Russian monarchs could indulge in any exotic food, from fried swans to pickled lemons. But they often preferred simple fare - shchi (cabbage soup), varieties of kasha (cooked cereal) and boiled meat. What else could you have found on the menus of tsars?

This blue silk sarafan of Charlotte Augusta of Wales, daughter of George IV, has been preserved to this day.

Why Joseph Dzhugashvili began to call himself Stalin and why the Soviet intelligentsia as a whole had to choose new last names for themselves – we’ll explain the root of the Soviet phenomenon of renaming oneself.

The Lakhta Center is Europe’s tallest and northernmost skyscraper. Construction was finished in 2018, but you still can’t go inside because interior work still hasn’t been completed.

The renowned photographer took the only color photos of the Russian Empire, creating a giant collection of its various sights, nature landscapes, city panoramas and portraits of the different nations’ inhabitants.