When Stories Stir the Pot

Books have always been more than paper and ink. They hold up mirrors, push boundaries and sometimes spark more outrage than anyone expected. Whether it was politics sex or religion certain stories hit nerves in ways that kept censors up at night. Yet as history shows banning a book often turns it into a magnet for attention.

Take “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” for example. D H Lawrence’s novel spent decades locked out of libraries and courtrooms were filled with chatter about whether love scenes belonged in print. The ban did not stop it from selling. In fact once the lid came off people scrambled to get a copy. The same goes for “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov which was too much for many at the time but is now considered a literary masterstroke.

Censorship can often do the opposite of what it intends. Instead of erasing voices it amplifies them. The fuss creates curiosity the very thing that keeps a book on shelves long after its ban fades away.

Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay

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In Russia, work on cutting the largest diamond in the country’s history has been completed. The weight of the unique diamond of rare fancy color Vivid Yellow is more than 100 carats.

The diamond was named “The New Sun” – as a reflection of the history of the super-large diamond weighing more than 200 carats of a rich honey-gold color, which was mined by ALROSA at the Ebelyakh Arctic placer deposit, among the sands of an old river bed in Yakutia.

amazing diamond

Tags: Sakha Republic

As of 2025, Russia is the only country in the world that has a nuclear icebreaker fleet. Nuclear icebreakers ensure safe navigation in the Arctic and are a key link in the work on the Northern Sea Route.

Today’s Russian universal nuclear icebreakers of Project 22220 can operate without refueling for up to 7 years, and their food supplies last for more than half a year. Even the crew changes at sea when the icebreakers meet in the ice. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

clearing paths through the ice

Tags: Murmansk city · Vladivostok city

In the mid-1950s, rich deposits of diamonds were discovered in Yakutia. The kimberlite pipe “Mir” was discovered in 1955. A new town named after it was founded near the future quarry, located about 1,100 km from Yakutsk.

Today, the town of Mirny with a population of about 34 thousand people has several large quarries and mining and processing plants for diamond mining. It is often called the capital of the diamond region or the diamond capital of Russia. Mirny on Google Maps. Photos by Stepanov Slava.

one of the largest excavated holes in the world

Tags: Sakha Republic · Yakutsk city

The Aimani-Khadzhi Kadyrova Mosque, also known as “The Mother’s Heart” Mosque, is located in the town of Argun in the central part of the Chechen Republic, about 15 km east of Grozny. Opened on May 16, 2014, the mosque is named after the widow of Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov, the first president of the Chechen Republic.

Construction of the mosque began in the center of Argun, on the site of the former town mosque, in mid-January 2011. It was built according to the design of the Turkish architect Deniz Ceyhun Baykan. The Aimani-Khadzhi Kadyrova Mosque on Google Maps. Photos by: Alexandr Lipilin.

amazing futuristic mosque

Tags: Chechnya Republic · Grozny city · mosque

Dikson is an urban-type settlement located in the very north of Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia, on the northwestern tip of the Taimyr Peninsula, on the coast of the Kara Sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean.

It is divided by a strait into two parts – an island and a mainland. In winter, cars and buses travel along the ice road, in summer, boats operate. In spring and autumn, you can only get from one part of the settlement to the other by helicopter. Dikson on Google Maps. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

frozen settlement at the edge of the earth

Tags: Krasnoyarsk krai

The Ecumenical Temple, also known as the Temple of All Religions and the International Cultural Center of Spiritual Unity is an architectural structure located in the Old Arakchino microdistrict in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan. Dedicated to various religions of the world, it is a popular landmark of the city.

The construction was started by the artist, architect, sculptor, and public figure Ildar Khanov in 1993. This idea came to him after traveling through Tibet and India. The temple was being built with the founder’s own funds until his death in 2013. After it, his brother Ilgiz and sister Flyura Galeeva continued his work.

unique building

Tags: churches · Kazan city · Tatarstan Republic

Alexander Vasilyevich Viskovatov was a Russian military historian who lived in the first half of the 19th century.

He was the author of a unique multi-volume book “Historical Description of Clothing and Armament of Russian Troops” with detailed descriptions of military and civilian clothing in Russia from 862 AD to the reign of Emperor Nicholas I.

Shirt.

back to the past

Tags: Russian Empire

This railway is located on the Yamal Peninsula in northern Western Siberia, in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of Russia. Some of the world’s largest natural gas deposits are found here.

It consists of 5 stations and 70 bridges starting from Obskaya Station (Labytnangi) and going to Karskaya Station (the Bovanenkovo natural gas ​​deposit). The length of the railway is 572 km, and it is located entirely beyond the Arctic Circle. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

the railway at the edge of the world

Tags: Salekhard city · Yamalo-Nenets okrug

The Pashkov House is one of the most famous neoclassical buildings in Moscow. Today, it belongs to the Russian State Library. The building is located on a hill overlooking the western wall of the Moscow Kremlin, at Vozdvizhenka Street, 3/5, building 1.

This architectural monument, built by order of the captain of Semyonovsky life-guards regiment Peter Pashkov in 1784-1786, was designed presumably by the architect Vasily Bazhenov. The Pashkov House on Google Maps. Photos by: Vladimir d’Ar.

beautiful building

Tags: Moscow city