Church of the Lesser Ascension
Presnya
Built in the early 17th century, the festive Church of the Lesser Ascension features whitewashed walls and primitively carved stone embellishments.
Must-see attractions in Moscow
Moscow
The pink-and-white St Barbara’s Church, built between 1795 and 1804, is now given over to government offices.
Moscow
Built in 1698, St Maxim the Blessed’s Church is now a folk-art exhibition hall.
Moscow
The 700-room Great Kremlin Palace, built as an imperial residence between 1838 and 1849, is now an official residence of the Russian president, used for…
Moscow
From 1885, composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky spent his summers in Klin, 75km northwest of Moscow. In a charming house on the edge of town, he wrote the…
Arbat & Khamovniki
Following the vicious but inconclusive battle at Borodino in August 1812, Moscow’s defenders retreated along what is now Kutuzovsky pr, pursued by…
Moscow
‘My estate’s not much,’ wrote playwright Anton Chekhov of his home at Melikhovo, south of Moscow, ‘but the surroundings are magnificent’. Chekhov lived…
Presnya
‘The colour of the house is liberal, ie red', playwright Anton Chekhov wrote of his house on the Garden Ring, where he lived from 1886 to 1890. The red…
Moscow
Boris Pasternak – poet, author of Doctor Zhivago and winner of the 1958 Nobel Prize for Literature – lived for a long time on Moscow’s southwestern…
Arbat & Khamovniki
Housed in a beautiful Empire-style mansion dating from 1816, this museum is devoted to the life and work of Russia’s favourite poet. Personal effects,…
Presnya
In 1831 poet Alexander Pushkin married artist Natalia Goncharova in the elegant Church of the Grand Ascension, on the western side of pl Nikitskie Vorota…
Moscow
Immediately inside the Trinity Gate Tower, the lane to the right (south) passes the 17th-century Poteshny Palace, where Stalin lived. The yellow palace…
Arbat & Khamovniki
‘What is a portrait? You have to attain not only an absolute physical likeness…but you need to express the inner world of the particular person you are…
Moscow
The offices of the president of Russia, the ultimate seat of power in the modern Kremlin, are in the yellow, triangular former Senate building, a fine…
Moscow
The 13m circular stone platform in front of St Basil's Cathedral is known as the Place of Skulls. Legend has it that it was the site of executions,…
Central House of Writers (CDL)
Presnya
The Central House of Writers is an elaborate art nouveau mansion dating to 1889. The historic mansion housed the administrative offices of the writers'…
Moscow
The 16th- and 17th-century Terem Palace is the most splendid of the Kremlin palaces. Made of stone and built by Vasily III, the palace’s living quarters…
Moscow
This monastery was built by widows of the Battle of Borodino, and there are several exhibits on the grounds related to the 1812 battle. Leo Tolstoy stayed…
Synagogue on Bolshaya Bronnaya
Presnya
Built in 1883, the Synagogue on Bolshaya Bronnaya was the private place of worship of a prerevolutionary millionaire. Closed in the 1930s, the building…
Memorial Synagogue at Poklonnaya Hill
Arbat & Khamovniki
The Memorial Synagogue at Poklonnaya Hill opened in 1998 as a memorial to Holocaust victims, as well as a museum of the Russian Jewry. Admission is with a…
Arbat & Khamovniki
The Russian Academy of Arts hosts rotating exhibits in the historic 19th-century mansion of the Morozov estate. Despite the institutional-sounding name,…
Moscow
The 18th-century Arsenal was commissioned by Peter the Great to house workshops and depots for guns and weaponry. An unrealised plan at the end of the…
Arbat & Khamovniki
Just east of Park Pobedy, the Triumphal Arch celebrates the defeat of Napoleon in 1812. The original arch was demolished at its site in front of the…
Meshchansky & Basmanny
Across the road running south of Novospassky Monastery is the sumptuous Ecclesiastic Residence. It was the home of the Moscow metropolitans after the…
Memorial to the Victims of Totalitarianism
Moscow
This humble memorial stands in the little garden south of the notorious Lubyanka Prison. The single stone slab comes from an infamous 1930s labour camp…
Arbat & Khamovniki
Bulat Okudzhava was a poet-turned-songwriter who lived and often performed on the Arbat in the 1960s. He inspired a whole movement of liberal-thinking…
Moscow
A huge, 330-hectare swath of parkland, the Botanical Gardens has not yet been touched by the renovations that have transformed other parks in Moscow. But…
Central House of Artists (TsDKh)
Zamoskvorechie
Sometimes called by its initials, this huge building attached to the New Tretyakov Gallery contains studios and galleries, as well as exhibition space for…
Moscow
Formerly the estate kitchen, this outpost now contains a small exhibit of folk art. Built in 1870, the building originally served as living quarters for…
Moscow
The bombastic marble, glass and concrete State Kremlin Palace, built between 1960 and 1961 for Communist Party congresses, is now home to the Kremlin…
Meshchansky & Basmanny
A concept long overdue, the Vodka History Museum is just three rooms, with the all-important traktir (tavern) attached.
Moscow
Use the Kremlin entrance at Borovitskaya Tower if you intend to skip the churches and visit only the Armoury or Diamond Fund.
Moscow
Just outside the New Jerusalem Monastery’s west wall, the Moscow region’s outdoor architectural museum is a collection of picturesque peasant cottages and…
Moscow
Georgy Zhukov was Chief of Staff of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. He oversaw the defence of both Leningrad and Stalingrad, as well as the…
