Moscow is the largest city in Russia and Europe as well as one of the largest cities in the world. The city is one of the largest cultural and tourist centers of Europe and the world.

There are a lot of places of interest in Moscow – various historical, cultural and architectural sites: the Kremlin, Bolshoi Theater, A.S.Pushkin Fine Arts Museum, Tretyakov Gallery, Novodevichy monastery, Kolomenskoye estate, Shuhovskaya and Ostankino towers, etc.

Tags: Moscow city · time-lapse

The following unique bird’s eye views of Grozny city at night time were taken by timag82. The scenery is really beautiful but the second thought is the amount of funds spent to construct all these buildings even without taking into account possible significant corruption component.

Some think that as the city was destroyed during the war the federal center had to rebuild Grozny from ruins. Others believe that the funding level is too high especially comparing to the central regions of Russia.

(more…)

Tags: bird's eye views · Grozny city

The museum, located in the small town of Verkhnaya (Upper) Pyshma (about 1 km north of Yekaterinburg) is one of the most interesting museums of military vehicles, not only in the Urals, but throughout Russia.

Rare examples of armored vehicles of the Second World War in surprisingly good condition, as well as continued expansion of the exposition make the museum a truly unique destination for fans of history and technology, as well as for everyone else too. The entrance is free.

(more…)

Tags: Ekaterinburg city · museum

The following video was captured during the helicopter tour (Mi-8) of Saint Petersburg. You can see the beauty of this city known for its architecture, straight streets, large squares, gardens and parks, rivers and numerous canals, embankments, bridges, and monuments.

There are captions that help to identify several sights but unfortunately they are shaking because of YouTube stabilization feature.

Tags: Saint Petersburg city

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

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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

(more…)

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.

(more…)

Tags: Russian Empire