Thousands of football fans took advantage of their time in Russia during the last World Cup to discover the attractions of Samara, Kaliningrad and Nizhny Novgorod . However, 30 years ago tourist visits were prohibited, just as they still are in a dozen cities in the gigantic country.
The reasons, obviously, were strategic and political. These cities were related to space exploration, they were the headquarters of military fleets or military research centers. And in the years of the Cold War it was not recommended to walk around with a camera on your shoulder.
The Prussian city of Russia
Kaliningrad is closer to Amsterdam than to Moscow. It is a Russian exclave wedged between Poland and Lithuania, which until World War II was known as Königsberg and which was annexed by the USSR after the conflict.
Its strategic port was the traditional home of the Soviet Baltic Fleet, and the city was home to some 600,000 people associated with this unit, including sailors, soldiers and family members. That is, half the population of Kaliningrad, reports The Telegraph .
Statues of Kalilingrad characters at one of the city gates.
In 1968 Prime Minister Nikita Krushchev decided to erase all traces of the Prussian past from the old Königsberg and demolished the buildings that were saved from the destruction of the war.
Despite the destruction of the Second World War and the demolitions of the Soviet authorities, some buildings of Hanseatic architecture remain in Kaliningrad
Where there were baroque towers and renaissance fronts, dull gray concrete blocks stood, typical rationalist Soviet architecture.
Hanseatic roots
But there were buildings that were saved from the pillory, and after the implosion of the USSR they were protected. The city has a Brandenburg Gate (albeit smaller than the one in Berlin) and donations from Germany allowed its Baltic-Gothic style cathedral to be rebuilt. Every hour its bells begin their ringing with a few bars of Beethoven ‘s Fifth Symphony .
The reconstructed Kalilingrad Cathedral.
In the temple is the tomb of the philosopher Immanuel Kant , Königsberg’s most famous historical figure; whose legacy can also be seen in the open museum in his homage.
For eating and drinking, along the Pregolya River there is a series of Hanseatic-style buildings, the Fishermen’s Village (Rybnaya Derevnya), where you can try smoked sausage dishes and beers.
Space race platform
Samara was known as Kyubyshev from 1935 to 1991, when it reverted to its old name. A vital center of space research, the rocket that carried Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961 was built here.
This heritage is reflected in details such as the new stadium built for the World Cup, called Cosmos Arena , and whose shape is reminiscent of a flying saucer.
The futuristic design of the Samara Arena stadium.
Although artifacts related to the space race continue to be developed in the area, part of the research is no longer top secret and is exhibited in the Cosmic Samara museum . A gigantic P-7 ‘Vostok’ rocket, in Lenin Square, attests to this legacy.
The traces of the Second World War can be seen in the Stalin Bunker, an air-raid shelter built in 1942 equipped with all the luxury to house the strong man of the USSR.
If there is time to explore some nature, it is recommended to go through the Samarskaya Luka National Park , along the Volga River, with beautiful hiking trails and limestone caves.
The uncomfortable legacy of the pacifist
Nizhny Novgorod had been renamed Gorky between 1932 and 1990, in honor of the writer. Known as the Detroit of Russia, this was the largest arms manufacturer during World War II and the Cold War. Despite being the fifth largest city in the country, until 1970 it was prohibited to sell maps of the city.
In Nizhny Novgorod there is a museum dedicated to Andrei Sakharov, installed in the small apartment where he was held for six years by the Kremlin
There is the museum dedicated to Andrei Sakharov , the scientist behind the hydrogen bomb. The small apartment where he was confined between 1980 and 1986 explains why his pacifist ideas were so uncomfortable for the Soviet power.
Medieval heritage in the steppe
In the center of the city is the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin , a medieval fortress with twelve imposing towers.
The medieval towers of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin.
To one side of the tower of St. George descends the exhausting Chkalov Staircase , the longest in Russia, with 560 steps that save the monument to the banks of the Volga.
Rozhdestvenskaya street is worth a walk: there are about thirty stone houses there, the oldest dating back to the 18th century, and on this walk the beautiful Church of the Nativity stands out.
The cities that are still banned
Despite the fall of the Soviet empire there are still many cities closed to tourism. However, there are not many attractions that justify a visit.
Among the most important forbidden cities are Vilyuchinsk and its nuclear submarine shipyard; Dikson , the northernmost port in Russia and one of the most remote sites in the world; Zheleznogorsk , known for its plutonium production; Fokino , headquarters of the Pacific Fleet and Severmorsk , home of the Northern Fleet.
Nobody in their right mind would dream of visiting Ozyorsk , another of the cities closed to tourism and one of the most polluted places in the world. In 1957 at the Kyshtym nuclear power plant a toxic waste tank exploded and the detonation spread more nuclear radiation than Chernobyl . But the authorities kept the disaster under strict secrecy until 1980.
