St. Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia, is located in the north-west of the country, on the coast of the Gulf of Finland and at the mouth of the Neva River. It was named after St. Peter, the patron saint of Peter the Great, the founder of the city.

The historical center of St. Petersburg and its monuments are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. This is one of the most important tourism centers in Russia. Photos by: deletant.

unique boat trip

Tags: Saint Petersburg city

The Astrakhan Kremlin is a historical and architectural complex, which is an integral ensemble of monuments of defense architecture, cult and civil architecture.

Today, it is not only a monument of Russian architecture. There is an ethnographic museum with a very rich collection of exhibits. Photos by: Dmitry Gazin.

take a stroll in the Astrakhan Kremlin

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Arsenal is a park pavilion built in 1819-1834, designed by the architects Adam Menelas and Alexander Ton. It was used as the Imperial Weapons Museum that became one of the first museums in the country.

This building in the “Gothic” style, crowned with crenellated towers, is located in the center of the Alexander Park in Tsarskoye Selo – a museum-preserve in the town of Pushkin in the suburbs of St. Petersburg. Photos by: Dmitriy Gazin.

explore the museum

Tags: museum · Saint Petersburg city

The Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery is one of the largest and most famous monasteries in Russia with a long history.

This is one of the most valuable and interesting historical and architectural complexes in the country. It is located on the south-eastern outskirts of the town of Pechora in the Pskov region, near the border with Estonia. Pskov-Caves Monastery on Google Maps. Photos by: Denis Spirin.

explore the fortress-monastery

Tags: Pskov oblast

Staritsa, founded in 1297, is a small town with a population of about 8,000 people located in the Tver region, 65 km south-west of Tver. There are several churches and estates in the town and its surroundings.

One of the most interesting churches is the complex of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary – unique in its appearance. Staritsa on Google Maps. Photos by: Dmitriy Gazin.

picturesque abandoned church

Tags: churches · Tver oblast

The peninsula of Kamchatka is a unique mountainous region in Russia. Ecologically pure wildlife attracts more and more tourists, despite the remoteness and inaccessibility of these places. You can get here only by air or by sea.

About one-third of the Kamchatka territory is occupied by specially protected natural sites (reserves, natural parks and monuments). Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

fly over Kamchatka

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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

“Teremok” is a historical and architectural complex located in the former estate of the artist and patron of arts M.K. Tenisheva in the village of Flenovo, about 19 kilometers from Smolensk.

At the end of the 19th century, a center of art and enlightenment was established here. The creator of this center, Princess Maria Klavdievna Tenisheva, managed to realize in her estate the ideas of the revival of Russian national art. Flenovo on Google Maps. Photos by: Sergey Rubtsov.

interesting museum complex

Tags: smolensk oblast

Vyborg is a town with a population of about 79,000 people located in the Leningrad region, on the shore of the Vyborg Gulf, in the north-eastern part of the Gulf of Finland, 120 km from St. Petersburg, and 35 km from the border with Finland.

Since 2010, this town, founded in the Middle Ages by the Swedes, is the only historic settlement on the territory of the Leningrad region. Until 1940, it was the second largest town in Finland. Photos by: Dmitriy Gazin.

walk around the town

Tags: Leningrad oblast

Nikola-Lenivets is a village located in the Dzerzhinsky district of the Kaluga region, on the Ugra River.

Today, on the initiative of the artist Nikolai Polissky, Nikola-Lenivets is known as an art park, where you can find an extensive collection of architectural and artistic objects. The festivals “Arhstoyanie” and “Night of New Media” are held here too. Photos by: Alexandr Lipilin.

very unusual place

Tags: Kaluga oblast