Abandoned & rescued Folk-style Cottage (near Chukhloma/ Russia)

This house shares a similar history with the nearby wooden Astashovo mansion.

Before it became abandoned and forgotten Pogorelovo used to be a lively village in Russia's Kostroma region. Local farmers did hunting and seasonal work, others made quite a bit of money in St. Petersburg, such as Ivan Polyashov, one of the richest men in the village.
At the crown of his career he did repair work at the famous Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and received the status of honorary citizen. In 1903, the widower returned to his native village, married a new wife 20 years younger and built this marvellous country cottage as well as a few other buildings seeing as he was one of the largest landowners in the area.



But the fate of the house after the revolution is the same as lots of others in the Kostroma region especially (but all over Russia really): The house was requisitioned in 1918 and used as the village council as well as housing other farming families so Ivan Polyashov had to move into one of the rooms on the first floor. He died in 1935 and so didn't expierience the family's dispossession and repression. His children ended up in Siberia, where his great-grandson still lives today.

Tiny church on island (near St. Petersburg/ Russia)

On a tiny island in a lake near St. Petersburg stands this little church. It was built in 2000 and is called "Church of Andrew" after the apostle and also after the guy who built it.

Cube House with Triangular Windows (outside Moscow/ Russia)

Yulia Chicherina’s cubic contemporary country house has 24 triangular mirror-glass windows and a glass entrance door. It is a space for the singer to evoke creativity & fresh ideas, and to create new songs but also to escape the urban noise & hustle into isolated recreation.

Astashovo Ornate Mansion UPDATE (near Chukhloma/ Russia)

This wooden mansion is a masterpieces of late 19th century Russian architecture. Photos of it have been circulating around the internet for years. I myself also stubled upon it through a post about creepy abandoned places of the world.
While searching for more photos and info on it, the plot thickened and I ended up spending hours sifting through russian journals (with the help of google translate). So I finally came across the history of this place and found out what actually became of it TODAY after being abandoned for such a long time.



Let's start with a bit of history:
Located in the once flourishing village of Astashovo (not Ostashevo - a transcription error made a long time ago) it was built in 1897 inspired by the style of Ivan Pavlovich Ropet, an architect popular in Russia at the time. The owner was Marian Sazonovich Sazonov (1842-1914) who was born in the village but went to become a rich & successful merchant in St. Petersburg. The house was built as a summer residence for him (who was about to retire) and his much younger 2nd wife Catherine A. Dobrovolsky (1875 - approx 1950) the daughter of a deacon at the Elijah Church in neighbouring Falileeva.

Abandoned Ornate Mansion in the Woods #1 (near Chukhloma/ Russia)

I found lots more info about the history etc of this mysterious place so
PLEASE READ THE UPDATED VERSION OF THIS POST HERE :)

Kizhi Island (Karelia/ Russia)

Kizhi Island was once part of an important 14th-century trade route from the town of Novgorod to the White Sea. The settlement grew around the Spasskiy Church that was founded in the mid-16th century.
Today the island is best known for its Museum Site of History and Architecture (opened 1960), where early wooden barns, houses, a windmill, and several churches were collected and restored as part of an open-air museum. The Preobranzhenskaya (Transfiguration) Church is often compared to St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow’s Red Square.

Bottlecap House (Karmarchaga/ Russia)

In a secluded village in the Siberian Taiga called Karmarchaga, Russian pensioner Olga Kostina decided to give her home a make-over. She covered it in bottle caps that she'd collected over the years (30 000 of them) creating colourful ornaments and animal portraits.

Orthodox Church (Kemsky/ Russia)

Despite its aged looks the church was only built in 2006 as a backdrop for the film "The Island".
These photos were taken at sun rise - temperature 27 degrees below zero - after a journey by snow mobile, which is the best way of reaching this remote place in winter.
It's located in the republic of Kareliya in the northwest of Russia.
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Photo source: Link

Monastery under the lake (Kalyazin/ Russia)

What looks like a strange lighthouse is actually the bell tower of Makaryevsky Monastery, most of which was flooded due to dams on the Volga River in 1939. Later they built a small artificial island around the tower.

Abode of Dawn (Petropavlovka/ Russia)

"Abode of Dawn" is the name of a small settlement in the middle of nowhere, that is, in the Siberian Taiga. It is home to the most devoted followers of the cult known as "Church of the Last Testament". Nestled inbetween forest and meadows this strange place features some pretty unique fairylandish architecture.

Fairy tale castle house (Artyom/ Russia)

"A retired couple from the suburbs of Artyom, Russia have worked for 16 years transforming an ordinary house into a fairy tale castle, using only junk materials found on the street and at a local landfill. "

World's tallest log cabin (Arkhangelsk/ Russia)

The world's tallest log cabin used to dominate the skyline of Arkhangelsk, a city in Russia's far north-west, but in 2012 it burnt to the ground in a big blaze.

Built by Nikolai Sutyaginit - an eccentric former gangster- it measured 144ft in total, about half the size of Big Ben, but was so unstable it moved in the wind.
The 13-storey structure started out as a modest two-floor chalet but Nikolai became obsessed with topping his neighbours' homes and continued adding storey after storey. He also loved the views from the top and likened them to a pilot's.

It burned when a fire in the five-storey bathhouse in the garden spread to the main building, quickly engulfing it.

Moscow metro stations (Moscow/ Russia)

The Moscow metro stations look more like art galleries than subway stations.