# List of World Heritage Sites in Russia

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. Cultural heritage consists of monuments (such as architectural works, monumental sculptures, or inscriptions), groups of buildings, and sites (including archaeological sites). Natural features (consisting of physical and biological formations), geological and physiographical formations (including habitats of threatened species of animals and plants), and natural sites which are important from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty, are defined as natural heritage. The Soviet Union ratified the convention on 12 October 1988. The first five sites in the Soviet Union were inscribed to the list at the 14th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, held in Banff, Alberta, Canada, in December 1990. Of these five, three are located in the present-day Russian Federation (or Russia): the monuments of Saint Petersburg (then called Leningrad), Kizhi Pogost, and Moscow Kremlin and Red Square.
As of 2024, there are 32 World Heritage Sites in Russia, with a further 31 sites on the tentative list. The most recent site listed was the Cultural Landscape of Kenozero Lake, in 2024. There are twenty-one cultural sites and eleven natural. Four sites are transnational. The Curonian Spit is shared with Lithuania, the Landscapes of Dauria and Uvs Nuur Basin are shared with Mongolia, and the Struve Geodetic Arc is shared with nine European countries.

## World Heritage Sites

UNESCO lists sites under ten criteria; each entry must meet at least one of the criteria. Criteria i through vi are cultural, and vii through x are natural.

