Moscow
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1. Armory Chamber
Kremlin/Red SquareThe oldest and richest museum in the Kremlin was founded in 1806 as the Imperial Court Museum, which was created out of three royal treasuries: the Court Treasury, where the regalia of the tsars and ambassadorial gifts were kept; the Stable Treasury, which contained the royal harnesses and carriages used by the tsars during state ceremonies; and the Armory, a collection of arms, armor, and other valuable objects gathered from the country's chief armories and storehouses. The Imperial Court Museum was moved to the present building in 1851 and enhanced and expanded after the Bolshevik Revolution with valuables taken from wealthy noble families as well as from the Patriarchal Sacristy of the Moscow Kremlin. The roughly 4,000 artifacts here date from the 12th century to 1917, and include a rare collection of 17th-century silver. Tickets for the Armory are sold separately at the main box office and allow you to enter at a specific time. Halls (zal) VI–IX are on the first floor, Halls I–V on the second. Hall I displays the works of goldsmiths and silversmiths of the 12th through 19th centuries, and Hall II contains a collection of 18th- to 20th-century jewelry. One of the most astounding exhibits is the collection of Fabergé eggs on display in Hall II (Case 23). Among them is a silver egg whose surface is engraved with a map of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The "surprise" inside the egg, which is also on display, was a golden clockwork model of a train with a platinum engine, windows of crystal, and a headlight made of a tiny ruby. Feeling overwhelmed by everything to see at the Armory Chamber? If nothing else, be sure to see the Fabergé eggs. If the weather is too good to spend all day indoors, check out the splendor of the Cathedral Square and come back to see the Armory another day. Hall III contains Asian and Western European arms and armor, including heavy Western European suits of armor from the 15th to 17th centuries, pistols, and firearms. Hall IV showcases a large collection of Russian arms and armor from the 12th to early 17th centuries, with a striking display of helmets. The earliest helmet here dates from the 13th century. Here, too, is the helmet of Prince Ivan, the son of Ivan the Terrible. The prince was killed by his father at the age of 28, an accidental victim of the tsar's unpredictable rage. The tragic event has been memorialized in a famous painting by Ilya Repin now in the Tretyakov Gallery, showing the frightened tsar holding his mortally wounded son. Hall V is filled with foreign gold and silver objects, mostly ambassadorial presents to the tsars. Among the displays is the "Olympic Service" of china presented to Alexander I by Napoléon after the signing of the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807. Hall VI holds vestments of silk, velvet, and brocade, embroidered with gold and encrusted with jewels and pearls. Also on display in this section are several coronation dresses, including the one Catherine the Great wore in 1762. Notice how small some of the waists are on the dresses. A pair of Peter the Great's leather riding boots are also on display – take note of their huge size. Hall VII contains regalia and the imperial thrones. The oldest throne, veneered with carved ivory, belonged to Ivan the Terrible. The throne of the first years of Peter the Great's reign, when he shared power with his older brother Ivan, has two seats in front and one hidden in the back. The boys' older sister, Sophia (1657–1704), who ruled as regent from 1682 to 1689, sat in the back, prompting the young rulers to give the right answers to the queries of ambassadors and others. Among the crowns, the oldest is the sable-trimmed Cap of Monomakh, which dates to the 13th century. Hall VIII contains dress harnesses of the 16th through 18th centuries. Hall IX has a marvelous collection of court carriages. Here you'll find the Winter Coach that carried Elizaveta Petrovna (daughter of Peter the Great and someone who clearly liked her carriages; 1709–62) from St. Petersburg to Moscow for her coronation.
Moscow, Moscow, 103132, Russia495-695--4146-Excursion office 9--5Sight Details
Rate Includes: 700R, tickets sold separately from Cathedral Square ticket, Fri.–Wed. 10, 12, 2:30, and 4:30, Closed Thurs. -
2. Amusement Palace
Kremlin/Red SquareBehind the State Kremlin Palace stands this smaller palace used by boyarin (nobleman) Alexei in the 17th century as a venue for theatrical productions. Stalin and Trotsky had apartments here, those these are closed to the public.
