The Kremlin is a fortified historic complex that has served for centuries as a center of Russian political and religious authority. A fortified settlement existed on the site by the twelfth century, while the present red-brick walls and towers were constructed largely between 1485 and 1495 during the reign of Grand Prince Ivan III.

Italian architects and craftsmen played a major role in this rebuilding, which transformed the older fortress into the core of the architectural ensemble seen today. Since 1991, the Kremlin has also served as the residence of the President of the Russian Federation. Within the walls are palaces, government buildings, churches, museums, and monuments from different periods of Russian history. Cathedral Square includes the Assumption Cathedral, long the principal state cathedral and the setting for coronations of Russian rulers; the Archangel Cathedral, burial place of Moscow grand princes, appanage princes, and the first Russian tsars; and the Annunciation Cathedral, formerly the private church of the grand princes and tsars. Nearby are the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, the Tsar Cannon of 1586, and the eighteenth-century Tsar Bell, which weighs almost 202 tons. The Armoury Chamber preserves treasures accumulated by the Russian court and state, including regalia, ceremonial clothing, diplomatic gifts, precious metalwork, weapons, and historic carriages. Its collections also include important works by Fabergé, among them several Imperial Easter eggs.

Together with Red Square, the Kremlin was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1990. Visitors can enter designated museum and cathedral areas, while other parts of the complex remain in governmental use and are not generally open to the public.

Tverskaya Street is one of the principal historic routes through the city center. The road toward Tver probably existed by the twelfth century, while the street itself is documented from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. After St. Petersburg became the imperial capital, Tverskaya formed part of the main route connecting the two cities and developed into a ceremonial avenue used for royal entries, coronation processions, and official receptions.

Much of its present scale resulted from the Soviet reconstruction of the late 1930s, when Tverskaya, then called Gorky Street, was substantially widened. Numerous older structures were demolished, while several important buildings were preserved by physically moving them away from the new street line. A notable example is Savvinskoye Podvorye, an early twentieth-century building shifted backward during reconstruction. Monumental apartment blocks and public buildings were constructed alongside surviving pre-revolutionary architecture, substantially changing the street’s appearance. Major landmarks include Moscow City Hall, occupying the former eighteenth-century residence of the governor-general, and Pushkin Square, one of the principal public spaces along the route. Surviving buildings preserve examples of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century commercial and residential architecture, while nearby lanes contain theaters, cafés, shops, and cultural institutions.

Walking along Tverskaya reveals successive periods of urban development, from an old road and imperial ceremonial avenue to a commercial center and reconstructed Soviet thoroughfare. Historic mansions, Stalin-era buildings, and later architecture illustrate how the street changed alongside political and transportation needs.

Lenin's Mausoleum is a memorial containing the preserved body of Vladimir Lenin, the Bolshevik leader and first head of the Soviet government. After Lenin died on January 21, 1924, architect Alexey Shchusev designed a temporary wooden mausoleum completed within days for public viewing. A larger wooden structure followed later that year, while the present stone mausoleum, also designed by Shchusev, was completed in 1930 and became closely associated with Soviet state ceremonies.

The building consists of stepped geometric forms clad in red granite, black and gray labradorite, and other stone, creating a restrained monumental design. Visitors traditionally follow a controlled route into a darkened memorial hall, where Lenin’s embalmed body is displayed inside a glass sarcophagus. Preservation has required continuous scientific attention since the 1920s, with specialists periodically examining the body and maintaining the chemical treatments and environmental conditions necessary for its preservation. During the Soviet period, the mausoleum served as a setting for major state events. Soviet leaders stood on its rooftop tribune to review military parades and public celebrations. Joseph Stalin’s embalmed body was displayed beside Lenin’s from 1953 until 1961, when it was removed during de-Stalinization and buried at the nearby Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

The mausoleum has normally admitted visitors during designated opening hours under strict security procedures. It is currently closed for major structural restoration, with work expected to continue until June 2027. Officials have stated that Lenin’s body will remain inside during the renovation and that the central memorial hall itself is not included in the structural work, which focuses primarily on preserving and repairing the historic building.

What to buy here: Zhostovo tray.

