The best specialized museums Russia

Welcome to a paradise for big kids, geeks, gamers andhipsters, but also for those who are passionate about cultural history. This playful museum is an Ali Baba's cave, dedicated to Soviet arcade games created between 1974 and 1991 and for many emulating games created at the time in Japan and the United States. For the founders Alexander and Maxim, it all began with the acquisition for their pleasure of the arcade game Morskoy boy (it can be played for free on the Museum's website). What started out as a hobby became a quest throughout the post-Soviet space: the two friends searched through classified ads, flea markets, garage sales, searching and acquiring vintage relics of these hobbies all over the country. After exhibiting them in their garage and then in a large warehouse in the city, their success led them to move to the centre of the capital in June 2015 and set up a branch in Saint Petersburg. Today in Moscow, some 50 different games and 70 pieces are collected and made available to visitors-players, the idea being that the visitor is transformed into a player and moves from one machine to another as if in a large game room. The idea is that the visitor is transformed into a player and moves from one machine to another as if in a large game room. To recover from his emotions, one can quench one's thirst at the old dispensers of sparkling water, kvas and lemonade. There are also some great posters in the bar-shop that your friends will be jealous of, delicious homemade milkshakes and lollipops in the shape of Star Wars characters.

Soviet nostalgia... After leaving St. Petersburg for nearly 3 years of renovation, the cruiser Aurora returned with great pomp and circumstance on July 19, 2016. Moored at the confluence of the Neva and the Great Neva, this battleship more than a century old (built between 1897 and 1900 on the orders of Nicholas II) of impeccable metallic grey is to Saint Petersburg what the mausoleum of Lenin is to Moscow in terms of revolutionary symbolism. It was indeed from the cruiser Aurora that the signal for the revolution of October 1917 was given, marking the dawn of a new era for the country and the world. It was indeed his cannon shot fired with blanks that announced to the revolutionary soldiers and sailors the moment of the assault on the Winter Palace. Before that, he had fought in the Pacific waters against the Japanese in 1904 and then crossed swords with the German navy in the Baltic. Since 1948, when it was permanently anchored at Petrogradskaya Quay, east of the Peter and Paul Fortress, its long grey hull topped by three chimneys has been an integral part of the urban landscape of Leningrad and is likely to be part of the urban landscape of St Petersburg for a long time to come. There has been talk of moving it, scrapping it, not to mention more or less far-fetched projects such as turning it into a discotheque. The USSR is no more, but its legacy lives on. Although it is not the most interesting museum in the city, the visit is nevertheless very popular with children.

If you are a fan of military tourism, go to the heart of the Victory Park where the imposing Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War stands. This museum displays with pomp and circumstance many military materials, archival documents, dioramas and films devoted to this war in which more than 26 million Soviets lost their lives. Don't expect an unbiased historical account; after all, you already know the American version of the events...

Deliciously creepy, this museum will delight aficionados of old-fashioned dolls, from the time when plastic was not omnipresent in the hands of our toddlers. Here you will certainly see some very beautiful pieces, but the museography also highlights the role of the environment of the young players and restores dresses, furniture, household utensils in a vast mess. The result is a little dizzying and may confuse the inexperienced observer, while those who know about it will be totally at home here.

This small museum is located on the territory of the Collège de la Communication and brings together unique artifacts: collective radio stations, home-made transceivers, amateur radio designs, equipment kits for sports direction finders. The exhibition includes pennants, cups, insignia and medal of amateur radio, QSL card forms issued by the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. A must for every amateur...

The Shchusev Museum of Architecture is the largest museum of architecture and urban planning in Russia. It would need more space than what is proposed, given the long history of leaders in the country's urban planning vision: from Catherine II to Peter I and the great Soviet plans. Inside, we will be able to see many scale models, well contextualized and sometimes quite surprising (including some rather crazy projects for a total overhaul of the Kremlin).

The Water Museum is located on the territory of a former wastewater treatment plant built in 1898. Moving from one room to another, you can trace the history of the first sewers of the Kremlin, learn about the formation periods of the centralized water supply and sewage systems in Moscow - from the Rostokinsky aqueduct to modern facilities - membrane plants for filtering water from the Soviet system. In short, a plunge into this essential and often forgotten aspect of urban history.

43 meters underground, connected to the Moscow Metro, is this recently declassified bunker. It was part of a complex built just before the Cuban missile crisis and remained in operation from the Stalinist era until the end of the USSR and the first 15 post-Soviet years of the Russian Federation when agents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs classified secret information there until 2005. The visit, which has been open to the public since 2018, allows visitors to see the facilities and to be imbued with the spirit of the Cold War.

The Theatrical Museum was founded in 1894 by Alexei Bakhrushin (1865-1929), a famous industrialist and patron of Moscow. The collection includes more than 1.5 million items: sketches of costumes and sets, photographs and portraits, stage costumes, programmes and posters of shows, rare editions on theatrical art, art objects, etc.

The museum also organizes recitals and evenings of well-known artists. You will find stage drawings by Bakst and Vasnetsov, among others.