One of the notorious Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's many summer retreats.

A model village fit for an emperor.

A tea party concludes each visit to this Russian spice cookie sanctum.

Thousands of biblical and pagan images are carved into this small 12th-century church.

Pictures tacked onto trees remember the more than 40,000 of Stalin's victims buried here in mass graves.

The largest Buddhist city in Europe is a haven for chess fanatics.

A magnificent, Disneyesque chateau built for 150 lucky kindergarteners.

One of the most well-preserved mammoth specimens in the world.

Inside the world's largest seed bank, WWII botanists elected to starve to death rather than compromise their collection.

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

300-year-old villagers houses and traditional churches preserve a nearly lost piece of Russian history.

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

The mummified remains of Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov, Russia's most important Buddhist.

A uniquely authentic display of traditional Russian culture.

The world's tallest statue of a woman wields the world's tallest sword and is at risk of toppling over.

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

Siberian whale bones stand as cairns marking location of an ancient butcher yard.

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

A homemade anatomical collection of medical anomalies and accidental catastrophes.

Church built on the site where the last tsar of Russia and his family were killed.

No one knows why ancient labyrinths were built on this tiny northern island.

This Russian museum stresses the importance of keeping clean and even holds one of Pavlov's dogs.

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

Former prison camp dedicated to the victims of political repression.