There is an abandoned village Ostashevo in Chuhlomskoy district of Kostroma oblast and 100 meters to the east this wooden wonder is standing. The building is an old two-storey house with a tower, full of various carved decoration.

The house was probably built by industrialist Markov at the end of the 19th century. It was his suburban villa (dacha). According to the other version St. Petersburg contractor M.S. Sazonov built this house for his second wife E.A. Dobrovolskaya. Photos by Denis Frantsouzov.

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Tags: Abandoned · Kostroma oblast

Catherine’s Palace is the former imperial palace, one of the largest in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg. The palace is located in the town of Pushkin (formerly Tsarskoye Selo), 25 km south of St. Petersburg.

The architectural trends of each era the palace survived, and personal predilections of Russian rulers of the time were reflected in the history and architecture of the palace. The palace was built in 1717 under the direction of German architect Johann Friedrich Braunshtein as the summer residence of Empress Catherine I.

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Tags: Leningrad oblast · Saint Petersburg city

Ekaterinburg (from 1942 till 1991 – Sverdlovsk) is the fourth largest city in Russia (after Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and Novosibirsk), an administrative center of Sverdlovsk oblast.

The city is one of the largest financial and business centers in Russia, offices of transnational corporations are located here as well as representations of foreign companies, a great number of federal and regional financial institutions.

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Tags: bird's eye views · Ekaterinburg city

Saratov region (oblast) is located in the southeastern part of European Russia. Main river of the region is Volga dividing the region into two parts.

Saratov oblast is traditionally an agricultural region. The oblast is the 10th among Russian regions in the amount of agricultural product. The specific feature of the region is a great number of farmers having lands under crops.

The following video showing the beautiful nature of Saratov region was made by Anton Starikov.

Tags: landscapes · Saratov oblast

Yuriev-Polskiy is one of the oldest towns in Vladimir oblast. This small town with the population of about 19,000 is the part of the Golden Ring of Russia tourist route. Yuriev-Polskiy is located 68 km northwest of Vladimir and 180 km north-east of Moscow.

The town was founded in 1152 by Yuri Dolgoruky. He also ordered to build almost circular stone fort surrounded by an earthen rampart up to 7 meters height. In 1234 in the center of the fortress St. George’s Cathedral was built. It is one of the main attractions of present Yuriev-Polskiy.

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Tags: Vladimir oblast

Soyuz Commander Anton Shkaplerov, NASA Flight Engineer Dan Burbank and Russian Flight Engineer Anatoly Ivanishin launched on the Russian Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft on November 14, 2011, (November 13 in the United States) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to begin a two-day journey to the International Space Station.

Interesting video about the launch and the last preparations.

Tags: No tags

Teriberka is a village located in the Kola district of Murmansk oblast. Kola Peninsula is a peninsula on the north-west of European Russia washed by the Barents and White Seas. The area of the peninsula is about 100 thousand sq. km.

The first mention of the encampment Teriberka was in 1523. At the end of the 19th century it was already a well-developed village with church, lighthouse, hydrometeostation (first on the Murman coast). In 1938 Teriberka received the status of urban settlement.

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Tags: Abandoned · Murmansk oblast

The State Academic Bolshoi Theater of Russia, State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater of Russia, or just the Bolshoi Theater is one of the largest in Russia and one of the most significant opera and ballet theaters in the world. The complex of theater buildings is located in the center of Moscow, at the Teatralnaya (Theater) Square.

July 1, 2005 the theater was closed for the long-planned reconstruction. On Friday, October 28, 2011 after six years of large-scale reconstruction the Bolshoi Theater was reopened.

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Tags: Moscow city

Zaraysk is a small town (23,000 people) located in the Moscow region about 145 km from Moscow. The town was mentioned for the first time in 1146. The main attraction of Zaraysk is the Kremlin constructed in 1528-1531.

It is one of the few towns in Russia which is completely preserved. Walking down the streets of Zaraysk sometimes you have the feeling that you get in a small provincial town of the late 19th century. Photos by Maxim Yashin.

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Tags: Moskovskaya oblast

“Capital City” is a complex of two tall towers named after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and 18-story building connecting them. The construction was started in 2003, but soon was halted after the redesign.

In 2005 the construction was resumed. The complex was completed in late 2009. The tower “Moscow” (301.6 m) is the highest building in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Europe. Photos by Viktor Ulyanov.

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Tags: Moscow city