Arty Moscow

Description:

Russian literature didn't stop at the end of the 19th-century Silver Age. The museum is located in the preserved 19th-century house of noted painter and collector Ostroukhov. The museum holds exhibitions that illustrate the life and works of Russian writers throughout the turbulent and dangerous 20th century. The exhibits show original manuscripts, first editions, drawings, photographs and personal belongings of writers such as Akhmatova, Maiakovskii, Esenin, Okudzhava and others.

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This building was the home of famous Soviet writer Maxim Gorky from 1931 until his death in 1936. The house was built at the beginning of the 20th century and can be considered a masterpiece of Moscow Style Moderne. This is one of a few places where you can still see an original luxurious interior. Gorky was a prominent supporter of the revolution and despite revulsion at Bolshevik revolution he later became the Soviet Union's leading writer. Despite this, he later fell within the deadly orbit of Stalin's disapproval. The museum exhibitions illustrate Gorky's family history and his life and work under Soviet rule. One of the exhibitions presents more than 200 Japanese ivory and wooden miniatures collected by Gorky.

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This building was once the home of the novelist Fedor Dostoevskii (from 1821 to 1837 where he spent his childhood before moving to St. Petersburg at the age of 16). This apartment (in the former Moscow Marinskii Hospital for the Poor) holds a few clues to Dostoevskii's personality and beliefs. The museum was founded right after the October Revolution of 1917. Its interior still contains the original furniture, which was donated by Dostoevskii's widow and brother in 1928. While the apartment is typical for the beginning of the 19th century, it has unusually dark corners and wooden partitions instead of doors, befitting the brooding nature of the author's works.

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Located in a 19th century mansion where the Russian Architects's union has its headquarters, this restaurant and bar has a warm homely ambience. The food is of hearty homemade flavor, and the Wine card is superb. They conduct celebrations, banquets, presentations and weddings. The large dining area accommodates 170 seats and they also have a separate rooms for 30 and a VIP hall for 16 seats. They have live music and a modern color music facility.

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This theatre today stands where a previously famous restaurant (the Hermitage) once stood. The restaurant was frequented by artistic types, such as Chekhov, Tchaikovskii (who celebrated his wedding here), Gorkii, and Dostoevskii, who made his famous speech about Pushkin here. The theatre was founded in place of the restaurant in 1917. They're always searching for a new theatrical language or new modes of performance. Productions include dramas, ballets and opera. The theatre's repertoire includes more than 15 plays, most of which are by modern playwrights.

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This museum was where the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoi lived from 1893 to 1895. The interior has been kept exactly as it was when Tolstoi lived there - on the second floor of the house lies the very office where Tolstoi wrote the vast majority of his novels and short stories. Rimskii-Korsakov and Rachmaninov were among famous visitors; they might even have tinkled the ivories on the piano here. An exhibition tells something of Tolstoi's turbulent life and times. The building itself was built in 1805, but Tolstoi only moved here in October 1882 after complaints from his wife about their country existence at Iasnaia Poliana.

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This is the house where the doctor-turned-playwright first found literary success, as an author of short stories and one-act plays. He lived in the pink two-story house with his family between the autumn of 1886 and the spring of 1890.

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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.

Our Local Expert Says:

Quite simply, this is the town’s favorite restaurant. Painstakingly designed as a 19th century apothecary, it is also perhaps the only restaurant in town that turns drab Russian into haute cuisine.

Description:

Perhaps Moscow's most sophisticated 24-hour restaurant, the three-story Cafe Pushkin has the feel of a 19th-century mansion but dates from the late 1990s. Each of the floors has a different thrust, with a cherrywood bar and well-lit cafe on the first floor, a more formal dining room on the second, and a decadent and breezy summer cafe on the top. The menu weighs a ton -- both the Russian and English versions -- and the script is so flowery as to be unreadable at times. Pretty much anything listed is bound to be successful, though standouts are ukha, a creamy, spiced fish soup that manages to be both light and filling; and grilled sterlet with forest mushrooms. Prices are high -- you're paying for the faux-pre-revolutionary atmosphere and top-quality service as well as the food. The vodka selection is impressive and impressively priced, and the hot chocolate and dessert selections offer good, low-budget options.

Description:

This unique museum is good for those who are fascinated by matreshka dolls and lacquered boxes. The museum's collection consists of more than 40,000 items of painted lacquer work from different regions of Russia plus embroidery, wood-carvings, lace, pottery, and of course wooden matreshka dolls. The museum's exhibitions present visitors with a full picture of applied and folk arts development from the 17th to the 20th century. All of the museum pieces were contributed by Russian artists and craftsmen.

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Pavel Tretiakov, who collected the best work of contemporary painters in Moscow and St. Petersburg, founded this gallery in 1856. His brother Sergei collected the French and Dutch masters, and in 1872 they combined their collections and opened this extremely popular museum. In 1892 it was donated to the city of Moscow, and lives on with works by famous Russian painters such as Vasilii Perov, Ivan Kramskoi and Ilia Repin.

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This museum's collection is made up from more than 1,500 unique works of art representing all the various trends and divergent styles of the 20th century. Non-conformist, abstractionist, and post-modernist works are here in abundance. On display are paintings, sketches and other works by a range of world-renowned artists such as Chagall, Kandinsky, Picasso, Shemiakin, Konchalovsky, Steinberg, Petrov-Vodkin, Shemiakin, Pirosmany, Birstein, Oscar Rabin and many others. The Modern Arts Museum also often organizes temporary thematic exhibitions.

