Monuments & Buildings, Moscow

Favorite thing: Yury Nikulin was the great movie artist and clown in soviet time. He was like a a breath of fresh air...

"I always believed that those circus people who compel others to burst out laughing are the most important ones"- Yury Nikulin.

Hehad the title the 'National Artist of the USSR' and in this case it's true.

Fondest memory: His monument stays near the old Moscow circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, where he was a General Manager and Artistic Director 1982 - 1997.

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Favorite thing: During last decade shape of Moscow has been changed significantly.

My tips regarding the tallest buildings in Europe and Russia are getting old very rapidly. So, I even do not want to update it so often.

Just enjoy pictures.

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Favorite thing: The names of Minin and Pojarsky are connected with the fight against the Polish invaders that wanted to capture the Russian throne in the beginning of the 17th century.

The two men were at the head of the irregular army, and after their death Moscow citizens decided to pay homage to them by erecting a monument.

Money was brought from all over Russia, and in 1818 the memorial with the inscription "To citizen Minin and Prince Pojarsky from a grateful Russia" was unveiled.

Fondest memory: Today the monument is situated near St. Basil's Cathedral, but before it was placed in the center of Red Square and the raised arm pointing to the Kremlin seemed to tell us: "We saved the heart of the city from the enemy". At present the sense of the gesture is lost.

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Favorite thing: The Moscow triumphal arch, erected in wood in 1814 and in marble in 1827 to a design by Osip Bove. In 1966 the decision was made about reconstruction of the Triumphal Arch at a new location. It was relocated and reconstructed on Poklonnaya Gora in 1968.

The base of the monument is formed by a single-spanned arch with six pairs of 12-meter-high cast-iron pillars, arranged around two arched supports.

Fondest memory: It's the most grandiose Moscow monument in honor of the victories of Russian people in the Patriotic war of 1812 .

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Favorite thing: The Moscow International Business Centre (MIBC), often referred to as Moscow City, is a newly built commercial district in Moscow.

First plannings of it started in 1992 and if money allows the project should be finished by 2012.

The district consists of about 25 new buildings such as offices, hotels, apartments, restaurants, shops and entertainment centres. Most of these are skyscrapers of more than 100 m in height.

The district is even home to Europe's two tallest buildings: The 302 metre tall City of Capitals Moscow Tower (2009) and the 269 metre tall Naberezhnaya Tower (2007).

Directions:
The Moscow International Business Centre (MIBC) is situated on the Krasnopresnenskaya embankment of the river Moskva, approximately 4 km west of Red Square. The nearest metro stop is "Mezhdunarodnaya" on the light blue line.

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Favorite thing: The so called Stalin's Seven Sisters are a group of neoclassic Stalin-era buildings which were built in the 1950's and nowadays still dominate the skyline of Moscow.

The Seven Sisters are the Hotel Leningradskaya, the Hotel Ukraina, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Transport, the Moscow State University (MGU) and the Block of Flats on Kotelnicheskaya enbankment and on Krasnaya Presnya.

There were even plans for an eighth sister, but the Palace of Soviets was never built.

Please also read my "Things to do tips" for more detailed information about some of the buildings.

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Favorite thing: Moscow has 8 main train stations, which are all connected to the metro. Most of them are located on the circle metro line (brown line).

Only near the metro station "Komsomolskaya" you find three trains stations: Yaroslavskiy Vokzal for trains to Siberia, Leningradskiy Vokzal for trains to St. Petersburg and Kazanskiy Station for trains to Central Asia.

The other train stations are Belorusskiy, Rizhskiy, Kievskiy, Kurskiy and Paveletskiy Vokzal.

Most of the train stations are well worth a visit both from the outside and the inside.

My favourite train station in Moscow is Kazanskiy Vokzal. For more information about this station, please have a look at my "Of the beaten Path" tips".

Favorite thing: This monument's purpose is unknown to me. It sure is ugly though. One thing that is nice about it is that you can see it from a long way away. At its base is the Art Museo area of Park Statue, which is a can't miss.

Favorite thing: Propriété des comtes Cheremetiev construite entre 1791 et 1798 par les architectes et ouvriers qui, en fait, étaient les cerfs de cette très riche famille. Qu'on ne s'y trompe pas, ce palais est entièrement en bois recouvert de plâtre tout comme à Kouskovo. Ce palais est le résultat d'un mécénat de la famille, il y abrite peintures et sculptures mais son rôle premier fut le théâtre.

Favorite thing: Michail Lomonosov's monument is in the front of Journalistic Department of Moscow University. He was a famous Russian scientist, poet and artist (Russian Da Vinchi), the founder of the 1st Moscow University (1775), and that's why he is sitting or standing close to many University buildings.