two seasons is called межсезонье (pronounce: mejcezonie) in Russia. 

In the immensity of this territory, other phenomena of transitions, similar to межсезонье, can be observed. Since the end of the USSR, war memorials and military monuments are, among others, the open memories of a common Soviet past. On the bank of the Volga River, Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, the fourth largest city in Russia, seems to exist to embody these moments of glory, the sacrifice of the Russian people against Nazism, which is immortalized by the Родина-мать зовёт (The Motherland Calls), the highest statue in Europe. 

Nevertheless, following the melt of the soviet era, small islands of cultural entities are flourishing in the southwest of Russia. In 2005, the largest Buddhist temple on the European continent was built in Elista, the capital of the Buddhist republic of Kalmykia. Three years late, a few hundred kilometres south, Grozny, the capital of Chechnya inaugurated the largest Mosque in Europe, contrasting with “state atheism” which prevailed during the Soviet era. Chechnya, North Ossetia, and other Caucasian Republics are also highlighting their cultural heritage sites, and their history, but also differentiate to the rest of the federation, to whom the are tied.

Each of these islands has its own historical, social and religious dynamics to what can be considered as a moment of transition.