Sightseeing

Red Square - The oldest and most historical square in the city, and home to some of Moscow 's most famous landmarks - the pompous Lenin Mausoleum and the wonderful brightly colored onion domes of St. Basil's Cathedral.

The Kremlin - Founded in the 12th century by Prince Yury Dolgoruky and now a mass of crenellated ramparts, glittering onion domes and majestic turrets. It is now the spiritual, political and historical heart of Moscow .

Address: Kremlin, Sobornaya Ploshad, Moscow , Russia

Metro: Alexandrovsky Sad / Biblioteka imini Lenina / Borovitskaya / Okhotny Ryad

Open: Friday - Wednesday 10am - 5pm , closed Thursday

Tel: (095) 202 4256 (Excursions) (095) 928 5232 (Ticket Office)

St. Basil's Cathedral - built in the 16th century on Red Square by Ivan the Terrible to commemorate his successful military campaign against the Tartar Mongols in the besieged city of Kazan, its mass of brightly painted onion domes and turrets is now one of Moscow's best-known landmarks.

In the small garden outside St. Basil's stands an impressive bronze Statue to Minin and Pozharsky, who rallied Russia 's volunteer army during the Time of Troubles and drove out the invading Polish forces. They were an interesting duo - Dmitry Pozharsky was a prince, while Kuzma Minin was a butcher from Nizhny Novgorod .

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.

Address: Krasnaya Ploshad ( Red Square ), Moscow

Tel: (095) 923 5527

Open: Tuesday - Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 10am - 1pm , closed Monday and Friday

Metro:Ploshad Revolutsii / Teatralnaya

The State Armory - the oldest museum in Russia and home to a staggering collection of priceless Imperial artifacts and royal treasures dating as far back as the 14th century and encompassing everything from the crown jewels to a magnificent collection of Imperial carriages.
Address: Sobornaya Ploshad, Kremlin, Moscow

Tel: ( 095) 921 4720

(095) 202 0347 (Excursions)

Open: Friday - Wednesday 10am - 5pm (closed for lunch 12pm - 2pm ), closed Thursday.

Tsar Bell and Tsar Canon - Two of the Kremlin's more curious and less practical structures! Curious in that the 18th century 200 ton bronze bell has never been rung and the 16th century 40 ton 890 millimeter caliber canon has never been fired!

The Cathedral of Christ the Savior - magnificent replica of the 19th century church constructed to commemorate Russia 's victory over the French in the Napoleonic Wars, which was demolished on Stalin's orders in the 1930s but built anew in the 1990s to mark Moscow 's 850th birthday .

The Arbat - once a bohemian quarter of the city, littered with cafes crammed full of the capital's intellectual elite, the Arbat is today Moscow's liveliest pedestrian street and offers a great choice of street cafes, restaurants, bars, clubs, souvenir stalls, art markets and street entertainers.