Dmitrov is a town with a population of about 67 thousand people located in the Moscow region, 65 km north of the center of Moscow. It is one of the oldest towns of the Moscow region founded by Prince Yury Dolgoruky in 1154.

One of the main architectural attractions of the town is the Assumption Cathedral built in the early 16th century and located on the territory of the Dmitrov Kremlin. Photos by: Vladimir Dar.

take a stroll around the cathedral

Tags: churches · Moscow city · Moskovskaya oblast

The state nature reserve “Stolby” (“Pillars”) is located on the north-western spurs of the Eastern Sayan and from the north-east adjoins the city of Krasnoyarsk.

The reserve was founded on the initiative of the city residents to preserve natural complexes around picturesque rocks in 1925. Today, the area of the reserve is 47,219 hectares. Picturesque rocks are the main attraction of the reserve. Photos by: Sergey Filinin.

great place for hiking

Tags: Krasnoyarsk city

Volokolamsk, a small town with a population of about 20 thousand people, is located in the Moscow region, 123 km north-west of Moscow.

One of the oldest Russian towns, it was founded on an ancient waterway from Novgorod lands to the Volga-Oka basin. For the first time Volokolamsk was mentioned in chronicles in 1135. Photos by: Dmitry Gazin.

explore the Volokolamsk Kremlin

Tags: Moscow city · Moskovskaya oblast

Rostov-on-Don, with a population of more than 1.1 million people, is the largest city in the south of Russia. It is unofficially called “the Gates to the Caucasus”, the southern capital of Russia, “Rostov-Papa”, or simply Rostov.

This city, founded in 1749, is located in the southeast of the East European Plain, on the banks of the Don River, 46 km from its confluence in the Azov Sea, 1,074 km south of Moscow. Rostov-on-Don will host several matches of FIFA World Cup 2018. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

fly over Rostov-on-Don

Tags: Rostov-on-Don city

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, in Russia, a real boom in the construction of new Orthodox churches has begun. Most of them are quite similar, without interesting architectural solutions. However, there are some exceptions.

For example, take a look at the Church of the Holy Igor of Chernigov in Novo-Peredelkino – a district of Moscow located 30 km from the Moscow Automobile Ring Road (MKAD). Church of the Holy Igor on Google Maps. Photos by: Vladimir Dar.

amazing church in the new Russian style

Tags: churches · Moscow city

Kolomna is one of the oldest and most beautiful cities of the Moscow region, located 113 km southeast of Moscow. It is a major industrial center and transport hub, a river port on the Oka River.

According to the latest archaeological excavations, Kolomna was founded in the middle of the 12th century. One of the main attractions of the city is the Kolomna Kremlin, a partially preserved rare monument of the ancient Russian defensive architecture. Photos by: Vadim Razumov.

fly over Kolomna

Tags: Moscow city · Moskovskaya oblast

Kolomenskoye, a former royal residence, is a well-known art historical-architectural and natural-landscape museum-reserve. It is located south of the center of Moscow and covers an area of 390 hectares.

One of the sights of this place is the reconstruction of the Palace of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich – a wooden palace originally built in the second half of the 17th century.

beautiful spring scenery

Tags: Moscow city

The construction of the 5th unit of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant began in 1986. It was planned that the power unit would be put into operation in 1992.

However, in 1989, the construction was frozen because the 5th power unit was designed based on the use of the RBMK reactor (the type of reactor installed at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant).

explore the copy of the Chernobyl NPP

Tags: Abandoned · Kursk city

Of the indigenous peoples of the Russian North, the Nenets are the most numerous. According to the 2010 census, the total number of the Nenets people living in Russia was 44,640, of which 29,772 were living in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, part of the Tyumen region.

Let’s look at some scenes from their life in winter, when the temperature ranges from minus 20 to minus 40 degrees Celsius. Photos by: Petr Ushanov.

visit the Nenets

Tags: Tyumen oblast · Yamalo-Nenets okrug

Alexandrovsky Park is a park in the State Museum-Reserve “Tsarskoe Selo” located in the city of Pushkin in St. Petersburg, an architectural monument of the 18th-19th centuries.

One of the attractions of the park is the so-called “White Tower” – a pavilion built in the style of a medieval knight castle. Photos by: Dmitriy Gazin.

miniature castle

Tags: Saint Petersburg city