Who were the ‘raeshniks’ and why were they tsarist Russia’s first “TV”?

The “rayek” had an extremely simple design: a small wooden box with magnifying glasses, inside which a long strip of popular prints was rewound. The newspaper ‘Severnaya Pchela’ described the play in 1842 as "a small, mobile cosmorama, carried on the shoulders of a Russian peasant, who explains wondrous deeds to the audience in his own language—rhymed prose—complete with sayings and jokes. It's laughable!" 

The rayek owes its name to its original plots: it showed "paradise and flour, and for no more than a kopeck apiece," meaning the repertoire was based on biblical stories. However, over time, scenes from sacred history were supplanted by topical concerns, and the rayek evolved into a mixture of media and stand-up comedy.

The performances were initially very popular in Moscow, especially during Maslenitsa and Easter festivities. In the 1830s, they migrated to St. Petersburg.

But the star of the show, of course, wasn’t the box - but the “rayeshnik”, the magician who operated it.

His rhymed commentary—the so-called "raeshny verse"—was the main attraction. The pictures, often dimly lit by candlelight, served merely as a pretext for improvisation. All the power lay in the words addressed to the crowd. The repertoire was an encyclopedia of popular life, a veritable "oral newspaper," where news was reworked into satire and fable.

The main themes of the rayek include the following examples:

Geography: “And here’s the big city of Paris, you’ll be blown away if you visit it!.. Our eminent nobility goes there to spend money.”

War and politics: During the Crimean War, a raeshnik could caustically comment on the results of military operations: "...and God spared ours: they stand there without heads, smoking pipes."

Sensationalism and technology: Ballerina Fanny Elssler going on tour; a hot air balloon flight; the first train to Tsarskoye Selo – all of these were immediately picked up as plots

Incidents: The fires in Kostroma were covered in the following way: "The city of Kostroma is burning, a guy is standing by the fence taking a leak..., the police officer grabs him by the collar, says he's starting the fire, but the guy screams that he's putting it out."

At the turn of the 20th century, the rayek disappeared from public squares, replaced by cinemas. But, it didn't die - it transformed: the combination of high technology with topical commentary remains the foundation of any mass media to this day.