## Tentative sites

In addition to sites inscribed on the World Heritage List, member states can maintain a list of tentative sites that they may consider for nomination. Nominations for the World Heritage List are only accepted if the site was previously listed on the tentative list. As of 2024, Russia recorded 31 sites on its tentative list.
Tentative World Heritage Sites :
| Site | Location | Year listed | UNESCO criteria | Description |
| Historical and Cultural Dzheyrakh-Assa Reservation | Ingushetia | 1996 | (cultural) | The museum-reserve comprises 18 settlements in the canyons of the Assa and Armkhi rivers. The settlements are known for their stone towers (towers in Erzi pictured) that had both residential and defensive functions. Most date from the 16th and 17th centuries. |
| Historic Centre of Irkutsk | Irkutsk Oblast | 1998 | (cultural) | The city of Irkutsk, located at the Irkut and Angara rivers 66 kilometres (41 mi) from Lake Baikal, has been shaped by its history spanning over 300 years. Founded in 1661 as a military fort, it received many exiles following the 1825 Decembrist revolt. It saw large-scale urbanization in the 20th century. Several buildings from different time periods have been preserved, including traditional decorated wooden houses (example pictured) and buildings in Siberian Baroque. |
| Rostov Kremlin | Yaroslavl Oblast | 1998 | ii, iii, iv, vi (cultural) | The Kremlin in the town of Rostov overlooks the Lake Nero. It initially consisted of three parts that were integrated together in the 17th century. The Kremlin contains the Metropolitan residence, several churches, and it is surrounded by high walls. It is one of the best preserved examples of old Russian architecture. |
| Historic Center of Yeniseysk | Krasnoyarsk Krai | 2000 | ii, iii, iv (cultural) | The town of Yeniseysk was founded in 1619 and served as a base for Russian expansion into East Siberia. Located at the bank of the Yenisey River, it was also an important trade centre. The town preserves several buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries. The Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior is pictured. |
| Petroglyphs of Sikachi-Alyan | Khabarovsk Krai | 2003 | (cultural) | Petroglyphs dating to the prehistoric times are located on cliffs above the Amur River near the village of Sikachi-Alyan. They were noticed by the Russian orientalist Palladius in the late 19th century and were further studied in the 20th century. |
| The Commander Islands (Comandorsky State Nature Reserve) | Kamchatka Krai | 2005 | vii, viii, ix, x (natural) | The nature reserve comprises two large islands (Bering Island and Medny Island, pictured), a group of smaller islands, and the surrounding waters. The islands are the peaks of a submarine volcanic ridge extending from Alaska to Kamchatka. The islands are an important habitat for birds and sea mammals. |
| Magadansky State Nature Reserve | Magadan Oblast | 2005 | vii, viii, ix, x (natural) | The reserve consists of four clusters, three of which are at or near the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk and the fourth is further inland. The climate in the area is subarctic. The forests consist mainly of conifers and there are several endemic plant species. The rivers are important for migrating species of salmons. |
| Krasnoyarsk Stolby | Krasnoyarsk Krai | 2007 | vii, viii, ix, x (natural) | The stolby (rocks) are rock formations in the Eastern Sayan Mountains. The rocks date to the Paleozoic era, they are of magmatic and sedimentary origin, and contain fossils from the Cambrian period. There are also karst phenomena, such as caves, present. The area is popular with rock climbers, who call the freestyle mountaineering "stolbism". |
| The Great Vasyugan Mire | Tomsk Oblast | 2007 | vii, viii, ix, x (natural) | Vasyugan Mire is the largest swamp in the Northern Hemisphere, and is located around the Ob and Irtysh watershed. It developed recently, in the Holocene epoch. The landscape contains peat bogs, fens, and forested mires. The swamp supports large number of insect species, which are in turn food for a large number of migrating and nesting birds. Mammal species present include elk, brown bear, lynx, and sable. |
| Ensemble of the Astrakhan Kremlin | Astrakhan Oblast | 2008 | ii, iii, iv (cultural) | Following the conquest of the Astrakhan Khanate by Ivan the Terrible, the kremlin of Astrakhan was constructed in 1558, first in wood and then in stone in the following decades. It served as a stronghold in the south-eastern border of Russia and a stop on the Silk Road. The Assumption Cathedral (pictured) is considered as one of the best examples of Russian church architecture of the 18th century. |
| The Ilmensky mountains | Chelyabinsk Oblast | 2008 | vi, vii, viii (natural) | The mountains contain rich deposits of a wide variety of minerals, some of which were first discovered here. They include ilmenite, monazite, cancrinite, and samarskite-(Y). The area is protected as Ilmen Nature Reserve and generally closed to public. |
| The archeological site of Tanais | Rostov Oblast | 2009 | ii, iii, v (cultural) | Tanais was a colony of Bosporan Kingdom, an ancient Greek state. The city was founded in the 3rd century BCE in the Don river delta and quickly became a strong trade centre and a place of interaction between Greeks and nomadic tribes of the steppe, including the Sarmatians. In the 3rd century CE, Tanais was burned down, probably by the Goths. The area remained inhabited but the centre of settlement has moved away from the city ruins in the following centuries. |
| Bashkir Ural | Bashkortostan | 2012 | i, iii, v, vi, viii, x (mixed) | The area in the south part of the Ural Mountains is important both in natural and cultural view. It is rich in biodiversity, being at the meeting point of European and Asian forests and steppes. There are several karst phenomena, including caves. Cave paintings from the Paleolithic have been find in Kapova Cave (pictured). Today, the area is inhabited by the Bashkirs who maintain some ancient traditions, including wild beekeeping. |
| Virgin Komi Forests (re-nomination) | Komi Republic | 2014 | vii, viii, ix, x (natural) | This nomination proposes a boundary modification of the existing World Heritage Site and a further justification of outstanding natural merit as per UNESCO criteria. |
| Western Caucasus (re-nomination) | Krasnodar Krai | 2014 | ix, x (natural) | This nomination proposes a boundary modification of the existing World Heritage Site. |
| Mamayev Kurgan Memorial Complex "To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad" | Volgograd Oblast | 2014 | i, iv, vi (cultural) | The complex in Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) commemorates the fallen during the Battle of Stalingrad of World War II. It was constructed between 1959 and 1967. It consists of several staircases, squares, memorial halls, and is crowned by a huge allegorical statue The Motherland Calls by Yevgeny Vuchetich. |
| The Oglakhty Range | Khakassia | 2016 | i, iii, vi, x (mixed) | The Oglakhty mountain range is located on the bank of the Yenisei river. The area has been inhabited for at least 5000 years and different cultures left several archaeological remains, including petroglyphs and burial sites of the Tashtyk culture from 1st to 7th century CE (funerary mask from this culture pictured). The landscape includes relatively undisturbed forests and steppes with diverse flora and fauna. |
