Soviet calendars which featured a five- and six-day week are among the curios on display at a new exhibition of Russian calendars at the Print Museum.
Many of the 20th century artifacts are redolent with Soviet symbolism. They provide a chillingly apposite reminder of the Communists' determination to radically rework all facets of the society they had conquered.
A big wall poster entitled "Neprerivka" (the uninterrupted worker's week) depicts a huge red hammer poised to strike a calendar from 1916, the last year of tsarist rule in Russia.
The exhibition at the Print Museum also features a wide range of pre-revolutionary calendars.
The first Russian-made calendar was published in 1705 by the Fosbein company. Prior to this date, they were imported from Holland on the orders of Peter the Great.
Many early Russian calendars also featured a wealth of useful information -- ranging from systems of weights and measures to the addresses of Russian traders and train timetables.
Highlights of the exhibition include a tiny wall calendar painted by Konstantin Somov, an artist from Mir Iskusstva (Art World) and the Russian Art Union of the early 1900s.
There is also a table calendar dating from the Russian Revolution of 1905 by Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, another Mir Iskusstva artist.
A brief history (in Russian) of the origins of calendars from around the world is available at the entrance to the exhibition.