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For someone like Igor Markin, an individual having no connections with art by education or business, Art 4 is a total diversion. It's plain passion that inspired him to open a gallery with his personal collection of paintings and also encourage budding talent. Markin urges modern artists to vent the fascinations, imaginations and passions on canvas through color; while he himself provides space in the happening city center of Moscow.

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The impressive edifice of the Manege, standing before the walls of the Kremlin, was designed by architect Auguste Montferrand and built by engineer Augustin Betancourt in 1817 to mark the fifth anniversary of Russia's victory over Napoleon in the Patriotic War of 1812. The giant hall (about 7,500 square meters - 166 meters long and 45 meters wide) with a self-supporting roof was considered a great breakthrough in construction techniques. Originally meant for military exercises, reviews and parades, it later housed exhibitions and was used for public entertainment. Since 1957 it has been the Central Exhibition Hall, one of Moscow's most popular art galleries.

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Chronicler of Russia's Caucasus campaigns, poet and painter Lermontov lived in this cheerful yet studious pink house during his formative student years.

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Before 1950, Pushkin Drama Theatre used to be known as the Chamber Theatre, but after a decision by the Soviet Art Committee the name was changed and the theatre re-opened with the new name. These days the group tries to follow the old theatre's traditions and for the most part stages classical plays by the likes of Sophocles, Molier, Pushkin, Gogol and others. The theatre stages up to six premieres a year on its main and smaller stages.

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Even before the arrival of communists, this place was a favorite hangout of Moscow's elite. Its website waxes lyrical about the university professors, conservatory teachers, musicians, artists and writers who frequented the place around the beginning of the 20th century. In Soviet times the place was a favorite celebration haunt of the upper echelons of Moscow society, and more recently, it was officially reopened by none other than Mayor Luzhkov. The cuisine is Russian and international, offering more than 100 main and vegetable dishes. Its drink menu offers vintage wines, and fine cognacs and vodkas.

Description:

This two-storey 19th-century house is a very interesting place for those who would like to know more about Russia's great poet Alexander Pushkin and about the Moscow of his time. This house was a very significant part of Pushkin's life; here he had a famous bachelor party before his wedding celebration. He married the beautiful Natalia Goncharova on the following day, and he spent the first three months of his married life here. The museum has many portraits of Pushkin and his friends, numerous engravings of 19th-century Moscow and copies of Pushkin's handwriting. A beautiful statue of Pushkin and his ball gowned wife stands in front of the museum.

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At the time of Catherine the Great, Prince Potemkin decided to construct a majestic and spacious cathedral in place of the old church. However, the process of construction dragged on for nearly 50 years and was finished only in 1840. The church has played a role in the lives of many famous Russians. On the 18th of February 1831, in the unfinished church, the great Russian poet Pushkin got married. The temple was closed in 1931 and severely damaged during the Soviet period. Daily worships were resumed in 1990. Also, here is the sacred icon of the Iverskaia God's Mother.

Description:

This rich and worthwhile museum is often overlooked in favor of St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum. In fact, the two complement each other, and both deserve a look. Most visitors head straight for the impressive collection of French Impressionist works, though the museum also boasts ancient Greek sculptures and Egyptian bronzes, as well as works by Rembrandt, Rubens, and the Italian masters of the Renaissance. There is also a small but worthwhile collection of post-Impressionist and modernist art. Be sure to view the ever-expanding exhibition of controversial paintings stolen from European Jews by the Nazis and later seized by looting Soviet troops (Russians call them "rescued" artworks), including pieces by Renoir, Daumier, and van Gogh. Note that this Pushkin Museum is merely named after Russians' favorite author Alexander Pushkin; if you want to see a museum about him, skip ahead to the "Literary Moscow" section below.

Description:

This was the first private gallery to open in post-Soviet Russia (November 1990 to be exact). The original aim of founder Marat Guelman was to promote the works of lesser-known artists. Many of the artists showcased here have ended up as big players on the Moscow arts scene. The gallery also became very well known after the organization of several non-commercial projects, the goal of which was to promote pluralism in the arts in a post-socialist society. Admission is free.

Description:

A romantic place bringing the atmosphere of Paris all the way to Moscow. The huge variety of cuisine combines the best of European and Russian cooking. The unique wine cellar holds over 5,000 bottles including rare vintage wines from France and other countries and there are live music concerts some evenings. The decor is all mahogany furniture and marble columns. The view from the windows is most impressive. Main dishes are prepared from meat, fish and a great variety of sea products. On weekends, a 'Swedish table' is available that includes a choice of three main dishes plus an unlimited number of visits to the fifty-dish buffet, plus a dessert and a glass of wine.

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This museum devoted to the life of composer and pianist Alexander Skriabin. Opened to the public in 1922, the museum occupies the first floor of a two-story mansion in the Arbat. The museum is a repository of the elite composer's personal belongings, among them pieces of furniture, his grand piano, books, manuscripts, letters. This was where Skriabin composed Sonatas Numbers 8, 9, 10, the, 'Poem to the Flame', five preludes of op. 74, and sketches of, 'The First Act'. The museum is a popular destination for Russian intellectuals and foreign tourists. Excursions are available in English.

Description:

The great Russian author Leo Tolstoy lived here with his family from 1882 to 1901. The building itself dates from the first quarter of the 19th century. The museum was founded in 1911. The eight galleries here illustrate the life of the War and Peace author at the end of the 19th century. The museum's total collection includes more than 545 000 exhibition pieces. This is made up of Tolstoy's personal belongings, the novels published during his lifetime, portraits of Tolstoi and his contemporaries, sculptures, photographs and much more. The number of visitors to the museum is testimony to the ongoing importance of Tolstoy for Muscovites - more than 15,000 people visit the museum every year.