Russia

Places in this region

Image of Lake Karachay located in Ozersk, Russia | An aerial view of Lake Karachay.
Ozersk, Russia

Lake Karachay

Most polluted lake in the world, used as a radioactive dumping ground for years

Lake Karachay (Karachai) is a small lake in the southern Ural mountains of Russia that, between 1951 and 1953, was used as a dumping site for the radioactive waste from the nearby Chelyabinsk-65,... »

Intriguing Environs, Disaster Areas | Edited by Nicholas Jackson

Image of Baikal Seals located in Mys Nizhneye Izgolov'ye, Russia
Mys Nizhneye Izgolov'ye, Russia

Baikal Seals

Some of the world's only freshwater seals live in one very special lake in Russia

Harbour seals, grey seals, elephant seals - these all share a common habitat, the ocean. The Baikal Seals are one of the only seals to live exclusively in freshwater. (The only other species of... »

Natural Wonders, Fascinating Fauna | Edited by M Rebekah Otto, Dylan and others

Image of Chinese Village at Tsarskoe Selo located in Upper Bath, Russia | The Krestovy Bridge
Upper Bath, Russia

Chinese Village at Tsarskoe Selo

A model village fit for an emperor

The palatial complex at Tsarskoe Selo has long held an important position in Russian history. As one of the main countryside retreats of the Tsars, it is located just outside of St. Petersburg... »

Architectural Oddities | Edited by Nathan_Risinger, Nicholas Jackson and others

Image of Fort Zverev located in Kronshtadt, Russia
Kronshtadt, Russia

Fort Zverev

Nightmarish example of the unintended consequences of weapons testing

Built by engineer Konstantin Zverev in the 1870s, Fort Zverev now lies in ruins, with machine gun mounts, bunkers, and water tubes slowly rusting away. But the part of Fort Zverev that feels... »

Disaster Areas, Incredible Ruins, Subterranean Sites | Edited by littlebrumble and Dylan

Image of Lenin's Mausoleum located in Moskva, Russia
Moskva, Russia

Lenin's Mausoleum

Embalmed remains of the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution

Lenin's mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square offers up one of Moscow's most macabre attractions and perhaps the most famous "modern mummy" in the world. Frozen in time, Vladimir Ilych Lenin's... »

Mummies | Edited by stanestane, Tre and 3 others

Image of Star City located in Leonikha, Russia | At Star City's Hydro Lab, an entire mock spacecraft is submerged in a tank filled with water, the density of which helps to recreate the feeling of weightlessness for cosmonauts.
Leonikha, Russia

Star City

Secret Soviet city once home to Russian cosmonauts and space training facilities

Russia's Star City is so named not because it is home to movie stars or pop stars, but to cosmonauts, the heroes of the Soviet and Russian space programs. Today Star City is a sort of space... »

Museums and Collections, Strange Science, Instruments of Science, Retro-Tech | Edited by Trevor and Dylan

Mikhaylovka, Russia

The dead electricity tower at the Volga Bank

Planned for world's largest powerline, which was never completed

In 1978 former Soviet Union started with construction of world's largest and longest powerline, which was planned to transport electricity generated in the coal-fired power stations at Ekibastuz... »

Incredible Ruins | Edited by Alpha

Image of Tunguska Event Epicenter located in Khushma, Russia | Some rare remains of the trees affected by the Tunguska Event
Khushma, Russia

Tunguska Event Epicenter

Site of the largest impact event to occur over land in Earth's recorded history

On June 30, 1908 at 7:17 in the morning, a catastrophic event wreaked havoc on the Podkamennaya Tunguska River basin. Eyewitness accounts from Siberian villagers described a bright blue light... »

Disaster Areas | Edited by Trevor and Dylan

Image of Sutyagin House located in Arkhangel'sk, Russia
Arkhangel'sk, Russia

Sutyagin House

Claimed to be the world's tallest single-family wooden structure house... or better put, one of the most amazing looking structures ever built

Why build it? According to him 'Because he can'... or at least could. The Sutyagin house was a wooden house in Arkhangelsk, Russia. The 13-story, 144-ft tall residence of a local entrepreneur... »

Outsider Architecture | Edited by jamesb, Dylan and others

Image of The Giant Lenin head of Ulan Ude located in Ulan-Ude, Russia
Ulan-Ude, Russia

The Giant Lenin head of Ulan Ude

This massive glowering Lenin head gazes out over eastern Siberia

Every leader leaves behind a of trail of monuments named after them: foundations, schools, statues, and so on. Of course the biggest and the best almost always belonged to the most iron-fisted... »

Unusual Monuments, Strange Statues | Edited by Dylan and Kiri_the_Unicorn

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