Moscow Sights

  1. Alexandrovsky Garden

    Gravitate toward the Aleksandrovsky Garden during the summer months for relaxed beer drinking amid the greenery.

    Read more about Alexandrovsky Garden

  2. Annunciation Cathedral

    The Annunciation Cathedral, at the southwest corner of Sobornaya ploshchad, contains the celebrated icons of master painter Theophanes the Greek. They have a timeless beauty that appeals even to those usually left cold by icons.

    Read more about Annunciation Cathedral

  3. Archaeological Museum

    An excavation of the Voskresensky Bridge - which used to cross the Neglinnaya River and commence the road to Tver - uncovered coins, clothing and other artefacts from old Moscow. The museum displaying these treasures is situated in an underground pavilion 7m deep that remains from the excavation itself. The entrance is at the base of the once and future Hotel Moskva.

    Read more about Archaeological Museum

  4. Archangel Cathedral

    The Archangel Cathedral at the southeastern corner of Soborny ploshchad, was for centuries the coronation, wedding and burial church of tsars. It was built by Ivan Kalita in 1333 to commemorate the end of the great famine, and dedicated to Archangel Michael, guardian of the Moscow princes. By the early 16th century it fell into disrepair and was rebuilt between 1505 and 1508 by the Italian architect Alevisio Novi.

    Read more about Archangel Cathedral

  5. Armoury

    The Armoury dates back to 1511, when it was founded under Vasily III to manufacture and store weapons, imperial arms and regalia for the royal court. Later it also produced jewellery, icon frames and embroidery.

    Read more about Armoury

  7. Assumption Cathedral

    On the northern side of Sobornaya ploshchad, with five golden helmet domes and four semicircular gables facing the square, the Assumption Cathedral is the focal church of prerevolutionary Russia and the burial place of most of the heads of the Russian Orthodox Church from the 1320s to 1700. A striking 1660s' fresco of the Virgin Mary faces Sobornaya ploshchad, above the door once used for royal processions. If you have limited time in the Kremlin, come straight here.

    Read more about Assumption Cathedral

  8. Bakhrushin Theatre Museum

    Russia's foremost stage museum, founded in 1894, is in the Neo-Gothic mansion on the north side of Paveletskaya ploshchad. The museum exhibits all things theatrical - stage sets, costumes, scripts and personal items belonging to some of Russia's stage greats. They are not limited only to drama, but also trace the development of opera, ballet and puppetry.

    Read more about Bakhrushin Theatre Museum

  9. Borodino Panorama

    Following a vicious but inconclusive battle at Borodino in August 1812, Moscow's defenders retreated along what are now Kutuzovsky prospekt and ulitsa Arbat, pursued by Napoleon's Grand Army.

    Read more about Borodino Panorama

  10. Central Committee Building

    Communist history can be seen on Staraya pl, where the western side of the square is taken up with the Central Committee Building, once the most important decision-making organ of the communist party and thus the whole of the Soviet Union.

    Read more about Central Committee Building

  11. Central Lenin Museum

    The former Central Lenin Museum was once the big daddy of all the Lenin museums, but was closed in 1993 after the White House shoot-out. It is sometimes used for special exhibits, but more often, communist rabblerousers congregate here.

    Read more about Central Lenin Museum

  12. Advertisement

  13. Central Museum Of Armed Forces

    Covering the history of the Soviet and Russian military since 1917, this massive museum occupies 24 exhibit halls, plus open-air exhibits. Over 800,000 military items include uniforms, medals and weapons. Among the highlights are remainders of the American U2 spy plane (brought down in the Urals in 1960) and the victory flag raised over Reichstag in 1945. Take trolleybus No 69 (or walk) 1.25km west from the Novoslobodskaya metro.

    Read more about Central Museum Of Armed Forces

  14. Chekhov House-Museum

    `The colour of the house is liberal, ie, red,' Chekhov wrote of his house on the Garden Ring, where he lived from 1886 to 1890. Appropriately, the house now contains the Chekhov House-Museum, with bedrooms, drawing room and study intact. The overall impression is one of a peaceful and cultured family life.

    Read more about Chekhov House-Museum

  15. Choral Synagogue

    Moscow's oldest synagogue was built in 1891 by the businessman Polyakov, who made his fortune in the sugar industry. It was the only synagogue that continued to operate throughout the Soviet period, in spite of Bolshevik demands to convert it to a workers' club. The interior is exquisite.

    Read more about Choral Synagogue

  16. Church Of St John The Warrior

    The finest of all Zamoskvorechie churches mixes Moscow and European baroque styles, resulting in this melange of shapes and colours. It was commissioned by Peter the Great in thanks for his 1709 victory over Sweden at Poltava, it is a conglomeration of Moscow and European baroque styles. Although it's a working church, it is often locked; the 17th-century iconostasis is reputedly a masterpiece.

