The Moscow City Museum is one of the oldest Russian museums. Founded in 1897, the Museum was originally dedicated to Moscow city economy, but over time it came to encompass the life of Moscow in all its aspects.
Initially, the exhibition was located in the Krestovsky Water Towers and was called the Museum of Municipal Economy. Over 121 years, the museum’s name and location has been changed repeatedly, collections have grown, funds have been replenished, so it has gradually become a museum telling about the history of the city as a whole.

Museum History
The first record of Moscow dates back to 1147, but the museum’s exposition covers an even earlier period, because, according to archaeological research, several settlements were located on the territory of present Moscow in the 7th century BC.
The starting point in the foundation of the museum was the All-Russian Exhibition of Art and Industrial Achievements, held in Nizhny Novgorod in 1896. For the event, Moscow created an outstanding pavilion fully demonstrating the success of the city in all areas of life. After the exhibition, the Moscow authorities decided to move the collections to the capital city of Russia and keep them in a special museum.
Since 2006, the main building of the museum, previously located in the Church of St. John the Evangelist, has been located in the unique complex “Providence Warehouses” located in Zubovsky Boulevard.

Museum Collections
The Moscow City Museum boasts more than 765 thousand valuable artifacts held in its collections, including archaeological finds, paintings, graphic artworks, old photographs, Soviet posters, stamps, rare coins, and antiquarian books.

Among the treasures of the collection there are paintings by Ivan Aivazovsky, Vasily Polenov, and Vasily Surikov, as well as old postcards and rare handwritten books.
The real pride of the museum is the P. Sytin Foundation. The collection of Sytin, one of the first experts in the field of Moscow studies, has documents, personal letters, drawings, photographs, and household items of Muscovites.

One of the most important expositions of the Moscow City Museum an exhibition of paintings by Victor Vasnetsov. The artist took an active part in excavations in the city center in 1918. Based on the remaining foundations and parts of the ancient walls, the artist reconstructed the image of old Moscow and transferred it to his paintings. Thus, Vasnetsov’s paintings are of both artistic and historical value.

The Moscow City Museum reliably recreated the life of Muscovites in different centuries. The exhibition of women's urban clothes of the times of Ivan the Terrible, Peter I or Nicholas II is very popular among visitors. 

The Moscow City Museum also keeps a huge number of archaeological finds dating back to very different eras.

Address: 2, Zubovsky Blvd., next to metro station Park of Culture, Moscow.
Open hours: from 10 am to 8 pm on Tue, Wed, Fri – Sun;
From 11 am to 9 pm on Thu

Top 10 Art Museums of Moscow and Saint Petersburg
The Tretyakov Gallery
The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
The State Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow
The State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg
The State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg