Sights in Russia
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Kolchak's Statue
The reverberations of Russia's 1917 revolution are full of scarcely believable tales. Few top the incredible journey of the tsar's national gold reserve. With Communist forces closing in, royalists somehow managed to use barges and special trains to scurry east with over 1300 tons of gold, plus silver, platinum and millions of roubles in banknotes. When the retreat reached Omsk, the hoard fell into the hands of Admiral Kolchak.
A former national hero for his Arctic explorations, Kolchak was then a minister in Omsk's anti-Lenin coalition. The captured cash allowed him to launch a coup ousting socialist-moderates. Even more money poured in as 'aid' from vehemently…
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Gallery of European & American Art of the 19th & 20th Centuries
The Pushkin Fine Arts Museum is expanding and the first step was to move its excellent collection of 19th- and 20th-century European art next door into its own gallery. A collective ticket to both museums, as well as the Museum of Private Collections, is available for adults/students for R500/300.
The new gallery contains a famed assemblage of French Impressionist works, based on the collection of two well-known Moscow art patrons, Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov. It includes representative paintings by Degas, Manet, Renoir and Pisarro, with an entire room dedicated to Monet. Rodin’s sculptures include pieces from the Gates of Hell and the Monument to the Townspeople…
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Levitan House Museum
Plyos is a tranquil town of wooden houses and hilly streets winding down to the Volga waterfront, halfway between Ivanovo and Kostroma. Though fortified from the 15th century, Plyos’ renown stems from its role as a late-19th-century artists’ retreat. Isaak Levitan, Russia’s most celebrated landscape artist, found inspiration here in the summers of 1888 to 1890. The playwright Anton Chekhov commented that Plyos ‘put a smile in Levitan’s paintings’. The oldest part of town is along the river, as evidenced by the ramparts of the old fort, which date from 1410. The hill is topped by the simple 1699 Assumption Cathedral (Uspensky sobor), one of Levitan’s favourite painting…
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Mosfilm
It’s not exactly Universal Studios, but it is the oldest and most established film studio in Russia, responsible for films such as Alexander Nevsky, War & Peace, White Sun of the Desert and Irony of Fate. Make a reservation to book your spot on a 90-minute tour (some tours are in English, so be sure to inquire). The highlight of the tour is the opportunity to stroll around some of the sets, including a quaint rendition of old Moscow and the desolate medieval village that was used in the fantasy thriller Wolfhound (said to be Russia’s version of Lord of the Rings ). There is also an impressive display of old cars, tanks, Rolls Royces and fire engines that are all in…
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Kuskovo Park & Mansion
When Count Pyotr Sheremetev married Varvara Cherkassakava in 1743, their joint property amounted to 1200 villages and 200,000 serfs. They turned their country estate at Kuskovo, 12km east of the Kremlin, into a mini-Versailles, with elegant buildings scattered around formal gardens, as well as an informal park. It’s a pleasant trip out from central Moscow. The main wooden mansion, Kuskovo Mansion, overlooks a lake where the count staged mock sea battles to entertain Moscow society. Across the lake to the south is the informal park. North of the mansion, in the formal grounds, are an orangery, now housing an exhibition of 18th- to 20th-century Russian ceramics; an …
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Kremlin
Uglich is a quaint but shabby town on the Volga, 110km southwest of Yaroslavl. Here in 1591 the son of Ivan the Terrible, Dmitry (later to be impersonated by the string of False Dmitrys in the Time of Troubles), was murdered, probably on the orders of Boris Godunov. Within the waterside kremlin, the 15th-century Prince’s Chambers (Knyazhyi palaty) house a historical exhibit that tells this sordid tale. The star-spangled Church of St Dmitry on the Blood (Tserkov Dmitria-na-krovi) was built in the 1690s on the spot where the body was found. Its interior is decorated with bright frescoes, and the church now displays the bell that was used to call an insurrection on the…
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Assumption Cathedral
A white-stone version of Kyiv’s brick Byzantine churches, the Assumption Cathedral was begun in 1158 – its simple but majestic form, adorned with fine carving, was innovative for the time. The cathedral was extended on all sides after a fire in the 1180s, when it gained the four outer domes. Inside the working church, a few restored 12th-century murals of peacocks and prophets can be deciphered about halfway up the inner wall of the outer north aisle; this was originally an outside wall. The real treasures are the Last Judgment frescoes by Andrei Rublyov and Daniil Chyorny, painted in 1408 in the central nave and inner south aisle, under the choir gallery towards…
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Assumption Cathedral
Smolensk's big green-and-white working Assumption Cathedral rises at the top of a flight of steps off ul Bolshaya Sovetskaya. A cathedral has stood here since 1101 but this one was built in the late 17th and early 18th centuries; it is one of the earliest examples of the Russo-Greek revival in architecture following the Europeanisation trends of Peter the Great's reign. Topped by five domes, it has a spectacular gilded interior, which was partially damaged by fire during WWII.