As well as a samovar, a Zhostovo hammered tray will make an outstanding decoration to any tea party, for it is not just a tray but firstly an artwork. The trays are hammered at the Zhostovo Manufactory which has been successfully working since 1825. The most popular motive is live-looking, slightly radiant fruit and flowers on a pitch-black background. The legend says that in the early 19th century Zhostovo painters used to travel about the country making sketches of what they wanted to paint on the trays, this is where such a large collection of floral designs comes from. Shiny apples, transparent grapes, enigmatic purple plums glow in the dark space of a tray with mysterious light: they resemble the fruit on the Italian Renaissance paintings. Sometimes, however, the trays show beautiful Russian landscapes and romantic old churches. More seldom they have portraits of people on them. Each tray created at the Zhostovo Decorative Art Manufactory is hand-painted and signed by the artist. Their price starts at $70.

GUM Department Store is a historic shopping complex whose present building opened on December 2, 1893, as the Upper Trading Rows. Designed by architect Alexander Pomerantsev, with engineering by Vladimir Shukhov, it combined a Russian Revival exterior with advanced iron-and-glass construction.

The complex replaced earlier trading rows that had occupied the site and was conceived as a modern commercial passage containing numerous individual shops. Its combination of traditional architectural references and innovative engineering made it distinctive among late-19th-century commercial buildings. Inside, the building is organized around three long parallel shopping galleries arranged on several levels and connected by bridges and walkways. Shukhov designed the lightweight iron-and-glass roofs spanning the passages, allowing natural light to illuminate the galleries below. The exterior features arched windows, towers, stone facing, and decorative forms influenced by medieval Russian architecture. A fountain in the central area remains a familiar meeting point, while the galleries provide views across the different levels and reveal the scale of the original commercial design. After the Russian Revolution, the complex was nationalized, and in 1921 it became GUM, originally an abbreviation for State Department Store. It was later closed as a retail center and used largely for offices before reopening as a department store in 1953.

Today, GUM functions as a shopping center containing boutiques, cafés, restaurants, and specialty stores. Visitors can explore the historic galleries, stop at Gastronome No. 1, a modern successor to GUM’s Soviet-era grocery department, or try the ice cream that has become a long-standing tradition associated with the store. Seasonal decorations and displays regularly transform the interior galleries throughout the year.

Revolution Square Station (Ploshchad Revolyutsii) is one of the best-known stations of the Moscow Metro for its extensive collection of bronze sculptures. It opened on March 13, 1938, on what is now the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line and was designed by architect Alexey Dushkin.

Its interior represents the monumental approach of early Soviet metro architecture, in which sculpture, stonework, and architectural design were combined to present an idealized vision of Soviet society. The station contains 76 bronze figures, produced at the Leningrad Artistic Casting Workshop under the direction of sculptor Matvey Manizer. They form 20 different sculptural compositions, most repeated several times throughout the station. Arranged in a sequence intended to represent Soviet society from the 1917 Revolution through the 1930s, they portray revolutionary workers and soldiers, sailors, border guards, industrial workers, farmers, students, athletes, parents, and children. The figures occupy spaces beneath the station’s arches, where their dark bronze surfaces contrast with the pale and darker varieties of marble covering the walls and structural elements. Repeated arches, lamps, and sculptures give the central hall a strongly rhythmic appearance. Several figures have acquired traditions among passengers that were not part of the original artistic program. The best known is the border guard with his dog, whose nose has become highly polished because passengers touch it for good luck.

Students commonly rub the dog’s nose before examinations. Other sculptures have developed similar customs associated with luck, work, travel, or personal wishes. These practices add an informal layer to Manizer’s carefully organized representation of Soviet life and have become part of the station’s everyday culture.

The basket of Aerolift is a spherical aerostat which offers the possibility to see the city from a height of 150 meters. A trip with the aerostat lasts about ten minutes. Trips at night are available if you wish to see the city's lights and the impressive panorama from above.

The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, now generally known as the Museum of Cosmonautics, is devoted to Soviet, Russian, and international space exploration. It opened on April 10, 1981, marking the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first human spaceflight, and occupies the stylobate beneath the Monument to the Conquerors of Space.

