#502 Russia

Lake Baikal (Russian: о́зеро Байка́л, tr. Ozero Baykal; Buryat: Байгал нуур, Mongolian: Байгал нуур, Baygal nuur, meaning "nature lake") is a rift lake in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between the Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast.

Lake Baikal is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the world, containing roughly 20% of the world's unfrozen surface fresh water and at 1,642 m (5,387 ft), the deepest. It is also among the clearest of all lakes, and thought to be the world's oldest lake at 25 million years. It is the 7th largest lake in the world by surface area.

Like Lake Tanganyika, Lake Baikal was formed as an ancient rift valley, having the typical long crescent shape with a surface area of 31,722 km² (12,248 sq mi). Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. It is also home to Buryat tribes who reside on the eastern side of Lake Baikal, rearing goats, camels, cattle and sheep, where the regional average temperatures vary from a minimum of −19 °C (−2 °F) in winter to maximum of 14 °C (57 °F) in summer.
Wikipedia.org

Property No #754

Date of Inscription on the List of UNESCO WHS: 1996

Thank you, Maria !

Sent on: February 13, 2014

Received on: February 25, 2014

#179 Moscow, Russia | RU-1462511

Cathedral Square or Sobornaya Square (Russian: Соборная площадь, or Sobornaya ploshchad) is the central square of the Moscow Kremlin where all of its streets used to converge in the 15th century.

Wikipedia.org

 Property No #545

It's in the List of UNESCO WHS as a part of Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow.
Date of Inscription on the List of UNESCO WHS: 1990

Date of Issue: October 1, 2009 - Russian Kremlins

Thank you, Hatiko !

Received on: February 1, 2013

Travel time: 21 days

Distance: 810 km (503 miles)

#45 Saint Petersburg, Russia | RU-336089

Murmansk (Russian: Му́рманск; Kildin Sami: Мурман ланнҍ; Northern Sami:Murmánska; Skolt Sami: Muurman) is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland. Population: 307,664 (2010 Census preliminary results); 336,137 (2002 Census); 468,039 (1989 Census). Despite its rapidly declining population, Murmansk remains the largest city north of the Arctic Circle.

Wikipedia.org

Date of Issue: October 1, 2009 - Russian Kremlins

Thank you, VEti ! 

Received on: March 4, 2011 

Travel time: 18 days 

Distance: 304 km (189 miles)

#36 Kursk, Russia | RU-303799

The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (Russian: Храм Христа Спасителя, Khram Khrista Spasitelya) is a church in Moscow, Russia, on the northern bank of the Moskva River, a few blocks south-west of the Kremlin. With an overall height of 105 metres (344 ft), it is the tallest Orthodox church in the world.

On December 5th 1931, by order of Stalin's minister Kaganovich, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was dynamited and reduced to rubble.

In February 1990, the Russian Orthodox Church received permission from the Soviet Government to rebuild the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. A temporary cornerstone was laid by the end of the year.

The lower church was consecrated to the Saviour's Transfiguration in 1996, and the completed Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was consecrated on the Transfiguration day, 19 August 2000.

Date of Issue: October 1, 2009 - Russian Kremlins

Thank you, Marina (MoreNebo) !

Received on: February 3, 2011

Travel time: 24 days

Distance: 1042 km (647 miles)

#33 Samara oblast, Russia

Novodevichy Convent, also known as Bogoroditse-Smolensky Monastery (Russian: Новоде́вичий монасты́рь, Богоро́дице-Смоле́нский монасты́рь) is probably the best-known cloister of Moscow. Its name, sometimes translated as the New Maidens' Monastery, was devised to differ from an ancient maidens' convent within the Moscow Kremlin. Unlike other Moscow cloisters, it has remained virtually intact since the 17th century.

Property No #1097

Date of Inscription on the list of UNESCO: 2004

Date of Issue: October 1, 2009 - Russian Kremlins

Thank you so much, Inna !

Sent on: January 15, 2011

Received on: January 31, 2011

#32 Samara oblast, Russia

Date of Issue: October 1, 2009 - Russian Kremlins

Thank you, Inna !

Received on: January 27, 2012