Published on: 2026-10-10
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
To find yourself inside a submarine, descend to a 17th-century bridge, see monumental bronze sculptures outdoors, hear music ahead of its time, take a virtual flight to the Moon — and all this without leaving the city? Easy. We’ve put together a route through five Moscow museums that will captivate even the most discerning viewer.
Submarine B-396 in the “Severnoye Tushino” park
Imagine: you are walking along the park alley, and ahead, right at the shore of the Moscow Canal, there is a huge submarine installed on the water. Not a model, not a decoration for filming — a real combat submarine 90 meters long.
This is B-396 “Novosibirskiy Komsomolets” — a diesel-electric submarine of project 641B “Som”. From 1980 to 1998, it was part of the 4th Red Banner Submarine Squadron of the Northern Fleet. A crew of 78 men carried out combat service tasks on it in the Mediterranean, Barents, and Norwegian seas, as well as in the Atlantic Ocean. The autonomous patrol lasted up to 80 days.
In 1998, the submarine was decommissioned from the Navy, and five years later it embarked on its final voyage: towed from Severodvinsk through the White Sea, canals, and reservoirs to Moscow. Thus, the warship became a museum. Today, inside the submarine, all original objects are preserved: six torpedo tubes, mine-torpedo armament, the central control post, the commander’s cabin, and crew sleeping quarters. Visitors go through all seven compartments, descend into the torpedo room, inspect the crew’s mess, and see the equipment that submariners worked with. This is not an exhibition — it is a real ship that remembers the sea and its crew.
After finishing the inspection of the B-396 boat, don’t rush to leave the park. Right at the pier, out in the open air, you can see no less interesting exhibits. The ekranoplan “Orlyonok” is a hybrid of a ship and an airplane that flew over water at a speed of 400 kilometers per hour. Next to it is the “Skat” air-cushion landing assault boat, designed for marine landing operations. Both machines have been decommissioned from the fleet and are now permanently stationed in the park.
If you want to dive even deeper into the history of the Russian Navy from Peter I to the present day, across from the objects you have already seen is the pavilion of the Museum of the Navy’s History. Here there is an exhibition called “Greatness and Depth,” featuring models of the main submarines and information about their creators and crews.
Address: Northern Tushino Park, 52 Svobody Street. The nearest entrance is the southern one, at the intersection of Svobody Street and Khimkinsky Boulevard, about a 15-minute walk from Skhodnenskaya metro station.
Ticket for submarine, to the exhibition “Grandeur and Depth”, combined ticket to Museum of Navy History can be purchased in the service “Mosbilet”.
And the next point on the route is at a depth of seven meters in the very center of Moscow.
Museum of Archaeology of Moscow (branch of the Museum of Moscow)
The museum is located on Manezhnaya Square, at a depth of seven meters. You descend the steps and enter another world: the first thing the visitor sees is the huge piers of the bridge (massive supports on which the spans rested). These are fragments of the Resurrection Bridge, built in the 17th century across the Neglinka River. In 1602, during the reign of Boris Godunov, there was a white-stone bridge here. “Once, a small river called Neglinka flowed here, and, as researchers believe, more than 500 years ago there was a bridge over it, initially wooden,” says Alexander Afanasyev, head of the scientific and educational sector of the Moscow Archaeology Museum. “Under Boris Godunov, active white-stone construction was underway, and this bridge was one of the first stone ones in Moscow.” In the 1740s, it was reconstructed according to the design of architect Peter Friedrich Heyden, and in 1817–1819 the Neglinka was hidden — diverted through an underground channel. The bridge over it was no longer needed and was dismantled. Only the piers survived — those same supports on which the spans rested, which visitors see today.
Along the walls of the museum are display cases with finds that archaeologists uncovered during excavations from 1993 to 1996. There are nearly 14,000 items here: weapons, tableware, tiles, coins, jewelry. The museum also features an impressive collection of hoards. The most famous is the hoard of the Old Gostiny Dvor: over 95,000 kopecks, hidden in 1640 and found only in 1996.
