Inventing the Future

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Touring all of RUSSIA: how guides work at the Exposition

Touring all of RUSSIA: how guides work at the Exposition
17.05.2024

For several months now, Tatyana Kutuzova has been leading tour groups along various routes at the exposition. She speaks about culture and traditions, regional peculiarities, art and architecture of our country. For Tatyana, each day working at the exposition brings new discoveries and incredible encounters.

Last year, on November 5, just the second day of the RUSSIA EXPO, Tatyana decided to see for herself what had been so widely discussed and written about in the media. Her acquaintance began with the key Pavilion No. 75. The vibrant regional expositions, the scale of the RUSSIA EXPO and its significance left a strong impression on her. Tatyana decided to stay on as a guide and conducted her first tour for guests on November 25.

"Of course, we had training and we all went through certification. The amount of information was daunting at first. But there was no other way, as we needed to study all the routes and be ready to lead any tour. This means knowing as much as possible about each pavilion and all the objects of the exposition," Tatyana explains.

Photo: Tatiana Kutuzova

The girl lives in Krasnogorsk and especially enjoys talking about the stand of her native Moscow region, but she has interesting facts about every region. For example, few know that Tver was built on the same principle as Rome, featuring a unique urban planning technique of radial symmetry. The Vladimir region is the birthplace of the "Vladimir Heavy Draft" horse breed, often featured in films. The Kostroma region is the jewelry capital of Russia, and Kolomna in the Moscow region is the birthplace of the first motorized tram in the Russian Empire.

Today, Tatyana is an experienced guide with numerous tours under her belt, but she will never forget her first experience. At just 18, she worked as a camp counselor in Crimea. Once, she took the kids to the Naval Museum in Sevastopol, but the guide wasn’t there, and she needed to keep the children occupied. Tatyana improvised and conducted the tour herself without any preparation. Her childhood love of history, and being a prize-winner of the All-Russian Olympiad of Schoolchildren, helped her out. The kids were thrilled.

Photo: Tatiana Kutuzova

"I realized then that I enjoyed it and was good at it. By the way, children are still my favorite audience. They are hard to captivate but are the most appreciative, always ready to support your ideas and participate in activities," Tatyana explains.

Before becoming a guide at the RUSSIA EXPO, Tatyana spent two years working in Sochi and Crimea, where she also led tours. She loves traveling and mountain climbing. Perhaps this is why one of her favorite tour routes is the "Art Trail".

"It combines fascinating tourist and cultural aspects and includes visits to my favorite Pavilion D. Here, guests can discover our beautiful country from entirely unexpected angles. In the pavilion, you can even find out what each region smells like. It’s amazing!" the guide marvels.

According to Tatyana, many people don’t realize how interesting and unique Russia is, but thanks to the exposition, their number is dwindling.

Photo: Tatiana Kutuzova

Tatyana's legal education helps her remember large amounts of information, while good physical fitness allows her to stay on her feet all day. To unwind emotionally, she retreats to nature for peaceful walks, particularly enjoying Arkhangelskoye Park in the Moscow region.

"For a guide, it’s also crucial to protect your voice. This can be challenging in cold weather. In winter, I even drank egg yolk and washed it down with hot tea on the advice of opera singers. Not the tastiest drink, but it did save my voice," she recalls with a smile.

Tatyana's main inspiration is our country and, of course, its wonderful people. Often, tour participants suggest ways to make the guide's narrative even more engaging.

"There was a funny incident just three days into my work at the exposition. I was giving a tour in the 'Atom' pavilion, and one of my listeners turned out to be a candidate of physical sciences, a scientist. Not just any scientist! But someone who had been at the forefront of the atomic industry in the USSR. Despite this, he listened to me very attentively and politely. After the tour, he shared a lot of interesting information with me to make my narrative more captivating," Tatyana gratefully recalls.

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