An imposing red-brick fortress stretching along the banks of the Moskva River, the Moscow Kremlin is the grand centerpiece of Moscow and one of Russia’s most recognizable landmarks.

Suzdal’s Museum of Wooden Architecture and Peasant Life is an open air museum dedicated to showing how Russian peasants lived in centuries past.

Russia’s most famous street—the Champs-Élysées of St. Petersburg—runs for 3 miles (5 kilometres) through the city’s historic centre from the Admiralty Building to Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

The looming yellow cathedral tower and star-shaped fortifications of the Peter and Paul Fortress dominate St. Petersburg’s riverfront, rising up from the shores of Zayachy Island

It’s easy to see why Peterhof Palace, a magnificent complex of palaces and gardens stretching along the St. Petersburg seafront, is called the Russian Versailles

Red Square has been Moscow’s historic and cultural epicenter for centuries, holding everything from a medieval marketplace to Soviet military parades to rock concerts.

With its gigantic golden dome coated with over 220 pounds of gold and an impressive red granite portico, St. Isaac’s Cathedral (Isaakievskiy Sobor) looks more like a palace than a cathedral.

The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg is the largest art and cultural museum in the world, with more than 3 million items in its collection—only a fraction of which are on display in its 360 rooms.

Long considered to be the lifeline of St. Petersburg, the Neva River (Reka Neva) flows through the capital city from Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, eventually making its way to the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea.

While the magnificent Winter Palace is now home to the immense State Hermitage Museum, part of the original royal residence—known as the Winter Palace of Peter the Great (Peter I)—has been preserved.