Russian Criminal Tattoos: Russian Church tattoos

The church (sometimes depicted as a cathedral, monastery, fortress. etc, but usually depicted as a traditional russian church) is one of the main themes of "Vory v Zakone" tattoos. Usually this tattoos are large, covering significant areas of the chest or of the upper back. The number of domes/cupolas/towers signifies the number of convictions or, less often, it represent the number of years of incarceration (usually each dome represents a conviction; the number of the years served in prison is indicated trough dots tattooed on the knuckles).

(Photo: Arkady Bronnikov/FUEL Russian Criminal Tattoo Archive)