| Historic Centre of Gorokhovets | Vladimir Oblast | 2017 | ii, iv (cultural) | The town of Gorokhovets was founded in the 12th century on the bank of Klyazma river, to protect the southern border of Vladimir-Suzdal. The town saw its golden age in the 17th and 18th centuries when it was an important trade centre. A number of churches and monasteries were built in that period. |
| Treasures of the Pazyryk Culture | Altai Republic | 2018 | i, ii, iii, vi (cultural) | This nomination comprises sites related to the Pazyryk Culture, which was a Scythian nomadic Iron Age archaeological culture from the 6th to 2nd century BCE. Findings include petroglyphs, burial mounds with preserved mummies showing tattoos, as well as remains of textiles (carpet pictured). Some sites are located in the buffer zone of the Golden Mountains of Altai World Heritage Site. |
| Rock Painting of Shulgan-Tash Cave | Bashkortostan | 2018 | i, iii (cultural) | Cave paintings in the Shulgan-Tash, or Kapova Cave, date to the Upper Paleolithic period. They were made in red ochre and depict mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, bulls, and horses. The cave was occupied for several thousands of years and likely served ritual purposes. It was rediscovered in the mid-20th century. |
| Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior with the Medieval Rampart City Wall of Pereslavl-Zalessky (1152–1157) | Yaroslavl Oblast | 2019 | i, ii, iv (cultural) | The Transfiguration Cathedral is the earliest preserved example of Russian white-stone architecture. The design was influenced by the Romanesque style from Western Europe and by Byzantine Empire tradition. The town of Pereslavl-Zalessky was founded by Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy in 1152 and was surrounded by earthen ramparts which are still preserved today. |
| Heritage of Chukotka Arctic Marine Hunters | Chukotka Autonomous Okrug | 2019 | ii, iii, v, vi (cultural) | This nomination comprises three sites related to the Siberian Yupik (also called Eskimo) people inhabiting the far north of Chukotka. The cemetery complex at Ekven dates from the first millennium AD, the village of Naukan and the complex at Nunak were active from the 15th to the 19th or 20th century. Remains of the Old Bering Sea culture include tools, hunting weapons, household items, and jewellery. Hunters mostly focused on marine mammals and used animal bones to make tools and decorative bone carvings. |
| Vyatskoe village | Yaroslavl Oblast | 2019 | ii, v (cultural) | The village of Vyatskoe was first mentioned in 1502 but mostly developed in the 18th century. The architecture has been well preserved, including merchant and peasant houses, churches, and public buildings. There are several thematic museums. The villagers have preserved traditional crafts, including the production of pickled cucumbers. |
| Divnogorye Historical and Cultural Complex | Voronezh Oblast | 2020 | ii, iv, v, vi (cultural) | Divnogorye is a chalk and limestone landscape on the bank of the Don river. It has been inhabited since the Upper Paleolithic, when horse hunting took place in the area. In the 9th and 10th centuries, it was a site of a fortified Khazar settlement of Saltovo-Mayaki culture. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the area attracted hermits who carved caves and churches into soft rock (Cave monastery of St. John the Baptist pictured). |
| National Park Kytalyk | Sakha | 2021 | ix, x (natural) | National park Kytalyk covers parts of the Kolyma Lowland and Yana-Indigirka Lowland and consists of tundra landscape with thermokarst features such as polygonal soils, baydzharakh, and pingos. The area is home to the endangered Siberian crane, as well as several species of ducks and geese. |
| Valley of the Kings of Tuva | Tuva | 2021 | i, iii, iv (cultural) | The valley of the Uyuk river is the site of thousands of burial mounds (kurgans). They are either stone or earthen and date to the 1st millennium BCE, during the Bronze and Iron Age of the early Scythian cultures. The archaeological studies of the site started in 1915. Some mounds are massive, Arzhaan-1 was originally 120 metres (390 ft) in diameter and 4 metres (13 ft) tall. Thousands of gold objects were discovered in Arzhaan-2 (pictured from above) and are now stored in museums. |
| Denisova Cave | Altai Krai | 2022 | iii, v (cultural) | Denisova cave is an archaeological site with remains of Pleistocene communities, with deposits spanning 300,000 years. It was at different times inhabited by Neanderthals, modern humans, and Denisovans, a group of archaic humans that were identified in 2010 by genetic analysis of the bone fragments found in the cave. Subsequent analyses also demonstrated that Denisovans occasionally interbred with Neanderthals, and that they contributed to the genetic pool of the Tibetan people and to populations of South, East, and Southeast Asia. |
| Bashkir Shikhans: Toratau, Yuraktau and Kushtau | Bashkortostan | 2022 | viii (natural) | This nomination comprises three shikhans, isolated carbonate hills, that are the remains of an ancient reef that formed during the Permian period. They formed at the junction of two ancient oceans, Tethys and Panthalassa, in the final stages before the formation of the Pangaea. They document all the stages of the reef development, from its formation to extinction. Diverse fossil communities include bryozoa, brachiopods, molluscs, and trilobites. Toratau is pictured. |
| The Complex of the Voskresensky Copper Smeltery | Bashkortostan | 2023 | ii, iv, v (cultural) | The copper smelting industrial complex was established in 1740s as the first private enterprise in the region. The complex later expanded to include iron smelters and foundries. The plant was one of the largest in the Ural Mountains and stimulated development of mining plants in Orenburg Oblast. It ceased operating in 1902. Today, the complex is the best preserved example of a copper smelting plant, with 12 remaining objects, including industrial buildings, a church, a hospital, and warehouses. |
| Historic Town Centre of Torzhok and Country Estate Properties Designed by Nikolay Lvov | Tver Oblast | 2023 | i, iv, vi (cultural) | Torzhok is one of the oldest Russian towns and it is located on the route from Moscow to Saint Petersburg. After a 1766 fire that destroyed the centre, the town was rebuilt in Neoclassical style. The reconstruction was headed by the architect Nikolay Lvov, who drew from the ideas of the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. One of his works is the Borisoglebskiy Cathedral (pictured). Lvov's work was continued by other architects, including Carlo Rossi. |
| Memorials to the Heroes of the Great Patriotic War: Brest Fortress and Mamayev Kurgan* | Volgograd Oblast | 2024 | ii, iv, vi (cultural) | This nomination comprises two memorial sites to the Great Patriotic War, or the Eastern Front of World War II - Brest Fortress in Belarus and Mamayev Kurgan in Russia. The latter commemorates the Battle of Stalingrad which turned the tides of the war in favour of the Allies. It was constructed between 1959 and 1967 and features the monumental sculpture The Motherland Calls (pictured in the background). Both memorial complexes contributed to the development of the heroic Soviet art style which became prominent in socialist countries. |
| Complex of Structures of the Tsoi-Pede Necropolis | Chechnya | 2024 | ii (cultural) | |