Must-see attractions in Moscow

  • The crown of Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich in the Armoury in the Kremlin, Moscow. 21/06/2003. (Photo by Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs via Getty Images)

    Armoury

    Moscow

    The Armoury dates to 1511, when it was founded under Vasily III to manufacture and store weapons, imperial arms and regalia for the royal court. Later it…

  • Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts

    Arbat & Khamovniki

    This is Moscow’s premier foreign-art museum, split over three branches and showing off a broad selection of European works, including masterpieces from…

  • St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square, Moscow, Russia

    St Basil's Cathedral

    Moscow

    At the southern end of Red Square stands the icon of Russia: St Basil’s Cathedral. This crazy confusion of colours, patterns and shapes is the culmination…

  • Exterior of Water Tower at Kremlin.

    Moscow Kremlin

    Moscow

    The apex of Russian political power and once the centre of the Orthodox Church, the Kremlin is the kernel of not only Moscow, but of the whole country…

  • Mausoleum on Red Square, Moscow, Russia; Shutterstock ID 64158388; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; Project no. or GL code: 56530; Network activity no. or Cost Centre: Online-Design; Product or Project: 65050/7529/Josh Vogel/LP.com Destination Galleries

    Lenin's Mausoleum

    Moscow

    Although Vladimir Ilych requested that he be buried beside his mum in St Petersburg, he still lies in state at the foot of the Kremlin wall, receiving…

  • Bridge Over River Against Sky During Sunset

    Gorky Park

    Zamoskvorechie

    Moscow's main city escape isn't your conventional expanse of nature preserved inside an urban jungle. It's not a fun fair either, though it used to be one…

  • Moscow's Red Square

    Red Square

    Moscow

    Immediately outside the Kremlin’s northeastern wall is the celebrated Red Square, the 400m-by-150m area of cobblestones that is at the very heart of…

  • State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, Russia; Shutterstock ID 192471953; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: Digital Content/Sights

    State Tretyakov Gallery Main Branch

    Zamoskvorechie

    The exotic boyar (high-ranking noble) castle on a little lane in Zamoskvorechie contains the main branch of the State Tretyakov Gallery, housing the world…

  • Moscow, Russia - July 29, 2018: People at the Moscow Festival of Italy Grand Italia Fest in the Hermitage Garden; Shutterstock ID 1145341304; your: Sloane Tucker; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI
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    Hermitage Gardens

    Moscow

    All the things that have improved Moscow parks no end in recent years fill this small, charming garden to the brim. Today, it is possibly the most…

  • Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

    Zamoskvorechie

    The brainchild of Moscow art fairy Darya Zhukova, Garage is one of the capital's hottest modern-art venues. In 2015, the museum moved to spectacular new…

  • 19th & 20th Century Art Gallery

    Arbat & Khamovniki

    This branch of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts contains a famed assemblage of French Impressionist works, based on the collections of two well-known…

  • Russian orthodox churches in Novodevichy Convent monastery.

    Novodevichy Convent

    Arbat & Khamovniki

    The Novodevichy Convent was founded in 1524 to celebrate the taking of Smolensk from Lithuania, an important step in Moscow’s conquest of the old Kyivan…

  • Statue of Tsar Alexander II at Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

    Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

    Arbat & Khamovniki

    This opulent and grandiose cathedral was completed in 1997 – just in time to celebrate Moscow's 850th birthday. The cathedral’s sheer size and splendour…

  • A room at Bulgakov House Museum at 10 Bolshaya Sadovaya Street in Moscow, where the Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov used to live.

    Mikhail Bulgakov Museum

    Presnya

    Author of The Master and Margarita and Heart of a Dog, Mikhail Bulgakov was a Soviet-era novelist who was labelled a counter-revolutionary and censored…

  • Exhibition in Moscow Planetarium.

    Moscow Planetarium

    Presnya

    The planetarium has become one of the biggest and brightest stars on the Moscow museum circuit, now incorporating all kinds of high-tech gadgetry,…

  • Park Pobedy (Victory park) at Poklonnaya hill in Moscow, Russia.

    Park Pobedy

    Arbat & Khamovniki

    The Great Patriotic War – as WWII is known in Russia – was a momentous event that is still vivid in the hearts, minds and memories of many Russian…

  • Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art

    Meshchansky & Basmanny

    Formerly a wine-bottling factory, this facility was converted into exhibit and studio space for Moscow artists in 2007. The post-industrial complex is now…

  • Exterior of Assumption Cathedral, Kremlin.

    Assumption Cathedral

    Moscow

    On the northern side of Sobornaya pl, with five golden helmet domes and four semicircular gables, the Assumption Cathedral is the focal church of pre…

  • Buildings are complex museum Kolomenskoye, Moscow, Russia. The building of the historical-architectural and natural landscape Museum-reserve Kolomenskoye, Moscow, Russia.; Shutterstock ID 1991842190; purchase_order: 65050; job: ; client: ; other:
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    Kolomenskoe Museum-Reserve

    Zamoskvorechie

    Set amidst 4 sq km of picturesque parkland, on a bluff above a bend in the Moscow River, Kolomenskoe is an ancient royal country seat and a Unesco World…

  • Art Muzeon & Krymskaya Naberezhnaya

    Zamoskvorechie

    Moscow's answer to London's South Bank, Krymskaya Nab (Crimea Embankment) features wave-shaped street architecture with Scandinavian-style wooden elements…