The 110-meter monument is clad in titanium and depicts a rocket rising above a sweeping trail, creating a direct architectural connection between the memorial above and the museum below. The permanent exhibition traces major stages of space exploration, including the first artificial satellite, first crewed flight, first spacewalk, lunar exploration, research into the planets of the Solar System, and international space programs. Collections include early satellites, spacecraft, models, spacesuits, scientific instruments, photographs, documents, and personal objects associated with cosmonauts and engineers. Displays examine spacecraft technology, human spaceflight, mission preparation, and the practical experience of living and working in orbit. Visitors can also see objects connected with prominent figures in the Soviet space program. Several sections focus on the designers, engineers, scientists, and cosmonauts responsible for major achievements in spaceflight. The museum also operates the Sergei Korolev Memorial House as a separate branch dedicated to the influential spacecraft designer. Following a major reconstruction completed in 2009, the exhibition space was substantially enlarged and updated with multimedia installations and interactive elements.

Today, the galleries cover subjects ranging from the beginnings of the Space Age and early lunar missions to orbital stations, international cooperation, and modern crewed spaceflight, allowing visitors to examine both technological achievements and the experiences of people involved in space exploration across several generations.

The VDNKh Central Pavilion, originally known as the Main Pavilion, is the principal architectural landmark of the exhibition complex. The present building was constructed in 1950-1954, replacing an earlier wooden pavilion from the prewar exhibition, and was designed by architects Georgy Shchuko and Yevgeny Stolyarov. Its stepped composition and prominent position made it one of the main focal points of the rebuilt exhibition grounds that opened in 1954.

The pavilion rises to 97 meters including its spire and star. Its architecture draws on Russian classicism and the monumental forms of the Stalin era, with a large portico, columns, sculptural decoration, Soviet emblems, and richly finished ceremonial interiors. The original exhibition presented major achievements of the Soviet state in agriculture, industrialization, science, and culture. Visitors entered through the monumental Hall of the Soviet Constitution, while the pavilion’s nine halls were decorated with marble-like finishes, monumental sculpture, and large works by prominent Soviet artists. A major restoration recovered numerous historic decorative features, including the large “Glory to the Soviet People, Standard-Bearer of Peace!” high relief by sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich, which had been concealed for decades and rediscovered during restoration work in 2014. The restored pavilion returned to exhibition use in the 2020s, with major museum projects opening there in 2024; restoration of the complex was completed by the end of that year.

Today, the pavilion is used as a major museum and exhibition space for large art and cultural projects. Its restored ceremonial halls, Soviet monumental decoration, and 97-meter tower provide a detailed example of how architecture and exhibition design were used in the 1950s to present an idealized image of the achievements of the Soviet state.

Grand in terms of the vast selection of exclusive edibles on offer, the Yeliseyevsky grocery store in Moscow is a prime destination for those with a gourmet bent. Renowned for its opulent Neo-baroque interior and refined atmosphere, this is by far the most palatial deli in entire Russia, rivaled perhaps only by its namesake “cousin” in St. Petersburg.

A short glance at the lavish decoration - stained glass, gilded woodwork and grand chandeliers - will suffice to deduce the historic heritage dating back hundreds of years. The building was constructed in the 1790s by architect Matvei Kazakov for Yekaterina Kozitskaya, widow of Catherine the Great's state-secretary Grigory Kozitsky. It took another 100 years before the millionaire merchant Grigory Yeliseyev opted to buy this premise to start trading in fine foods, alcohol and colonial goods.

During the Soviet period, the delicatessen on Tverskaya Street was re-titled Gastronome №1, though the locals kept using the old name - Yeliseyevsky. People from all over the country flocked here to procure food items not found anywhere else. Albeit less cosmopolitan, the sheer range was still substantial even then. The Gastronome №1 made national news in 1982 when its director received capital punishment on corruption charges.

Decades on, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the grand old store is once again back to its former glory, heaving with all manner of delicacies. If you're a passing tourist, popping in for a choice of vodka and caviar - if not for gawking at the store's gilded grandeur - will make for an entertaining epicurean excursion. Open 24 hours.

The “Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Moscow” Museum is a memorial museum devoted to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, his life, music, and cultural connections. Part of the Russian National Museum of Music, it opened on May 18, 2007.

