Things to see and do Central & Golden Ring

Opened in 1808, the Palace of Armor includes not only a military collection, but also all the treasures accumulated by tsars from the 12th century until the revolution of 1917. Among them are the famous Vladmir Monomaque's hat worn by the Tsars, the wedding dress of Empress Catherine II and rare (and fabulous) examples of Fabergé Eggs. The rest of the collection includes gifts from foreign ambassadors, icons, jewelry and even furniture.

The Annunciation Cathedral is one of the finest examples of Russian religious architecture, influenced by the Italian Renaissance. It served as the family church of the tsars, hence its more intimate character. The iconostasis is said to have been decorated by two of the greatest Slavic icon painters: Theophanes the Greek and Andrei Rublev. The door of the southern facade was added by Ivan the Terrible who, excommunicated, could only attend services behind this gate.

You may have seen a few statues of Lenin when you first came to Moscow? Well, you will have the opportunity to see that the man is smaller in life size. Especially since the famous intellectual, revolutionary and leader, already not tall in his lifetime (1.65 m), was shrunk during his mummification. The result is therefore not so impressive and it is often a vague impression of disappointment that we feel at the end of this agonizing journey constituting the visit of the mausoleum. Still, we recommend this pilgrimage, although it has not been de rigueur since the late 1980s, as it is captivating to have access to this piece of world history, preserved after a century of morbid fascination.

The mausoleum itself has a history : it dates back to 1929 and was built after nearly 500,000 Soviet citizens rushed to pay their respects to the remains of the (not-so-)great man, a week after his exposure to the general public in a temporary structure had begun. Lenin had to share his spot for eight years with an even smaller (1.62m) man, Stalin, before he was removed during de-Stalinization and relocated to the Kremlin walls. Since then, Lenin has been alone again as nostalgic, fanatical and mocking people pass by. Today, there is more and more talk about the possibility of paying him a last trip to St. Petersburg in the family vault: a solution that is requested by many, but never voted.

This museum (ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ИСТОРИЧЕСКИЙ МУЗЕЙ) houses a rich collection of objects and documents from the history of the peoples of Russia from prehistoric times to the 20th century: there are coins, medals, jewellery, pagan idols and Christian crosses, manuscripts, works of art. Among the most interesting objects are the clothes of Ivan the Terrible, a coach of Peter the Great, a portrait of Emelian Pugachev, the leader of the peasant war of the 18th century, a sword and Napoleon's rolling kitchen.

The third basilica of the Kremlin (АРХАНГЕЛЬСКИЙ СОБОР) benefited most from the contributions of the Italian Renaissance. The decoration is martial: frescoes depict great battles in Russian history; a 10 m high golden iconostasis (1681) supports the icon of the Archangel St. Michael attributed to Andrei Rublev. It is in this building that the princes and tsars of Moscow up to Peter the Great are buried: there are 46 gravestones, including the tomb of Ivan the Terrible.

The Manege Square commands the entrance to the Red Square from Tversakaya Street. It overlooks the Manege building itself and a large Stalinist building in which a shopping mall was installed in the 1990s. The underside of the square also houses the galleries of an underground shopping mall, which explains the many small glass pyramids seen on the surface.

It is a favourite meeting place for Muscovites and was also the site of the 2010 anti-police uprising.

The Radisson Hotel fleet is one of the most modern you can find on the Moskva. Its boats of four different ranges, all luxurious, are equipped with a cloakroom, air conditioning, have free wifi and audio guides are available on the "Radisson Cruise on the Moskva river" app. A real professional chef works on board and prepares food for you on the spot in the ship's kitchens.

Tickets are available on site and at the ticket offices on the Ukraina Pier and in Gorky Park.

Built in the 15th century according to an asymmetrical plan, on the tomb of St. Sergius of Radonezh, it was one of the first buildings of Moscow Russia. The cathedral is the oldest building, built in white stone, symbol of wealth and refinement. It is for it that Andrei Rublev painted the icon of the Trinity, currently exhibited at the Tretiakov Gallery. Adjacent to this church, the sacristy is more recent since it dates from the beginning of the 19th century. It houses a museum with all kinds of religious objects made of precious metals and stones.

