Kolomna is a city with a population of about 140 thousand people located in the south of the Moscow region, about 113 km southeast of the center of Moscow. It is one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in the region.

The city has a rare monument of old Russian defensive architecture – the Kolomna Kremlin. Its main attraction is the Assumption Cathedral (1672-1682), the main cathedral of Kolomna. Photos by: Vladimir Dar.

beautiful cathedral

Tags: churches · Moscow city · Moskovskaya oblast

The ensemble of the Monastery of St. Jacob Saviour (Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery in Russian) stands on the shore of Lake Nero on the western outskirts of Rostov Veliky (Rostov the Great) – one of the oldest towns in Russia, located 58 km south-west of Yaroslavl.

The panorama of this monastery with a picturesque combination of architectural forms of various styles – pseudo-Gothic towers, baroque and classical churches – gives the impression of a fairy tale castle perfectly fitting the lake landscape. Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery on Google Maps. Photos by: Vadim Razumov.

fly over the monastery

Tags: churches · Yaroslavl oblast

The Borisoglebsky Monastery in Torzhok, a town located 63 km north-west of Tver, is considered the oldest monastery in the Tver region.

It was founded by the boyar Efrem, a former stableman of Kiev Prince Vladimir I Svyatoslavich, in 1038. That year a stone church was built, named in honor of Boris and Gleb – the first saints of Kievan Rus. Torzhok on Google Maps. Photos by: Dmitry Gazin.

beautiful old monastery

Tags: churches · Tver oblast

Krasnoye is a village with a population of about 400 people located in the Staritsky district of the Tver region, 100 km south-west of Tver.

The main attraction of the village is a beautiful pseudo-Gothic church – the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior (1785-1790) built on the territory of the former estate of the noble family of Poltoratsky. Krasnoye on Google Maps. Photos by: Vadim Razumov.

magnificent church

Tags: churches · Tver oblast

Kazanskaya Amvrosiyevskaya Pustyn’ (unofficially the Shamordino Convent), founded in 1884, is a beautiful nunnery of the Russian Orthodox Church located in a picturesque place near the village of Shamordino in the Kaluga region, 65 km south-west of Kaluga.

The greatest flourishing of the nunnery took place at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1918, there were more than 800 sisters, an almshouse, a hospital, a shelter for orphans here. The Shamordino Convent on Google Maps. Photos by: Alexander Lipilin.

walk around the nunnery

Tags: churches · Kaluga oblast

Podporozhye is an abandoned village located on the bank of the Onega River in the west of the Arkhangelsk region. Some time ago there was a whole church complex in the village. But only the Church of Our Lady of Vladimir, built in 1757, has survived.

This huge and majestic wooden building is one of the landmark monuments in the development of the architecture of the Russian North. Podporozhye on Google Maps. Photos by: Vadim Razumov.

fly over the church

Tags: Arkhangelsk oblast · churches

Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy of the Russian Orthodox Church was founded by Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia in Moscow in 1909. Today, it is located in the center of the city on Bol’shaya Ordynka Street, 34.

The main attraction of the convent is the Intercession Cathedral built by the famous architect Alexey Shchusev in 1908-1912. This is a unique example of the Neo-Russian style in church architecture. Marfo-Mariinsky Convent on Google Maps. Photos by: Vladimir Dar.

majestic church

Tags: churches · Moscow city

The Russian North is a collective name for the northern regions of the European part of Russia, where a lot of folk traditions have been preserved since the times of Kievan Rus.

In the 16th-17th centuries, a peculiar northern culture developed here with its northern “schools” of painting, bone and wood carving, wooden architecture.

beautiful wooden church

Tags: Arkhangelsk oblast · churches

The Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Darna is an Orthodox church located in the village of Darna in the Istra district of the Moscow region, about 65 km north-west of the center of Moscow.

The church was built according to the project of the architect Sergey Shervud in elegant Neo-Russian style in 1895-1900. Darna on Google Maps. Photos by: Vladimir Dar.

beautiful brick church

Tags: churches · Moscow city · Moskovskaya oblast

The Cathedral Church in Kaliningrad (former Koenigsberg) is an inactive cathedral located in the historical district of the city – Kneiphof island (also known among locals as the “Island of Kant”).

For centuries, it was the main Catholic church in Koenigsberg. In the Soviet years, the cathedral received the status of an object of cultural heritage and was included in the list of architectural monuments. Photos by: Vasiliy Nikitinskiy.

one of the symbols of Kaliningrad

Tags: churches · Kaliningrad city