The museum occupies a surviving wing of an estate where Tchaikovsky rented an apartment from September 1872 to November 1873. It is the only surviving building in Moscow where he lived. Here, he worked on his Second Symphony, The Snow Maiden, and The Tempest. The permanent exhibition, “Tchaikovsky and the World,” opened in 2014 and contains more than 500 exhibits. Displays include historical documents, personal belongings, photographs, engravings, lithographs, lifetime editions, letters, and original musical manuscripts. Important objects include autograph scores and manuscripts associated with the Sixth Symphony, Eugene Onegin, The Nutcracker, and the Children’s Album. Audio installations present excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s music and passages from his correspondence with Nadezhda von Meck, providing insight into his creative relationships.

Rather than reconstructing the apartment simply as a furnished 19th-century residence, the museum uses documents, artworks, personal objects, manuscripts, and multimedia displays to examine Tchaikovsky’s everyday life, creative process, family relationships, and contacts with performers, publishers, and artists. Temporary exhibitions, guided tours, educational programs, children’s activities, and chamber concerts are also organized, allowing visitors to explore both the composer’s personal history and the musical world surrounding his work.

Arbatskaya Metro Station on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line is one of the most elaborately decorated stations of the Moscow Metro. It opened on 5 April 1953 as part of a new deep-level section constructed to replace the earlier shallow route between central districts.

The new line was built partly because deeper stations offered better protection during wartime emergencies. Arbatskaya lies approximately 41 meters underground and was designed by architects Leonid Polyakov, Yuri Zenkevich, and Valentin Pelevin. The station is a three-vaulted pylon design with an unusually long central hall that curves slightly along its length. Its decoration reflects the monumental style of the late Stalinist period, with pale marble surfaces, richly modeled plaster ornament, patterned flooring, chandeliers, and arches decorated with floral motifs. The vaulted ceiling is covered with ornamental reliefs, while bronze details and carefully arranged lighting reinforce the formal appearance of the interior. Contemporary heritage documentation describes Arbatskaya as an example of the concept of the metro station as an “underground palace.” Arbatskaya forms part of a major interchange complex connecting the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya, Filyovskaya, Sokolnicheskaya, and Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya lines through Arbatskaya, Aleksandrovsky Sad, Biblioteka Imeni Lenina, and Borovitskaya stations.

A separate station also called Arbatskaya operates on the Filyovskaya Line and dates from 1935, so the two should not be confused. The 1953 station is deeper and far more ornate, with its long vaulted hall, repeated arches, chandeliers, marble finishes, and decorative ceiling providing a clear example of monumental postwar Soviet metro architecture.

Kazan Cathedral, formally the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, is closely connected with the events of 1612, when the Second Volunteer Army led by Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky helped drive Polish-Lithuanian forces from Moscow.

A wooden church dedicated to the Kazan Icon was built on the site in the 1620s, traditionally associated with Pozharsky and his gratitude for the victory. After the wooden structure was destroyed by fire, a stone cathedral financed by Tsar Mikhail Romanov was completed and consecrated in 1636. The church is dedicated to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, one of the most widely venerated images in Russian Orthodoxy. Its compact design reflects 17th-century Russian church architecture, with a single main dome, tiers of decorative kokoshnik arches, an adjoining gallery, chapel, and bell tower. The present red-and-white exterior recreates the historic appearance after later architectural alterations were removed during restoration research. Inside, the cathedral contains an iconostasis, religious paintings, and numerous devotional images, while a copy of the Kazan Icon remains central to worship. The historic cathedral was demolished in 1936 during Soviet redevelopment. It was reconstructed between 1990 and 1993 using surviving measurements, drawings, photographs, and research completed before its destruction, becoming one of the first major religious monuments demolished during the Soviet period to be rebuilt.

The restored cathedral was consecrated on November 4, 1993. Today, it functions as an active Orthodox church associated with veneration of the Kazan Icon and commemoration of the events of 1612. Visitors may enter respectfully to observe its reconstructed architecture, iconostasis, and continuing religious traditions.

The Cathedral of Christ the Savior is the principal cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church and was conceived as a monument to the Russian people’s struggle against Napoleon’s invasion of 1812.

