Nizhny Novgorod
Squat Dmitry Tower, topped in green, is the main entrance to the kremlin and is visible for the length of pedestrianised Bolshaya Pokrovskaya ul. The…
Must-see attractions in Volga Region
House of Zinaida Ushkova/Tatarstan National Library
Kazan
This small but extraordinary library dates from the early years of the 20th century, when several mid-19th-century houses were united and restyled to give…
Volga Region
The Repin Museum in Shiryaevo, north of Samara, has a nice selection of Volga River paintings, including some Repin reproductions. The appeal lies less in…
Children’s Museum at the Merchants
Nizhny Novgorod
This replica of a 19th-century schoolroom offers classes in the making of Gorodets-style animal-shaped clay penny whistles. The permanent exhibition…
Kazan
This impressive bell tower, standing some 74m high, is visible all along the pedestrian promenade of ul Baumana. The tower dates from the late 19th…
Volga Region
This is the main branch of the city’s Fine Arts Museum. It contains a good selection from the 18th to the 20th centuries, including some breathtaking…
Kazan
The 59m-high leaning Syuyumbike Tower dates from the early 18th century and is the subject of one of the most romantic of Kazan’s legends.
Nizhny Novgorod
This museum re-creates the atmosphere of the 19th century. The countess Panina was the last of the residents in the mansion, where the mainstay is a large…
Tatarstan Museum of Natural History
Kazan
About a dozen rooms here tell the story of the planets, geology and minerals, and the development of life forms on earth. The most interesting sections…
Volga Region
This private gallery is excellent for viewing (and purchasing) works by the best of the Volga region artists in regular exhibitions. Check the website for…
Kazan
Located inside the former cadet school building, the Hermitage Kazan has top-flight rotating exhibitions, many of them from the collection of St…
Astrakhan
Located inside the guardhouse from 1807, this museum gives quite a good insight into the everyday life of soldiers in 19th-century Astrakhan.
Kazan
This is Kazan’s most attractive Orthodox church, built between 1723 and 1726 to commemorate Peter the Great’s visit in 1722.
Nizhny Novgorod
The largest collection of tea-making equipment in Russia, with around 500 samovars on display in various styles and sizes.
Volga Region
Fans of chess will want to visit a small suburb that Kalmyk leader Kirsan Ilyumzhinov had hoped to make the world's chess capital. There's a nearly…
Volgograd
Built in 1952, the Volga-Don Canal is the grandiose gateway of an aquatic avenue that now connects the White and the Black Seas via the Volga and Don…
Volga Region
Geden Sheddup Goichorling, 6km north of the centre, is the oldest khurul in Kalmykia and consists of a lavishly decorated large temple from 1996 and a…
Museum of Volga People’s Architecture & Culture
Nizhny Novgorod
The open-air Museum of Volga People’s Architecture & Culture has a pleasant woodland setting and a collection of traditional wooden buildings from Russian…
Volga Region
Housed in the landmark Engineer Klodt’s House (Дом инженера Клодта), which resembles a fairy-tale castle and contains a collection of children’s art and…
Saratov Regional History Museum
Volga Region
The Regional Museum is located in the ancestral house of British actor Peter Ustinov, who was descended from a local merchant’s family. There’s an…
Astrakhan
The Kryusha Quarter is the location of the sprawling German Lutheran church and associated school and parsonage. The complex dates from the end of the…
Astrakhan
The Local Studies Museum functions as both a natural history and ethnographic museum, with permanent exhibitions dedicated to local wildlife and fish as…
Astrakhan
The striking white mosque, with gleaming blue domes, looks straight out of the Mediterranean. The structure is the oldest mosque in the city and dates…
Museum of Fire Fighting in Simbirsk-Ulyanovsk
Volga Region
This small museum traces the history of firefighting in Simbirsk and modern Ulyanovsk. The town's most serious fire was in 1864, ushering in the era of…
Nizhny Novgorod
Set at the foot of attractive parkland, the 13th-century Annunciation Monastery, above Chernigovskaya ul, is one of Nizhny Novgorod's oldest buildings…
Kazan
This striking bronze figure of a man tearing barbed wire is at the entrance to the kremlin and was erected to honour the Tatar poet who was executed by…
Volga Region
The striking Exodus & Return Memorial is located about 3km east of the centre on the far end of ul Khrushcheva. The work, by sculptor Ernst Neizvestny,…
Volga Region
Situated in the New Town (Novy Gorod), or Avtozavodskiy rayon, and opposite the VAZ plant that makes Ladas, this museum has a vast collection of mostly…
Kazan
The Nurullah mosque, one of the most historic of the 41 surviving mosques in Kazan, has been rebuilt several times since 1849. A shop sells Islamic…
Volga Region
Impressive collection of Russian art from the 18th to the 20th centuries, as well as works by lesser Western European masters, icon paintings, portraits,…
Kazan
The Soltanov mosque, dating from 1867, is located near the central market in the Tatar quarter of town. The colourful interior has a rustic feel. Remove…
Museum of the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese
Nizhny Novgorod
Located inside the Pechorsky Monastery, this small museum has a moving exhibition on Bolshevik repressions against the church and a floor with changing…
Astrakhan
This striking 'red' mosque dates from the 19th century and is notable primarily for the vertical minaret above the main entrance. It's sometimes referred…
Cathedral of the Archangel Michael
Nizhny Novgorod
This small church within the kremlin walls is the oldest surviving building inside the complex. It dates from the middle of the 16th century and it was…
Nizhny Novgorod
Exhibits on the history of Gorodets and the region include the Virgin of Feodorovo icon – a curious three-dimensional depiction of Jesus creating a…
Astrakhan
The Black Mosque was erected by Bukhara merchants in 1816 and destroyed by the Bolsheviks in 1939; it is currently being rebuilt from the remaining ruins.
Astrakhan
Come here for a small collection of portraits, drawings and personal objects from this futurist poet, who lived from 1885 to 1922.
Astrakhan
The smaller of two cathedrals within the kremlin compound. It was closed for long-term restoration at the time of research.
Astrakhan
The artillery yard and museum has an interesting collection of historic weapons and a mock izba (Russian cottage).
![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)
