Volgograd
Known as Hill 102 during the Battle of Stalingrad, Mamaev Kurgan was the site of four months of fierce fighting and is now a memorial to Soviet fighters…
Must-see attractions in Volga Region
Volga Region
Samara hides a creepy piece of WWII history. This was the place Stalin was to be relocated to in the event that the Germans took Moscow. The never-used…
Nizhny Novgorod
Built on remnants of an earlier settlement, Nizhny Novgorod’s magnificent kremlin dates to 1500–15 when Italian architect Pyotr Fryazin began work on its…
Memorial Apartment of Andrei Sakharov
Nizhny Novgorod
The nondescript flat where dissident scientist Andrei Sakharov, father of Russia's hydrogen bomb, spent seven years in exile after protesting the 1979…
Nizhny Novgorod
This exhibition space is located inside a 19th-century mansion once belonging to the Rukavishnikov merchant family. You can wander through the rooms on…
Nizhny Novgorod
Connecting Nizhny Novgorod with the unattractive settlement of Bor across the Volga, this cable car offers a spectacular 13-minute ride. In winter there…
Astrakhan
The kremlin on top of Zayachy Hill is a peaceful green haven. Its walls and gate towers were built in the 16th century using bricks from the ruins of the…
Kazan
Kazan’s striking kremlin is home to government offices, pleasant parks, museums, the enormous Kul Sharif Mosque and other religious buildings. Among the…
Kazan
Interactive museum dedicated to traditional Tatar food and drink, particularly sweet 'chak-chak', balls of dough that are baked in honey and served on…
Volga Region
Writer Ivan Goncharov grew up in this three-storey house, which today is one of Ulyanovsk's most important museums. It tells the story of the house itself…
Museum Estate of Simbirsk Urban Life in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries
Volga Region
Among the museums dedicated to the historic quarter of town known as old Simbirsk, this is easily the most interesting. It consists of a main museum…
Arsenal/National Centre of Contemporary Art
Nizhny Novgorod
Situated in the former kremlin arsenal, on the right after you enter the main gate, this top-ranking national gallery has changing exhibitions of…
Kazan
Kazan's most unusual museum, packed with Soviet knick-knacks, is proof that Russia's socialist epoch fostered a lively contemporary cultural scene –…
Kazan
The Kul Sharif Mosque was completed in 2005 and is named after the imam who died defending the city against the troops of Ivan the Terrible in 1552. The…
Astrakhan
Dating from 1698–1720, the Assumption Cathedral dominates the kremlin grounds and is decorated inside with attractive frescoes.
Panorama Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad
Volgograd
This enormous museum has eight large display rooms filled with exhibits on WWII and the Battle of Stalingrad. There's little English signage but each room…
Bolgar State Historical-Architectural Museum Reserve
Volga Region
This sprawling museum reserve is located 1km east of the town, with a boat landing directly in front of the large Museum of Bolgar Civilisation (Музей…
Kazan
This assemblage of historic timbered buildings, dating mainly from the 17th and 18th centuries, marks the quarter where ethnic Tatars were forced to live…
Volgograd
This reconciliation cemetery, near the village of Rossoshka, 35km northwest of Volgograd, marks the final resting place of some 20,000 fallen Soviet…
Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni
Volga Region
The Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni, also called the New Khurul, was built in 2005 in the Tibetan style. The prayer hall sports an 11m-high statue of…
Volga Region
Easily the most important cultural attraction in the city, the Samara Art Museum exhibits mainly Russian art, including works by those who came to the…
Volga Region
This beautiful, bright-red temple stands on the city's main intersection and is usually the first sign for visitors that Elista is not your typical…
Volga Region
The highlight of the Engels Regional Museum is not its military hardware, which hammers home the point about what WWII was about (ie defeating Germany),…
Volgograd
An hour by marshrutka from the centre, what is now known as the Krasnoarmeysk district was once the German colony of Sarepta. Today the entire quarter is…
Nizhegorodsky State Art Museum
Nizhny Novgorod
The former governor’s house inside the kremlin houses the Russian collection of the vast Nizhegorodsky State Art Museum. Exhibits range from 14th-century…
Saratov State Museum of Military Glory
Volga Region
This open-air museum filled with tanks, planes and artillery guns from the glory days of WWII is referred to locally as 'Victory Park'. Entrance to the…
Astrakhan
The Kryusha area of former Tatar and Persian suburbs south of the May 1st Canal is still predominantly Muslim, which is reflected in the proliferation of…
National Museum of the Republic of Kalmykia
Volga Region
The modern building of the National Museum, about 2km west of the centre, has eight large rooms covering the history, environment and culture of the…
Museum of Ulyanovsk Architecture
Volga Region
Spread over two houses, this museum contains a wooden model of the 17th-century kremlin at ul Tolstogo 24a, the house that focuses on the 17th to 20th…
Western European Art Collection
Nizhny Novgorod
The Nizhegorodsky State Art Museum's collection of Western European art is exhibited a short walk from the kremlin along Verkhne-Volzhskaya nab, an…
Volga Region
Modest but interesting museum dedicated to art nouveau architecture and design, which set the style tone for the city's wealthy residents in the early…
Kazan
The attractive Annunciation Cathedral, built on on the foundations of a razed eight-minaret mosque, was designed by Postnik Yakovlev, who was also…
Volga Region
This massive memorial centre dedicated to Ulyanovsk’s most famous son is crammed with busts, photos and portraits of Lenin, from his time as a young…
Volga Region
This interesting museum tells the life of the world's first man in space through photos and personal objects. Yuri Gagarin not only lived and studied in…
Astrakhan
The Dogadin State Art Gallery is especially strong on works of Astrakhan-born Boris Kustodiev, who painted lushly coloured semifolkloric scenes of…
Nizhny Novgorod
This 17th-century monastery, overlooking the Volga, is perfect for a tranquil stroll in small but picturesque grounds. It's located about 500m east of the…
Volga Region
According to the plaque on the house, Lenin spent nine years here as a boy and teenager (1878–87). There's little to see inside except some simple…
National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan
Kazan
Opposite the kremlin’s main entrance, the National Museum occupies an ornate 1770 building and has a worthwhile archaeology collection as well as…
Volgograd
Alongside the canal, this small museum tells the story of the canal and gives insight into water transport in Europe. Take marshrutka 15a, 91a, 93a, 93c,…
Volga Region
This pleasant park stretches along a narrow ravine in the centre of the city and serves as the main promenade. It also has Elista’s largest concentration…
![Western Siberian Eagle Owl [Bubo Bubo Sibericus] in full flight](https://lp-cms-production.imgix.net/2019-06/531770715_high.jpg?auto=format&fit=crop&w=360&ar=1:1&q=75)
