Tag Archives: Russia

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

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You simply can’t get away from this church if you are on the western part of Moscow. Officially, it’s called Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, and even though it looks to be hundreds of years old, it was actually completed in 2000. There was a church on the same site that was originally built in the 19th century, which the current church was modeled after. Interestingly, after the Soviet Revolution after WW1, the church was demolished and finally in 1958 there was a large public pool on the spot.

Sony A6500 | Sony FE 24-70 f/4.0 | 43mm | f/9.0 | 1/100th | ISO100 

Seven Sisters of Stalin

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Across Moscow, there are seven of these buildings that were built during post WWII ‘Stalinist’ style, known as the ‘Seven Sisters of Stalin‘. A mixture of official buildings (including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), the Moscow State University, and a collection of residential apartments and hotels, these buildings are littered across Moscow. They were all built between 1947 and the mid-1950’s. They are really striking as they are built in a mix of gothic and Russian Baroque styles.

This particular one, which I think is the Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building, is a residential building overlooking the river. It’s quite an overwhelming building as you walk across one of the many bridges across central Moscow.

Sony A7R II | Sony FE 70-200 f/2.8 GM | 144mm | f/13 | 1/640th | ISO400

Kazan Cathedral

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First time to Russia, and of course it was for the World Cup this year. While the tournament was spread over 11 cities, we ended up only going to two – which of course would be St Petersburg and Moscow. We got tickets for four games, doing a loop of the two cities twice. For our first round in St Petersburg, we stayed at what I would kindly call a super-dodgy hotel. Older, not updated, quite uncomfortable – but it was a block away from the main road – Nevsky Avenue. We made up for the quality of the hotel by being very, very central, which worked out very, very well.

St Petersburg is north, and when I mean north, I mean far north. It clocks in at 59ºN, and I have only been to Helsinki (60ºN) and Rejkyavik (64ºN) that were further north than St Petersburg. As a result, being in St Petersburg at the end of June (right after summer solstice) meant that it stayed light very late, and got light again very early. This particular shot was taken at 11:30 PM, and while it was a little dark, you didn’t really need any lights on to see properly.

Also highly recommended, there was a super cool wine bar across the road at 3 Kazanskaya Ulitsa, can’t remember the name of the wine bar, but it’s on the ground floor with some outdoor seating. Pop in and pick out a Russian wine – I know what you’re thinking, but it was my first time having Russian wine as well!!!

iPhone X | 4.2mm | f/2.4 | 6mm | 1/2400th sec | ISO2400 | ISO50