    Read more about Church Of St John The Warrior

  17. Church Of The Deposition Of The Robe

    This delicate single-domed church, beside the west door of the Assumption Cathedral, was built between 1484 and 1486 in exclusively Russian style. It was the private chapel of the heads of the Church, who tended to be highly suspicious of such people as Italian architects.

    Read more about Church Of The Deposition Of The Robe

  19. Church Of The Nativity Of The Virgin In Putinki

    When this church was completed in 1652, the Patriarch Nikon responded by banning tent roofs like those featured here. Apparently, he considered such architecture too Russian, too secular, and too far from the Church's Byzantine roots. Fortunately, the Church of the Nativity has survived to grace this corner near Pushkinskaya ploshchad.

    Read more about Church Of The Nativity Of The Virgin In Putinki

  20. Church Of The Trinity In Nikitniki

    This little gem of a church, built in the 1630s, is a exquisite example of Russian baroque. Its onion domes and tiers of red and white spade gables rise from a square tower. Its interior - only partially open due to renovation - is covered with 1650s' gospel frescoes by Simon Ushakov and others. A carved doorway leads into St Nikita the Martyr's chapel, above the vault of the Nikitnikov merchant family, one of whom built the church.

    Read more about Church Of The Trinity In Nikitniki

  21. Churches Of The Grand & Small Ascension

    In 1831 the poet Alexander Pushkin married Natalia Goncharova in the elegant Church of the Grand Ascension, on the western side of ploshchad Nikitskie Vorota. Six years later he died in St Petersburg, defending her honour in a duel. Such passion, such romance... The church is frequently closed, but the celebrated couple is featured in the Rotunda Fountain, erected in 1999 to commemorate the poet's 100th birthday.

    Read more about Churches Of The Grand & Small Ascension

  22. Contemporary History Museum

    Formerly known as the Revolution Museum, this retro exhibit provides an account of Soviet history from the 1905 and 1917 revolutions up to the 1980s. The highlight is the extensive collection of propaganda posters, in addition to all the Bolshevik paraphernalia. Look for the picture of the giant Palace of Soviets (Dvorets Sovietov) that Stalin was going to build on the site of the blown-up - and now rebuilt - Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

    Read more about Contemporary History Museum

  23. Cosmonautics Museum

    The soaring 100m titanium obelisk outside of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre is a monument `To the Conquerors of Space', built in 1964 to commemorate the launch of Sputnik. In its base is the Memorial Museum of Cosmonauts, a high-concept series of displays from the glory days of the Soviet space program. Exhibits rely heavily on cool space paraphernalia - Yuri Gagarin's space suit, the first Soviet rocket engine, and lots of charts and diagrams of various expeditions.

    Read more about Cosmonautics Museum

  24. Advertisement

  25. Danilovsky Monastery

    The headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church stands behind white fortress walls. The Danilovsky Monastery was built in the late 13th century by Daniil, the first Prince of Moscow, as an outer city defence. It was repeatedly altered over the next several hundred years, and served as a factory and a detention centre during the Soviet period.

    Read more about Danilovsky Monastery

  26. Diamond Fund Exhibition

    If the Armoury hasn't sated your diamond lust, there are more in the separate Diamond Fund Exhibition in the same building. The collection, mainly of precious stones and jewellery garnered by tsars and empresses, includes such weighty beasts as the 190-carat diamond given to Catherine the Great by her lover Grigory Orlov. The displays of unmounted diamonds are stunning, revealing the real beauty of the gems.

    Read more about Diamond Fund Exhibition

  27. Dinamo Stadium

    Football is definitely Moscow's main spectator sport. You can usually buy tickets on match days without much problem, either at the gate or from the theatre-ticket kiosks in most metro stations; prices start at around Rbl100 .

    Read more about Dinamo Stadium

  28. Donskoy Monastery

    The youngest of Moscow's fortified monasteries was founded in 1591 and was built to house the Virgin of the Don icon (now in the Tretyakov Gallery). This revered icon is credited with victory in the 1380 battle of Kulikovo; it's also said that in 1591 the Tatar Khan Giri retreated without a fight after the icon showered him with burning arrows in a dream.

    Read more about Donskoy Monastery

  29. Dostoevsky House-Museum

    While this renowned Russian author is more closely associated with St Petersburg, Fyodor Dostoevsky was actually born in Moscow, where his family lived in a tiny apartment on the grounds of Marinsky Hospital. He lived here until the age of 16, when he went to St Pete to enter a military academy. The family's Moscow flat has been re-created according to Dostoevsky's own descriptions and journals from his childhood.

    Read more about Dostoevsky House-Museum