Travels to Russia - Moscow

What to see? Definitely, Kremlin and its museums, cathedrals and buildings, Bolshoi Theater, Pushkin Museum (great collection of art), Novodevichiy Monastery, Tretyakov gallery, Garden ring, Kolomenskoye and lots of churches. Also Moscow has a great Central Puppet Theater. Go and watch "Don Juan", it is hilarious and you don't need to know the language to enjoy yourself.

Quick Tips:

If you don't speak Russian, have somebody with you who does. People on the streets may be able to speak English, but you can't assume that. Also you need some basic knowledge of Russian to understand the signs in metro. Once you are done exploring Moscow, jump in the train and visit Moscow suburbs: Zagorsk, Suzdal', Yaroslavl' and other cities of the Golden ring.

Best Way To Get Around:

Definitely the best way to get around is subway or as it is called in Moscow - metro. You owe it to yourself to visit the metro because it is also a cultural experience. Each metro station is a piece of art, the ones in the center are built in Art Deco style. Metro and buses may be very crowded in rush-hour, so I would recommend waiting till 9 am before going into the metro. You can also rent a car. But parking in center city is a challenge.

The Moscow Kremlin is the center of the city. To get here by public transportation you can take the light green line to Teatral'naya, or the red line to Okhotny Ryad, or the dark blue line to Ploshchad Revolutsii. The Kremlin has been built and rebuilt since the time that Moscow was first mentioned in writing in 1147. It once had white walls. That was in 14th century. In the end of the 15th century Kremlin was totally rebuilt and most of its current appearance dates back to that time. This was the place of coronation of all the Russian tsars. The Kremlin has several museums and churches on its grounds. The Kremlin is built as a city inside the city. The walls and towers of red brick surround the perimeter. This is one of the best examples of the national Russian style of architecture. Inside there were some additions and removals since the 15th century. There are several building that date back to the 19th century and then there is the Palace of Congresses (a modern building - the addition of the 20th century). During Stalin's regime some of the churches were demolished but most are still intact. The Great Bell Tower, the one that's facing St. Basil's cathedral, chimes every hour. During the tsars, it used to chime "God save the tsar." During the Soviet regime, it was chiming the country hymn. The Red Square and Kremlin are adjacent and everybody has heard of the Lenin Mausoleum. The wall behind it is a large cemetery where all the former leaders of the country in the Soviet era and prominent figures like generals and diplomats are buried. In the next story we'll walk inside the walls.

The Moscow subway or metro as it is called in Russia is very well developed and is truly a reflection of the times it was built in. The first stations were built in mid 1930's and they are great examples of both Art Deco and their own time: marble and granite, statues of the soldiers, workers, unbelievable frescoes and mosaics on the ceilings and cathedral-like walls. The first line was opened in 1935 and the lines and stations were continuously added. The construction of new stations continues today as the city limits grow and more suburbs gradually become parts of Moscow. The stations built in the 1960's have more modern style and not as much decor.

The lines have different colors and this way it is very easy to figure out which one you need. There are a green, purple, blue and light blue, red, orange and yellow, and grey lines and there is also a radial brown line that kind of shows the limits of the city center. The trains run very often and you can see on the tableau in the front how long it has been since the last train. You don't need to pay for the transfer to another line anywhere. The names of the stations have also become a reflection of the time they were built. They used to carry names of Karl Marx and the revolution - now many were renamed, and if you haven't been in Moscow for a while be prepared: most of the stations in the city center now have different names. So find the most current map of Moscow metro and study before you go.

Open daily except Mondays from 10 am to 6 pm.

The museum is located in the very center of the city very close to the Arbat area. The closest metro station is "Kropotkinskaya".

This is the second largest art collection in Russia, first being Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Pushkin museum was finished in 1912, and it has a large collection of classic scultures from Greece and Rome, the most famous sculpture in this museum is a copy of Michelangelo's "David", the original of which can be seen in Florence.

Its curator in the beginning of the 20th century was Tsvetayev, father of Marina Tsvetayeva, one of the most beloved poets of her time. She was a contemporary of Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandel’shtam and many other poets who greatly suffered for their creativity during Stalin’s rule.

The museum is also famous for its large collection of West European masters among whom are Rembrandt and Rubens just to name a few. But it is especially famous for its collection of impressionist and post-impressionist works by Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Manet, Matisse, Picasso, Gauguin.

