After a productive working week, you also want to have a productive rest. This article is dedicated to all those who cannot imagine their vacation without the word “active”. Finnish Ninja Sports betting understands not only gambling but also knows how and where to recharge and have a good time offline.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the fascinating places of the Leningrad Region, where you can spend an informative weekend. We are not talking about the world-famous Peterhof or the Catherine Palace, which of course are recommended for visiting, but less famous, but in spite of this, no less interesting places.

Photo by: Olga Sadrova.

explore the Leningrad region

Tags: Leningrad oblast · Saint Petersburg city

Even though Russia is no longer led by kings and queens, its royal sites can give other European monarchies a run for their money. The country has its fair share of royal cultural sites.

Are you wondering where to start? Here are several royal places that you can tour.

magnificent royal palaces

Tags: Saint Petersburg city

Carl Oswald Bulla or Karl Karlovich Bulla (1855-1929), a portraitist and master of documentary photography, was the owner of a photo studio in St. Petersburg. He became known as “the father of Russian photo reporting.”

In 1886, he received from the Ministry of Internal Affairs “permission to carry out all kinds of photographic work outside his home, such as: on the streets, apartments and in the vicinity of St. Petersburg.” In 1897, Karl Bulla’s photographs began to be published in the popular magazine “Niva”. Since that time, his name became known throughout the Russian Empire.

In total, his legacy is about 230 thousand photographs of the late 19th – early 20th centuries. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Tsarskoselsky (Vitebsky) railway station in St. Petersburg.

unique photos of the Russian Empire

Tags: Russian Empire · Saint Petersburg city

The cultural capital of Russia has so much to offer that more than 8 million people visited the city in 2017, and the numbers are growing. Some choose St. Petersburg as the first stop of their Russian holiday and only have time to visit the most iconic buildings and monuments of St. Petersburg, others decide to dedicate some time to explore the less-touristy spots in the city.

To encourage and facilitate international tourism, the Russian government has even launched a new electronic visa system that will allow foreign travelers to apply for an eVisa for St. Petersburg entirely online before leaving for Russia. There has really never been a better time to visit St. Petersburg.

short guide to the second capital of Russia

Tags: Saint Petersburg city

On the Russian coat of arms, you can see the image of a two-headed eagle. However, in Russia, one can meet eagles with three heads, legs and wings. Especially often you can see them in the former capital of the country – St. Petersburg.

The fact is that the symbol of Russia is often placed on the highest points – spiers and roofs. If you install a two-headed eagle, then from many angles it will look quite different from the coat of arms. Therefore, an eagle with three heads, wings, and legs was designed (angled at 120 °). From a distance these eagles from any point seem to be two-headed as on the coat of arms. Photos by: Alexander Nikulin.

unique Russian eagles

Tags: Saint Petersburg city

Oleg Dmitriyevich Kononenko is the 102nd cosmonaut of Russia and the 473rd cosmonaut of the world. As of April 2019, he is on the International Space Station and during the three previous flights he already spent 533 days in space.

From the ISS, he took a lot of photographs of various regions of the Earth. Let’s see how the cities of Russia look at night from orbit. Source: Roscosmos.

Moscow – the capital of Russia.

Russian cities from space

Tags: Angarsk city · Astrakhan city · Grozny city · Irkutsk city · Krasnodar city · Moscow city · Novorossiysk city · Orenburg city · Saint Petersburg city · Samara city · Saratov city · Tolyatti city · Tver city · Vladivostok city · Volgograd city

The following book “Anti-Religious Alphabet” was published in Leningrad in 1933. The author of the pictures was Mikhail Mikhailovich Cheremnykh (1890-1962) – a Soviet graphic artist, cartoonist, book illustrator.

Each word in the poetic phrases accompanying the pictures begins with the corresponding letter of the Russian alphabet. Translation gives just a general meaning of these short phrases, but of course, if you know Russian, then this historical document is especially interesting. However, the illustrations themselves give some insight into the attitude to religion during the first decades of the Soviet regime. Source

1. Anti-Religious Alphabet.

godless ABC

Tags: propaganda · Saint Petersburg city · Soviet past

Ivan Alekseevich Vladimirov (1869-1947), a Russian painter and draftsman, became known as the artist of the realistic school of painting.

In 1917-1918, he worked in the Petrograd militia. This experience helped him to create a unique cycle of documentary sketches of the events of these years. Source: humus.

1. 1917. Dismantling of imperial coats of arms (Down with the eagles!). The signs on the building – Drugstore. February.

turning point in the history of Russia

Tags: Saint Petersburg city · Soviet past

“Grand Maket Rossiya”, a private museum located in St. Petersburg (Tsvetochnaya Street, 16), is a 1:87 scale model layout with a total area of 800 square meters, where typical scenes from life of different regions of the Russian Federation are combined.

This is the largest model layout in Russia and the second largest in the world (after Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany). It is very detailed, let’s look only at some of the presented mini-plots. Grand Maket Rossiya on Google Maps. Photos by: Stanislav Konstantinov.

amazing mini Russia

Tags: museum · Saint Petersburg city

The Lakhta Center, being built in the historical part of the Primorsky district of St. Petersburg, is a public and business complex that will house the headquarters of Gazprom, one of the world’s largest energy companies.

It is planned to finish the construction in Q3 2018. This skyscraper has already become the most northern in the world, the highest in Russia and Europe (462 meters). The Lakhta Center on Google Maps. Photos by: Valery Gikavy.

Saint Petersburg from above

Tags: Saint Petersburg city