Belyanas

For centuries, the river Volga was home to a most impressive feat of marine engineering – colossal wooden boats, often made solely out of wood and rope, with entire mini-villages on their top decks. So, what were they? A product of the lumber industry, the belyanas were used to transfer timber down the river, all the way from Kama River, near Kazan, to the city of Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea.

The real genius lay in the fact that the ships were built out of the very wood they carried. Assembled in autumn, they would lay in wait through winter until the spring thaw – and the resulting flood – took them south with the current. Between the 16th and early 20th-century, an uncountable number of these boats, often brightly decorated, made the one-way journey down the Volga.

Theremin

When you imagine the sound of a flying saucer, what do you hear? If you’re thinking of the woo-wee-woo sound from 1950s B-movies, you’re thinking of the theremin. This peculiar musical instrument was invented by Leon Theremin, a St. Petersburg native and an avid physicist and engineer. Whilst working with radio technology in the 1920s, he devised a curious device that could produce sound without being touched – instead, it reacts to the performer’s hands as they move between and around two emitters.

In a way a pioneer of the Art & Science field, Theremin went on to create several more musical curios, but the theremin (or termenvox as it’s known in Russia) is certainly the most impactful. Over the past century, it has fascinated musical artists of every genre and caliber – from The Beach Boys to Nine Inch Nails – and left a mark on the sound of film and TV – from the 1951 sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still to modern tentpoles like Loki (2021).

Nikonov’s submarine

Unlike many other European superpowers, the Russian Empire was late to the naval game. The creation of its fleet in the late 17th century coincided with the reign of Peter the Great, who founded the new capital, St. Petersburg, at a location well-suited for shipbuilding and sailing. And yet, inventive minds were already looking at new horizons.

In 1718, a man named Yefim Nikonov petitioned the tsar to approve his project – a new kind of ship, undetectable by the enemy. Made of wood and sealed with lead, the barrel-looking contraption was dubbed The Unseen Vessel. Within the next 7 years, mock-ups and prototypes of this new craft were constructed and tested – but proved unsuccessful. Indeed, it would take some 150 years for submarines to become a reality. 

Kulibin’s bicycle

In the Russian language, the name “Kulibin” is near-synonymous with “inventor” – or, at the very least, someone with a wild imagination and a roll of duct tape. An 18th century mechanic, Ivan Kulibin is remembered for his advanced inventions of every kind: calendar clocks, bridges, and lighting devices. But to this day, his most famous creation is the Kulibin push-cycle cart, a wooden predecessor of the bicycle.

Resembling a three-wheeled carriage, it was far larger than the current-day bicycle and was propelled by pedals, with the driver standing behind the two-seat bench for passengers. Unfortunately, the vehicle did not survive until present day. However, visitors of the Hermitage Museum may be familiar with the famous Peacock Clock, created by the British artisan James Cox, and assembled by Kulibin – who, according to his writings, even had to create some of the missing parts from scratch.

Aerosledge 

What do you get when you cross an airboat and a sledge? An unbelievably cool vehicle, apparently. Developed at the turn of the 20th century by several engineers – including future father of the helicopter Igor Sikorsky – the aerosledge is a natural combination of modern technology with the iconic Russian sleigh.

Over the years, its designs have varied greatly: from an ice cream cone-looking “snow sleigh” to a blunt metal box and then – to a stylishly curved craft emblematic of the aesthetics of the 60s. In one case, it was even as simple as putting a regular Soviet car on top of a ski-based chassis. Today, the technology has mostly given way to more versatile hovercraft, but a few specimens remain in operation or are exhibited in museums.

Cover image credit: Pandapilot / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0