"The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" (German: Nußknacker und Mausekönig) is a Christmas story-tale by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann that has become an integral part of New Year and Christmas readings, plays and productions. After 200 years, the fairy tale has been interpreted in theatre performances, animation and feature films. Working on the production of The Nutcracker at the Mariinsky Theatre, Mikhail Shemyakin created about a thousand sketches, but it was important for him to ...

The brightest holiday of the year, Christmas, is about to knock on our doors, and we prepare its meeting with excitement and expectation of a miracle. In order to fulfil our expectations we need to create a symbol of Christmas: traditional decorations in the form of a star, as well as a Christmas creche with a manger, decoration and figures. There is a beautiful old tradition to put a creche in the house at Christmas. This model ...

    Is it possible to see angels? Have you ever met angels? So that after the meeting you can confidently describe their appearance and be confident that now you can easily recognize the heavenly assistants and immediately accept their wise advice? I will assume not. It is impossible to see something that does not have a material body and does not obey any earthly laws. Then from where a stable image was formed ...