Moscow Tretyakov Gallery

One of the most popular Moscow attractions and museums for both local Moscow residents and foreign visitors is the Tretyakov Gallery. This Moscow attraction houses a large selection of painting from both famous Russian artists as well as foreign artists.

The Tretyakov Gallery is open daily except on Monday from 10:00 until 19:30.

Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov was a merchant who lived in Moscow. In 1856, he began amassing a collection of works by contemporary Russian artists, with the hope of eventually displaying his collection in a national museum his art. Tretyakov presented his collection, which had already become well known, to the Russian nation in 1892.

The gallery, which lies south of the Kremlin, was built between 1902 and 1904. The artist Viktor Vasnetsov designed the gallery facade. He attempted to evoke the style of a Russian fairy tale. Later on during the twentieth century, the gallery increased in size to encompass several nearby buildings, one of which is the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi, which was built in the 1600s. A building that exhibits contemporary Russian art, and was recently built, can be found at Krymsky Val.

There are more than 130,000 exhibits in the Tretyakov Gallery's collections. These include Wassily Kandinsky's Composition VII, The Black Square by Malevich, the Theotokos of Vladimir and Trinity by Andrei Rublev.

Metro (subway): Tretyakovskaya, Novokuznetskaya

tel. 953-5223, 238-2054