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Surikov Museum
The Surikov Museum-Estate preserves the house, sheds and vegetable patch of 19th-century painter Vasily Surikov (1848–1916). The heavy-gated garden forms a refreshing oasis of rural Siberia right in the city centre. More of Surikov’s work is on show at the old-school Surikov Art Mu
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Pavlovsky Park
Charles Cameron was commissioned to design the future tsar Paul I’s palace and the beautiful surrounding Pavlovsky Park , with woodland, rivers, lakes, tree-lined avenues, classical statues and temples. A delightful place to wander around at any time of year, the park swallows crow
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Riverside Area
Along the Don it’s a pure carnival atmosphere by night, with sizzling shashlyk stands, outdoor discos, karaoke and cranking music. Theres also a statue of And Quiet Flows the Don author Mikhail Sholokhov that depicts the writer gazing thoughtfully at the river that helped make his
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Lace Museum
The sparklingly modern Lace Museum, across the square from the kremlin, patches together some great examples of this archetypal Vologda craft, with fun communist-era examples incorporating tractors, hammer-and-sickle symbols and an intricate piece celebrating Russia’s exploration o
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Bogoyavlensky Cathedral
This fairy-tale ensemble of mini onion domes atop restored salmon, white and green towers first appeared on the Irkutsk skyline in 1718, but during the Soviet decades served as a dormitory and a bakery. The interior is a fragrant riot of aureoled Byzantine saints with no surface le
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Alleya Geroyev
This pleasant park stretching along a narrow ravine is the city’s main promenade and has Elista’s largest concentration of sculptures and Buddhist architecture. Enter by crossing ul Lenina from Hotel Elista and walk east towards the main square, taking in the different monuments al
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Art Department
On the eastern side of the main kremlin courtyard, Muppet-style wooden dolls, lacquered wood items and embroidery briefly grab your attention before the Art Department gets down to business with some truly first-class icons and the remarkable abstract wood carvings of local artist
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Kamchatka Regional Unified Museum
Housed in an attractive half-timbered building overlooking the bay, this museum features an imaginative mix of relics and murals that outline Kamchatka’s history, including dioramas of nomadic herders, old cannonballs and flags, photos of the 1975 Tolbachik eruption and maps showin
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Commandant’s House
This fascinating museum charts the history of the St Petersburg region from medieval times to 1918. What starts as a fairly standard-issue plod through the city’s history really comes alive once you’re upstairs, with modern, interactive exhibits, even though there’s still a lack of
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Vorontsov Palace
Opposite Gostiny Dvor, this palace (1749–57) is another noble town house by Rastrelli. From 1810 it was the most elite military school in the empire and is still used as a military school for young cadets. The palace is occasionally opened for concerts and such, details of which ar
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Labyrinth
If you dont have time to visit the mysterious concentric swirls of stones that cover Bolshoy Zayatsky Island, this accessible, reconstructed example is just five minutes’ walk south of the Solovki Hotel. Take the right woodland path where the track splits in three and the labyrinth
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Chaliapin Dacha Literary Museum
Fyodor Chaliapin, the legendary Russian opera singer, lived in a palatial wood and stained-glass villa near the train station in 1917, which is now this museum. There are lots of photos of him in various roles, plaster ceilings bursting with cherubs and fruit designs, and a lovely
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Tsechenling Datsan
A short walk east along the riverbank from the Centre of Asia Monument stands the white pagoda-style Buddhist temple Tsechenling Datsan. Brightly coloured prayer flags flutter in the breeze outside, but it’s disappointingly plain inside. Theres a basic canteen and a Buddhist souven
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Proval
On the south slope of Mt Mashuk, the Proval natural spring lies hidden inside a cavern. There is a religious icon on the wall inside. Outside, a bronze statue of Ostap Bender, the fictional fraudster who ran a ticket scam here in the popular Soviet-era film and novel The Twelve Cha
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Antique Automobile Museum
If you’re a bit of a car (or Soviet) nerd, the Antique Automobile Museum is an absolute classic. A room full of Sovietmobiles (motorcycles too) from the 1930s to 1970s includes a 1948 M&M-green GAZ-20 ‘Pobeda’ (Victory). Take bus 31 along ul Svetlanskaya and exit after it reach
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Museum of Wooden Architecture & Peasant Life
This open-air museum, illustrating old peasant life in this region of Russia, is a short walk across the river, south of the Kremlin. Besides log houses, windmills, a barn, and lots of tools and handicrafts, its highlights are the 1756 Transfiguration Church and the simpler 1776 Re
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Kuznetzov Regional Museum
The unexpectedly lively Kuznetzov Regional Museum is housed in an early-20th-century mansion. Here you’ll find some pretty interesting local exhibits, including a very thorough examination of the heritage and architectural renaissance of the city and region. There’s a decent cafe o
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Dostoevsky Cultural Centre
This handsome little neoclassical building hosts temporary Dostoevsky-centric exhibitions; you can also arrange Russian-language tours of the town (R500, two hours). From here, its just a short stroll to the gorgeously restored 17th-century Resurrection Cathedral (Воскресенский соб
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FSB Headquarters
The city’s Federal Security Services (FSB) headquarters is worth a peek. The bearded dude in the courtyard is Felix Dzerzhinsky, Cheka (KGB and FSB forerunner) founder. A much larger monument to Iron Felix was torn down in Moscow as the USSR imploded, and he is a very uncommon face
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History Museum
This gorgeous mustard-coloured building is home to a range of different galleries, covering natural and local history.
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