Before being awarded the hosting rights for the showpiece event of the football calendar, Leonid Slutsky revealed that the country doesn’t connect with the sport. He was backed up by the numbers in 2016, with declining attendances for the country’s biggest clubs such as CSKA Moscow and Spartak Moscow.

However, fast forward three years and those comments look almost laughable, as the success of the 2018 World Cup was overwhelming. The sport now dominates front pages, while the Russian hero at the tournament – Artem Dzyuba – has become a cultural hero among locals. But what signs have we seen nearly a year after the start of the 2018 World Cup, which shows that the event has had a lasting event on the country?

Credit: CN Traveller

after the World Cup 2018

Tags: No tags

The Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the main church in Stavropol, was originally built in 1843-1847, the bell tower – in 1858-1873. In the 1930s, the cathedral was destroyed and the bell tower was used as a radio mast, and then – a parachute tower. May 11, 1943, the bell tower was blown up by order of local party leaders.

The cathedral was restored on the old foundation in 2004-2012. April 25, 2019, the main dome with a cross was installed on the bell tower of the Kazan Cathedral of Stavropol. It was on this day that the cathedral finally found its original appearance. Photos by: Fedor Lashkov.

beautiful cathedral

Tags: churches · Stavropol city

Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery is a monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church located in the city of Dzerzhinsky in the Moscow region, about 26 km south-east of the center of Moscow. The monastery was founded by the Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy in 1380, in the place of the appearance of the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

According to legend, it was in this place that his army stopped to rest on the way to the Kulikovo field. The appearance of the icon strengthened Dmitry Donskoy with faith and hope. He said “Siya vsya ugresha serdtse moye” (“This has warmed my heart”). Since then, this place is called Ugresha, and the monastery itself was named Nikolo-Ugreshsky. Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery on Google Maps. Photos by: Vadim Razumov.

fly over Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery

Tags: churches · Moscow city · Moskovskaya oblast

The mountain park “Ruskeala” is a tourist complex located in the Sortavala district of the Republic of Karelia, near the border with Finland. The basis of the complex is an abandoned marble quarry filled with groundwater – a cultural heritage site and historic monument.

The park is located near the village of Ruskeala, about 30 kilometers north of the town of Sortavala. The length of the former marble quarry from north to south is 460 meters, the width – up to 100 meters. Ruskeala Park on Google Maps. Photos by: Maria Mitrofanova.

picturesque abandoned quarry

Tags: Abandoned · Karelia Republic · Petrozavodsk city

Ayskiye Pritesy is a unique natural geological object – high limestone cliffs located on the section of the Ay River on the border of the Chelyabinsk region and the Republic of Bashkortostan.

These limestone rocks, picturesque vertical walls up to 90 meters high, consist of two groups – Bolshiye (Large) Pritesy and Malyye (Small) Pritesy. In the local dialect, Ayskiye Pritesy are called “Sybar-kaya”, which in Bashkir language means “varicoloured cliff”. Ayskiye Pritesy on Google Maps. Photos by: Vladimir Lyapin.

amazing natural monument of the Southern Urals

Tags: Bashkortostan Republic · Chelyabinsk oblast

Tutayev is a historic town with a population of about 40 thousand people located on both banks of the Volga River in the Yaroslavl region, about 35 km north-west of Yaroslavl. This is one of the twelve places included in the Golden Ring of Russia – a popular tourist route passing through the old towns of North-Eastern Russia.

The churches of Tutayev, picturesquely scattered on the hilly banks of the Volga, are the main sights of this town and attract tourists and architecture lovers. The photos were taken in March when Tutayev was still covered with snow. Photos by: Roman Smirnov.

fly over Tutayev

Tags: churches · Yaroslavl oblast

Kamchatka is a peninsula stretching from north to south for about 1,200 km in the northeast of Eurasia. From the west it is washed by the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, from the east – by the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Kamchatka Krai, one of the federal subjects of Russia, is located on the territory of the peninsula.

Kamchatka is a land of contrasts, which looks completely different from Central Russia. This is the land of volcanoes and glaciers, hot springs and boiling geysers, fast-flowing rivers, lakes and waterfalls. There are 414 glaciers and 160 volcanoes, 29 of which are active. Kamchatka volcanoes are included in the UNESCO World Heritage. Photos by: Sergey Makurin.

beautiful natural scenery

Tags: Kamchatka krai

Oleg Dmitriyevich Kononenko is the 102nd cosmonaut of Russia and the 473rd cosmonaut of the world. As of April 2019, he is on the International Space Station and during the three previous flights he already spent 533 days in space.

From the ISS, he took a lot of photographs of various regions of the Earth. Let’s see how the cities of Russia look at night from orbit. Source: Roscosmos.

Moscow – the capital of Russia.

Russian cities from space

Tags: Angarsk city · Astrakhan city · Grozny city · Irkutsk city · Krasnodar city · Moscow city · Novorossiysk city · Orenburg city · Saint Petersburg city · Samara city · Saratov city · Tolyatti city · Tver city · Vladivostok city · Volgograd city

“Vitoslavlitsy” is an open-air museum of folk wooden architecture located on the shore of Lake Myachino a few kilometers south of Veliky Novgorod, near the St. George’s (Yuriev) Monastery. The name “Vitoslavlitsy” comes from the village of Vitoslavlitsy, which existed here from the beginning of the 12th to the 18th centuries.

The museum was opened on May 16, 1967. The exhibition includes the oldest Russian wooden architectural monuments of the 16th century, as well as residential and outbuildings of the 18th-19th centuries. Vitoslavlitsy Museum on Google Maps. Photos by: Stanislav Konstantinov.

picturesque old churches and houses

Tags: museum · Novgorod city

Murmansk is a city with a population of about 295 thousand people located in the northwest of Russia, the administrative center of the Murmansk region. It is the largest city in the world located above the Arctic Circle.

The city stands on the rocky east coast of the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea. This is one of the largest ports in Russia. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

fly over Murmansk

Tags: Murmansk city