Shchusev Architectural Museum

Moscow's Shchusev Architectural Museum was the first of its kind to be built in Europe and is housed in the impressive 18th century Talyzin Mansion. Parts of the museum's collections are displayed in the mansion's Apothecary Palace, which once accommodated the German specialists who nurtured the Tsar's medicinal herb garden on Vagankov Hill. The museum boasts a host of models, photographs, engravings and lithographs of buildings from medieval times to the present day and includes some interesting items of period furniture, rare books and examples of building and finishing materials. The museum is named after the celebrated architect Alexei Shchusev, born in 1873 and renowned for being responsible for Lenin's Mausoleum and the Moscow Hotel amongst other notable Moscow buildings.