25 Roubles Alexandrovskaya Sloboda

Alexandrovskaya Sloboda — the fortified residence outside Moscow where Ivan the Terrible ruled as virtual tsar-in-exile during the Oprichnina years of the 1560s — is an unusual subject for a bullion-adjacent commemorative. Ivan withdrew to the Sloboda in December 1564, sending letters of abdication to Moscow before being begged back under conditions that effectively legitimized his terror campaigns. The site is now a museum-reserve in Alexandrov, Vladimir Oblast.

The Bank of Russia's architectural commemorative series has produced dozens of entries at this specification since the early 2000s, with mintages typically kept below five thousand pieces.