Russia in 800 Square Meters

The official opening of the world’s largest model layout has taken place in St Petersburg. The whole of Russia – from Kamchatka to the Kaliningrad Region – is laid out in an area measuring 800 square meters.

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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Danichev

The official opening of the world’s largest model layout has taken place in St Petersburg. The whole of Russia – from Kamchatka to the Kaliningrad Region – is laid out in an area measuring 800 square meters.

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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Khovanov

On this giant terrain its creators have managed to show the cities and sea ports, airports, train stations, factories and plants, and on the railway lines there are even trains, and on the roads there are cars.

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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Khovanov

The model is operated by three people. At the center of the operations room for the model country are 40 computers and 6 rows of monitors.

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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Khovanov

Objects include historical monuments, streets and squares of Russia’s biggest cities. Northwest Russia is represented by an enormous number of buildings, including the Kizhi architectural ensemble, which has been included on the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage sites.

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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Khovanov

Peter the Great intended the Spit of Vasilievsky Island in St. Petersburg to become a landmark of the future capital.

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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Khovanov

The Volga-Baltic Canal with its systems of locks and sailing boats on the rivers is displayed in its full “width” on the model.

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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Khovanov

The Russian capital, except for the Kremlin and Gorky Park, is represented by the Moscow Metro.

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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Khovanov

The port of Sochi can be made out from the architecture of this building.

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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Khovanov

The most surprising things on this model are the scenes of everyday life (genre scenes), which the visitor can spend hours looking at. There are over 100,000 tiny (less than 1 cm in size) residents depicted, and each one is unique.

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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Khovanov

Winter has come to Russia. The roofs and trees are covered in snow. A janitor is clearing the path to the church and people are hurrying along it engrossed in their own business.

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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Khovanov

A reindeer herder’s camp. Someone is building a hut, someone is catching a deer, someone is standing admiring the efforts of his colleagues – it is a hive of activity.

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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Khovanov

A vast country that cannot be taken in with a single glance. Eleven tons of plaster were used to build the model country. Two hundred and fifty components are in constant motion along the 2.5 km of railroad tracks, 43 roads etc…