The Holy Trinity Ipatiev Monastery is located in the western part of Kostroma on the bank of the river of the same name near its confluence in the Volga. It is considered one of the symbols of the city.

The monastery was first mentioned in written sources in 1432. Although, it was founded about 100 years earlier. The compositional center of the monastery is the monumental five-domed Trinity Cathedral (1650-1652). Ipatiev Monastery on Google Maps. Photos by: Eduard Skvortsov.

very picturesque monastery

Tags: Kostroma city

Vyshny Volochyok is a town with a population of about 47 thousand people located in the Tver region, 136 km north-west of Tver.

One of the attractions of Vyshny Volochyok is the Kazan Convent – an Orthodox female monastery of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God founded in 1881 and located on the eastern outskirts of the town. Kazan Convent in Vyshny Volochyok on Google Maps. Photos by: Mikhail Aritkin.

picturesque convent

Tags: Tver oblast · Vyshny Volochyok city

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

The Republic of Kalmykia is located in the extreme south-east of the European part of Russia. The present culture of Kalmykia is closely connected with the culture of the Kalmyk people – the only people in Europe traditionally professing Buddhism.

“The Golden Abode of Shakyamuni Buddha”, located in the center of Elista, the capital of Kalmykia, is the largest Buddhist temple in the republic and one of the largest Buddhist temples in Europe. Photos by: Vladimir Mulder.

beautiful Buddhist temple

Tags: Elista city · Kalmykia republic

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

Atheism, as a worldview denying religion, without being formally declared in the USSR as an element of state ideology, was actively supported by the Communist Party and state bodies until 1988.

Propaganda was actively used for these purposes. Here are examples of anti-religious posters that you could see in the times of the USSR.

1. There is no God!

religion is poison?

Tags: posters · propaganda · Soviet past

Novotroitskoye is a small village with a population of about 150 people located in the Dolgorukovskiy district of the Lipetsk region.

The main attraction of the village is the ensemble of the Church of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity built on the means of Major-General Petr Andrianovich Pozdnyakov, the owner of the village, in 1809-1819. Novotroitskoye on Google Maps. Photos by: Vadim Razumov.

beautiful church

Tags: Abandoned · Lipetsk oblast

Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery is a monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church located in the town of Dzerzhinsky in the Moscow region, to the southeast of Moscow in the immediate vicinity of the Moscow Ring Road.

The monastery was founded by the Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy on the site of the phenomenon of the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in 1380.

explore the monastery

Tags: Moscow city · Moskovskaya oblast

St. Andrew’s Church is the only Anglican church in Moscow located on Voznesenskiy Pereulok (Lane), house #8/5, building #2. Divine services are held only in English.

The parish of the church is international – people of different nationalities and branches of Christianity from more than 40 countries. Church of St. Andrew on Google Maps. Photos by: Vladimir d’Ar.

the spirit of old England in Moscow

Tags: Moscow city

Elista (in the Kalmyk language “elst” means “sandy”) is a city located in the south of the European part of Russia, the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Kalmykia.

Elista is known as one of the Buddhist centers of Russia. The temple “The Golden Monastery of the Buddha Shakyamuni” is the main attraction of the city and the largest Buddhist temple in Kalmykia. Photos by: Alexandr Lipilin.

explore Elista

Tags: Elista city · Kalmykia republic