Military history : Moscow museums
Not every museum in the city, but those that can open new worlds, point to genuine masterpieces, sharpen the mind and move the soul. Every entry carries our own rating of the collection, what matters most here, a minimum route to the essentials, when to come to avoid the crowds and what it costs. Every entry is dated with its last check.
Victor Borisov-Musatov. The Harmony of the Image
Over 140 works from twenty collections: The Pool, The Emerald Necklace and studies almost never shown. Russian Symbolism is one of the summits at which art lifts a person beyond himself; a retrospective this full comes once in a generation.
Work by the sculptor who carved quebracho and algarrobo: in his hands wood holds shapes impossible in marble.
Over seven hundred objects: sculpture and painting of Russian Buddhism, almost none of it shown before. More than a hundred sculptures were conserved for the opening.
More than 150 sheets that almost never leave the store: pastel sheds under light and movement and is rarely shown. Halls 49–54.
The first large exhibition of the new Kadashevskaya wing: the flower in Russian art from the icon to the 20th century.
Borodino Panorama Museum
Franz Roubaud’s Borodino panorama of 1912: 115 metres of canvas in the round, 15 metres high. Next door, the Kutuzov hut where on 1 September 1812 the council of war decided to abandon Moscow.
Central Museum of the Armed Forces
The original Victory Banner raised over the Reichstag; wreckage of the Lockheed U-2 of Francis Gary Powers, shot down near Sverdlovsk on 1 May 1960; over 150 machines outdoors.
The Victory Museum
The Hall of Glory and the Hall of Remembrance and Sorrow; six dioramas of the decisive battles; the open-air park of military hardware.
We do not remove them from the catalogue: a museum may reopen, and the history of a collection is knowledge too.
We give the rating ourselves and answer for it: it is about the value of the collection, not the size of the building, the visitor numbers or the fame of the name.
- world-class
- In the same rank as the world's leading museums.
- outstanding
- A strong collection: worth setting aside a day for.
- significant
- There are things here worth seeing.
- for enthusiasts
- Of interest to those already drawn to the subject.
- niche
- Valuable to a narrow circle, without wider recognition.
Checked on 15 August 2026 — against museum websites and open sources. Every entry carries its own date of checking and what it was checked against. A price we could not confirm we say so, rather than leaving the old one.
Time needed is for the essentials, along our minimum route, without the café, the shop or the cloakroom queue. Going through the whole museum almost always takes longer.
The photographs come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences; the author and the licence are given under each one.
18 May is International Museum Day (since 1977), and the night of 17–18 May is Museum Night. On those days museums keep different hours and are often free.
We answer for every figure and date on these pages. If a museum has changed its hours or its prices, if a link has died, or if you think a museum is missing from the list — write to us. We will correct it and set a new date of checking.