40 UNCANNY FACTS ABOUT RUSSIA THAT WILL SURELY DROP YOUR JAW!

Japanese Origin Of Matryoshka Dolls

Even though we immediately think of Russia when we come across these dolls, their origin has a heavy Japanese connection. The creator of the famous Matryoshka doll, Sergey Malyutin found a Japanese Daruma doll on his hands. He found several other Daruma dolls inside which intrigued him a lot. He drew inspiration from this and ended up producing the first ever Matryoshka doll in 1890.

Oymyakon: The Coldest Town On Earth

If you have ever been to the Yakutia region in Siberia, you will discover Oymyakon aka the coldest town on the entire earth. This place is full of strong people as you could already imagine. The average winter drops to a temperature of about -58°F. There coldest winter ever recorded took place in the year 1938 where the temperatures was an unbelievable -108°F. How did anyone survive that?

Petergof: The World’s Most Luxurious City

During the 18th century, Peter, the Great wanted to create a city that would reduce Versailles to a slum-like place. So what did he do? He decided to make Petergof. The city has over four huge cascades along with 173 fantastic fountains. Have you ever come across something as beautiful as a Bolshoy cascade? The cascade has about 64 fountains where 225 bronze statues are placed.

Helicopter Golf

Russia is always up for competition. So while America is playing golf with their own arms and a golf cart, Russian’s are playing the sport using helicopters. Players would play with a three feet tall ball down a snowy route from the helicopter with the help of a giant mallet that is fixed to the chopper. The player drives the chopper across the course. Unbelievable, right?

Russians And Their Superstitions

Russia is full of superstitions. Back in the ancient times, Russian would firstly let a cat explore a newly built house before anyone as there was a notion that the first person to enter a house becomes the first one to lose his or her life. A cat has nine lives, so they found no trouble with this. If the cat refused, this would mean they had to rebuild everything from scratch.

City With The Most Bridges

When we talk about waterways and bridges, the city that pops up in our imagination is usually Venice, Italy. But that is because you have never heard about Saint Petersburg. This city actually has three times the number of bridges that Venice has. Often called “Venice of the North”, there are many people who feel that this city is more romantic than Venice, Italy.