Kazan is one of the largest cities in Russia with the population over 1 million people. The city attracts a lot of tourists from all over the world. It is the center of Tatar people culture, the capital city of Tatarstan Republic.

Today Kazan looks like one large construction site – the city will host the 27th World Summer Universiade in 2013. Nevertheless the city is looking beautiful especially from bird’s eye view. Photos by Stepanov Slava

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Tags: bird's eye views · Kazan city

Samara is a large Russian city with the population over 1 million people. The city is standing on the banks of the Volga River. During Soviet times it was a city closed to foreigners.

Today Samara is a large economic and cultural center of Volga Federal District. The spaceship of Yury Gagarin “Vostok” was built in Samara.

Tags: Samara city · time-lapse

The second part of the beautiful color photos of the Russian Empire captured by Sergey Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky in the beginning of the 20th century.
First part of the photos.

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Tags: Russian Empire

“Deep blue sea, light white foam” is a Soviet (Armenfilm) animated short captured by Robert Sahakyants in 1984. It is a musical fantasy on the themes of Armenian folk tales.

In spite of an ancient story, the cartoon is full with allusions to the modern realities. It is especially relevant in the contemporary Russian realities where the main values of many people are only money and power.

Tags: cartoon · Soviet past

On the territory of science town Chernogolovka, located about 40 km from Moscow, there is the Military-Technical Museum, dedicated to the history of the civil and military vehicles.

The collection brings together vehicles made in the Soviet Union, Germany, France, USA, Japan and other foreign countries and covers more than 100-year period from the end of the nineteenth century to the present day. Photos by Misha Grizli

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Tags: Moskovskaya oblast · museum

Sergey Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky – Russian photographer, chemist, inventor, publisher, educator, and social activist. He made a significant contribution to the development of photography and cinematography. He was also a pioneer of color photography in Russia.

Prokudin-Gorsky captured in color photographs the Russian Empire of his day; its culture, history, and modernization.

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Tags: Russian Empire

The Day of Russia is celebrated every year since 1992 on the day when the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR (the name of Russia in the USSR) was adopted – June 12. On the same day, in 1991, the first elections of the president of the RSFSR were held. Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia, won the election.

The relation for this holiday in Russia is ambiguous. Some believe it was a negative event that hastened the collapse of the USSR. Also it should be mentioned that the majority of people in Russia don’t even know what this day is about, they just enjoy additional day off.

Tags: Moscow city

Ingushetia Republic is located in the northern part of Big Caucasus range, part of North Caucasus Federal District. The length of the region from north to south is 144 km, from west to east – 72 km.

The northern part of the region has steppe terrain, the southern – the mountainous terrain, which consists of ridges separated by valleys and gorges (the Caucasus Mountains). The highest point of the region is Mount Shan (4500 meters). Ingushetia is known for its tower buildings – historical and architectural monuments. Photos by timag82

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Tags: Ingushetia Republic

While the majority of people in Russia enjoy warm summer weather with temperatures ranging from +10 to +30 degrees Celsius, there are places where the rivers has yet to be opened from the winter ice.

For example, this video was shot on June 3 this year, on the Yenisei River in the small town of Dudinka (24,000 people) located in the north of Krasnoyarsk krai. The town is a seaport in the lower reaches of the Yenisei River, the largest in Siberia.

Tags: Krasnoyarsk krai · Siberia

The branch of the Novgorod State Museum-Reserve “Vitoslavlitsy” is located near Yuriev Monastery (about 5 km from Veliky Novgorod), on the shores of Lake Myachino.

Various wooden buildings (churches, peasants houses, mills, barns, etc.) that have architectural and historical value are moved here from all the districts of Novgorod oblast. At the present time around 30 buildings are gathered in the museum.

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Tags: museum · Novgorod oblast