Cities in Russia

Russia has some of the world's most remarkable cities. Below we will explore the history of seven of the most notable.

Moscow
Moscow is the political and financial centre of Russia and is also its biggest city. It covers an area of 1080 sq km and has a population of around 13 million. It is located on the Moskva River which winds its way through the city.
The main sites are Red Square, Lenin Mausoleum, St Basil Cathedral, The Kremlin, Old Arbat Street, Bolshoi Theatre, Tretyakov Gallery, Pushkin Museum and Novodevichy Convent.

Irkutsk
Irkutsk is steeped in history and is one of the biggest cities in Siberia, Russia. It lies at the Angara River - 5,185 km (3,222 mi) by rail from Moscow and has a poulation of just under 600,000. Attractions: The City History Museum, The Geology Museum, The Irkutsk Regional Museum, Sukachev Art Museum the Sukachev Estate and the Nerpinary.

Kazan
Kazan is a attractive city, one of Russia's largest and the world's capital of Tatar (a Turkic ethnic group) culture. It is a major commercial, industrial and cultural centre that lies at the confluence of the Kazanka and Volga Rivers in central European Russia. Sites: Kazan Kremlin, Suyumbike Tower, Kul-Sharif Mosque, Annunciation Cathedral, Kazan State Hermitage Museum, State Museum of the Tatar State and the Republic of Tatarstan, Bauman Street.

Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny is Russia's fifth largest city and has a population of around 1.3 million. It is the cultural and economic centre of the vast Volga economic region. UNESCO included Nizhny on the list of 100 cities of the world which are of great cultural and historical value due to the presence of over six hundred unique historic, cultural and architectural monuments in the city.

Saint Petersburg
Nicknamed 'Venice of the North', Saint Petersburg is Russia's second and Europe's fourth largest city with a population of 4.7 million. It is located on the Neva River at the top of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea and is one of the world's top travel destinations. The city is impressive and was formerly Russia's cultural and political centre for 200 years (1713-1728, 1732-1918). Top sites: The Hermitage Museum/The Winter Palace, Russian Museum/The Mikhail Palace, Peter and Paul Fortress, The Admiralty, Menshikov's Palace, Navy Museum, the bridges on the Neva, Museum of Ethnography and Anthropology, Alexander Nevskiy Monastery, Museum of Artillery, Combat Engineers and Signal Troops, Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, Our-Lady-of-Kazan Cathedral, St. Isaac's Cathedral, Smolny Institute and Peter the Great's Cabin.

Sochi
Sochi is Russia's Black Sea beach resort city, just north of the southern Russian border. Sochi has a population of around 395,000 and is due to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Visitors are attracted by its subtropical climate and numerous monuments, parks and extravagant Stalinist architecture. Attractions: Caucasian Biosphere Reserve, Michael Archangel Cathedral, Sochi Art Museum, Arboretum, The Winter Theatre, The Maritime Passenger Terminal, The Railway Terminal Station and The Riviera Park

Vladivostok
Vladivostok is Russia's largest port city on the Pacific Ocean. It is home to the Russian Pacific Fleet and is the eastern terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway. It has a population of about 600,000. From 1958 to 1991, only Soviet citizens were allowed to live in or visit Vladivostok and even then, only with official permission. Things to see: The Pacific Fleet, Vladivostok Aquarium, Arsenev Regional History Museum and the Pacific Fleet Military Museum.