Address: Manezhnaya Square, building 1a, near the Okhotny Ryad and Ploshchad Revolyutsii metro stations.
A full ticket to the museum will cost 400 rubles, a discounted one — 200. They can be purchased through the service “Mosbilet”.
The journey continues — from ancient land to contemporary art. Let’s head towards Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Street.
Zurab Tsereteli Museum-Workshop (a branch of MMOMA)
The estate on Bolshaya Gruzinskaya was built in 1897 by architect Vasily Barkov for the first guild merchant Vasily Gorbunov, director of the “Partnership of the Paper-Weaving Manufactory of the G. and A. Gorbunov Brothers,” and his wife Ekaterina, daughter of Vikula Morozov — an industrialist, manufactory counselor, and well-known philanthropist who donated large sums for the construction of the Alexeyevskaya psychiatric hospital.
In 1917, the mansion was occupied by the Krasnopresnensky District Committee of the Bolshevik Party. From 1932 to 1954, it housed the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. The mansion was visited by many famous figures of politics and art, both Soviet and foreign. Later, the building was taken over by the Main Directorate of Soviet Property Abroad, and then by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany.
In 1974, the building was included in the list of protected cultural monuments of national significance. In 1993, the estate was handed over to Zurab Tsereteli for an open-air painting studio.
The museum itself is located in the building adjacent to the mansion. The exhibition begins right on the street: on both sides of the entrance are the compositions “My Teachers” and “My Favorite Artists.” Inside, on three floors, more than 300 works are displayed: painting, graphics, enamel, silkscreen, ready-made art, assemblages, carpets, and easel sculpture.
In the inner courtyard, there is a sculpture park. It features works created for various cities and countries, as well as those that cannot be seen anywhere else. On display are a cloisonné enamel panel as tall as a three-story building, a three-dimensional mosaic, stained glass windows shimmering in the sunlight, as well as models of sculptures, full-scale versions of which are installed in Spain, Italy, France, the USA, Puerto Rico, Bulgaria, Greece, Syria, Japan, Georgia, Russia, and other countries.
The park also features ready-mades — works created from existing objects and fragments of materials. Placed in a new context, familiar items gain artistic significance and become part of the park’s space.
Address: Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Street, building 15.
The entrance ticket costs 500 rubles, the discounted ticket — 250 rubles. Children under seven years old enter free of charge. Tickets can be purchased through the service Mosbilet.
And we will move in the direction of Arbat.
A. N. Scriabin Memorial Museum
Turning off the noisy Bolshaya Gruzinskaya into quiet alleys, the nearest stop is at Bolshoy Nikolopeskovsky. Here, in an old two-story mansion, the last years of Alexander Scriabin’s life took place — a composer who saw music in color.
Scriabin possessed a rare gift of synesthesia — colored hearing: he perceived sounds visually as well. Each key had its own shade: C major was red, D major — yellow, F-sharp major — blue-violet. This perceptual feature defined all his creative work. It was precisely this that led the composer to the main idea: music must sound and glow simultaneously. Light, in his concept, is not an ornament but a part of the musical fabric, another voice in the score. It enhances what sound alone cannot convey: mood, image, movement. The viewer not only hears the music — they see it, and this makes the experience more complete.
In the composer’s apartment, everything remains as it was during his lifetime: the hallway, study, living room, dining room, bedroom. The furniture, piano, books, sheet music, personal belongings — all of these are not recreated, but authentic. Scriabin himself walked through these rooms, played at this piano, read in this armchair. Artifacts related to his main idea are also kept here; in this apartment, he worked on “Prometheus” — a poem that became the first musical work in history to include a light part.
In 1910, the composer introduced a line called Luce into the score — from the Italian word for “light.” Instead of regular notes, it contained colors. The line consisted of two voices: the upper followed the harmonic movement, while the lower conveyed the mystical meaning the composer attributed to each color. The part was to be performed by a light clavier — an instrument similar to an organ, but instead of sounds, it emitted colored beams.
