Derbent: Russia’s Oldest City
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 1, 2017
Located on a narrow strip of land between the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains in the far western end of Eurasia, is the city of Derbe...
Showing posts with the label Russia
Modern Potemkin Villages
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 27, 2017
In 1787, Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia, was scheduled for a grand tour of the newly acquired lands of Crimea and New Russia—now...
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin’s Color Photographs of Pre-Revolution Russia
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 25, 2017
Sergey Mikhaylovich Prokudin-Gorsky was a Russian chemist and photographer, best known for his pioneering work in color photography during t...
The Forgotten Soviet-Era Murals
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 25, 2017
Telling stories through mosaics and murals is a tradition that goes back to antique times. During the Soviet era, murals were used extensive...
Inside The Strange World of Soviet Sanatoriums
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 11, 2017
In Soviet Russia, vacations were as purposeful as work. Many state workers of the era, instead of wasting time in idleness, used the holiday...
Moscow’s Bagel House
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 6, 2017
In the early 1970s, Russian architect Evgeny Stamo and engineer Alexander Markelov came up with plans for an unusual house in the capital ci...
The Building That Was Built From Top to Bottom
Kaushik Patowary
Sep 16, 2017
At Plaza de Colón in Madrid, Spain, there is a twin building that is known locally as "El Enchufe" or "The Plug" for it ...
The Secret World of Number Stations
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 9, 2017
Back in the days of Cold War espionage, foreign intelligence agencies used to communicate with agents on the field via shortwave radio. Radi...
Magnitogorsk: Russia’s Steel Heart
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 20, 2017
At the extreme southern extent of the Ural Mountains in Russia, about 140 km west of the border with Kazakhstan, there are some hills that a...
The Stone Labyrinths of Bolshoi Zayatsky Island
Kaushik Patowary
May 25, 2017
Bolshoi Zayatsky is a small island belonging to the Solovetsky archipelago in the Onega Bay of the White Sea, in Russia. The island is home ...
Saatse Boot: A Russia-Estonia Border Anomaly
Kaushik Patowary
May 5, 2017
In southeast Estonia, in the municipality of Värska Parish, lies a peculiar border irregularity. A small piece of Russian land called the “S...
The Deepest Metro Stations in The World
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 6, 2017
The average metro train doesn’t go beyond a few stories underground. But sometimes the geology and the geography of the region, such as the ...
The Russian Gangster Cemetery in Yekaterinburg
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 14, 2017
The Shirokorechenskoe Cemetery, located on the southwestern outskirts of Yekaterinburg, in Russia, is the final resting place of many famous...
Verkhoyansk: Siberia’s Pole of Cold
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 9, 2017
In the remote Yakutia region of Siberia, more than a hundred kilometers inside the Arctic Circle, lies the small town of Verkhoyansk. Winter...
Glass Beach on Ussuri Bay
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 2, 2017
Just a 30-minute-drive away from the city of Vladivostok, Russia, lies a stunning bay surrounded by impressive cliffs. Not very long ago, th...
Batagaika Crater, Siberia
Kaushik Patowary
Jan 30, 2017
In the heart of Siberia’s boreal forest, a massive crater the locals call the “gateway to the underworld” has been growing for the last fift...
The World's Smallest Monuments
Kaushik Patowary
Jan 3, 2017
The Russian city of Tomsk is home to the smallest public monument in the world —a tiny bronze frog, sitting on top of a smooth rock. The scu...
Struve Geodetic Arc: The 2,820 Km Line That Produced The First Accurate Measurement of The Earth’s Size
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 21, 2016
From the northern coast of Norway to the southern coast of Ukraine runs a chain of survey triangulation points that together forms the Struv...
The Cannon And The Bell: The Tsars of Moscow Kremlin
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 14, 2016
Cannons and bells have always had a special relationship. They are made from the same metals and often in the same factory. Throughout histo...
This Wooden Barrel Was The World’s First Military Submarine
Kaushik Patowary
Sep 13, 2016
The possibilities of a submersible boat that could cruise below the water’s surface undetected and ambush enemy ships has fascinated militar...
