RUSSIA
The centenary of the Russian Revolution offers the perfect excuse to visit the country Winston Churchill described as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”. That said, when marking an event as complex and far-reaching as the revolution, in a land so vast as Russia, it can be a little hard to know where to begin.
The Bolshevik seizure of power mostly took place in and around
St Petersburg. The city is a rich depository of historical sights, museums and architecture, though those on the trail of the revolution may like to head to Vosstaniya (uprising) Square, where the February revolution was triggered,
Finland Station, where Lenin arrived from exile calling for the overthrow of the provisional government, and the cruiser Aurora, which fired the shot to signal the storming of the Winter Palace.
While there’s so much more to see in St Petersburg, a journey onward to Moscow is a logical extension to the revolutionary itinerary. Lenin’s
tomb in Red Square is one draw of course, but around the Kremlin you can explore the story of disturbances that heralded the beginnings of the civil war that followed the revolution. The
Kremlin Wall necropolis is the resting place both of Soviet luminaries of that era – and beyond – and the mass grave of Red Soldiers killed in 1917.
The story, and Russia, continues. You could travel east to
Ekaterinburg, just over a day’s train ride from Moscow, to the site of the Romanovs’ deaths in 1918. From here, Siberia and the ever-mysterious far east of Russia are waiting to be discovered.