Built by architects from Pskov, it was to serve as a counterpoint to the Italian influence. The church (ЦЕРКОВЬ РИЗОПОЛОЖЕНИЯ) was that of the patriarchs, before becoming in the 17th century that of the great princes. There are beautiful frescoes and a remarkable iconostasis by the painter Nazari Istomine (1627). Today it is possible to visit it and admire its iconographic treasures. In addition, the north gallery of the church is used as an exhibition space.

An indispensable walk among the 7 Stalinist sisters. It took Serguei Tchernychov and Lev Roudnev almost 4 years to complete in 1953 this 240 m high Stalinist building, which was (inevitably) raised by the Soviet star. Its architecture, in the shape of a cross, is perfectly symmetrical. The building houses the Lomonosov Moscow State University, where lectures are given in its amphitheatres and nearly 6,000 students are housed. To be admitted to this university is to belong to the cream of the crop of students in the Russian Federation, since Lomonossov is at the top of all university rankings in the country. The interior is a veritable anthill, a city within the city, with all the necessary facilities to satisfy the needs of its students: there is a post office, a swimming pool, sports halls, several canteens, a few associations, paper mills, etc. The administration is located on the upper floors, while the rooms are in the lower parts.

Visitors are not normally allowed to enter. However, it is strongly recommended that you go and have a look around. You will then have to go through the guards' nose and beard. Try to pretend to be a student in the middle of the crowd: don't smile and pass without stopping. Or take advantage of one of the many conferences that are held on a regular basis. Avoid Sundays when part of the compound is closed.

On Victory Hill, with its plunging view of the capital, one celebrates the victories of the Russians over the Nazi army as well as the French (ПАРК ПОБЕДЫ НА ПОКЛОННОЙ ГОРЕ), for it was on this same hill that Napoleon in 1812 waited in vain for the keys to Moscow after his troops had encircled the city. In commemoration, a statue of St. George slaying the dragon and a 142 m high obelisk with a bronze statue of the Greek goddess Niké (Goddess of Triumph) have been erected.

The Theatre Square is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and central places in Moscow. Muscovites are very demanding when it comes to shows, ballets and operas. It must be said that there are many good theatres here. There are no less than three theaters in this square. The architect Ossip Bové was the one who designed it. It is also him who drew the plans of the Bolshoi, the Maly and the children's theatre before it was rebuilt by B. Freidenberg (as well as the TSOUM). A picture with the fountains overlooking the Bolshoi is a must.

Located in the Kremlin, the cathedral (БОГОРОДИЦЕ РОЖДЕСТВЕНСКИЙ СОБОР) is the oldest monument in Suzdal. It was built in the 13th century, but only the lower part of the cathedral, which is made of stone and finished with an arched frieze, has survived from this period. An original souvenir is holy water in a beautiful samovar-shaped stoup. On the outskirts of the cathedral you will also find horse-drawn carriages for hire to take a tour of the kremlin or the village.

The Cathedral of the Dormition (Uspenski sobor) was built between 1559 and 1585 on the central square, on the model of the one in Moscow. The work was begun under Ivan the Terrible and completed under Feodor Ivanovich. It is easily recognizable by its five domes: four painted blue, with stars, and a fifth, gilded. Among its 17th century icons are those of Simon Ushakov, one of the three most famous artists of ancient Russia.

The Church of the Savior, in baroque style, dating from 1686-1692, is decorated with carved half-columns, shells and stylized bunches of grapes; its walls are painted with red, yellow, blue and green checks. Inside, there is a beautiful carved iconostasis and some baroque paintings. This is where the Lavra once welcomed the tsars, who never failed to visit the service. The hall, topped by a 17th century groin vault, is very large and richly decorated with a red-brown jasper floor.

The term "laure", of Greek origin, refers to the most important monasteries of the Orthodox religion. This one (ТРОИЦА СЕРГЕЕВА ЛАВРА) was founded in 1340 by Saint Sergius of Radonezh. Lavra, which is included in the UNESCO list of World Architectural Heritage Sites, is the beating heart of the Russian Orthodox faith. There are seven churches, two collegiate churches, a seminary, an ecclesiastical academy, administrative buildings, a former hospital and a museum of applied arts.

