Not every museum in the city — only those worth the trip. Every entry carries our own value rating, what to see, a minimum route, when to come and what it costs.
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.
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.
The New Tretyakov?Why this museumThe Russian avant-garde is the one Russian artistic system to enter the world canon on equal terms, and its largest collection is here. MoMA and the Pompidou show Malevich and Tatlin torn from their setting; here they hang beside what they rebelled against, which changes the reading.
6+With childrenThe avant-garde reaches children more easily than the classics: strong colour, plain shapes. From 6; there are children’s routes and workshops.wheelchairStep-free accessThe museum — step-free. A modern building: ramps, lifts, wide doorways, accessible toilets. Wheelchairs are lent.
Getting there — step-free. Oktyabrskaya and Park Kultury have no lifts. There is convenient parking at the door and low-floor buses along Krymsky Val. Moscow metro stations almost never have lifts to the platform, except on the Big Circle line and the MCC. A wheelchair user is better served by the surface buses, which are low-floor across the centre.2–3 hours
The Tretyakov Gallery building on Krymsky Val: the permanent display Art of the 20th Century and the gallery’s main temporary shows. Officially named the New Tretyakov since 2018.
The building. Built 1979–1983 by Y. Sheverdyaev and N. Sukoyan, shared with the Central House of Artists.
Good to know. A separate ticket from Lavrushinsky Lane.
What to see
Malevich’s Black Square, Petrov-Vodkin’s Bathing of a Red Horse, work by Kandinsky, Chagall, Goncharova and Larionov, the model of Tatlin’s Tower. Next door: the Muzeon park of dismantled Soviet monuments.
Minimum route — 2–3 hours на самое важное
Start with the Black Square and the avant-garde hall — Kandinsky, Goncharova, Larionov, Tatlin’s Tower. Then Bathing of a Red Horse. Leave time for the temporary show: the gallery’s biggest projects are here.
Work by the sculptor who carved quebracho and algarrobo: in his hands wood holds shapes impossible in marble.
№ 1
The State Tretyakov Gallery?Why this museumRussian art of the 11th to early 20th century is nowhere else assembled so fully — only the Russian Museum compares. But the canon was formed here: Tretyakov bought from living artists what he himself thought mattered, and one man’s private judgement became what we now call the Russian school. Seeing the 19th century elsewhere means seeing fragments.
8+With childrenChildren under school age get bored: the painting needs explaining. From 8 there are children’s tours and game guides.wheelchairStep-free accessThe museum — step-free. Ramp at the entrance, lifts between floors, wheelchairs lent free at the door, accessible toilets.
Getting there — partly. Tretyakovskaya has no lift. A bus to the “Tretyakov Gallery” stop or a taxi to Lavrushinsky is easier. Moscow metro stations almost never have lifts to the platform, except on the Big Circle line and the MCC. A wheelchair user is better served by the surface buses, which are low-floor across the centre.2–3 hours
The largest collection of Russian art of the 11th to early 20th century. It began with Pavel Tretyakov, who bought his first paintings in 1856 and gave the collection to Moscow in 1892.
The building. Bought by the Tretyakov family in 1851; extensions of 1873–1904. The fairy-tale façade was drawn by Viktor Vasnetsov in 1902–1904.
Good to know. The gallery has three buildings: the historic one in Lavrushinsky, the New Tretyakov on Krymsky Val and the Kadashevskaya Embankment wing opened in 2024. Each needs its own ticket; a combined one exists.
What to see
Ivanov’s The Appearance of Christ Before the People in its own hall; Surikov’s Boyarynya Morozova and Morning of the Streltsy Execution; Repin’s Ivan the Terrible and His Son; Serov’s Girl with Peaches; Vasnetsov’s Bogatyrs; the icon halls. Rublev’s Trinity is no longer here: it was handed to the Church in 2023.
Minimum route — 2–3 hours на самое важное
Hall 10 — Ivanov’s Appearance of Christ with its studies. Then halls 25–26: Boyarynya Morozova and Morning of the Streltsy Execution by Surikov, on to Repin’s Ivan the Terrible and Serov’s Girl with Peaches. Finish with the icons, halls 56–62.
Entry and box office close an hour before the museum. Timed tickets — better bought online in advance.
Tickets
Adults 700 ₽. Students and pensioners of Russia and the EAEU 400 ₽. Children 7–17 350 ₽. Under 7 and some categories free.
билеты онлайнвход по сеансам
When to go
Weekday mornings at 10:00 the halls are nearly empty. Worst: weekend afternoons. Timed entry, so no queue outside, but slots for a popular show go a week ahead.
More than 150 sheets that almost never leave the store: pastel sheds under light and movement and is rarely shown. Halls 49–54.
№ 54
Mikhail Abramov Museum of the Russian Icon?Why this museumFor Ethiopian Christian art it is the only collection in Russia; for the Russian icon it competes with state museums. Add a circumstance almost unheard of anywhere in the world for a collection of this level: admission is free.
adultsWith childrenIcons say almost nothing to children; come as an adult.wheelchairStep-free accessThe museum — step-free. A lift to all four floors, level floors, an accessible toilet. Entry is free, and so is the companion’s.
Getting there — step-free. Taganskaya has no lift. There is a parking bay on Goncharnaya. Moscow metro stations almost never have lifts to the platform, except on the Big Circle line and the MCC. A wheelchair user is better served by the surface buses, which are low-floor across the centre.1.5 hours
Museum of the Russian icon, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Викисклад
Reference
The largest private collection of Eastern Christian art in Russia: about five thousand items on four floors. Founded in 2006 by the entrepreneur Mikhail Abramov, who died in 2019; the museum works on and keeps entry free.
