Western European Russia
This gorgeous mustard-coloured building is home to a range of different galleries over two floors, covering natural and local history. Displays include…
Must-see attractions in Western European Russia
Western European Russia
Local wags have it that the writer – celebrated here in a huge statue of him walking – was on his way to the vodka factory that was once housed in the…
Western European Russia
A stroll around this modern glass-ceilinged food market is a good way to while away some time. Check out spices, fresh produce, Russian cakes, dairy and…
IN Kramskoy Regional Fine Arts Museum
Western European Russia
Reached through a passage leading into a courtyard, this excellent regional arts museum offers up a solid collection of Russian painting and sculpture,…
All-Russian Museum of History and Ethnography
Western European Russia
Worthwhile museum covering the history of the region with some great dioramas of a living room and a picnic in a forest. Other displays include frescoes,…
Western European Russia
Located at the estate of Flyonovo, this ornately decorative wooden house, covered with peasant-style carving, is now a folk-art museum with a lot of…
Western European Russia
The five burnished gold onion domes of this 18th-century cathedral rise over the ramparts of Tula's kremlin.
Western European Russia
Sitting on the banks of the Polist River is this gorgeously restored 17th-century cathedral painted in red.
Orlovskoye Polesye National Park
Western European Russia
Orlovskoye Polesye, 85km northwest of Oryol, is a placid slice of taiga, with over 360 sq km of thick forest, lakes and wildflower-dotted grasslands. It's…
Western European Russia
In this interactive museum split between two buildings, kids will get a kick out of the Stone Age and Bronze Age finds from the Tula area, including…
Western European Russia
‘To take one’s own samovar to Tula’ is a Russian idiom coined by Anton Chekhov, denoting a pointless activity. Local production of this essential part of…
Western European Russia
This old-fashioned train station was where Tolstoy set off for his final journey in 1910. It’s now maintained as a one-room museum by a charming bunch of…
Western European Russia
Turgenev’s estate, Spasskoe-Lutovinovo, may be the literary mecca around these parts, but not to be outdone, Oryol has this museum filled with old photos…
Western European Russia
This 17th-century stone building once held the administrative chambers of Pskov. Today it houses a small museum that gives some insight into the workings…
Western European Russia
There are fine views across town from this restored early-19th-century hilltop monastery. The white steeple and gold-domed church are easily recognisable…
Western European Russia
Author and journalist Nikolai Leskov (1831–95), who wrote the book on which the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk is based, is remembered at this museum. It's…
Western European Russia
Mirozhsky Monastery sits on the riverbank at the confluence of the rivers Velikaya and Mirozhka, where it gets its name from. The highlight of this 12th…
Church of the Holy Martyr Mina
Western European Russia
If you like your churches photogenically abandoned, this one's for you. Legend has it that in the 17th century, Swedish invaders sought refuge in the…
Western European Russia
The kremlin branch of the Arms Museum hosts temporary exhibitions displaying military weaponry from around the globe and spanning different wars…
Western European Russia
The writer, poet and 1933 Nobel laureate Ivan Bunin (1870–1953) spent some of his childhood in Yelets, studying at the town’s gymnasium. This small museum…
Western European Russia
Russia’s third-largest working church, this handsome 97m-high structure was built in Russo-Byzantine style in the late 19th century. Outside stands a…
Western European Russia
Housed in an attractive whitewashed 12th-century monastery, this museum offers the usual historical displays and religious relics, including some…
Western European Russia
There's an amusement park (аттракционы) at the northeastern end of this leafy riverside park and a statue of the Russian novelist, Ivan Turgenev. You can…
Goldwork Embroidery Museum and Factory
Western European Russia
Torzhok is famous for its stunning gold-wire embroidery, found in artwork, insignia and royal clothing. There are exquisite displays at this museum,…
Western European Russia
Housed in a grey-painted 18th-century wooden building, this museum contains various exhibits relating to Russia's ubiquitous Pushkin. On display you'll…
Western European Russia
Named after an early Pskov prince (also known as Daumantas, who ruled the independent city between 1266 and 1299), the preserved foundations of a dozen or…
St Alexey of Akatov Women’s Monastery
Western European Russia
This out-of-the-way restored nunnery, founded in 1674, is near the river on lovely grounds, which include a tiny graveyard surrounded by colourful,…
Western European Russia
This attractive, working church overlooking the Pskova River was built in 1494 and includes a separately standing five-column belfry – its open gables and…
In the World of Fairytales Museum
Western European Russia
One for the kids, where they've smashed the boring don't-touch rules. It's a small creative space with activities and interactive exhibits based on…
Western European Russia
Inside this cottage, the birthplace of writer and dramatist Leonid Andreev, there is a beautiful piano and examples of Andreev’s art and photography: he…
Western European Russia
This jewel-box of a church stands near a cluster of photogenic late-17th- and early-18th-century wooden houses. Follow the road from the church to the…
Western European Russia
This museum houses displays of local archaeological finds and explanations, in Russian, of the town’s rich history. The museum website has information on…
Western European Russia
Successful Soviet composer Tikhon Khrennikov grew up and first studied music in this rust-red wooden house. Original furniture, photos and artefacts are…
Western European Russia
Built during the early 1900s, this inventive piece of religious architecture has distinctly modernist, art nouveau flair, with an exotically tiled…
Western European Russia
This witch-hatted tower offers incredible city views from its fourth tier; a small museum (open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Sunday; admission R80) on the 3rd…
Western European Russia
This local museum is housed in the bell tower of the handsome Trinity Cathedral. Apart from local insights, the place offers superb views of the lake and…
Western European Russia
Inside the City Park of Culture & Rest you'll find this statue dedicated to the famous writer Turgenev, who was born in Oryol in 1818.
Western European Russia
Constructed in 1955, the exterior of this building is decorated with busts of famous writers and thinkers, including Lenin and Marx on the corner - now…
Western European Russia
This handsome little neoclassical building hosts temporary Dostoevsky-centric exhibitions, as well as exhibitions of Russian artists, and events dedicated…
Western European Russia
At 50m tall and with a 90m diameter, this is the tallest tower of Pskov's 15th- to 16th-century Outer Town in the kremlin complex.
![Western Siberian Eagle Owl [Bubo Bubo Sibericus] in full flight](https://lp-cms-production.imgix.net/2019-06/531770715_high.jpg?fit=crop&w=360&ar=1%3A1&auto=format&q=75)