According to legend, Napoleon was so impressed that he set a guard to stop his own men from vandalising the cathedral.
Immediately on your left as you enter, an icon of the Virgin is richly encrusted…
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Mikhailovsky Castle (Engineer’s Castle)
A much greater Summer Palace used to stand at the south end of the Summer Garden. But Rastrelli’s fairy-tale wooden creation for Empress Elizabeth was knocked down in the 1790s to make way for the bulky Mikhailovsky Castle. The son of Catherine the Great, Tsar Paul I, was born in the wooden palace and he wanted his own residence on the same spot. He had the current edifice built complete with defensive moat as he (quite rightly) feared assassination. But this erratic, cruel tsar only got 40 days in his new abode before he was suffocated in his bedroom in 1801. The style is a bizarre take on a medieval castle, quite unlike any other building in the city. In 1823 it became…
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Ostankino Palace & TV Tower
The pink-and-white Ostankino Palace, a wooden mansion with a stucco exterior made to resemble stone, was built in the 1790s as the summer pad of Count Nikolai Sheremetev, probably Russia’s richest aristocrat of the time and son of Count Pyotr Sheremetev. Note that the palace is closed on days when it rains or when humidity is high. The lavish interior, with hand-painted wallpaper and intricate parquet floors, houses the count’s art treasures. The ornate rooms include the Italian Pavilion and the Egyptian Hall. The centrepiece is the oval theatre-ballroom built for the Sheremetev troupe of 250 serf actors. In 1801 Count Nikolai married one of the troupe, Praskovia…
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Kresty Prison
Kresty is St Petersburg’s main holding prison; if you’re busted here, Kresty’s where they take you to await whatever it is that awaits you. You wouldn’t want to find out: conditions are much better now than when the prison was at its most crowded, but it is still hardly a pleasant place. Kresty is the oldest working prison in Russia, built in 1892. Tours visit the holding areas, the grounds and a small museum. This definitely constitutes a unique day out in the city. You will have a chance to see the six-bunk cells and the frightening solitary-confinement closets. Inmates are on site – working, walking or peeking out at you through slats in their cells. Guests are advised…
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Museum of Decorative & Folk Art
Just beyond the Garden Ring, this museum showcases the centuries-old arts and crafts traditions from all around Russia and the former Soviet republics. It includes all the goodies you might find in souvenir shops or at the Izmaylovo Market, but these antique pieces represent the crafts at their most traditional and their most authentic. Of the 40,000 pieces in the collection, you might see painted Khokhloma woodwork from Nizhny Novgorod, including wooden toys and matryoshka dolls; baskets and other household items made from birch bark, a traditional Siberian technique; intricate embroidery and lacework from the north, as well as the ubiquitous Pavlov scarves; and playful…
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Novospassky Monastery
Novospassky Monastery is a 15th-century fort-monastery, which is located about 1km south of Taganskaya pl. The centrepiece of the monastery, the Transfiguration Cathedral, was built by the imperial Romanov family in the 1640s in imitation of the Kremlin’s Assumption Cathedral. Frescoes depict the history of Christianity in Russia, while the Romanov family tree, which goes as far back as the Viking Prince Rurik, climbs one wall. The other church is the 1675 Intercession Church. Under the river bank, beneath one of the towers of the monastery, is the site of a mass grave for thousands of Stalin’s victims. At the northern end of the monastery’s grounds are the brick …
