Central House of Artists (Tsentral'nyi Dom Khudozhnikov)

Description:

• These four floors of galleries and art shops are great for getting a look at what Russia's artists are currently up to, but most people come to buy gifts. The unusual and creative souvenirs include art books in Russian and English, embroidered felt boots, Art Nouveau tea sets, Constructivist vases, tongue-in-cheek T-shirts, and Soviet postcards. Inexpensive evening concerts and other experimental performances draw Moscow's creative crowd. Many visitors come for the informal art market that wends along the adjacent embankment, though beware of rules for exporting works of art.

• © Frommer's 2012