Russian Travel Guide

Father Yevgeny — mission to the edge of the Earth

Some might dismiss the four rocky islands in the northern Pacific Ocean known as the Commander Archipelago to be a far-off land forgotten by God himself. They would be quite mistaken. There the joyful sound of church bells ringing carries on for miles and the onion dome of Russia's most eastern Orthodox church shines. On one of these islands, the country's first prayer of the day is led by a young priest by the name of Evgeniy Tsukalo, a graduate of the Moscow Seminary who chose the remote island on the edge of the country as his first place of service. Being new to the island is no easy feat — it's difficult to adapt to living in such a natural environment and to such isolation. This is a perfect place for a church as living under such conditions seems impossible without faith. Father Evgeniy was given a difficult mission: Not to simply adapt to island life, but to change it — to teac...

Коллекция Russian Travel Guide. Животные. Новгородская область

The Arkhangelskoe estate. Part one

In one of her letters Empress Catherine the Second commented on “construction mania” that had taken over her subjects. In fact, in the late 18th century only two to three percent of the 100,000 Russian nobles could afford an estate with a large manor with several wings, a stable, a greenhouse, a French- or English-style park, ponds, grottos and everything else that one imagines when thinking of a true estate. It is due to these 2-3 thousand “family nests” that were built that the phenomenon of Russian estate culture developed. One of the most vivid examples of this culture can be found outside of Moscow at the Arkhangelskoe Estate.