Every nation builds monuments to those who symbolize the best the country has produced. Yet sometimes there is wide disagreement on what “best” means.

Photojournalist Maxim Grigoryev shares with us his love for his hometown: Yaroslavl.

Yulia Sulzhenko takes us to her hometown, Tyumen, Siberia's western capital, and the oil and gas capital of Russia.

Timur Zarudny takes us to Khabarovsk, the second largest city in the Russian Far East.

Photographer Oksana Yushko offers us a poignant look at Beslan, 12 years after the horrific tragedy there.

Photographer Svetlana Tarasova takes us to the heart of Russia: Kaluga. Here, along the Oka River,  the Russian space program began. 

Sergei Karpov was born and raised in Volgograd, which he calls "the most depressing of Russia's million-resident cities."

Irina Novikova explains the resilience of Smolensk, its legends, ghosts, churches and fortress. Oh, and why people stop by a city park to stroke the genitals of a bronze deer.

Evgeny Serov takes us to Magadan, a city with beautiful ocean views and a Gulag past.

Nina Zotina takes us to Kalmykia, a place of chess, Buddhism, and steppe.

Ekaterina Razina is a wedding photographer in Bryansk. She tells us how the g is pronounced there, and why you want to visit a certain church.

Ramil Sitdikov gives us a tour of his home: Ufa, where the sky meets the water and surprising works of art were found in ancient caves.