A monument to the defenders of the Arctic in Murmansk, Russia.

A former military outpost of Ivan the Terrible, the 16th-century church contains some of the rarest examples of Eastern Orthodox mural paintings.

An unusual abandoned church damaged in World War II sits in a small village outside Moscow.

An abandoned 14th-century castle and prison complex on a small island in the Neva River.

Europe's highest peak is a key pillar of the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge.

An art museum inside an active factory.

One of the last examples of Soviet architectural propaganda has a few technological tricks up its sleeve.

What was once the base for Russia's first nature reserve is now a ghost town, right on the shore of Lake Baikal.

Perhaps the tiniest sculpture in Saint Petersburg is a little bronze finch inspired by a song.

This Russian locomotive museum was once devoted just to Lenin's funeral before expanding to encompass Moscow's entire train history.

This newly renovated Soviet-era outdoor exhibition center is bigger than the principality of Monaco.

Monastery, army base, and infamous Soviet Gulag in the far Russian north.

This 15th-century cave complex is one of the very few monasteries to stay open throughout World War II and the Soviet regime.

Former estate of Lenin, now home to his death mask.

A 360 degree battlefield experience.

An abandoned town of skeletal wooden homes.

Some Moscow residents once claimed the bizarre, contorted mass of metal on top of the building was used to manipulate minds.

A city block packed with whimsical sculptures that seem to be plucked from a tiled fantasy world.

A scale model of Russia so big visitors are offered binoculars to rent so they can see the whole thing.

Unusual, mushroom-like rock formations caused by weathering and water erosion, set to disappear, according to geologists.

Former prison camp dedicated to the victims of political repression.

This nostalgic Russian museum is full of USSR cultural artifacts from the 1970s and 80s.

The USSR’s Conquest of Nature lead to the domestication of many moose—no squirrel.

The world's first museum dedicated to the work of game-changing naturalist Charles Darwin.