Church of Blood and Church of Ascension, Ekaterinburg, Russia, winter 2004. The empty space next to the Church of Blood shown in this photograph is the exact area where the murder room of the Ipatiev House once stood. Grand Duchess Tatiana Romanova (second eldest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II) once write in her diary, whilst the family were entrapped in the Ipatiev House, that she could see the top of the Church of Ascension (the little bluish church in the distance shown here) from her prison room. The Church of Ascension is over 200 years old. These buildings are made to last in Russia! Maybe Australian house builders should heed a lesson from the Russians! By the way, the Church of Blood is leaned over somewhat unnaturally because of the crappy camera lens I used for the shot! But the colours are exactly as my eyes saw them in the early morning light.

(Photograph: T.J. Hawkeswood)