The problem was that such an instrument did not exist: Scriabin only described it in the score. And then his friend, professor of electrical engineering Alexander Moser, built the first model — the light circle: a wooden disc with 12 colored lamps, each corresponding to a specific musical semitone. By pressing the buttons, one could play color together with the music. This device is now one of the main exhibits of the museum and is demonstrated during tours.
During the composer’s lifetime, “Prometheus” with light was performed only once — in 1915 in New York. The performance was not a success — the idea was significantly ahead of the technical capabilities of the era.
The composer’s most grandiose design remained the “Mystery” — a synthetic act that was meant to combine music, light, architecture, dance, and even scents. It was supposed to take place only once in a specially built temple in India, and the whole world would become its participant. The composer was aware of the impossibility of realizing the plan, but the sketches have been preserved — they can be seen in the museum.
Address: Bolshoy Nikolopeskovsky Lane, building 11, structure 1.
A full ticket costs 500 rubles, a discounted one — 250, they can be purchased in the service “Mosbilet”.
And we are heading towards the country’s main exhibition.
Cosmonautics Museum and VDNH
Exiting the VDNKh metro station, you can see the monument “To the Conquerors of Space.” Inside its stylobate is one of the largest science and technology museums in the world — the Museum of Cosmonautics. Its collection contains more than 110,000 items: the first satellites, the space suits of Yuri Gagarin and Alexei Leonov, models of cosmodromes. Especially memorable is the “Orion” simulator: you put on 3D glasses, take the control stick, and find yourself in outer space. The hydraulic platform creates the vibration of space equipment. The flight program includes launching the ship into orbit, docking with the International Space Station, a flight to the Moon with asteroid avoidance, and returning to Earth.
Address: Mira Avenue, building 111.
A ticket for the simulator costs 350 rubles per visitor, 600 rubles for two, and 800 rubles for three. They can be purchased through the service “Mosbilet”.
And at VDNKh itself is Pavilion No. 28 “Beekeeping.” This is the site of the “Biocluster,” featuring the interactive exhibition “Buzzing World” and the first open entomological laboratory in Russia. Visitors have a unique experience: through multimedia and augmented reality tools, as well as engaging game formats, they learn everything about insects and get a glimpse inside a beehive. The exhibition also includes live insects — visitors can safely observe them through glass right within the exhibition space. In the laboratory, equipped with modern microscopes, during interactive sessions guests will feel like real scientists.
This is just one of the spaces of the “Biocluster” — an educational project K.A. Timiryazev State Biological Museum, which unites all the main directions of biology. In pavilion No. 31 ‘Geology’, where the exhibition is presented “12 Signs of Being Alive”, the tours are conducted by a robot guide, and the exhibition itself helps to understand what life is from a scientific point of view.
The combined ticket costs 800 rubles for adults and 400 for children. They can be purchased through the service “Mosbilet”.
You can visit city museums for free thanks to the “Moscow Museum Week” event. Details and museum opening hours are on the page shares.
“Mosbilet” — the official service on the mos.ru portal, through which you can purchase tickets to theaters, museums, concert halls, and other venues without commissions or markups. The service’s page features announcements of the most anticipated events, season premieres, activities within city festivals, exhibitions, performances, and concerts taking place in the upcoming weekend.
You can purchase a ticket directly through the service. For events requiring personal data to buy a ticket, entering the visitor’s last name, first name, patronymic, and details will not be necessary: if the user has a standard or full account, it is enough to leave the default document selection value as Mos ID. Mandatory fields must be filled in manually if the account is simplified. When booking tickets for young guests through the service, all data should be entered only by the accompanying adult. For children under 14 years old, only the last name, first name, patronymic, and date of birth can be specified; showing a child’s document during cultural events is not required.
In addition, authorized users will be able to open ticket QR codes in the mobile applications “My Moscow”, “My ID”, and “State Services of Moscow”.
Find out about plays, concerts, exhibitions, and other interesting events on the official “Mosbilet” channels on “Maxse” and “Telegram”.
Please note; This information is raw content obtained directly from the information source. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.