"His hands were cut off before he built it"

Sunday. My grandma, Irina, and I were on our daily walk together. We walked out of Catherine's Palace through the victorian gated doors. Getting out onto the cobblestone street my grandma held onto my arm so that she wouldn't trip. As we looked up we saw the majesty of Catherine the Great, her five domed facade towering above us. It was perfectly gold, such that pictures in America do not give it justice. We love it here in Pushkin, with all of the palaces and such. We walked to the main street of Pushkin leading to the city hall. As we reached Malo Street we saw a horrendous looking building. The building was just plain ugly. The building was brick with concrete patches. It didn't fit the rest of the buildings of the town, not as quaint. Irina remarked, "They must have cut his hands off before he built it."

In Russia, they say this phrase to describe an ugly building. In the tsarist days of Russia, many beautiful palaces and cathedrals were constructed. These same places are sometimes the most remembered things about Russia: the domes, the mosaics, the architecture. In those days, however, all of the leaders in Russia were competing with other leaders in Russia and around the world. Each czar not only wanted to have the most beautiful palace in Russia, but also the most beautiful palace in the world! Thus, for such buildings as St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square and St. Isaac's Cathedral in Petersburg, it has been told that the czar in rule cut off the hands of the architect. The czar did not want the architect to build another cathedral with such creativity and beauty, so s/he cut off the architect's hands. No longer did the architect have a job, yet no longer could he create such a masterpiece as St. Basil's or St. Isaac's. However, he could create an ugly building, which is why they say that "his hands were cut off before he built it" to describe a place that is harsh to the eye.

Although you may think differently, Russians do know that they have been politically flip-flopped throughout our history. They have not always been an economically strong nation such as America and Britain. To them in the modern age, this inconsistency is rather comical because now they realize how irrational some of their leaders have been. This is just one example, and they embrace it.