The oldest museum in Russia is home to a fascinating collection of nearly two million anthropological artifacts and anatomical curiosities.

A 250-year-old timepiece-automaton adorned with golden mechanical birds, which still sing to this day.

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

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

The past, present, and future of Russia's signature alcohol is remembered in the world's only museum dedicated to the starchy spirit.

An 18th century wonder of the world, lost in WWII, re-created at the Catherine Palace.

Palace where the nearly un-killable Rasputin was murdered.

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

Nightmarish example of the unintended consequences of weapons testing.

An abandoned town of skeletal wooden homes.

Stunning examples of Russia's 18th-century wooden architecture.

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

The deepest hole drilled in the name of science, where evidence of Precambrian life was found.

The people murdered during a 17th-century Norwegian witch hunt have been honored with a pair of stark, modern installations.

Collection of nearly 500 concrete figures sculpted by the late Veijo Rönkkönen.

Legend has this precariously placed rock was placed by giants. Science has another explanation.

This trio of stone spires claims to be the only preserved medieval execution site in Europe.

Mysterious craters may have been home to an ancient cult.

A wooden replica of France's famous tower.

This peculiar border irregularity is the only way to legally enter Russia without a visa.

The apartment building where JFK's assassin lived after defecting to the Soviet Union.

This rare collection of human deformities displays fetuses with two faces, one eye, and "mermaid" legs.

A small museum in this border city displays the contraband art that has been stolen back from smugglers.

Thanks to its heroic service during WWII this Soviet castle has been turned into a monument towered over by a brutalist titan.