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

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

An early-20th-century "dacha" village of quaint cottages curiously located in a modern part of Moscow.

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

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

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

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

A man-made island fort that has housed soldiers, scientists, and ravers.

A small part of Russia that does not touch any other part of Russia.

World's largest bell sits on the grounds of the Kremlin in Moscow.

The deepest hole drilled in the name of science, where evidence of Precambrian life was found.

Siberian ghost town built by gulag prisoners.

A Marxist summer camp full of fantastical statues lies tucked away and forgotten in the forests of Moscow.

Moscow's most popular cemetery includes the graves of numerous cosmonauts.

Moscow's imposing monument to the Space Age.

Its front wall is striped with a menagerie of fantastic beasts and magnificent monsters.

Former headquarters of the KGB.

A remote forest of stone pillars along the Lena river.

The past, present, and future of Russia's signature alcohol is remembered in the world's only museum dedicated to the starchy spirit.

The reason for the strange contortions in the trunks of these "drunken" pine trees in Russia is still a mystery.

Abandoned castle was once a grand example of Russian privilege, built exclusively to win a frivolous bet between noblemen.

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

Back in the tiny USSR.

A 250-year-old timepiece-automaton adorned with golden mechanical birds, which still sing to this day.