Museums

St. Petersburg may be known as the Russian cultural capital, but Moscow also has an enormous wealth of museums for all lovers of culture among you. Have a little browse with me through these descriptions of the city's major museums. Whether you are interested in art, literature, history or science - Moscow's numerous museums have something to offer all of you!

Museums dedicated to famous Artists, Writers and Musicians

Aksakov Museum - exhibitions and memorabilia recounting the life and works of the writer and literary critic, Sergey Aksakov, in the 18th century Empire style building where he lived.

Andrey Rublyov Museum of Early Russian Culture and Art - extensive exhibitions exploring the life and works of the legendary 14th century Russian icon painter, housed in the Andronikov Monastery, where Rublyov was a monk.

Chekhov House Museum - details the life and works of the prolific and highly regarded Russian dramatist and master of the modern short story, Anton Chekhov, through a series of exhibits housed in one of the writer's former residences.

Dostoevsky Museum - exhibitions charting the dramatic life of one of Russia's most famous writers, housed in the apartment where the young Dostoevsky spent much of his underprivileged childhood.

Lermontov House Museum - exhibition of original manuscripts, artwork and correspondence charting the life and career of the famous Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov in the carefully preserved wooden house, where he lived between 1829 and 1832.

Mayakovsky Museum - unorthodox and fascinating glimpse of the life, loves and artistic works of Russia's most famous Futurist poet.

Meyerhold Apartment Museum - exhibits all manner of personal belongings, correspondence, scripts, set designs and photographs concerning the life and work of Moscow's pioneering avant-garde theatrical director, producer and actor, Vsevolod Meyerhold.

Ostrovsky Estate and Museum - dedicated to the life and work of the Muscovite playwright, who is generally considered to be the greatest representative of the Russian Realist literary period and whose dramatic works were all premiered under the supervision of the playwright himself in Moscow's Maly Theater.

Pushkin Memorial Apartment on the Arbat - series of exhibits charting the life of the great poet and housed in the blue Empire-style building on the Arbat where the beloved writer lived with his new wife for a short time in the spring of 1831.

Pushkin State Museum - devotes an impressive 10 rooms, full of displays of personal sketches, first editions, correspondence and general memorabilia, to the life and works of the great Russian poet, housed in the ornate and impressive interiors of the former Khrushchev Mansion.

Scriabin House Museum - charts the life and works of the famous Moscow-born composer, Alexander Scriabin, who spent the last years of his life in this house not far from the city's bohemian Arbat district.

Stanislavsky House Museum - exhibits detailing the life and theatrical contributions of the famous Russian actor, director and producer Konstantin Stanislavsky, who along with Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko founded the famous avant-garde and experimental Moscow Art Theater.

Tolstoy Museum - Prechistenka Branch - houses an enormous collection of original editions of the writer's works and exhibits all manner of artifacts pertaining to his life.

Yermolova Museum - wide range of original artifacts pertaining to the life and incredibly successful career of the pioneering Russian dramatic actress, Maria Yermolova, and her glittering rise to fame in Moscow's Maly Theater.

Historical, Archeological and Architectural Museums

Archeological Museum - traces the history of Moscow through a series of imaginatively displayed archeological artifacts dating back as far as the 12th century AD, when the city was first founded by the Moscow Prince Yury Dolgoruky.

Museum of the History of Moscow - first opened in 1896 this museum depicts life in Moscow, from the city's ancient beginnings to the present day, through a fascinating series of archeological findings, accurate reconstructions and original artwork.

Metro Museum - charts the history and development of the capital's metro system, initiated by Stalin himself back in 1935, and the design and creation of its wonderfully ornate and marble-filled stations or "people's palaces".

State Historical Museum - fascinating archeological exhibitions charting the history of Russian civilization from its Neanderthal beginnings to the 20th century.

Military and Political Museums

Armed Forces Museum - details the history and victories of the Russian Army and Navy through 24 halls of fascinating exhibits and military hardware, including a T-34 tank, a ballistic missile, a MiG-25 and numerous original uniforms, banners, regimental standards, medals and hand weaponry.

Borodino Panorama Museum - vast collection of artifacts devoted to the famous 1812 battle between Napoleon's French troops and the Russian army under Field Marshall Kutuzov.

Central Museum of the Revolution - impressive range of exhibits exploring the intricacies of the revolutionary overthrow of the Romanov dynasty and the founding of the Soviet state.

Krasnaya Presnya Museum of the Revolution - illustrates the rather tumultuous 20th century history of the surrounding Presnya district of the city, which bore witness to armed uprisings in 1905, August 1991 and October 1993, and charts revolutionary activity in Russia and its consequences throughout this century.

Lenin's Mausoleum - still the resting place of the embalmed body of the founder of Soviet Communism some 76 years after his death, housed in a futuristic granite-cube building designed by Shchusev that stands on Red Square next to the Kremlin walls.

Scientific Museums

Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics - traces the history of Russian rocketry and space exploration from the 1920s to the present day and is housed in the impressive monument To the Conquerors of Space, an enormous silver rocket soaring into the sky on a 100-meter tall stream of glistening Titanium.

Darwin Museum - explores the variety and complexity of nature, theories of evolution and explanations of current ecological crisis through an extensive series of over 5,000 exhibits covering all three floors of the museum building.

Politechnical Museum - host to more that 20,000 artifacts, diagrams, working models and experiments illustrating numerous aspects of science, technology, industry and communication. Features everything from the first primitive radio receiver constructed by Alexander Popov in 1895 to exhibitions detailing the creation of Dmitry Mendeleyev's period table of elements in 1871.

Zoological Museum - hosts a multitude of exhibitions pertaining to the world of animals and their development and extinction throughout evolutionary history, all based on the original zoological collections of Moscow's 18th century Imperial University.

Museums related to Music and the Arts

Bakhrushin Theater Museum - boasts the most extensive and comprehensive collection of theatrical memorabilia in the city. The exhibits chart the development of theatrical activity in Moscow and encompass the genres of ballet, opera, dramatic and children's theater and puppetry.

Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art - exhibits an extensive collection of ethnic arts and crafts from all over the Russian Federation, as well as displays of artistic textiles, Soviet porcelain and samovars.

Glinka Museum of Musical Culture - boasts an impressively large and varied collection of musical instruments from all over the world and original scores, manuscripts and classical music memorabilia based on the original collection of the Moscow Conservatoire.

Museum of Oriental Art - a truly impressive collection of Central Asian, South-East Asian and Caucasian art from the 1st century AD through to the beginning of the 20th century, including artifacts from Korea, Mongolia, Turkey, Tibet, China, Iran, India and Japan.