Now that the eyes of the world are on Russia, we bring you some interesting facts about this great country of 144 million people and 11 time zones.
The museum of the cats
With its more than 22 km of marble corridors and innumerable pieces of art, the Hermitage is one of the most visited and known museums in the world. But, what could draw more attention is the large number of cats that make life within their facilities.
And they are not there by carelessness, these 70 cats that make life inside the museum are in charge of eating the unexpected "visitors" like mice that could damage some of the exhibits. Sometimes, the most obvious solution is the best one.
Be careful where you walk
It is not a secret that in Russia it is cold for much of the year, but such is the winter pass that a visual quite common are the icicles that hang from the buildings.
That's why it should not be surprising that some streets and sidewalks are cordoned off at certain times of the year. This is done to prevent these frozen stalactites, which tend to fall with the increase in temperature, from hurting someone. Some, because of their size, can be lethal.
Doggy Heroine
One of the milestones of Russia's past is the space race with the USA. that began after the Second World War. One of the monuments that commemorates this series of technological advances and space travel is the Monument to the Conquerors of Space that you find in Moscow, the capital.
Among the figures is that of Laika, a bitch who became the first living creature in space when in 1957, the ship that carried it, Sputnik 2, made about 2000 turns around the Earth. Surprisingly, it was not until 2008 that Laika received her own statue in front of a military building.
A trip to the past
In Moscow there is also the "Park of the Fallen Monuments", an exhibition area of more than 700 sculptures and works of art.
Its main attraction is not the most modern works that are housed there, but the large amounts of Soviet sculptures that were taken from their original sites with the fall of the USSR. You can see statues of Lenin, hammer and sickle and other elements ...