Art and History Museums

Armoury Chamber

The Kremlin Armory Chamber houses one of the most fabulous and valuable collections in the world whose core is the treasury of Russian tsars and emperors. The treasures include gold, silver and jewelry made in the Kremlin workshops and received as ambassadorial gifts; among them are Faberge Easter eggs, Imperial regalia and thrones, royal carriages and parade outfit for horses, weaponry of the tsars and trophies of the enemies, coronation attire of the tsarinas. The museum is definately not to be missed.

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Tretyakov Gallery

The Tretyakov Gallery is the most significant storehouse of Russian art in the world. It was put together by Moscow industrialist and patron of the arts Pavel Tretyakov and donated to the city in the late 19th century. Visitors may not only enjoy masterpieces of Russian artists but also retrace the development of Russian art from icon painting of the 12th century up to the Russian Modern of the beginning 20th century. Even those people who don't like painting at all are usually moved by deep emotionality of Russian art. To look at photos of Tretyakov Gallery.

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New Tretyakov Gallery

This branch of the Tretyakov Gallery, widely known as the New Tretyakov, houses the best collection of the Russian XXth century art. It displays works by avant-garde masters K. Malevich, V. Kandinsky, M. Chagall, P. Filonov, which are followed by Socialist Realism optimistic images created by A. Deineka and Y. Pimenov, as well as by the 1960s "underground" art and Perestroika's art experiments. The gallery shares the building with the Central House of Artists, a huge exhibit space used for contemporary-art shows. The Fallen Idols Park (Muzeon) is just outside the gallery. To look at photos of New Tretyakov Gallery.

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Pushkin Fine Arts Museum

The museum is the premier venue for Egyptian and Greek antiquities in Russia. It is justly proud of having a unique collection of Egyptian jewellery, ritual items, mummies and tombstones contributed by professor of Cairo University V. Golenischeff. The famous treasures of Troy, found by G. Schliemann and later seized by the Soviet Army from the Nazis, are of a special interest. The second largest Russian collection of the Western European Art contains masterpieces by Veronese, Rembrandt, Rubens, artists of the Golden Age of Dutch art. To look at photos of Pushkin Fine Arts Museum.

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Impressionists' Gallery

The Gallery of 19th and 20th century European and American Art holds one of the best collections of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists in the world. Its canvases by Degas, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Pissaro, Sisley, Matisse are equal in importance to those on display at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. The entire gallery of Paul Gauguin has no counterpart abroad. Early Picasso's works including the famous "Girl on the ball" are among strongest attractions. There is also some heritage of Russian emigre artists Chagall, Kandinsky, Larionov. To look at photos of Impressionists' Gallery. To look at photos of Impressionists' Gallery.

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Russian History Museum

This majestic building on Red Square opened its doors in 1894 as the imperial depository of the Russian history. It houses relics and monuments from the Stone Age to the end of the 19th century. Among the most curious exhibits are an oaken dugout boat five thousand years old, death masks from the epoch of Iron, jewellery hidden by Slavs at the time of the Mongolian invasion, Ivan the Terrible's attire, Peter the Great's belongings. The museum is the only one in the world exhibiting the original Bronze Age dolmen found in the south of Russia with remains of the dead inside. To look at photos of Russian History Museum.

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Contemporary Russian History Museum

The museum covers the period from the late 19th century through the Russian Revolution and up to the mid 1990s. It is located in the mansion of the former Moscow English Club, a hangout of Russian privileged elite in tsarist times. The rise of Communists and the formation of the USSR under Stalin are given in more details at the exposition than the later space race, the Cold War, the Brezhnev's stagnation, the perestroika and the USSR collapse. A substantial number of interiors and life scenes' installations is very helpful in understanding everyday's life of the Russian people. To look at photos of Contemporary Russian History Museum.

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Fallen Idols Park (Muzeon)

The Park came into existence in the democratic fever of the early 1990s. When the USSR was collapsed, many statues and busts of Soviet leaders were dismantled or tumbled from their pedestals all around the city, and some of them found their new home over here. Iconic figures of Stalin, Lenin, Kalinin and other party bosses and KGB chiefs, even vandalised ones, intentionally were left with no restoration. Now disgraced leaders share their place with diverse creations by contemporary sculptors. There are more than 700 minor and major works made of stone, wood, bronze and other materials.

It's worth to combine a short tour around the park with a visit to the New Tretyakov Gallery, located just nearby. To look at photos of Fallen Idols Park.

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Leo Tolstoy House-Museum

Little home-estate was purchased by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy for his family in 1882, and the Tolstoys spent there winters and autumns until 1901. Each and every item of the place still bears memories of the writer, his spouse and eight children. It was there that Sofia Andreevna gave birth to their last daughter Alexandra and to the last child, their angel Vanechka, who died at the age of six. Tolstoy wrote there over a hundred of his works, including "The Kreutzer Sonata" and "The Death of Ivan Ilyich". Among his numerous guests were Anton Chekhov, Sergei Rakhmaninov, Alexander Skryabin.

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Maxim Gorky House-Museum

A stunning mansion in the centre of Moscow was designed by Fyodor Shekhtel, the most brilliant Russian Art Nouveau master, for wealthy bunker Ryabushinsky in 1906. After the Revolution the Ryabushinskys fled abroad, and the house was gifted by Stalin to the most iconic proletarian writer Maxim Gorky. Born in poverty, Gorky brought to the young Soviet literature his appeal to all to be worthy of the name of a human being, no matter in which circumstances people live. Not even mentioning Gorky's personal items, the house itself is an amazing artwork with twisting staircase, ceiling murals, sculpted doorways.

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Jewish Museum & Tolerance Centre

This is the most interactive museum of Moscow and the largest house of Jewish history in the world. Huge screens with constantly changing pictures, 4D movies with special effects, all exhibits are there to draw visitors into an action. You may tap a Torah in a virtual synagogue, and a cantor's voice rings in the air. If touching a special screen, you can appear in a mirror dressed in the garb of a 19th century blacksmith, or a trader. The place housing the museum is worthy of special attention. It is a spacious bus depot designed by K. Melnikov, master of Russian avant-garde architecture, in 1927.

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