An unusual weather bureau predicting the weather in the cities where the characters of epic poems and fairy tales were born or lived will appear in Russia in the beginning of the next year.

      Instead of usual names of cities and towns the map will show “The Birthplace of the Snow Maiden” and “The Birthplace of Ilya Muromets” – thus the fairy-tale meteorologists will call Kostroma and Murom, respectively. The basis of the renaming of the Russian cities was the cultural project “The Fairy-Tale Map of Russia”, where historians and ethnographers help to determine the birthplaces or places of possible residence of the characters of epic poems and fairy tales.

      Thus, the capital of Russia will be renamed as “The Birthplace of Cheburashka”, and the  small town of Yaransk in Kirov Oblast will be named after the character of local fairy-tales - Glinyshek.  Veliky Novgorod will receive a honorary title of “The Birthplace of Sadko” in the unusual weather forecast, and weather forecasts for the Tver Region will begin with the words “The Birthplace of Dragon Gorynych”. It is unknown what name will be given to St. Petersburg, as due to the young age of the “cultural capital”, the majority of fairy-tales are not folk ones, but written by certain authors.