This small church at the corner of Red Square and Nikolskaya Street was built in 1636 to celebrate the victory of the Russo-Polish war (1612). It was destroyed by Bolshevism in 1936 and rebuilt identically in 1993. If your stay in Moscow is very short, we recommend this church to get acquainted with the orthodox culture because if its architecture is not exceptional, its icon is very famous and it is a very authentic church.

This garden opened in 1823 and runs along the western wall of the Kremlin. It is dotted with several points of interest. In its northern part stands an obelisk, built in 1913 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Romanov family. Sad memory since it lost the throne 4 years later. To the south, there is the flame of the unknown soldier in front of which some newlyweds are photographed, near the buildings of the presidential guard. Opposite, marble steles list the 15 heroic cities, which resisted the Nazi invasion in 1942 with the greatest determination.

The Ivan the Great bell tower is hard to ignore. It is enthroned, royal, in the middle of the Kremlin. Following the Italian tradition of its architects, it is a campanile, detached from the church on which it depends. At 81 m high, it was for a long time the highest point of the capital, as the tsars forbade building any higher. This makes it an ideal panoramic point to see the old city from above. The ground floor has been converted into an exhibition hall. Among its bells, the Assumption bell (64 t) has rung three times for centuries to announce the death of a tsar.

This gigantic cannon located on the Ivanovskaya square was ordered in 1586 by Fyodor I who had his effigy engraved on it. Whatever the czar wanted to compensate, he would not find any more success in this undertaking since this cannon never fired a single cannonball. Moreover, those exposed at its side weigh a ton and are slightly too big to fit in its barrel: the legend tells that it was an initiative of the founders of Saint Petersburg to make fun of Moscow. According to the Guinness Book of Records, it is the largest howitzer ever built.

Built in the 12th century to house a very precious icon of the Virgin, which would become the palladium of the city of Vladimir, the Dormition Cathedral was the main religious centre of all Russia until the middle of the 14th century.
In its present state, the Vladimir Dormition Cathedral is the result of two different eras. It was partially destroyed in a fire at the end of the 12th century, then fortified and rebuilt.

This domain with its castle, the caprice of the empress which was never finished before its rehabilitation in 2007, and its museum, is one of the strangest and most seductive places of the capital. Don't hesitate to spend an afternoon there, in summer as well as in winter when the snow offers a magnificent landscape (and in the period of illuminations, it becomes simply exceptional). The history of this domain is quite interesting. One day, during her visit to Moscow, Catherine II was amazed by the beauty of this place and took possession of it. A year later, in 1776, V. Bajenov, one of the best architects of the time, began the construction of a palace and a park. All the buildings were to be built in the oriental style and the work lasted ten years. The day Catherine wanted to see her new estate... it displeased the empress so much (possibly because of the masonic signs on the facades) that she ordered everything to be demolished. Once the Bajenov palace was demolished, the construction of a new palace was ordered to M. Kazakov. It was almost finished when Catherine died in 1796 and it remained unfinished. Other buildings were erected in the park during the following centuries, without ever touching the huge structure in its center. It wasn't until the 19th century that work began to finally complete the huge imperial palace that Catherine wanted.

Today, it is a mixture of all these heritages that can be admired in the park.

Housed in the metropolitan house, it presents a historical collection as well as enamels, the city with a long tradition in this area. Of Byzantine origin, the technique of enamels was introduced in Russia in the th century. The word that designates it, finifte, is of Greek origin and means "the shining stone". The art of the enamel remained essentially religious in a long period of time, with the master masters receiving their orders only from the Church: mitres, medallions, cross. It is only in the th century that Rostov specializes in this art, joining Moscow and St. Petersburg. We will see in the Rostov enamels, in the finesse and variety of drawings, a certain resemblance with the works of limougeauds artists. If the work of enamel has spread in other nearby cities, it is only at Rostov that tradition has persisted to give the city a great reputation. Many craftsmen have thus operated a family-wide workshop, transmitting their knowledge to their offspring from generation to generation. Only in 1960 appeared the first factory, still active and which today produces mainly jewellery: pins, bracelets, buckles.