  • Moscow, Russia, 23 October 2019: Statue of Empress Catherine the Great in golden hall of Great Tsaritsyn Palace in museum reserve Tsaritsyno. Russian palace white and golden interior; Shutterstock ID 1539593855; purchase_order: 65050; job: ; client: ; other:
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    Tsaritsyno Palace

    Zamoskvorechie

    On a wooded hill in far southeast Moscow, Tsaritsyno Palace is a modern-day manifestation of the exotic summer home that Catherine the Great began in 1775…

  • MOSCOW, RUSSIA - APRIL 13: The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center  on April 13, 2014 in Moscow, Russia. Jewish Museum represents a cultural and educational complex with its permanent exposition.
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    Jewish Museum & Centre of Tolerance

    Moscow

    Occupying a heritage garage, purpose-built to house a fleet of Leyland double-deckers that plied Moscow's streets in the 1920s, this vast museum, filled…

  • RUSSIA, SAINT PETERSBURG - January, 2016: the Museum of Soviet arcade games. Slot machine from Soviet times
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    Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines

    Moscow

    Growing up in 1980s USSR was a peculiar, but not necessarily entirely bleak experience. Here is an example – a collection containing dozens of mostly…

  • The cupola of Moscow's Church of the Lesser Ascension

    Ascension Church

    Zamoskvorechie

    Overlooking the river, the Ascension Church, sometimes called the ‘white column’, is Kolomenskoe Museum-Reserve's loveliest structure. Built between 1530…

  • New Tretyakov Gallery

    Zamoskvorechie

    Moscow's premier venue for 20th-century Russian art, this branch of the Tretyakov Gallery has much more than the typical socialist-realist images of…

  • Central Armed Forces Museum-Moscow,Russia 13-06-2013; Shutterstock ID 562630333; your: Sloane Tucker; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI
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    Central Museum of the Armed Forces

    Moscow

    Covering the history of the Soviet and Russian military since 1917, this massive museum occupies 24 halls plus open-air exhibits. Over 800,000 military…

  • Golden statue in Friendship of the People Fountain at VDNKh (trade fair and amusement park).

    VDNKh

    Moscow

    Palaces for workers! There is no better place to see this Soviet slogan put into practice than at VDNKh, which stands for Exhibition of Achievements of…

  • Lantern detail at Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

    Archangel Cathedral

    Moscow

    The Archangel Cathedral at the southeastern corner of Sobornaya pl was for centuries the coronation, wedding and burial church of tsars. It was built by…

  • The Lubyanka Building, the headquarters of the FSB (former KGB) on Lubyanka Square in Moscow, Russia.

    Lubyanka

    Meshchansky & Basmanny

    Easily the most feared edifice in Russia, looming on the northeastern side of Lubyanskaya pl is the brain centre behind Stalin's genocidal purges and the…

  • Close up view of Annunciation Cathedral cupola

    Annunciation Cathedral

    Moscow

    The Annunciation Cathedral, at the southwest corner of Sobornaya pl, contains impressive murals in the gallery and an archaeology exhibit in the basement…

  • Stone monument in Borodino field, Russia.

    Borodino Field

    Moscow

    The entire battlefield – more than 100 sq km – is now part of the Borodino Field Museum-Preserve, its vast fields dotted with dozens of memorials to…

  • The main wooden arch with light and walking people in Sokolniki park, Moscow,  Russia.

    Sokolniki

    Meshchansky & Basmanny

    Changed beyond recognition in recent years, Sokolniki park is criss-crossed by cycling paths, and blends into a proper forest bordering on Losiny Ostrov…

  • Donskoy Monastery

    Donskoy Monastery

    Zamoskvorechie

    Moscow's youngest monastery, Donskoy was founded in 1591 as the home of the Virgin of the Don icon, now in the Tretyakov Gallery. This icon is credited…

  • Zaryadye Park with modern amphitheater, Moscow, Russia.

    Park Zaryadye

    Moscow

    Moscow's first new park in 50 years, Zaryadye was inaugurated in 2017 and occupies a prominent site along the Moscow River, wedged into historic Kitay…

  • Facade of Narkomfin building.

    Narkomfin

    Presnya

    The model for Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation design principle, this architectural landmark was an early experiment in semicommunal living. Designed…

  • Moscow State University building

    Moscow State University (MGU)

    Arbat & Khamovniki

    Head to the hills south of the city for one of the best views of Moscow. From the square in front of Moscow State University, most of the city spreads out…

  • The information pavilion dome in Zaryadye Park, Moscow, Russia.

    Park Zaryadye Pavilion

    Moscow

    This glass-dome pavilion was the first element of Park Zaryadye to open to the public. A creation of Sergei Kuznetsov, the pavilion was designed as an …

  • Grave of actor Yuri Vladimirovich Nikulin in Novodevichy Cemetery.

    Novodevichy Cemetery

    Arbat & Khamovniki

    Adjacent to the Novodevichy Convent, the Novodevichy Cemetery is one of Moscow’s most prestigious resting places – a veritable who’s who of Russian…

  • The Moscow Museum of Modern Art.

    Moscow Museum of Modern Art

    Moscow

    A pet project of the ubiquitous artist Zurab Tsereteli, this museum is housed in a classical 18th-century merchant’s home, originally designed by Matvei…

  • Entrance to the Museum of Decorative & Folk Art in Moscow.

    Museum of Decorative & Folk Art

    Moscow

    Just beyond the Garden Ring, this museum showcases centuries-old arts-and-crafts traditions from around Russia and the former Soviet republics. Of the 40…