The museum also has a lot of temporary exhibitions. In 1987 it had a large exposition of Marc Chagall's paintings which I still have the catalog of. This was probably the first large exhibition of Chagall's art in Russia ever. In 1988 I remember a huge exposition of Dali's paintings. I also remember an exposition of Durer's sketches.

So next time you are in Moscow, make sure to visit Pushkin museum.

Open: Tue-Sun 10 am – 8 pm, closed Mon

The gallery was established by a wealthy Russian merchant Pavel Tretyakov in 1856. He and his brother bought most of the paintings in the current collection. The building was recently restored and looks really great. This is one of the largest collections of Russian art in the country. You can find here paintings by such masters as Kiprensky, Repin, Bryullov, Surikov, Chagall, Shishkin, Kramskoy, Levitan, Serov, Kandinsky. One of the largest paintings in the collection is "Appearance of Christ before people" by A. Ivanov which took its painter 20 years to paint and is the size of one of Le Brun’s paintings in Louvre. The amazing thing about this painting that it was always in this collection even during the Soviet regime. Here you will find such masterpieces as "A girl with peaches" by Serov, the girl is so alive, she keeps staring at you from the painting, her eyes keep following you across the room no matter where you stand; Savrasov’s "The rooks are here" is the quintessential image of Russian winter; Shishkin’s famous "Black Bears" that are well-known to every kid in Russia since they became the cover for the chocolate candy; Kiprensky’s portrait of Pushkin; Chagall’s enchanted lovers flying "Above the city" and many, many more. The collection is full of paintings of famous generals, poets, politicians and Tretyakov himself painted by renowned masters. The gallery has a large collection of 19th century Russian paintings and sculptures, a lot of paintings from the Soviet period are presented here as well. There is also a collection of jewelry from 13th through 20th centuries, and Russian art of 12-17th centuries. The gallery has a large collection of icons several of which painted by Theophanes the Greek, and the famous "Trinity" by Andrei Rublyov.

This ensemble of gorgeous buildings and structures has an interesting history. Catherine II bought the property because she was enchanted by its appearance and renamed it Tsaritsyno (which means "tsar’s", the word is really a noun that used to be an adjective). She commissioned a famous architect Bazhenov to build a summer residence for her that would be like her St Peterburg palaces. He spent years designing and building the estate, the money stopped coming from the queen and he spent some of his own money to finish the complex. When Catherine saw the finished work, she didn’t like it and nobody really knows why, maybe the palaces were too small or maybe she didn’t like Bazhenov’s affiliation with free masons, but she ordered the buildings to be demolished and asked another famous architect Kazakov to build a new palace. Kazakov tried to use the same style, but by the time the new building was finished Catherine died, and the estate was abandoned.

In early 1980’s you would come to the park and you would see the walls of these gorgeous buildings covered with grafitti, trees and plants growing on them, people climbing the buildings for fun. There was nothing but the walls still standing. Then the Russian Academy of Arts started to restore the buildings and now there is an exhibit of art, musical performances take place here, and the buildings look the way they were designed to look 200 years ago. The palaces are made of red brick with white stone ornaments, large gothic style windows, a incorporation of Russian and Moorish styles into what was fashionable in the 18th century Europe architecture.

The palaces are surrounded by a large park with 200 year old trees, and several ponds. A lot of people come here to sunbathe and swim in the summer, you can also rent a canoe or a small boat and peddle along the pond. There is a metro station nearby of the same name, from which you can get here by bus. There is also a train station within a walking distance. You can drive here by car and there is plenty of parking space.

Moscow has 4 airports: Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Bykovo. All the airports are located beyond the city limits. Sheremetyevo is an international airport, and this is where everybody lands and departs from if they come from Europe or the US. The signs here are in Russian and English. Vnukovo is the oldest Moscow airport and people fly from here to Ukraine, Belarussia, Baltics and the Caucusus. Domodedovo is the second largest airport and serves such destinations as Siberia, Far East, and Asian republics of the former USSR. Bykovo is a small airport and people fly from here for short distances. I’ve flown from Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo and both are large airports. You can get into the city from Sheremetyevo by taxi, rental car or by bus. The buses bring you to the subway station “Rechnoy vokzal”, which is located on the light green line of the metro and will bring you directly into the center of Moscow.