Sacred Spaces in Russia

A solemn, monumental, kitschy palace of worship honoring victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Located along Lysaya Mountain, this monastery is home to the largest statue of Buddha in Russia.

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

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

An unusual abandoned church damaged in World War II sits in a small village outside Moscow.

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

Moscow's other, lesser known kremlin is a fairytale-like cultural complex modeled after Old Russia.

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

A little church on a tiny island looks like something from a fairy tale.

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

Home of Vissarion, the "Jesus of Siberia."

Stalin's march toward a more modern USSR flooded a monastery, leaving a unique and extravagant nautical marker, "The Flooded Belfry."

Replica of mosque destroyed by Russia in the 16th century.

Fascinating early attempt at a Jewish autonomous settlement.

Monastery complex at the location where bodies of the executed Romanov royal family were discovered.

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