This massive monument honors the first human in space.

Stalin's secret bunker.

Former estate of Lenin, now home to his death mask.

An abandoned town of skeletal wooden homes.

Some Moscow residents once claimed the bizarre, contorted mass of metal on top of the building was used to manipulate minds.

Stalin's prisoner-built rail line sits in ruin, never having a single car ride its tracks.

Siberian whale bones stand as cairns marking location of an ancient butcher yard.

Gigantic natural towers in a Russian plateau.

A city block packed with whimsical sculptures that seem to be plucked from a tiled fantasy world.

Replica of mosque destroyed by Russia in the 16th century.

The world's tallest statue of a woman wields the world's tallest sword and is at risk of toppling over.

This Russian museum stresses the importance of keeping clean and even holds one of Pavlov's dogs.

Dozens of padlock-trees along the Moscow River.

A scale model of Russia so big visitors are offered binoculars to rent so they can see the whole thing.

Unusual, mushroom-like rock formations caused by weathering and water erosion, set to disappear, according to geologists.

Church built on the site where the last tsar of Russia and his family were killed.

This nostalgic Russian museum is full of USSR cultural artifacts from the 1970s and 80s.

Specimens collected by the author of "Lolita" and self-taught lepidopterist are exhibited in his childhood home.

An ever-growing literary collection housed in the apartment where the Russian author penned his final novel.

Former prison camp dedicated to the victims of political repression.

No one knows why ancient labyrinths were built on this tiny northern island.

The USSR’s Conquest of Nature lead to the domestication of many moose—no squirrel.

This cuddly rodent has a place of honor at a Russian institute for genetic research.

A homemade anatomical collection of medical anomalies and accidental catastrophes.