One more example of 8-point star usage, now it is St. Peter’s Square in Vatican.

Chelyabinsk, the city of young trees. Why there is no forest and all trees are so small?

Taken from etoretro.ru

Fragment of Hessel Gerritsz' map of Russia, which shows the Dvina River with a large number of cities densely located on both banks. Given the cold climate and harsh conditions of the north, it is not clear how so many cities were located in the middle of the tundra.

Tabula Russiae ex autographo, quod delineandum curavit Foedor fililus Tzaris Boris desumta, 1613.

Old photo of Vladivostok, 19th century.

The ground level of streets covers the first floor of the building in the left part of the photo. Again, no trees or bushes.

How did the three-meter layer of fertile soil appear in Russian tundra?
Usually there are extremely sparse soils near the Arctic Circle.

I watch this channel of the researcher of the alternative history of the Russian lands and find many interesting facts. English-speaking viewers can be helped by automatic translation of subtitles.

https://youtu.be/JyzVHTsdH-Q

Santa Clara-a-Nova Monastery, Coimbra, Portugal