ABSTRACT
In 1966 the Great Britain—Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) Association had facilitated and partly financed a Soviet Cultural Week in Leeds produced by the USSR—Great Britain Society. The inevitable slow-down during the summer holiday period had to be reckoned with, along with the logistics of shipping materials from Britain to the middle of Siberia. Travelling in search of Russia it pays, as in Britain, to look at churches. In the Soviet Union much of the story was one of destruction and degradation. One of the lectures was given, in Russian, by a specialist on the natural history of Siberia, John Massey Stewart. Massey Stewart’s other contribution was to mastermind a special Siberia supplement of The Times to coincide with our event. As the British monarchy was a subject hardly ever treated in the Soviet media, keen interest was shown in this probable ‘first’ at Novosibirsk.