As with Tolstoy, Moscow has several Pushkin museums. The Arbat Museum is located on the second floor of this modest turquoise blue house, where Pushkin lived for 5 years. It exhibits the objects and manuscripts dear to the writer. It is less interesting than the large Pushkin Literary Museum located on the Prechistenka, but as it is on the Arbat, one can stop there for half an hour to get an idea of the Russian interiors of the time.

Next to the Dormition Cathedral, in the shade of peaceful lime trees, is the necropolis of some of the family members of Tsar Boris Godunov, whose life inspired Pushkin's play of the same name (1825), Mussorgsky's opera of the same name (1869), as well as Zulawski's film of the same name (1989). The necropolis houses his son Theodore, his wife (daughter of Maluta Skuratov, the cruel executioner of Ivan the Terrible), his daughter Olga and himself. Boris' parents are buried in Kostroma, in the monastery of St. Hyptati.

This beautiful little white church has a rare and interesting architecture. It was built in 1476-1477. Its bell tower served, in those troubled times, as a watchtower to scan the surroundings. Each bell has its own name and characteristics. The walls are slightly sloped upwards to slim the construction, and a pretty frieze runs along the whitewashed brick facades. This is where Maximus the Greek, one of the greatest religious philosophers of the Orthodox tradition, was buried in the 16th century.

This beautiful square was designed in the 14th century and is the heart of the Kremlin. The square owes its name to the three cathedrals facing it: the Dormition Cathedral, the Archangel Cathedral and the Annunciation Cathedral, reminding us of the historical links between power and the Church in Russia. On the square there are also the Palace of Facets, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe and the Church of the Twelve Apostles. Ivan's great bell tower still dominates the square, as it did when it was the tallest building in the kingdom.

It is a unique monument, with a prestige and history dating back thousands of years, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Golden Gate of Vladimir copies the lost gates of Kiev and Constantinople. The gate in Vladimir dates back to the 13th century, when the city was at the height of its power and could one day claim to rule the Slavic world, but today it seems a bit overrated. Originally, the gate was flanked by two huge oak leaves hung on large hinges. It is to the golden plate that covered the leaves that the door owes its name.

The cathedral was built in the th century instead of two churches dating back to the th and th centuries. Above all, don't miss its frescoes whose restoration was completed well after that of the church of the Resurrection (see below). Inside, in addition to a 1730 baroque iconostasis, which resembles that of the Goritski Monastery, you can see the tomb of Metropolitan Ionas Sisoievitch. Nor do the handles of the doorway of the church of origin, which dates from the th century, fail.

On the right of the Église church, there is a part of the monastery belonging to the seminar, which can only be entered with a special invitation. This part also includes a church and the Academy of Theology.

The white palace now houses administrative buildings, archives and library. Its lines are elegant, but its reputation does not match that of the «beautiful palace».

It was the last church built under Metropolitan Ionas in 1683. Past the entrance of the church, we find the scenes of the Last Judgment. The staircase has thirty-three steps, the number of years that Jesus spent on Earth. This church is the Kremlin's entrance.

The tradition of bells, so vivid in all the cities of the Golden Ring, is even more sensitive here, where carillon requires expert handling. In the Middle Ages, the bells were the safest means of communication, the link between the Kremlin and the population, demanded by jangling to come together on the Red Square in front of the bell. It dates back to the th century and the bells were fondues at that time. The most important of these weighs more than three tonnes. Their use was forbidden after the revolution, around 1928, they were taken down and locked. In the years 1950 to 1990, the bells, however, served little. It was when some party's cleric went to Rostov and showed, after a few glasses of vodka, the desire to hear them. However, we continued to sell the recordings regularly, on discs or cassettes, to perestroika where the bells were again in honour and directly known by all those who had listened to them on tape or vinyl. Rostov coaches learn their art from the monks of Pskov, who are educated in ancient books that describe technical prowess to express tones and half tones. They are now being sounded by hand, by the rope and by pressing the pedals.

