http://www.metafilter.com/tags/Kitezh Posts tagged with 'Kitezh' at MetaFilter. Wed, 19 Apr 2006 13:46:36 -0800 Wed, 19 Apr 2006 13:46:36 -0800 en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://www.metafilter.com/51029/sunken%2Dcities When the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasion_of_Russia">Mongols invaded Russia</a> in the 13th century, <a href="http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/rf-thelegend.html">legend</a> has it that when they reached the northern city of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitezh">Kitezh</a>, the citizens, rather than defending themselves, "engaged in fervent praying, asking god for their redemption. On seeing this, the Mongols rushed to the attack, but then stopped. Suddenly, they saw countless fountains of water bursting from under the ground all around them. The attackers fell back and watched the town submerge into the lake." Ever since, <a href="http://kitezh.com/kitezh.htm">Kitezh</a> has provided Russians "a platform for imagining what their culture might have been like, had it not been stamped by authoritarian rule." And it gave Rimsky-Korsakov the <a href="http://operetta.stanford.edu/RimskyKorsakov/Kitezh/synopsis.html">plot</a> of his opera the <a href="http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/opera/spectacle/kitezh" title="great performance!">Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh</a>. [More inside.] tag:metafilter.com,2006:site.51029 Wed, 19 Apr 2006 13:46:36 -0800 invisiblecities Kitezh legends Russia languagehat