The Church of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity in Nikitniki (the Church of the Georgian Icon of the Mother of God on Varvarka) is a great example of the Russian (Muscovite) uzorochye of the middle of the 17th century.

It was built by Yaroslavl merchants in Kitay-Gorod, a cultural and historical area within the central part of Moscow, in 1628-1651. In Soviet times, this part of the city was built up with administrative buildings, but the church was preserved and used as a museum. The Church of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity in Nikitniki on Google Maps. Photos by: Vladimir d’Ar.

picturesque old church

Tags: churches · Moscow city

The Holy Protection (Pokrovsky) Convent of the Russian Orthodox Church is located on the right bank of the Kamenka River in the northern part of Suzdal, a town-reserve in the north of Vladimir Oblast included in the famous tourist route Golden Ring of Russia.

Founded in 1364, it was formed in its present appearance in the 16th century, when the convent was turned into a place of imprisonment of representatives of aristocratic families who were tonsured as nuns. In the 16th-17th centuries, it was one of the largest convents in the country. Pokrovsky Convent on Google Maps. Photos by: Alexandr Lipilin.

beautiful convent

Tags: Suzdal city · Vladimir oblast

The Brianchaninovs’ Estate is a noble estate of the early 19th century located in the village of Pokrovskoye in Vologda Oblast, about 25 km south of Vologda. Built in the style of early classicism, it is a historical and cultural monument of federal significance and a monument of landscape gardening art of regional significance.

The estate includes the main house with wings and galleries (1809-1810), the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos (1811), the Brianchaninovs’ necropolis (the 19th century), a park with a pond (the early 19th century), a stable (the second half of the 19th century), and a cellar (the second half of the 19th century). The Brianchaninovs’ Estate on Google Maps. Photos by: Alexandr Lipilin.

beautiful preserved noble estate

Tags: Russian Empire · Vologda oblast

Akademgorodok (literally “the town of academicians”), founded in 1957, is located about 20 kilometers south of the center of Novosibirsk, on the right bank of the Novosibirsk reservoir.

It is one of the most important scientific and educational centers in Russia. On its territory there are dozens of research institutes, the Presidium of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk State University, and a physics and mathematics school. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

a town of scientists in the middle of the forest

Tags: Novosibirsk city

From the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, advertising posters began to quickly gain popularity in the Russian Empire. Artists often depicted scenes from fairy tales. The first advertising posters used the element of hyperbole, exaggerating the properties of the advertised product.

Despite the fact that there was significant economic growth in the Russian Empire at that time, it did not cause an increase in the purchasing power of the majority of the population (peasants). Most of the advertising targeted the rapidly emerging Russian bourgeoisie. Source.

Perfumes of Russian boyars.

pre-revolutionary advertising posters

Tags: posters · Russian Empire

Cape Dezhnev is the extreme eastern point of the Chukotka Peninsula, mainland Russia and all of Eurasia.

It is an isolated flat-topped mountain range up to 740 m high, which drops abruptly to the sea and is located in the Bering Strait, which connects the Arctic Ocean (Chukchi Sea) with the Pacific Ocean (Bering Sea). Cape Dezhnev on Google Maps. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

the very edge of Russia

Tags: Anadyr city · Chukotka okrug

On June 30, 2020, about 7 km south-west of the city of Rzhev and 200 km north-west of Moscow, the Rzhev Memorial to the Soviet Soldier was opened. It was installed in the place where the Battle of Rzhev took place from January 5, 1942 to March 21, 1943 – one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War.

The losses of the Soviet side amounted to more than 1 million people killed, wounded and missing, the German side – more than 390 thousand people. The Rzhev Memorial to the Soviet Soldier on Google Maps. Photos by: zavodfoto.

very soulful memorial

Tags: Tver oblast

Dargavs is a small village located in the Republic of North Ossetia – Alania, about 36 km southwest of Vladikavkaz. The area where the village is located has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. A large number of archaeological sites have been discovered here.

The village is very rich in various architectural monuments. The main one is the so-called “City of the Dead” – an old necropolis consisting of 97 stone memorials, which from afar resemble a small mountain village. It is the largest surviving burial of this type in Russia. Dargavs on Google Maps. Photos by: Alexey Zhirukhin.

unique necropolis

Tags: North Ossetia Republic · Vladikavkaz city

The amazingly beautiful complex of buildings of the Nikolo-Vyazhischi Convent of the Russian Orthodox Church is located near the village of Vyazhischi in Novgorod Oblast, about 15 km north-west of Veliky Novgorod.

The architectural structures of the convent are an invaluable cultural monument of the Novgorod land. It is famous for the extraordinary variety of tiles that decorate the buildings of the church complex. The Nikolo-Vyazhischi Convent on Google Maps. Photos by: Alexander Lipilin.

very picturesque convent

Tags: churches · Novgorod oblast

Carl Oswald Bulla or Karl Karlovich Bulla (1855-1929), a portraitist and master of documentary photography, was the owner of a photo studio in St. Petersburg. He became known as “the father of Russian photo reporting.”

In 1886, he received from the Ministry of Internal Affairs “permission to carry out all kinds of photographic work outside his home, such as: on the streets, apartments and in the vicinity of St. Petersburg.” In 1897, Karl Bulla’s photographs began to be published in the popular magazine “Niva”. Since that time, his name became known throughout the Russian Empire.

In total, his legacy is about 230 thousand photographs of the late 19th – early 20th centuries. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Tsarskoselsky (Vitebsky) railway station in St. Petersburg.

unique photos of the Russian Empire

Tags: Russian Empire · Saint Petersburg city