
Krasnodar is known as the “happy medium city” or “the city of middle ground” due to its central location between the equator and the North Pole. This is the reason behind the city’s permanently sunny weather. With its mild climate, fertile soil and the abundant amount of sunlight it receives it is no surprise that Krasnodar is one of the greenest and flower-filled cities in Russia.
The cathedrals of the Donskoy Monastery are home to the richest collection of religious relics connected to some of the most significant events in Russian history. From the moment of its foundation, a copy of the Our Lady of Kazan icon, which aided the Russian army in its victory over the Tatars, has been kept in the monastery’s main cathedral. The necropolis of the royal Bagrationi dynasty is also located in the cathedral’s basement. The monastery’s Maly Cathedral is fascinating for its own reason — it is here in 1992 that once-believed lost relics of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Russia, were found.
The first churches appeared in Russia in the 10th century, built by Byzantines. These constructions served as models for Russian architects. They were models in stone, however. In the forested northern parts, everything was built in wood – a material that was cheap, light and easy to work with. The Russian architects, like translators, had to interpret the Byzantine canon in wood. Gradually, the Russian masters developed their own style of construction. Wooden architecture reached its peak in the Russian north in the 15th to 18th century. Learn how unique churches arose on the island of Kizhi, and hear the legends that surrounded them in a film by RTG TV.