Russian Federation III

Postcard showing the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, home of the overwhelmingly large Hermitage Museum – one of the largest and oldest art galleries in the world, founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and open to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise nearly 3 million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world.

If that wasn't impressive enough, the red granite Alexander Column is the tallest of its kind in the world, measuring is 14 stories high and, although it weighs some 600 tonnes, is set so well that no attachment to the base is needed.

Part of the Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments World Heritage site.

Self-adhesive stamp from a set of twelve on famous kremlins. Featured here is the Ryazan Kremlin, located near Moscow, which dates back to the twelfth century. 

Russian Federation II

Postcard showing Mamaev Kurgan in Volgograd, a memorial complex commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad (Volgograd's Soviet-era name), a decisive but terribly bloody Soviet victory over the Axis powers in 1942-1943. With some sources putting the number of casualties as high as two million, it was one of the most lethal battles ever. On Russia's tentative list for world heritage.

Self-adhesive stamp of one of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic mascots, the hare. The two other mascots are strange choices: the polar bear, whose range is several thousand kilometres away from Sochi, on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and the leopard, which was extirpated from Russia in the 1960s. Maybe hares are common enough around Sochi to make up for the lack of the other two?

Russian Federation

Postcard of the insanely large Tsar Cannon (Царь-пушка) on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin. The barrel diameter is 1.2 metres, making it the largest cannon-type weapon ever. It was cast in 1586 and was never actually used in warfare. Part of the Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow World Heritage site.

A number of stamps including two, the fox and the rabbit, from a 2008 definitive series on animals of Russia. The centre stamp features the Zhivopisny Bridge in Moscow, the highest cable-stayed bridge in Europe. The stamp on the right commemorates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Marina Raskova, a celebrated Soviet aviatrix who broke several flying records in the 1930s and went on to found three female air regiments during the Second World War.