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Pl Dekabristov (Decembrists’ Sq)
Centred on the famed statue of the Bronze Horseman, pl Dekabristov (Decembrists’ Sq) is named after the first attempt at a Russian revolution – the Decembrists’ Uprising of 14 December 1825. The Decembrists were young officers who were inspired by radical ideas from France during the Napoleonic campaigns and wanted to introduce constitutional monarchy. Ineptly, they set up their protest on the same day as the swearing-in ceremony of the new tsar, Nicholas I. After repeated attempts by Nicholas’ ministers to reason with the rebels, they were fired upon. Many officers and bystanders died as a result. Most of the leaders later ended up on the gallows or in Siberia. The…
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Prioksko-Terrasny Nature Reserve
Covering 50 sq km bordering the northern flood plain of the Oka River, a tributary of the Volga, the Prioksko-Terrasny Nature Reserve is a meeting point of northern fir groves and marshes with typical southern meadow steppe. The reserve’s varied fauna includes a herd of European bison, brought back from near extinction since WWII. You cannot wander freely around the reserve by yourself, so it’s useful to make advance arrangements for a tour. Otherwise, you could tack onto a prescheduled group tour. There is also a small museum near the office with stuffed specimens of the reserve’s fauna (typical of European Russia), including beavers, elk, deer and boar. The…
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Patriarch's Palace
This palace was mostly built in the mid-17th century for Patriarch Nikon, whose reforms sparked the break with the Old Believers. The palace contains an exhibit of 17th-century household items, including jewellery, hunting equipment and furniture. From here you can access the five-domed Church of the Twelve Apostles, which has a gilded, wooden iconostasis and a collection of icons by the leading 17th-century icon painters.
The highlight is perhaps the ceremonial Cross Hall (Krestovaya Palata) where the tsar's and ambassadorial feasts were held. From the 18th century the room was used to produce miro, a holy oil used during church services, which contains over 30 herbal…
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Geological Museum
Located in the upper floors of the geology faculty of the university, this huge room contains several kilometres of fossils, rocks and gems – a veritable treasure chest of geological finds. The precious and semiprecious stones will certainly have you gawking at Mother Nature’s handiwork: sparkling amethyst crystals (one from the Altai mountains that is 1.5m long!); huge chunks of malachite from the Urals; and a gorgeous gypsum ‘rose’ from Astrakhan. Also on display are prehistoric rocks and fossils, dinosaur fragments, animal skulls and mammoth tusks. The centrepiece of the museum is a huge map of the Soviet Union made entirely of precious gems. The winner of the Paris…
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Strelka
Among the oldest parts of Vasilevsky Ostrov, this eastern tip is where Peter the Great first wanted his new city's administrative and intellectual centre. In fact, the Strelka became the focus of St Petersburg's maritime trade, symbolised by the colonnaded Customs House (now the Pushkin House).
The two Rostral Columns, archetypal St Petersburg landmarks, are studded with ships' prows and four seated sculptures representing four of Russia's great rivers: the Neva, the Volga, the Dnieper and the Volkhov. These were oil-fired navigation beacons in the 1800s (their gas torches are still lit on some holidays).