The nineteenth-century cathedral was designed by architect Konstantin Thon, built over several decades, and consecrated in 1883. In 1931, it was demolished for the planned Palace of the Soviets, a project that was never completed. The cathedral was rebuilt between 1994 and 2000, with its great consecration taking place on August 19, 2000. The reconstructed building closely reproduces the form of Thon’s original cathedral, with a monumental white exterior, a large central gilded dome, four smaller domes, and extensive religious and commemorative decoration. The interior is richly covered with paintings, icons, gilding, and marble elements, while inscriptions and memorial features recall those who fought in the Patriotic War of 1812. Beneath the main cathedral is the Church of the Transfiguration, a feature created as part of the modern reconstruction; it has three altars, including side chapels dedicated to St. Alexis the Man of God and the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. The cathedral remains an active center of Orthodox worship and regularly hosts major liturgies and services, including ceremonies celebrated by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’. Its history links imperial commemoration, Soviet-era destruction, and the revival of large-scale Orthodox religious architecture after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Visitors can see the upper cathedral and, depending on access arrangements, the lower church and other parts of the complex; organized excursions may also include the cathedral’s observation platforms, which provide elevated views over the surrounding area and the Moskva River.

The Tretyakov Gallery is one of the principal museums of Russian art. Its founding is traditionally dated to 1856, when merchant and collector Pavel Tretyakov acquired his first painting by a Russian artist, Vasily Khudyakov’s Skirmish with Finnish Smugglers.

Tretyakov developed the collection with the aim of creating a broad survey of Russian art and in 1892 donated his collection, together with that of his late brother Sergei and the gallery property, to the city. The historic façade was rebuilt in 1902-1904 according to a design based on drawings by artist Viktor Vasnetsov, using forms inspired by traditional Russian architecture. The historic gallery presents Russian art from the eleventh to the early twentieth century, including medieval icons, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century painting, sculpture, and graphic art. Its holdings include works by major artists such as Ilya Repin, Ivan Shishkin, Ivan Kramskoi, Vasily Surikov, Isaac Levitan, Viktor Vasnetsov, and Alexander Ivanov, along with important examples of Old Russian icon painting. Andrei Rublev’s Trinity was one of the gallery’s most famous works for nearly a century, but it is no longer displayed there: in 2024 the icon was transferred to the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where it remains as of 2026. The institution now operates across several buildings and branches. The historic complex concentrates on Old Russian art and Russian painting, sculpture, and graphics through the early twentieth century, while the New Tretyakov Gallery presents twentieth- and twenty-first-century art, including the avant-garde, Socialist Realism, nonconformist art, and later movements.

This division allows visitors to follow Russian art from medieval religious traditions through Realism and Symbolism to the major artistic movements of the modern era.

Tsaritsyno Palace forms the centerpiece of a former imperial estate commissioned by Empress Catherine II in 1775. She purchased the property, then called Chyornaya Gryaz, renamed it Tsaritsyno, and commissioned architect Vasily Bazhenov to create a country residence. Between 1775 and 1785, Bazhenov developed an extensive ensemble in a distinctive eighteenth-century Gothic style.

After Catherine inspected the nearly completed residence in 1785, she rejected its principal palace buildings and ordered them demolished. Bazhenov was dismissed, and Matvey Kazakov received the commission for a new Grand Palace. Kazakov’s Grand Palace combines pointed arches, towers, red brick, white-stone decoration, and Gothic-inspired forms with a more symmetrical design. By 1796, construction was nearing completion, but work stopped following Catherine’s death, leaving the palace unfinished for more than two centuries. Important structures from Bazhenov’s original ensemble survived, including the Bread House, Figured Bridge, Grand Bridge over the Ravine, gates, galleries, and smaller palace buildings. A major restoration and reconstruction took place from 2005 to 2007. The ruined Grand Palace was completed as a museum, receiving a new roof and newly created interiors rather than reconstructed eighteenth-century rooms, since the residence had never been finished or furnished. The complex reopened in 2007. Today, the Grand Palace and neighboring Bread House contain permanent and temporary exhibitions devoted to art, history, decorative culture, and the estate.

The surrounding museum-reserve includes a landscape park, ponds, bridges, greenhouses, and architectural monuments. The surviving works of Bazhenov and Kazakov allow visitors to compare two approaches to Catherine II’s residence project, while the reconstructed Grand Palace demonstrates the modern adaptation of an unfinished imperial building for museum use.