Russia

"This doesn't feel like Moscow," is a common reaction to Russia's oldest botanical garden, founded by Peter the Great in 1706. Located in the center of the...more

Igor Markin, a businessman who got rich selling refrigerators and manufacturing parts for window blinds, was inspired by the 19th-century philanthropist Pavel...more

After a bad run in the 1990s, when it was overshadowed by St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theater, the Bolshoi is fast regaining its status as one of the best opera...more

Built in honor of Russia's victory over Napoleon in 1812, the original Cathedral of Christ the Savior was dynamited at Stalin's orders and slated for...more

Stemming in part from the Russian tradition of balagan (clowning and tomfoolery), the circus is a national art form. Moscow has two: The Big Moscow State Circus...more

The city that gave birth to Russian literature, Russian music, and the ballet didn't, post-communism, just settle for being a showcase of magnificent art and...more

There were some snickers when Dasha Zhukova, the It girl companion of billionaire Roman Abramovich known more for her interest in fashion than in serious art,...more

Maksim Gorky's plays, novels, and short stories did much to glorify the proletariat before the Russian Revolution, but after a falling out with Lenin, he moved...more

The Kremlin's distinctive red-brick walls and 18 towers date back to the late 15th century, and for centuries its Ivan the Great bell tower was the tallest...more

Lenin's embalmed body—or, some contend, a wax likeness—has lain in this eerie pyramid-shaped mausoleum since his death in 1924 (except for a brief...more