The Strelka has one of the best views in the city, with the Peter &…
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Nabokov Museum
This lovely 19th-century town house was the suitably grand childhood home of Vladimir Nabokov, infamous author of Lolita and arguably the most versatile and least classifiable of modern Russian writers. Here Nabokov lived with his wealthy family from his birth in 1899 until the revolution in 1917, when they sensibly left the country. The house features heavily in Nabokov’s autobiography Speak, Memory, in which he refers to it as a ‘paradise lost’. Indeed, he never returned, dying abroad in 1977. There’s actually relatively little to see in the museum itself, save for some charming interiors (don’t miss the gorgeous stained-glass windows in the stairwell, which are not…
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Anichkov Palace
Occupying an entire block between pl Ostrovskogo and the Fontanka River, the Anichkov Palace was built between 1741 and 1750, with input from a slew of architects, including Rastrelli and Rossi. The palace was twice a generous gift for services rendered: Empress Elizabeth gave it to her favourite Count Razumovsky and later Catherine the Great presented it to Potemkin. This was also Tsar Nicholas II’s favourite place to stay in St Petersburg – he far preferred the cosy interiors to the vastness of the Winter Palace. The Anichkov Palace became the city’s largest Pioneer Club headquarters after 1936 and to this day it houses more than 100 after-school clubs for over 10,000…
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Shilov Gallery
Shilov Gallery ‘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 painting.’ So Alexander Shilov described his life work as contemporary Russia’s most celebrated portrait painter. Indeed, Shilov is known for his startling realism. His paintings are so close to the truth that he is sometimes criticised for producing little more than photographs on canvas. But others claim that the artist provides great insight into his subjects, with some high-level political figures among them. (Shilov denies the rumour that he painted all the members of the Politburo during the Soviet…
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Alexander Blok House-Museum
This museum occupies the flat where poet Alexander Blok spent the last eight years of his life (1912–20). The revolutionary Blok believed that individualism had caused a decline in society’s ethics, a situation that would only be rectified by a communist revolution. The 4th floor has been preserved much as it was when Blok lived here with his wife Lyubov (daughter of Mendeleev). After touring the simple but historic home, descend to the 2nd floor, where Blok’s mother lived. When the poet fell ill in 1920, his family moved into this apartment where he finally died a year later. Here, a literary exhibition demonstrates the influence of Blok’s work, as well as some original…
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Patriarch’s Ponds
Patriarch’s Ponds harks back to Soviet days, when the parks were populated with children and babushky. You’ll see grandmothers pushing strollers, and lovers kissing on park benches. In summer children romp on the swings and monkey bars, while winter sees them ice skating on the pond. The small park has a huge statue of 19th-century Russian writer Ivan Krylov, known to Russian children for his didactic tales. Once this area contained several ponds that kept fish for the Patriarch’s court (hence the name). Patriarch’s Ponds were immortalised by writer Mikhail Bulgakov, who had the devil appear here in The Master and Margarita. The initial paragraph of the novel…
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Tsar Cannon & Bell
North of the bell tower is the 40-tonne Tsar Cannon. It was cast in 1586 by the blacksmith Ivan Chokhov for Fyodor I, whose portrait is on the barrel. Shot has never sullied its 89cm bore - certainly not the cannonballs beside it, which are too big even for this elephantine firearm.
Beside (not inside) the bell tower stands the world's biggest bell, a 202-tonne monster that has never rung. An earlier version, weighing 130 tonnes, fell from its belfry during a fire in 1701 and shattered. Using these remains, the current Tsar Bell was cast in the 1730s for Empress Anna Ivanovna. The bell was cooling off in the foundry casting pit in 1737 when it came into contact with…
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White House
Moscow’s White House, scene of two crucial episodes in recent Russian history, stands just north of Novoarbatsky most. It was here that Boris Yeltsin rallied the opposition that confounded the 1991 hard-line coup, then two years later sent in tanks and troops to blast out conservative rivals, some of them the same people who backed him in 1991. The images of Yeltsin climbing on a tank in front of the White House in 1991, and of the same building ablaze after the 1993 assault, are among the most unforgettable from those tumultuous years. These days, things are relatively stable around the White House, where Prime Minister Putin now has his office. The White House –…
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