Mokhovaya Tower of the Sumsky Ostrog on the White Sea, preserved thanks to Pyotr Baranovsky

The Moss Tower of the Sumsky Ostrog is one of the few surviving wooden defensive structures of the 16th century in Europe. The Sumsky Ostrog on the White Sea consisted of six hexagonal towers and protected the lands of the Solovetsky Monastery from the Swedes. The Moss Tower is 19 metres high and 9.5 metres wide inside. The walls are 6 metres high. Such dimensions are characteristic of all ostrogs of the 15th to 17th centuries, in both Northern and Southern Rus'. The lower tier served as a refuge for local residents and as a warm undercroft; the upper one housed the garrison, and higher still were the guardrooms. The structure survives thanks to the outstanding restorer Pyotr Baranovsky; its present appearance is a reconstruction assembled in the 2000s, and by 1931 the tower looked as it does in the last photograph

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Blessing of animals on the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi in New York and other communities

The blessing of the animals at the Episcopal Church of Saint John in New York on 4 October, the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, who is regarded as the patron saint of animals and nature. Francis is associated with the tale of his sermon to the birds and

Letter from the Decembrist Mikhail Lunin to his sister, written in the village of Urik on 29 September 1836

I live among people who see me and do not understand me, or with the Invisible One whom I cannot comprehend. The darkness of my sins veils him, even when the deadly lead had grown numb in my body; a gleam of his gaze flashed before me when the blade

Alexander I as King of Poland and the Incorporation of the Duchy of Warsaw into the Russian Empire in 1815

Alexander I, King of Poland, Tsar and Autocrat of All the Russias Just a reminder of Russia's borders before 1918: in 1815 the greater part of the Duchy of Warsaw became part of the Russian Empire as the Kingdom of Poland, or the Vistula Land, until everything fell

A 1930 photograph showing the eviction of a kulak and his family during dekulakisation.

How Many Suffered in Dekulakisation: Estimates by Zemskov, Ivnitsky and Conquest

A photograph of 1930 showing the deportation of a kulak and his family The number of victims of dekulakisation has still not been established and can hardly be stated unambiguously, since the figure includes both those directly repressed (stripped of their property, evicted, exiled, arrested) and, on occasion, the victims

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Blessing of animals on the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi in New York and other communities

Letter from the Decembrist Mikhail Lunin to his sister, written in the village of Urik on 29 September 1836

Alexander I as King of Poland and the Incorporation of the Duchy of Warsaw into the Russian Empire in 1815

How Many Suffered in Dekulakisation: Estimates by Zemskov, Ivnitsky and Conquest