Places mikkitta Wants to Go

Rare documents, old instruments, and gruesome specimens showcase the history of military medicine.

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

Thanks to this small string of islands World War II still hasn't officially ended between Russia and Japan.

A magnificent, Disneyesque chateau built for 150 lucky kindergarteners.

An unused hyberbolic electricity pylon kept as architectural monument.

The largest Buddhist city in Europe is a haven for chess fanatics.

Social outcasts and cannibalism in Stalin's Soviet Union.

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

An incredibly random collection of wax figures is displayed in a shopping center walkway.

Russia's own leaning tower was built on a tragic historical fable.

An abandoned 14th-century castle and prison complex on a small island in the Neva River.

A homemade anatomical collection of medical anomalies and accidental catastrophes.

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

Russian researchers who have been excavating ancient squirrel burrows may have brought a 32,000-year-old plant back to life.

An unusual collection of self-made musical instruments and unique noises.

Site of the world's largest nuclear explosion.

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

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

Siberian whale bones stand as cairns marking location of an ancient butcher yard.

A 360 degree battlefield experience.

Europe's highest peak is a key pillar of the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge.

The giant Siberian crater known locally as the "doorway to the underworld" is expanding every year.

The Nazis lost more men trying to take this Russian-held Stalingrad apartment block than they did when taking Paris.

This Russian locomotive museum was once devoted just to Lenin's funeral before expanding to encompass Moscow's entire train history.