Potemkin

Related to Potemkin: Potemkin village

Potemkin village

Something that is made to seem very grand, elaborate, or prosperous for the purposes of impressing others, but which in reality has no real worth or substance. Taken from a story about Russian minister Grigory Potemkin (1739–1791), who allegedly erected false, painted façades to mimic a thriving, successful village along the Dnieper River in Crimea to impress the visiting Empress Catherine II. The tightly controlled totalitarian country is often accused of creating a Potemkin village each time it televises some event, a meager attempt to convince the outside world that its people are happy under the thumb of the dictatorship.
See also: Potemkin, village
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a Potemkin village

a sham or unreal thing.
Count Potemkin ( 1739–91 ), a favourite of Empress Catherine II of Russia, reputedly ordered a number of fake villages to be built for the empress's tour of the Crimea in 1787 .
See also: Potemkin, village
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • a Potemkin village
  • Potemkin village
  • production
  • make a production (out) of (something)
  • make a production of
  • make a production of something
  • cross purpose
  • give (someone) the royal treatment
  • a nod is as good as a wink
  • a nod's as good as a wink
References in periodicals archive
| Clockwise, from above, Viridiana, A Clockwork Orange, Battleship Potemkin, Scum, A Clockwork Orange, Brass Eye and Queer As Folk
THE X FACTOR; Uncut screenings of most controversial dramas of all time
Odessa was the centre of the 1905 uprising led by sailors of the battleship Potemkin and, during occupation in the Second World War, sabotage groups hid in catacombs which are now a visitor attraction.
Cruising into history; European Break
Potemkin was made in 1925 and is one of the greatest silent films ever.
FILM SCORE OPENS CONCERT SEASON; Classical
There are items of furniture made by the Tula armourers, including the steel and gilt ceremonial chair made for Potemkin when he became president of the Military College in 1784, while examples of wonderfully conserved costumes allow us to imagine life at court.
The stuff of legend: Averil King savours the splendour of Catherine the Great's collection
Montefiore, the author of two books on Stalin and another on Prince Potemkin, has a fine eye for the telling detail, and also a powerful feel for a good story--so much so that his vastly enjoyable chronicle at times has a quasi-mythic aspect.
Jerusalem: The Biography
Compared to Powder, however, it looks like The Battleship Potemkin.
Rock bottom; MOVIES
Paul Craig Roberts ("Potemkin America," March 2011) has done yeoman's work for a long time, fighting offshoring and the hollowing out of our economy.
Sacrificing prosperity
Honolulu, HI, January 11, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Hawaii real estate agent, Oleg Potemkin with CENTURY 21 All Islands, recently completed a luxury home marketing training course offered by the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing.
Hawaii Real Estate Agent, Oleg Potemkin, Attends Special Training, Builds Expertise in Luxury Real Estate Market
The unattended baby carriage was first imagined for "The Battleship Potemkin" (1925/26), the second feature film of a 27-year-old Sergei Eisenstein.
'Battleship Potemkin' trains its guns on Beirut
Prince Grigory Potemkin put his name to the phenomenon when he put up the faE*ades of pretty villages along Catherine the Great's route through the newly conquered lands of Ukraine and Crimea in 1787.
Putin's grand illusions
Aleksandr Potemkin of the staff of the Russian Central Bank said the ruble and China's renminbi were already used for China-Russia trade--but only for about 2 percent of it.
Regime wants to trade with Russia in rial, ruble
Alexander Potemkin, an adviser to the Russian central bank chairman said that settlements in yuans and rubles already account for around 2 percent of Russia's trade with China.
Tehran Urges Moscow to Use National Currency in Joint Projects
Imagine a cross between a squalid Potemkin village and a planned retirement community in Florida.
Inferno heights