Mathias Rust Mathias Rust Mathias Rust (born 1 June 1968) is a German aviator known for his illegal landing near Red Square in Moscow on 28 May 1987. An amateur pilot, the teenager flew from Helsinki, Finland, to Moscow, being tracked several times by Soviet air defence and interceptors. The Soviet fighters never received permission to shoot him down, and several times his aeroplane was mistaken for a friendly aircraft. He landed on Vasilevsky Descent next to Red Square near the Kremlin in the capital of the Soviet Union. Rust said he wanted to create an "imaginary bridge" to the East, and
The Surprise (painting) The Surprise (painting) The Surprise is a c.1718 oil on panel painting by Antoine Watteau, showing a man dressed as Mezzetino playing a guitar whilst a couple embrace and a small dog watches. It was a pendant to "Perfect Harmony" (Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Both works were originally owned by Nicolas Hénin, but they were sold separately by his heir, who published an engraving of both works. "Surprise" then disappeared between 1770 and 1848 and again between 1848 and 2007. The original was rediscovered in March 2008 in a British country house and had been in that family's