3017 RUSSIA (Nizhny Novgorod Oblast) - Churches of the Smolensk and Vladimir icons of the Mother of God in Gordeyevka

3017 Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother
Of God (in front) and Church of Our Lady of
 Smolensk (in back) in Nizhny Novgorod

The Stroganovs (the richest businessmen in the Tsardom of Russia from the reign of Ivan the Terrible, elevated into the nobility as Barons of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great, and later as Counts) built a number of remarkable Baroque churches throughout Russia in the late 1600s-early 1700s. Only four survived until today, and two of them are in Nizhny Novgorod: the Virgin's Nativity Church and the Church of Our Lady of Smolensk. The last one is located in the former village of Gordeyevka (now, part of the city's Kanavinsky District), where the Stroganov palace once stood.

2998 RUSSIA (Nizhny Novgorod Oblast) - Nizhny Novgorod

2998 The view of the Nizhny Novgorod Main Trade Fair building
from the belfry of Nizhny Novgorod Seminar

Located about 400 km east of Moscow, where the Oka empties into the Volga, Nizhny Novgorod (known from 1932 to 1990 as Gorky, after the writer Maxim Gorky, who was born there) was founded in 1221 by Prince Yuri II of Vladimir. Originally the name was just Novgorod (Newtown), but to distinguish it from the other, older and well-known Novgorod to the west, the city was commonly called "Novgorod of the Lower lands". Later it was transformed into the contemporary name of the city that literally means "Lower Newtown".

1745 RUSSIA (Nizhny Novgorod Oblast) - Archangel's Cathedral in Nizhny Novgorod

Located at about 400 km east of Moscow, at the confluence of rivers Volga and Oka, Nizhny Novgorod is the fifth largest city in Russia, and has a history for more than 800 years. Its name literally means Lower Newtown to distinguish it from the older Veliky Novgorod. From 1932 to 1990, it was known as Gorky, after the writer Maxim Gorky, who was born there. The dominating feature of the city skyline is the grand Kremlin (1500-1511), with its red-brick towers. After Bolshevik devastation, the only ancient edifice left within the kremlin walls is the tent-like Archangel's Cathedral, first built in stone in the 13th century.