Russia Photos

Moscow

Photograph by Gerd Ludwig

A walk on snowy streets near Red Square reveals two very different faces of Russia. The stately Historical Museum, which faces St. Basil’s across Red Square, exhibits the glories of Russia’s past. But the hot new styles at Dior may be a bigger draw for newly wealthy Russians.

Garden Ring, Moscow

Photograph by Gerd Ludwig

Moscow’s Garden Ring road was laid out in the early 1800s, but the view in those days was nothing like this one from the top of the Peking Hotel. The original ring was a tree-lined boulevard that traced the path of the city’s ancient outer wall. Today central Moscow lies inside the ring, but the city stretches well beyond.

Krasheninnikov Volcano

Photograph by Michael Melford

Krasheninnikov Volcano boasts two stunning, snowcapped summit cones. Located on the Pacific shore of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, it last erupted some 400 years ago. One indication of how big Russia is: The peninsula is as far from Moscow as Moscow is from Boston.

Brown Bear

Photograph by Randy Olson

A brown bear in Kurilskoye Lake shows its fishing prowess—and he won’t be practicing catch and release. This Kamchatka Peninsula lake is home to hundreds of bears, and visitors can see them tuck into a feast during the wild salmon run, one of Earth’s greatest. The bears share the fish with white-tailed eagles, golden eagles, and Steller’s sea eagles.

Soldiers at Kremlin, Moscow

Photograph by Georgy Zvonkov, My Shot

Troops line up at one of the gates to the Kremlin. A walled fortress has stood on this Moscow site for the better part of a thousand years. Today the Kremlin is the home of Russia’s president, but on its grounds are public attractions such as the Patriarch’s Palace, the State Armory, and several churches.

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Reindeer Herder

Photograph by Steve Winter

A man herds reindeer in Bystrinsky Park on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. He’s one of the region’s indigenous Even people, who cherish their traditional herding culture even as they welcome increasing numbers of tourists to the high peaks, sprawling forests, and lush tundra and meadows of their homeland—one of the world’s truly wild places.

Easter Midnight Mass, Vorkuta

Photograph by Gerd Ludwig

A congregation in Vorkuta gathers to celebrate Easter at a midnight Mass. This coal-mining town, north of the Arctic Circle, was founded as a labor camp. Partly because it was a notorious gulag, partly because of the antichurch positions of the Soviet Union, the town didn’t have a dedicated church building until 2007.

Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Photograph by Richard Nowitz

The Hermitage houses one of the world’s greatest art collections in one of the world’s most impressive groups of buildings. A famous former occupant of the palace, Catherine the Great, acquired the core of the collection during her 18th-century reign. Later, new treasures and buildings were added for the enjoyment of other royals and, eventually, the public.

Alexander Column, St. Petersburg

Photograph by Richard Nowitz

The Alexander Column, celebrating Russia’s victory over Napoleon, seems small when framed by an arch of the General Staff Building. But at 165 feet (50 meters) and 660 tons (599 metric tons), it’s one of the world’s largest freestanding monuments. The column fronts the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg’s Palace Square, the scene of the 1905 Bloody Sunday and the 1917 Bolshevik storming of the palace.

Russian Orthodox Priest

Photograph by Gerd Ludwig

Father Sevastyan meditates on the Gospels at Svyato-Kazansky hermitage, one of many Russian Orthodox communities resurrecting across the country. Driven underground for 75 years, the faith of the Russian tsars now enjoys favored status.

Ballet Dancers, Moscow

Photograph by Gerd Ludwig

Perhaps dreaming of the legendary Bolshoi, young dancers prepare for class at their academy in Moscow. Ballet has long been a Russian passion.

Country House, Mandrogy

Photograph by Tracey Osborn, My Shot

Wildflowers add color to a dacha, or country home, in Mandrogy, between Moscow and St. Petersburg. Mandrogy is a re-created village, an idealization of traditional country life that’s popular with tourists taking cruises on the nearby Svir River.

Oil Pipeline, Siberia

Photograph by Gerd Ludwig

Much of Russia’s economic might depends on its vast reserves of fossil fuels, which account for some 60 percent of the nation’s export revenues. This man, constructing an oil feeder pipeline in western Siberia, is one of some 71,000 employees of the Russian oil giant TNK-BP.

Lake Baikal

Photograph by Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images

Siberia’s Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world—at over a mile (1,700 meters)—and holds an incredible 20 percent of Earth’s unfrozen fresh water. Formed some 25 million years ago, it’s also the world’s oldest lake. Because of its age and isolation, hundreds of aquatic species evolved here that are found nowhere else on the planet.