Your guide to ALL the buildings of the Museum of Moscow
The main city museum is a cluster of several branches in different parts of the city. Each venue is dedicated to its own theme - from archaeological finds and ancient life to contemporary art.
The Museum of Moscow is a large-scale institution that unites historical, artistic and cultural venues. By visiting all its branches, you will learn about Moscow's past, present, and future.
The museum's website publishes information about exhibitions, events, and tours, and you can buy tickets online.
All branches are closed on Mondays.
1. Main Building: The Provision Warehouses (Zubovsky Boulevard, 2)
This is the main and largest building of the museum, located in an architectural monument from the first half of the 19th century – former food storage warehouses.
What's interesting:
The permanent exhibition "History of Moscow" features items from the daily life of Muscovites and tells the story of the city from ancient times to the 20th century. It also houses a Children's Center, a café, a souvenir shop, and spaces for temporary exhibitions.
How to get there: Park Kultury metro station (on the Circle or Sokolnicheskaya line).
Ticket price: Admission to the permanent exhibition — 500 rubles ($6). Tickets for temporary exhibitions are purchased separately. Combined tickets are available.
Tours: Museum of Moscow staff conduct tours not only of the museum itself, but also the city's palaces and estates. For example, you can visit the Petrovsky Travel Palace, take a guided walk through the model Soviet district of Severnoye Chertanovo, or peek inside the Sanduny Baths. Booking is available via the website.
2. Museum of Moscow Archaeology (Manezhnaya Square, 1a)
This museum is located 7 meters underground right next to Red Square, on the site of large-scale archaeological excavations that took place in the city in the mid-1990s.
What's interesting:
The main exhibit is the foundations (abutments) of the 17th-18th century Voskresensky (Resurrection) Bridge. At that time, it connected the banks of the Neglinnaya River. In the early 19th century, the river was enclosed in an underground pipe, and the bridge itself was buried. Revolution Square is located on its site today.
The display cases contain thousands of finds from ancient layers of Moscow: jewelry, coins, household items, and medieval hoards.
How to get there: Okhotny Ryad, Ploshchad Revolyutsii, or Teatralnaya metro stations.
Ticket price: 400 rubles ($5)
3. Lefortovo History Museum (Kryukovskaya Street, 23)
The museum is dedicated to the history of an old district of Moscow, linked with Peter the Great and his associate, Franz Lefort.
What's interesting:
The exhibition tells the story of the German Quarter (Nemetskaya Sloboda), the establishment of the Russian navy, the first manufacturers, and military hospitals. It features many unique maps, plans and documents.
How to get there: Aviamotornaya or Baumanskaya metro stations.
Ticket price: 300 rubles ($4).
Tours and lectures: Museum staff conduct walking tours of the Lefortovo district and the museum halls, as well as give lectures on the history of the district.
4. The Gilyarovsky Center (Stoleshnikov Lane, 9, building 5)
Named after Vladimir Gilyarovsky, a famous Moscow journalist and local historian of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
What's interesting:
The Gilyarovsky Center hosts temporary exhibitions dedicated to the history and modernity of the city, and also conducts tours of the places described by Gilyarovsky.
How to get there: Chekhovskaya, Tverskaya, or Pushkinskaya metro stations.
Ticket price: Admission to exhibitions is usually free. Check the price for tours on the website.
5. Garden Ring Museum (Prospekt Mira, 14, building 10)
This small museum is dedicated to the history of the Meshchansky District of Moscow and the Garden Ring road.
What's interesting:
You can see what this district looked like several centuries ago and during the Soviet years, and learn how the appearance of the Garden Ring has changed.
The museum also hosts exhibitions dedicated to individual buildings in the district, as well as lectures and tours.
How to get there: Sukharevskaya metro station.
Ticket price: 300 rubles ($4). Check the price for tours on the website.
6. Zelenograd Museum (Zelenograd, building 360 / Mikhailovka Street, building 1410)
Zelenograd is a city within Moscow, closely associated with the development of Soviet microelectronics.
What's interesting:
This museum tells the unique story of a "city within a city." The exhibitions are dedicated to different aspects of life in Zelenograd: from its first inhabitants to nostalgic photographs. Many items in the collection were donated by local residents.
How to get there: From Khovrino metro station, take bus #400 to the "Pochta" (Post Office) stop. Or by suburban train from Leningradsky Railway Station to Kryukovo station.
Ticket price: 200 rubles ($2.5).
7. Dobrolyubov Library (Smolenskaya Square, 13/21)
This is one of the oldest city libraries, operating since the mid-19th century.
What's interesting:
In addition to books and historical architecture, the library has a Coat of Arms Hall (Gerbowy Zal), which features a unique collection of Moscow's heraldic symbols. The library also hosts local history lectures, meetings with historians, and cultural experts.
How to get there: Smolenskaya metro station.
Ticket price for the Coat of Arms Hall: 300 rubles ($4). Tickets can only be purchased online.
