Southern Federal District

The Calamita Fortress and the Inkerman Monastery of St.Clement are built in the mountain on the right bank of the Chornaya River in the very depths of the Sevastopol Bay. According to a legend, the first cave church of Andrew the Apostle was carved into the rock by the St. Clement of Rome, exiled by the Roman Emperor Trajan in 98 to the Inkerman quarries for preaching Christianity. By the way, it is interesting that many structures in the Roman Empire were lined with Inkerman's stone.  

The Balaklava underground museum complex is the only museum in the world on the site of a top secret facility, which is cut down in the rocky terrain of Mount Tavros. It was here that in the period from 1954 to 1961 a plant was constructed to repair and service submarines of the Black Sea Fleet of the USSR. This place was chosen because the unique Balaklava bay, described in detail by the Russian writer A. Kuprin in the story "Listrigons", is surrounded by mountains and cannot be seen from the sea. Moreover, the entrance to the tunnel located in the bay cannot be seen from the sea either. In addition, it never has waves and its depth reaches 40 meters! All this made the bay an ideal base for submarines. 

Vorontsov palace in Alupka belonged to a prominent Russian official and public figure Count Vorontsov. Occupying the position of the governor of the Novorossiya Governate, the Count made a lot of efforts for the development of the Crimea. Vorontsov Palace was built as his summer residence for twenty years - from 1828 to 1848.  

Bolshaya Sadovaya Street for Rostov-on-Don is like Nevsky Prospekt for Saint Petersburg: it's the heart of the city. The street appeared in the city plan in 1781, but with no name. Three centuries later the street was called Zagorodnaya, and it lived up to its name: it was here where the garbage was collected and the sewage was drained. The street’s "reputation" was somewhat saved by the gardens on its odd side.

The Malakhov Kurgan (Barrow) 97 meters high rises above Sevastopol on the Korabelnaya Storona (one of the districts of Sevastopol). It was named after Captain Malakhov, whose house stood at the foot of the mound. This mound went down in history as a place of bloody battles in the defense of Sevastopol during the Crimean War of 1853-1856. It was here that Vice Admiral Kornilov and Admiral Nakhimov were killed. The battle for the height also happened during the Second World War. In 1942 the mound was stormed by German fascist troops. During the defense more than half of the 111th battery under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Matyukhin were killed. 

Stanitsa Starocherkasskaya is the capital of the Don Cossacks and the Russian rebellion. It is imbued with history and legends. One theory is that this is the place where Stepan Razin was born, Kondraty Bulavin was killed and Yemelyan Pugachev happened to be. Many monuments of residential and religious architecture of the past centuries have been preserved in the stanitsa (Cossack village) by the early twentieth century. In 1920, Stepan Razin Museum was opened here, and in 1970, the Starocherkasskaya Historical and Architectural Reserve Museum was created. This happened thanks to the writer Mikhail Sholokhov, who came to the village and was so impressed by the views of Starocherkasskaya that he wrote a letter to the Politburo (Political Bureau) requesting to specify the list of monuments in the village that needed restoration and preservation.

Sochi Olympic Park was the main venue of the XXII Winter Olympic Games. It was built in the Lower Imereti Bay. It is here that the "Fisht" stadium is located, where the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games took place; as well as Bolshoy Ice Dome and Ice Arena “Shayba”, which took hockey games; "Iceberg" skating palace, where the figure skaters performed; Adler-Arena, where skaters competed; Ice Cube Curling Center with matches on curling. All the sports grounds are located in a circle around the central square, where the winners were awarded during the Olympic Games, and now there is a light and music fountain here. «Iceberg» is now open all year round for skating, the rest of the arenas are used for competitions or concerts. 

The Astrakhan Kremlin rises on the left bank of the Volga. It was built on a picturesque hill in the late XVI — early XVII century. A powerful fortress with four blind and three gate towers was built to defend the southeastern borders of Russia. You can enter the Kremlin area through the Prechistinsky Gate of the grandiose gateway bell tower, built in 1910 in the Old Russian style.

The Historical Boulevard was built in Sevastopol in the 1880s on the site of the Bolshoy Boulevard where during the Crimean War (1853-1856) one of the defensive lines was located. The marble bas-relief reminds that a 26-year-old Count Leo Tolstoy who later wrote «Sevastopol Stories», was at war here.  

The castle Swallow's nest seems to float on Aurora Cliff of Cape Ai-Todor in Gaspra. The first mentioning of it dates back to 1895. That time there was a wooden summer house on the site of the castle, which belonged to the Russian general - the first romanticist who decided to build a house on a 40-meter cliff.  The openwork mansion got is final image in 1912 when it was owned by Baron von Steingel who erected a castle on a rock which by its stylistics was reminiscent of the medieval castles of Germany. The corresponding name was given to the castle: "Generalife" - "The Castle of Love." 

Luxurious Livadia palace three kilometers far from Yalta in the village of Livadia was built on the initiative of the wife of Emperor Alexander II, Maria Alexandrovna. This was done primarily because she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and the doctors recommended the Empress to breathe the curative Crimean air as much as possible. In 1860 the royal family purchased the estate from the Potocki family with a vineyard and a wine cellar. Since 1861 the estate was the summer residence of the imperial family. Here the Great and Small Livadia palaces were built. This is one of the most visited Crimean places. 

Krasnaya Street (translated as Red Street) is the central in Krasnodar. You better start walking along it from the end to smoothly move from modern Krasnodar to Yekaterinodar of the XIX century. The area of "Avrora" Cinema is built-up with residential houses and shopping centers, representing Soviet and modern buildings. Here you can see well-developed pedestrian zones, flower beds and a couple of thematic sculptural compositions.