When worlds collide: photographer Egor Rogalev visits the kaleidoscopic city of Vyborg

During the past 700 years, Vyborg, a picturesque provincial town on the north-east banks of the Gulf of Finland, has changed hands a number of times, moving back and forth between Sweden, Russia, Finland, the Soviet Union and Finland again before finally settling down with Russia. Today the cobblestoned city, which is just 130km from St Petersburg, is a favourite of Russian tourists, although its proximity to Finland ensures scores of holidaymakers from across the border who visit for the cheap clothes and cheap booze. Vyborg’s changing citizenship is evident in its landscape with buildings of different architectural styles — Art Nouveau, Functionalism and Nordic Classicism — nestled side by side. St Petersburg-based photographer Egor Rogalev spent a day walking around the city, taking in the local culture.