Russian White House

The classic and imposing Russian White House (which is a term that Russians also call it, in their own language as "byely dom"). Constructed in 1981, it housed Soviet Republic's Congress and the Supreme Soviet until the famous Russian constitutional crisis of 1993, when a major uprising led to a siege and artillery bombardment on the building which caused a major fire. The building stood damaged for some time after the coup was overthrown, and the black burns became famous, so much so that it became tradition for newlyweds to be photographed in front of its damaged facade.

More than $300 million US dollars were spent renovating the building. The reformed parliament, known thereafter by its Tsarist era title of the "Duma", was elected in 1994 and then moved to another building on Moscow's Okhotny Ryad. The President Medvedev also is not located in the white house, and instead operates out of the Kremlin.

The renovated White House now houses the Russian government. An inscription at the base of the tower reads, "House of the Government of the Russian Federation."