Patriarch Nikon, famous for his reforms of the Orthodox Church in the 17th century, had this palace and the attached Church of the Twelve Apostles built between 1652 and 1656. Their beauty will amaze you even before you set foot on the Cathedral Square. Today, the palace houses the Museum of Applied Arts of the 17th century with the reconstructed apartment of a boyar, a powerful nobleman of the Tsarist Russia. In the church, the iconographic history of the Russian school of the same period is presented.

Built between 1487 and 1491 by Italian architects Marco Rouffo and Pietro Antonio Solari, the palace is the oldest public building in the Kremlin. It owes its name to its east side facade, with white limestone bosses. Its huge central hall, called the Golden Hall, is decorated with religious paintings mixed with scenes of both history and everyday life: today it is used for official presidential ceremonies. Restored in 2012, the Palace of Facets can be visited only with organized groups.

At the end of the inner courtyard of the great Kremlin palace and adjacent to the Faceted palace, there is the surprising Terem Palace commissioned by Tsar Michael I Feodorovich. Here you can visit a succession of intimate rooms (terams are small rooms), inspired by the traditional Russian wooden isba, including the golden room of the Tsarina, with painted ceilings and period furniture. The window in the center was called Chelobitnaya (of the Supplication): a box driven by a pulley was supposed to transmit the people's supplications to the tsar.

It borders the lake on 500 m. The square and the old town are walking on foot in about two hours. There are beautiful wooden houses Rue street and Gorki street. In the market square you will find the residences of the rich Merchants and the Church of the Dormition of 1730, whose intimate character gives it charm.

Those who appreciate the art of photography will be fulfilled in this exhibition room. It's impossible to tell you what you're going to stumble upon, since the different exhibitions change regularly. What is certain is that Russia, with its Slavic aesthetics, its wild nature, its deprived cities and its Soviet monumentalism gives a lot of subjects. Finally, you can see all the art school students and Moscow's avant-gardists strolling around.

Painting and graphic art of Russian painters, realism and impressionism in abstract art.

The gallery of contemporary Moscow painters and Russian painters residing abroad: AEC group (Arzamassova, Evsovitch, Sviatsky), Dimitri M, Anatoly Jouravliov, Guy Rigvava, Igor Kaminnik, Valery Kochliakov, Vladimir Doubossarsky and Alexandre Vinogradov, Alexandre Rötburd, Vitaly Komar, Alexandre Melamide, Avdey Ter-Oguanian, Andrey Bassanets, Arsène Savadov, Arsène Savadov, Youri Khorovsky, Groupe group, Bogdan Mamonov etc.

If you've read Metro 2033, you'll remember it. This park is absolutely huge, it looks like the jungle of Ostankino. There are plants and trees of all kinds, including the most exotic ones. You might enjoy a walk through a small Japanese garden designed by landscape architects Ken Nakajima and Adachi Takeo, or, if you're conservative, through a birch wood. Don't forget to take some nuts for the squirrels which are very numerous there. Please note that it is forbidden to drink alcoholic beverages.

The museum's exhibition traces the life and work of the writer in an alternating manner in order to interweave the two and to grasp the author's universe. Thus, a room devoted to the life of the writer follows another room devoted to one of his outstanding works(Eugene Onegin or The Queen of Spades). In the latter, you can see the author's handwritten manuscripts, embellished with drawings. The visit takes about one hour. Admission is free on the third Sunday of every month.

The 17 museum rooms present unique collections (750 000 exposed units) of the world of animals and plants, the evolution of man… Some exhibitions are adapted for Children.

It is the former building of the first English inspired Gentlemen's Club, which met there from 1831 to 1917. After the revolution it housed the Museum of Contemporary History of Russia (Музей современной истории России). The place is embellished with many pieces (letters, cars, statues, etc.). It has undergone a refurbishment of its presentation which should in principle make it accessible in English. B flat: its Putinian propaganda can tire history lovers.