Published on: 2026-09-12
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
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Genuine relics are preserved in Moscow museums — manuscripts, photographs, scripts, models that make the past tangible. Here you can see Sergey Korolev’s record of the first soft landing on the Moon, a letter from Lilya Brik to Joseph Stalin that influenced the preservation of Vladimir Mayakovsky’s heritage, and even the director’s script of “War and Peace” with Sergey Bondarchuk’s autograph. We invite you to visit the museum halls and collections to get acquainted with the amazing stories told by the exhibits.
Soft landing on the Moon and the story of Mayakovsky’s heritage
In Museum of Cosmonautics preserve the memory of an important stage in space exploration. Among the exhibits are models of the Luna-9 station and its descent module, as well as a page from Sergey Korolev’s notebook with a record about the lunar ship landing. It was in this notebook, back in 1964, that the legendary designer noted the assumption: “Landing of the LK should be calculated on solid ground like pumice.” A year and a half later, the hypothesis was confirmed: on January 31, 1966, Luna-9 made the first soft landing in history in the Ocean of Storms.
From exploring the Moon to earthly geniuses. In the collections State Museum of V.V. Mayakovsky a letter from Lilya Brik to Joseph Stalin is kept, which played a key role in preserving the poet’s creative legacy.
In 1935, on the fifth anniversary of Vladimir Mayakovsky’s death, Lilya Brik wrote: “I am addressing you because I see no other way to realize Mayakovsky’s vast revolutionary legacy.” She spoke about how the poet’s name and works were being forgotten. A resolution by Joseph Stalin appeared on the letter, which launched the publication of the poet’s collected works, the widespread popularization of his creativity, and the opening of a museum. The resolution was published in the newspaper Pravda on December 5, 1935; at the same time, it was announced that the V.V. Mayakovsky Library-Museum would be established in the house where the poet lived, and Hendrikov Lane was renamed Mayakovsky Lane.
Restoration of agriculture and the letters of Peter I
In the funds K.A. Timiryazev State Biological Museum A large collection of documentary photographs from TASS photochronicles for the years 1950–1970 is stored here. They show how agriculture was restored after the Great Patriotic War. They depict the introduction of new technology, the work of scientific staff in research institutes (RI) and experimental stations.
As part of the “Scientists for Agriculture” project, the TASS photo chronicle released a series of photos about the work of the Research Institute. For example, the museum collection includes a photograph from August 14, 1961, showing junior research associates Viktor Pashchenko and Vladimir Lisich checking the results of intervarietal wheat crossing. On the back of the photo, there is a preserved explanatory note: the scientists aimed to develop varieties characterized by earliness, high yield, and good baking quality.
In the Kuskovo estate The edition of Peter I’s letters to his associate Boris Sheremetev is preserved — a book published in 1774. It includes 238 letters from the period December 5, 1700, to October 9, 1718 — a time of important military campaigns in which Count Sheremetev participated. The book was published by his son, Peter Borisovich, for whom publishing the letters was a way to express filial respect to his father, whom he barely got to know. On the book’s title page there is an inscription in nut ink: “Sent on September 11, 1775, as part of the books of the Lavra library from His Excellency Count and all Peter Borisovich Sheremetev.”
From the first translation of Homer to “Zoo Pets.” Five books from Moscow museums
The manuscript about Prince Pozharsky, the autograph of Sergei Bondarchuk, and a letter from Mikhail Bulgakov
The Alexander Solzhenitsyn Russian Abroad House holds the handwritten book by Alexey Malinovsky “Biographical Information about Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky.” This is a unique relic: a full-leather binding with gold embossing, silk endpapers, dense paper with watermarks.
The manuscript is particularly valuable for the colored design sketch of the monument to Minin and Pozharsky by the sculptor Ivan Martos (which differs from the famous monument on Red Square), the autograph of Prince Pozharsky, and his genealogical table. For a long time, the manuscript was considered lost, but it turned out to be in the library of the Society of Russian Veterans of the Great War and the Association of Cadets of the Russian Cadet Corps in San Francisco.
In the museum-panorama exhibition “The Battle of Borodino” The director’s script for the film “War and Peace” is kept with a gifted autograph by Sergei Bondarchuk: “To dear friends with gratitude and respect.”
While working on the film adaptation of the novel, the director aimed to visualize Leo Tolstoy’s descriptions and create pictorial quotes for the text. The museum also features items used in the making of the film. The famous panorama “Borodino” by battle painter Franz Roubaud was even filmed in the final episode of the movie epic.
And in Mikhail Bulgakov Museum A typewritten copy of the letter to the Government of the USSR, which belonged to the writer’s second wife, Lyubov Belozerskaya, is kept.
Mikhail Bulgakov called 1929 “a year of catastrophe”: at that time, the plays “Days of the Turbins,” “Zoyka’s Apartment,” and “The Crimson Island” were banned from production. In March 1930, he sent a letter to the Soviet government, in which he described his desperate situation as a writer, his inability to work, and also asked for permission to leave the country. In April of the same year, he had a fateful phone conversation with Joseph Stalin that largely influenced the writer’s subsequent life.
Moscow museums preserve evidence of different eras — from the Petrine era to the exploration of space. Their halls and collections house authentic letters, manuscripts, photographs, and objects related to key events in Russian history and prominent figures of the country.
You can purchase tickets to all city museums through the service “Mosbilet”.
The program of events in city museums contributes to the achievement of the goals and objectives of the national project in Moscow “Family”. More information about Russia’s national projects and the capital’s contribution can be found at special page.
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