If you go to a quiet corner of St Petersburg called Staraya Derevnya (old village) you will see a building which is quite unlike any other in the city.
It is a Tibetan Buddhist temple which looks strangely incongruous in a city full of classical and baroque architecture. The temple looks rather gloomy, with its tall, granite walls and glazed and gilded oriental ornaments which are in stark contrast with the severe northern skyline of St Petersburg.
Russia has always been considered the home of the Russian Orthodox church, so how did Buddhism spread across its borders?
During the 19th century relations between Russia and Tibet became important because of Russia's political problems with China. It was Tibetan Lama Agwan Lobsan Dorzhiev (1853-1938) who obtained permission from Russian Emperor Tsar Nicholas II to build a temple in St Petersburg.
It is interesting that St Petersburg has always been very tolerant to foreign faiths as it was and still is an important cultural center open to foreign influences.
Work began on the construction of the temple in 1909 and was completed in 1913. The works were supervised by a specially appointed construction committee, whose members included well known Buddhologists and academicians.
The temple services are derived from a purely Tibetan canon, it's a traditional Tibetan temple unlike Russo-Transbaikalian temples which reflect Sino-Mongolian traditions.
All the religious symbols used in the temple were manufactured in Eastern Tibet and were granted to the new temple in 1915 and even Lama Agwan Dorzhiev offered his own family gold.
The first services were held in 1913 to mark the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. Two years later, in August 1915, the official consecration service was attended by senior figures in the Russian government.
At the turn of the century, Russia's interest in Buddhism became stronger, with the first Buddhist exhibition being held in 1919 and organized by famous Russian scholars and members of the Russian School of Buddhism.
The quiet and free life of the Buddhist community was shattered during Stalin's purges from 1929 and the new anti-religious law which effectively made Buddhist activities illegal.
From 1935-7 all the monks were either arrested and flung into jail or shot. Lama Agwan Dorzhiev himself died in a prison hospital in 1937 and the property of the temple was either stolen or distributed between museums.
Over the next forty years the temple became a sports club, a zoological museum, a laboratory and even a radio station. The latter broadcasted during the Siege of Leningrad in 1941-44.
After 55 years of restrictions and prohibitions the temple was given back to the Buddhists in 1990. It had been sadly neglected over the years and was in need of renovation and a program has now started.
The temple now has a thriving community of 15 colorful monks in saffron robes who teach Buddhist philosophy and translate the Tibetan religious books.
If you venture into the temple's assembly hall, you can often see the solitary figure of a monk submerged in deep thought over texts from the ancient philosophy.
Lama Gon Chock, the monks' secretary said: " We have now started our own in-house publishing enterprise because it is so difficult to exist on donations from our followers. We print books, sell magazines and produce all kinds of religious items."
At present there are about 40 different Buddhist religious centers all over Russia -- in St Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Saratov, Kiev, Saratov and other places. There are nine Buddhist schools. The temple's is called the Kagyu Karma School and was officially registered in Russia in 1991 although it had existed since 1989.
One of its teachers Alxander Koybagazov gave us a warm welcome, inviting us to a meditation which is held every day.
"Kagyu is a meditative school and its main principle is that one should understand and study everything that is written in the spiritual books through his own personal experience of mediation," he said.
The official leader of the school is the 17th Karmara, the incarnation of one of the Dalai Lamas of Tibet, representing a long established tradition of incarnations going back to remote times.
The center itself was founded by Lama Ole Nidal who has contributed a lot to the development of Kagyu centers all over the world. He came to St Petersburg for that purpose several years ago and plans to return soon.
He describes his life devoted to the Kagyu and Buddhism as difficult and full of hardship. When he goes on tour, he is followed by his devotees from one center to the next, where he gives lectures, arranges interviews and conducts meditations.
Lama Ole Nidal's style is simple and he shows a sympathetic attitude towards people. His teachings don't bear the stamp of oriental exoticism. It is a simple and uncomplicated form of the ancient teachings.
"Any person can come to us whether Christian or Orthodox. Meditations are held every day between 9am-10am, all our welcome," said Alexander Koybagazov.
The main aim of the Buddhists is to reach the state of Buddah. It gives people the chance to change their mind about the outside world and understand their own inner world.
Buddhism is seen as a form of healing -- mental, spiritual and physical -- the monks even have their own special Tibetan medicine room where herbs are used to treat illness.
"Come to our daily meditations and you'll understand yourself better and feel the cleansing of your soul," said Koybagazov.