Ilya Repin was one of the greatest Realist painters of the Russian Empire. Born in present-day Ukraine, he traveled extensively, observing people and personalities. Although he was mostly known as a ...

Ivan IV Vasilyevich was just a teenager when he was crowned czar and grand prince of all Russia on January 16, 1547. Today, Ivan is better known as Ivan the Terrible, though the name wouldn’t be ...

The last tsar of the previous dynasty, a weak son of Ivan the Terrible, died in 1589. After which followed a period of foreign invasion and internal strife, and the throne was occupied by a series ...

Chief among them are his aunt, who wants to advance the fortunes of her son, a simpleton, and Kurbsky, a warrior prince who wants both power and the hand of Anastasia. Ivan deftly plays to the ...

Today, Ivan is better known as Ivan the Terrible, though the name wouldn’t be attached to him until much later. Ivan ruled as Russia’s first-ever czar for nearly four decades. He transformed ...