Alexander Zavaly is a Russian painter, illustrator and stage designer with more than 500 works living in Gelendzhik (Krasnodar region). A lot of his works are included in the collections of national museums, private galleries, both in Russia and abroad.

We would like to present to you a series of his works named “Epical cats”. This series triggers mixed feelings in Russians. You can make your own opinion by looking at these pictures.

heroic Russian cats

Tags: Krasnodar krai

Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power plant named after P.S. Neporozhny is the largest by installed capacity (6400 MW) power plant in Russia, the 7th largest hydroelectric power plant in the world.

The station is located on the Yenisei River, on the border between Khakassia Republic and Krasnoyarsk Krai, near the village of Cheryomushki, close to Sayanogorsk. Photos by Vadim Makhorov

more photos of the station

Tags: Khakassia republic

The population of the Russian Empire for a period of two centuries of its existence was multinational. In 1917, the country had more than 100 nations, not counting the small ethnic groups.

The Slavic peoples (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, Bulgarians and others) accounted for about 75% of the population. In 1913, the total population of the country was about 174 million people; 24.5 million lived in the cities.

more historical photos

Tags: Russian Empire

Lena Pillars is a geological formation and nature park of the same name located on the banks of the Lena River in Yakutia, about 104 km from the town of Pokrovsky. It is a complex of vertically elongated rocks up to 100 meters height piled along the banks of the Lena River.

The total area of the park is 485 thousand hectares, the main goal – the development of ecological tourism. Lena Pillars are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Lena Pillars location on Google Maps. Photos by Sergey Dolya

look at the bizarre rocks

Tags: Sakha Republic

If you want to understand better the “mysterious Russian soul”, then, you’ll probably be interested in the following article about Russians attitude to adultery, white lie, theft at work, sex without love, evasion of taxes, etc.

Tags: No tags

Great mosque of St. Petersburg, constructed in a stylized form of Samarkand and Cairo schools of architecture, was opened in 1913. The length of the mosque – 45 meters, width – 32 m, height of the main dome – 39 m, height of minarets – 48 m, capacity – 5000 people.

Non-Muslims can visit the mosque during a tour “The East Face of St. Petersburg” organized by the State Museum of the History of Religion. The rest of the time access to the mosque is closed to non-Muslims.

enjoy the beautiful architecture

Tags: Saint Petersburg city

Earlier this year, Russia’s largest airline “Aeroflot” announced a contest “Paint the plane of Aeroflot.” The contest was announced in honor of the 90th anniversary of the company and it was open to everybody.

The winner of the contest was the project of Alexander Sosnovsky, who suggested to paint the plane in the style of Russian folk painting Khokhloma. You can see his design on the picture below.

first photos of repainted aircraft

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“Alye Parusa” (“Scarlet Sails”) is an All-Russian party of school graduates celebrated in St. Petersburg, usually on Saturday closest to the shortest white night. This year’s celebration was held on the night of June 23-24.

The celebration is carried out in two stages: a big concert with elements of theatrical performance at the Dvortsovaya Square and Vasilievsky Island, and Grand light and pyrotechnic multimedia show on the Neva River. Photos by Petr Ushanov

enjoy the beautiful show

Tags: Saint Petersburg city

Forests in Moscow region hide a lot of various abandoned buildings and structures. Some buildings are in ruins, but others are hardly affected by time.

Most often you can find abandoned military facilities, academic institutions, and summer camps. In the latter, usually, you can’t see anything unusual, but not in this case. On the territory of one summer camp the following collection of retro cars has been found. Photos by saoirse_2010

explore the abandoned camp

Tags: Abandoned · Moskovskaya oblast

A few hours are left until the opening ceremony of the 27th World Student University Games (Universiade) in Kazan. The event will start at 19:40 CET (Central European Time) on the largest sports facility of the city – football stadium “Kazan-Arena”.

More than 350 sets of medals in 27 sports will be awarded at the Universiade. The competitions will last until July 17. Athletes from 170 countries will take part in the Games.

support the athletes at the Universiade

Tags: Kazan city