St. Petersburg is a city with a population of over 5 million people located in the northwest of Russia, on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, at the mouth of the Neva River.

The city was founded by the first Russian emperor Peter I in 1703. From 1712 to 1918, it was the capital of the Russian Empire. Let’s see how St. Petersburg looked like during the time of its greatest prosperity – in the late 19th century. Photos source: humus.

The Alexander Column and the Winter Palace.

back to the past

Tags: Saint Petersburg city

Zaklyuchye Manor is located in the Tver region. You can reach it, if you drive on the M-10 highway from Moscow to St. Petersburg, and before reaching the city of Valdai and Lake Valdai take a turn to Borovichi. About 50 km from it, there is Lykoshino station. Nearby, hidden in the woods, on the bank of a forest lake, you will find this “castle.”

The estate appeared in the late 19th century. It was built for the St. Petersburg architect and artist Alexander Sergeyevich Khrenov. Many artists, architects and writers of that time tried to disappear in nature. Photos by: Dmitriy Gazin.

picturesque abandoned castle

Tags: Abandoned · Tver oblast

Murmansk is a city with a population of about 300 thousand people located in the northwest of Russia, the administrative center of Murmansk oblast.

Murmansk is the world’s largest city located north of the Arctic Circle. The city stretches more than 20 km along the rocky eastern coast of the Kola Bay, 50 km from the open sea (the Barents Sea).

Murmansk from above

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Shikotan, meaning “the best place”, is the largest island of the Lesser Kuril Islands, part of the Sakhalin region. Japan disputes Russia’s ownership of Shikotan; it sees it as part of Nemuro province, Hokkaido prefecture.

Until 1855, the island was part of the Russian Empire. February 7, 1855, according to the Russian-Japanese treaty of trade and boundaries (“Shimoda Treaty”), the island was given to Japan with the rest of the southern Kurils. In 1945, after Japan’s defeat in World War II, the islands were captured by the Soviet Union.

the island of tanks

Tags: Abandoned · Sakhalin oblast

Kalacheevskaya Cave, a unique structure built in the chalk hill, is located on the right bank of the Tolucheevka River (the left tributary of the Don River), in the town of Kalach, Voronezh oblast.

It is the longest cave in the region. The total length of the cave is about 1 km. The cave was probably created in the 18th-19th centuries, it was used as an underground monastery. Photos by: vmulder.

let’s go underground

Tags: Voronezh oblast

In Kazan, the capital city of Tatarstan Republic, there is an amazing place that combines the world’s major religions. It is called the Temple of All Religions or the Temple of Seven Religions or the Universal Temple.

The temple combines images of religious buildings of different faiths in an attempt to achieve harmony and peaceful coexistence. Photos by: Anton Petrus.

unique colorful temple

Tags: churches · Kazan city

November 18, 2014, one of the mines of “Uralkali” company, located near the town of Solikamsk in the Perm region, was flooded, all workers were evacuated. A little bit later, a huge sinkhole was found on the territory, occupied by garden plots of local residents. At that time, the hole in the ground had a diameter of 30 meters.

Over the past nine months, the sinkhole greatly expanded and its current size is 120×125 meters. The following photos were taken in August 2015. Solikamsk sinkhole from space.

the sinkhole becomes bigger and bigger

Tags: Perm krai

Karabash is a small town with a population of about 12 thousand people located in the southern Urals, in the Chelyabinsk region, about 90 km from Chelyabinsk. This town is one of the largest copper smelting centers in Russia, known for its severe environmental situation.

Large quantities of pollutants, mainly gases, are generated during the production of copper from copper ore. All these gases were being released into the atmosphere without cleaning for decades.

the place of ecological disaster

Tags: Chelyabinsk oblast

Let’s go into a little trip to the mountains of the Itum-Kalinsky district of Chechnya. The southernmost district of the republic, it is rich in historical and natural monuments.

The district occupies an area of 2000 square kilometers, the population is about 6,000 people. The distance to Grozny, the capital city of Chechnya, is about 78 km. In the south, this district is bordered by Georgia. Photos by: Timur Agirov.

To the mountains!

Tags: Chechnya Republic

Tsarskoye Selo is a museum-reserve located in Pushkin town, part of St. Petersburg. It includes a palace and park ensemble of the 18th-19th centuries, the former imperial country residence.

In the center of the Catherine’s Park, which is part of the museum-reserve, you can see the beautiful body of water called the Bolshoy (Great) Pond. Photos by: Yuri Yuhanson.

the sights of the Great Pond

Tags: Saint Petersburg city