The composer did some of his finest work in this country home, including "The Nutcracker."

The Uyghur settlement in the middle of a lake continues to raise questions.

A "station to nowhere" marks the site of a Siberian subway project that never saw the light of day.

For lovers of Soviet cinema, this museum is home to a vast collection of artifacts and costumes.

Volcanic irregularity? Odd erosion? Alien eggs? Local legends compete to explain these strange orbs.

Russia's own leaning tower was built on a tragic historical fable.

The largest Buddhist city in Europe is a haven for chess fanatics.

A magnificent, Disneyesque chateau built for 150 lucky kindergarteners.

An enormous Soviet aircraft, the only one of its kind, stands at the deserted shore of the Caspian Sea.

This burial mound is said to be the final resting place of Russia's first Viking ruler, Oleg of Novogrod.

A self-taught Siberian craftsman creates a fantastical and personal design for his 19th century village house.

Rare documents, old instruments, and gruesome specimens showcase the history of military medicine.

A former military outpost of Ivan the Terrible, the 16th-century church contains some of the rarest examples of Eastern Orthodox mural paintings.

Propped high atop the peak of Mount Gamsutlmeer, this abandoned village is one of the oldest settlements in the region.

A replica of the straw hut where Vladimir Lenin lived in hiding, disguised as a hay farmer, in 1917.

A former special storage facility for documents during the Cold War.

300-year-old villagers houses and traditional churches preserve a nearly lost piece of Russian history.

An abandoned 14th-century castle and prison complex on a small island in the Neva River.

Russian researchers who have been excavating ancient squirrel burrows may have brought a 32,000-year-old plant back to life.

The mummified remains of Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov, Russia's most important Buddhist.

Russia's giant concrete QWERTY keyboard is likely the largest in the world.

An unusual abandoned church damaged in World War II sits in a small village outside Moscow.

The Nazis lost more men trying to take this Russian-held Stalingrad apartment block than they did when taking Paris.

Perhaps the tiniest sculpture in Saint Petersburg is a little bronze finch inspired by a song.