The building. A town house on the Taganka hill, converted for the museum.
Good to know. The only museum of this level in Moscow that you enter free and without a ticket.
What to see
The Russian icon of the 14th to 20th century, from Novgorod panels to Old Believer painting; Ethiopian Christian art, the only such collection in Russia; a reconstructed iconostasis and post-Byzantine Greek icons.
Minimum route — 1.5 hours на самое важное
Go up floor by floor: Greek and Ethiopian art, then the Russian icon by century. Do not miss the iconostasis and the Old Believer hall.
Сведения сверены 15 августа 2026 года, источник — открытые источники.
№ 51
Museum of Russian Impressionism?Why this museumThe term “Russian impressionism” is contested, and this is the only institution that investigates rather than illustrates it. The value is the exhibition programme: works come here from private collections that would otherwise never be seen.
8+With childrenA small display and good children’s programmes at weekends.wheelchairStep-free accessThe museum — step-free. Converted for the museum: lift, level floors, accessible toilet.
Getting there — step-free. Belorusskaya has no lift; the former factory has a level approach and parking. Moscow metro stations almost never have lifts to the platform, except on the Big Circle line and the MCC. A wheelchair user is better served by the surface buses, which are low-floor across the centre.1.5 hours
A private museum on the site of the former Bolshevik confectionery factory, opened in 2016 on the collection of Boris Mints.
The building. The flour store of the Bolshevik factory (early 20th century), converted by John McAslan + Partners.
What to see
Konstantin Korovin, Valentin Serov, Igor Grabar, Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky. The building is a converted cylindrical flour store of the Bolshevik factory — a rare case of industry turned into a museum.
Minimum route — 1.5 hours на самое важное
The permanent display is small — Korovin, Serov, Grabar. The point is the temporary exhibitions; the building is worth the walk round on its own.
Free for everyone on the third Wednesday of the month.
Tickets
Admission 400 ₽; 300 ₽ with an ISIC card and similar; students of Russian universities 200 ₽; pensioners and disabled visitors of group III 100 ₽; under 18 free.
билеты онлайн
When to go
Wednesday and Thursday until 21:00. Every third Wednesday is free and therefore busy.
Сведения сверены 15 августа 2026 года, источник — сайт музея.
№ 55
Tretyakov Gallery. Kadashevskaya Embankment wing?Why this museumNot yet a collection but an instrument: the first exhibition building in Moscow built to 21st-century museum standards — climate, light, spans. Its value is that things can now be brought here that could not be brought before.
7+With childrenA new building with wide halls and an atrium: a child is not hemmed in. What to see depends on the exhibition.wheelchairStep-free accessThe museum — step-free. Built in 2024 and fully accessible: lifts, ramps, accessible toilets, wheelchairs lent.
Getting there — step-free. No lift at Tretyakovskaya, but the approach from the embankment is level and there is a drop-off point. Moscow metro stations almost never have lifts to the platform, except on the Big Circle line and the MCC. A wheelchair user is better served by the surface buses, which are low-floor across the centre.1.5–2 hours
The new Tretyakov Gallery building, opened in 2024: over 35,000 sq m of exhibition space, conservation studios for painting, graphics and sculpture, and a research photo archive. The gallery’s major premieres have moved here.
The building. Built in 2024 to a design by SPEECH; more than ten years in construction.
Good to know. The atrium, shop and box offices are open without a ticket — you may come simply to see the building.
What to see
There is no permanent collection — this is an exhibition wing. See the atrium, open without a ticket, and the façades: they carry reproductions of 34 works by Russian artists.
Minimum route — 1.5–2 hours на самое важное
The exhibition you came for, then the atrium and the view over Lavrushinsky from the upper level. Ten minutes on foot to the historic building.
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.
№ 19
The Manege Central Exhibition Hall?Why this museumThere is no collection; the value is entirely engineering — a column-free span of nearly 45 metres calculated by Betancourt, a monument of engineering thought with few equals in Europe. Everything else here is temporary.
adultsWith childrenDepends on the exhibition: there is no permanent display.wheelchairStep-free accessThe museum — step-free. The hall is level throughout and there is a ramp at the entrance.
Getting there — partly. Neither Okhotny Ryad nor Biblioteka imeni Lenina has a lift. Moscow metro stations almost never have lifts to the platform, except on the Big Circle line and the MCC. A wheelchair user is better served by the surface buses, which are low-floor across the centre.1–2 hours
Bernt Rostad uploaded and derivative work: MrPanyGoff, CC BY 2.0 · Викисклад
Reference
The country’s main exhibition hall. It has no collection of its own — only large temporary projects. Exhibitions have been held here since 1957.
The building. Built in 1817 for the fifth anniversary of the victory over Napoleon; engineer A. Betancourt, decoration by O. Bove. Restored after the fire of 2004.
What to see
The building itself: a column-free hall spanned by timber trusses of almost 45 metres, calculated by the engineer Agustín de Betancourt — a rare monument of engineering.
Minimum route — 1–2 hours на самое важное
See the exhibition you came for, and the hall: 45 metres of span without a single column.
Volkhonka 10 · The permanent display has been closed since 2015: the building is part of the Pushkin Museum’s “museum town” works. Individual exhibitions of the department are shown in other buildings. Checked 14 August 2026.
Novaya Ploshchad 3/4 · The historic building has been under reconstruction since 2013; opening is promised for 2026. The museum park around it is open. Part of the collection is shown at the Technopolis Moscow, Volgogradsky Prospekt 42. Checked 15 August 2026.
1st Samotyochny Lane 9, bldg 1 · The museum has been closed to visitors since 2024 and no opening date has been announced. Checked 15 August 2026.
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