Travel to Russia

Novodevichy Convent

Novodevichy Convent is one of the best known monasteries in Moscow, proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Founded by Grand Prince Vasili III in 1524, it was built as a fortress in commemoration of the conquest of Smolensk in 1514, became an important part of the southern defensive belt. Napoleon's army made an attempt to blow up the convent in 1812, but the convent was saved by the nuns. After being closed down by the Bolsheviks in 1922, transformed into a history and art museum in 1926, the convent went under the authority of the Metropolitan of Krutitsy and Kolomna in 1994.

The Clean Ponds

The Clean Ponds is a large pond located on the Boulevard Ring, formed by a dam on the Rachka River. During the 17th century, the people threw garbage and waste in the river and the ponds, so the water turned out dirty and the ponds got the name of Dirty Ponds. Then, in 1703, the ponds were acquired by Prince Menshikov, who built the Menshikov Tower in the vicinity and had the pond cleaned from garbage and renamed it with its present name.

Gorky Park

Gorky Park is an amusement park in Moscow named after Maxim Gorky, opened in 1928, this park was created by the amalgamation of the extensive gardens of the old Golitsyn Hospital and the Neskuchny Palace, covering an area of 300 acres that includes children’s play areas, fun fairs, various rides, an enormous Ferris wheel, and one of the mockups of the Buran space shuttle program for the kids.

The Garden Ring

The Garden Ring is a circular avenue in the center of Moscow, built through the years, since Moscow was surrounded by a series of fortifications. When the city started to grow beyond the walls, the space between buildings was neatly rearranged into a pleasant avenue consisting of cobblestoned roads and sidewalks, with public gardens and boulevards taking place in the open space. Some sidewalks and pedestrian streets of the Garden Ring are landmarks in Moscow.

St. Isaac's Cathedral

St. Isaac's Cathedral is the largest cathedral in Saint Petersburg, and was the largest church in Russia when it was built with its 101.5m high, dedicated to Saint Isaac of Dalmatia. It took 40 years to construct, under supervision of Auguste de Montferrand, from 1818 to 1858, with a Late Neoclassical rendering of a Byzantine Greek church style.

Winter Palace

The Winter Palace is situated between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square in Saint Petersburg, built from 1754 to 1762, to be the winter residence of the Russian tzars. An impressive green and white Rococo style, with 1.786 doors and 1.945 windows, this palace was designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, and its first imperial occupant was Catherine the Great.

Liteyny Bridge

The Liteyny Bridge is the second permanent bridge that crosses the Neva river in Saint Petersburg, connecting Liteyny Prospekt with the Vyborgsky district, and has 396m in lenght and 34m width. Near this bridge, the Neva river reaches its maximum depth of 24m, and during the White Nights celebration, the bridge is one of the main sights.

Summer Palace

The Summer Palace is the name of 3 Russian royal residences in Saint Petersburg, of which only one survives to the present days, the Summer House. It was designed by Domenico Trezzini, from 1710 to 1714, in a Baroque style, for Tsar Peter the Great. This mansion was intended as an entertainment center, and Peter the Great moved into the mansion still under construction in 1712, spending all his summers there until his death 1725.

White Nights

The White Nights are a phenomenon that occurs on locations above 60 degrees latitude south of the Arctic Circle or north of the Antarctic Circle, this locations experience midnight twilight, with the sun just below the horizon. In St. Petersburg the White Nights have become a symbol, and they occur from about 11 June to 11 July, and in St. Petersburg the last 10 days of June are celebrated with a huge and massive cultural extravaganza, with a wide variety of cultural events.

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour  was the tallest Eastern Orthodox church in the world, situated in Moscow, ordered by Tsar Alexander I as a sign of the last of Napoleon's soldiers leaving Moscow. This site was a memorial of the Russian victory over Napoleon, but after the Revolution the cathedral was chosen by the Soviets as the site for a monument to socialism known as the Palace of Soviets, so the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was dynamited and reduced to rubble. This construction of the Palace of Soviets was interrupted due to a lack of funds, and remained that way until Nikita Khrushchev, who transformed it into a huge public swimming pool.