The Russian chapel, dedicated to Saint Prince Vladimir, is located in the northwest of Slovenia, near Kranjska Gora, at the high mountain pass of Vršič. It was built during World War I by Russian prisoners of war in memory of their comrades who tragically perished.

During the war, Slovenia was part of Austria-Hungary. In 1915, the front line, where battles between Italian and Austro-Hungarian troops took place, was near Kranjska Gora, which was an important transit point at that time. The Austrian command decided to build a strategic road 30 kilometers long through the Vršič pass to supply the army.

Prisoners of war, mainly from the Russian army, numbering from 10,000 to 12,000, were involved in the construction of the road. A camp was organized for them near the pass. By October 1915, the road was completed, and the prisoners of war maintained it, building retaining walls and drainage systems, as well as clearing snowdrifts.

In March 1916, two avalanches descended from Mount Mojstrana, destroying avalanche barriers and burying the barracks. As a result, between 200 and 500 people died. The exact number of victims is unknown, as they were buried in various places on the slopes of the mountain.

In 1916-1917, a small chapel was built on the site of one of the barracks in memory of the deceased prisoners of war. In the late 1930s, the remains of soldiers found during road expansion were reburied in a brotherly grave near the chapel. A stone obelisk with the inscription in Russian "To the Sons of Russia" was erected at the grave.

Since 1992, an annual memorial ceremony for the deceased is held at the chapel on the last Sunday of July, attended by Russian and Slovenian delegations, as well as hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches in Slovenia. Since 1995, the chapel, which has been designated a cultural monument, has been protected by the state. In 2005, it was fully restored, and in July 2006, the road built by Russian prisoners of war was named "Russian Road."