Moscow, Moscow, 103132, Russia495-695--4146-Ticket office daily 9--4:30Sight Details
Rate Includes: 500 R, Fri.–Wed. 10--5, Closed Thurs. -
3. Great Kremlin Palace
Kremlin/Red SquareThe palace actually consists of a group of buildings. The main section is the newest, built between 1838 and 1849. Its 375-foot-long facade faces south, overlooking the Moskva River. This was for centuries the site of the palace of the grand dukes and tsars, but the immediate predecessor of the present building was badly damaged in the major fire of 1812. It's currently closed to the general public. The other buildings of the Great Kremlin Palace include the 17th-century Terem (Tower Chamber), where the tsarina received visitors, and the 15th-century Granovitaya Palata (Palace of Facets). Both of these buildings are also closed to the public.
Moscow, Moscow, 103073, Russia495-695--4146-Excursion officeSight Details
Rate Includes: Tours provided on the basis of an application from an organization addressed to the Head of the Commandant’s service of the Federal Guard Service of the Russian Federation. No individual tours. -
4. Kuskovo Estate and Palace Museum
Eastern OutskirtsIn the 18th and 19th centuries the country estate of Kuskovo was a summer playground for the Moscow aristocracy. It belonged to the Sheremetyevs, one of Russia's wealthiest and most distinguished families, whose holdings numbered in the millions of acres. (Today, Moscow's international airport, built on land that once belonged to one of their many estates, takes their family name.) The Sheremetyevs acquired the land of Kuskovo in the early 17th century, but the estate, often called a Russian Versailles, took on its current appearance in the late 18th century. Most of the work on it was commissioned by Prince Pyotr Sheremetyev, who sought a suitable place for entertaining guests in the summer. The park was created by Russian landscape artists who had spent much time in Europe studying the art. They dotted the French-style gardens with buildings representing the major architectural trends of Europe: the Dutch cottage, the Italian villa, the grotto, and the exquisite hermitage, where, as was the showoffy fashion at that time, dinner tables were raised mechanically from the ground floor to the second-floor dining room. The centerpiece of the estate is the Kuskovo Palace, built in the early Russian classical style by the serf architects Alexei Mironov and Fedor Argunov. Fronted by a grand horseshoe staircase and Greek-temple portico, this building exemplifies Russian neoclassical elegance and overlooks a man-made lake. It's been a house museum since 1918, and its interior decorations, including fine parquet floors and silk wall coverings, have been well preserved. The bedroom, with its lovely canopy bed, was merely for show: the Sheremetyevs used the palace exclusively for entertainment and didn't live here. Ballroom extravaganzas once took place in the White Hall, with parquet floors, gilt wall decorations, and crystal chandeliers. On display in the inner rooms are paintings by French, Italian, and Flemish artists; Chinese porcelain; furniture; and other articles of everyday life from the 18th and 19th centuries. The palace also houses a collection of 18th-century Russian art and a celebrated ceramics museum with a rich collection by Russian, Soviet, and foreign artists. You can reach Kuskovo by public transit, but you may find it more convenient to book a tour that includes transportation. However you plan to get here, be sure to phone ahead before making the trek because the estate often closes when the weather is very humid or very cold.
2 ul. Yunosti, Moscow, Moscow, 111402, Russia495-370--0160Sight Details
Rate Includes: 200 R, Wed.-Sun. 10--6, Closed Mon., Tues. and last Wed. of the month -
5. State Kremlin Palace
Kremlin/Red SquareIn 1961 this rectangular structure of glass and aluminum was built as the Dvorets Syezdov (Palace of Congresses) to accommodate meetings of Communist Party delegates from across the Soviet Union. Today it's affiliated with the Bolshoi Theatre and is used for concerts, fashion shows, and ballets. Big names such as Tom Jones, Elton John, and Rod Stewart have played here. A sizable portion of the palace is underground: the architect designed the structure this way so that it wouldn't be higher than any of the other Kremlin buildings. Apart from attending a concert, the building is of no real interest.
Vozdvizhenka st. 1, Moscow, Moscow, 103132, Russia495-620--7846Sight Details
Rate Includes: Mon-Sun 12--10 -
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