Goldwork Embroidery Museum and Factory
Western European Russia
Torzhok is famous for its stunning gold-wire embroidery, found in artwork, insignia and royal clothing. There are exquisite displays at this museum,…
Goldwork Embroidery Museum and Factory
Western European Russia
Torzhok is famous for its stunning gold-wire embroidery, found in artwork, insignia and royal clothing. There are exquisite displays at this museum,…
House-Museum of 19th- & 20th-Century History
Western Siberia
This museum contains artefacts from Tyumen’s past and is housed in the city’s finest carved cottage. The best way to experience the museum is by taking…
Western European Russia
Housed in a grey-painted 18th-century wooden building, this museum contains various exhibits relating to Russia's ubiquitous Pushkin. On display you'll…
Western European Russia
Named after an early Pskov prince (also known as Daumantas, who ruled the independent city between 1266 and 1299), the preserved foundations of a dozen or…
Yakutsk
Despite its rather exciting-sounding name, this one-room museum is rather a let-down due to its total lack of signage in English. On the plus side, there…
Northern European Russia
Ever wondered why you never got that bike for Christmas? You were probably sending your Santa letters to the North Pole instead of to this adorable log…
St Alexey of Akatov Women’s Monastery
Western European Russia
This out-of-the-way restored nunnery, founded in 1674, is near the river on lovely grounds, which include a tiny graveyard surrounded by colourful,…
Northern European Russia
One of Vologda's more unusual sights, this bronze monument depicts a dog doing what dogs habitually do when they encounter a lamppost. Although the…
St Petersburg
This major draw bridge, connecting Palace Sq to Vasilyevsky Island, was completed in 1916. The embankment near here is one of the most popular spots to…
Western Siberia
At the eerie 1855 Tyuremny Zamok you can get a sense of the grim life behind bars in both Tsarist and Soviet times. The Tsarist exiles were temporarily…
Vladivostok
This Soviet battery, now a military museum, was built in 1933–34 and housed 75 soldiers at its peak. Underground you can explore the guts of the battery,…
St Petersburg
According to legend Kamenny Island was the site where Peter the Great planted an oak tree, which stood proudly over many years. The old oak, however, died…
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Yes, there are beaches in Kamchatka too, and this one has gorgeous views of the bay and the distant snow-covered mountains, though it's unlikely you'll…
Western European Russia
This attractive, working church overlooking the Pskova River was built in 1494 and includes a separately standing five-column belfry – its open gables and…
Vladivostok
On the site of an old artillery battery overlooking Sportivnaya Harbour, this museum has cannons outside, a six-room indoor exhibit of photos and many,…
In the World of Fairytales Museum
Western European Russia
One for the kids, where they've smashed the boring don't-touch rules. It's a small creative space with activities and interactive exhibits based on…
Western Siberia
Take a stroll in the City Park (Svetnoi Bulvar) with all the students, new mums and roller skaters. If you get peckish, grab a snack from one of the many…
Western Siberia
The massive Assumption Cathedral was rebuilt after the collapse of the USSR. The Lenin statue that stood nearby was removed in the 2000s – rumour has it a…
St Petersburg
The Red Banner Textile Factory is a grand relic of Soviet constructivist architecture. Street artists have commandeered walls around the abandoned…
St Petersburg
Karl Bulla (1853–1929) was one of the city's most famous photographers and is immortalised in this life-sized statue. Around the corner, his rooftop…
Memorial to the Victims of Totalitarianism
Moscow
This humble memorial stands in the little garden south of the notorious Lubyanka Prison. The single stone slab comes from an infamous 1930s labour camp…
Western European Russia
Inside this cottage, the birthplace of writer and dramatist Leonid Andreev, there is a beautiful piano and examples of Andreev’s art and photography: he…
St Petersburg
The last neoclassical palace constructed in St Petersburg, the Mariinsky Palace (not to be confused with the theatre) was built between 1839 and 1844…
Sakhalin Island
This museum has a modest permanent collection of pre-Soviet Russian oil paintings and Korean and Japanese textiles upstairs, and changing exhibits…
Western European Russia
This jewel-box of a church stands near a cluster of photogenic late-17th- and early-18th-century wooden houses. Follow the road from the church to the…
Western Siberia
The attractive Archangel Mikhail Church has a colourfully restored interior. The character of Tatiana Larina in Pushkin’s epic Eugene Onegin is said to…
Western European Russia
This museum houses displays of local archaeological finds and explanations, in Russian, of the town’s rich history. The museum website has information on…
Western European Russia
Successful Soviet composer Tikhon Khrennikov grew up and first studied music in this rust-red wooden house. Original furniture, photos and artefacts are…
Vladivostok
Vladivostok’s main art museum on Partizansky pr has long been under renovation and shows no sign of reopening any time soon. In the meantime, some of its…
Moscow
A huge, 330-hectare swath of parkland, the Botanical Gardens has not yet been touched by the renovations that have transformed other parks in Moscow. But…
Vladivostok
This charming harbour is a lovely place to wander along the seafront and is a popular place for locals on the warm summer nights. Its walkway extends some…
Church of the Saviour Not Made by Human Hand
St Petersburg
On the north side of Stables Sq, this church – named after a legendary Byzantine icon – is where Pushkin's funeral service was held in 1837. The square…
Northern European Russia
A remarkable and somewhat creepy collection of handmade creations by one of Russia’s foremost puppet mistresses. Storybook heroes, mythological creatures…
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Petropavlovsk's most charming spot for a walk, this thickly wooded hill is in the centre of the city between the harbour and the lake. There are numerous…
St Petersburg
Marked by four domed, stone pavilions at each of its corners, this attractive draw bridge is one of the last examples in the city of what used to be a far…
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
As Lenin statues go (and there are still around 1800 in Russia still standing), this is an impressive one, with the revolutionary leader in a dramatic…
Western Siberia
To the right of Selskhoz Academy (Сельсхоз Академия), this monument is dedicated to locals who died during battles against the Western-backed White Army…
Western European Russia
Built during the early 1900s, this inventive piece of religious architecture has distinctly modernist, art nouveau flair, with an exotically tiled…
Moscow
Formerly the estate kitchen, this outpost now contains a small exhibit of folk art. Built in 1870, the building originally served as living quarters for…
Sakhalin Island
This attractive statue of Anton Chekhov, whose visit to Sakhalin in the late 19th century put the little-known penal colony on the map, shows the great…