On this day, December 12, ... Years ago

IN THE WORLD:

- National holiday of the Republic of Kenya - Independence Day /1963/.

- Day of proclamation of neutrality in Turkmenia /on December 12, 1995 the 50th session of the UN General Assembly granted Turkmenia /the only republic of the former Soviet republics/ the status of a neutral state.

- 1863 - 140 years ago Edvard Munch was born /died in 1944/, a Norwegian artist whose world outlook was shaped under the influence of the writings of symbolic writers; most of the artist's paintings belong to his cycle "Frieze of Life" /"The Artist's Sister", "The Scream", "Girls on the Bridge", etc./.

- 1908 - 95 years ago Gustav Ernesaks was born /died in 1993/, an Estonian composer and choir conductor; for many decades led the well-known state academic male choir of Estonia, was an invariable chief conductor of republican choral festivals.

- 1928 - 75 years ago Chinghiz T.Aitmatov was born, a Soviet Kyrghyz writer; the authors of novellas "Dzhamila", "The Mother's Field", "Goodbye, Gulsary", "The White Steamboat" and the novels "A Day Lasting Longer Than the Century", "The Executioner's Block", "Cassandra's Brand".

IN RUSSIA:

- Day of the Constitution of the Russian Federation /adopted 10 years ago /1993/ in the course of a nationwide vote; the Russian president's decree of September 19, 1994 declared this day a state holiday of Russia/.

- 1773 - 230 years ago the Moscow Academic Choreographic School was founded.

- 1792 - 211 years ago Denis I.Fonfizin died /born in 1744 or 1745/, a writer, the founder of the Russian social comedy; in his works he created vivid characters that became household words.

- 1872 - 131 years ago the Museum of Applied Knowledge opened in Moscow, the present-day Polytechnic Museum, - 1918 - 85 years ago Oleg G.Gazenko was born, a physiologist who took part in organizing space biological and medical research that helped to substantiate the possibility of man's flight into space, and then in ensuring these missions; his basic works are about space physiology, especially on the impact of zero gravity on the human body.

- 1993 - 10 years ago the first elections to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation - a new Russian parliament - were held.

- 1997 - 6 years ago Post No.1 of honorary guards was set up at the Eternal Flame on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin wall /before that it was stationed outside the Lenin Mausoleum in Red Square/.