The unique domes and spires of St Basil’s Cathedral
COMPILED BY RORY GOULDING, WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM MARA VORHEES AND LEONID RAGOZIN. PHOTOGRAPHS: GAVIN HELLIER/ROBERT HARDING/GETTY, LINGXIAO XIE/GETTY
SIGHTS
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art £
(garagemca.org; ul Krymsky val9/32)
The brainchild of art fairy Darya Zhukova, Garage is one of the capital's hottest modern-art venues. In mid-2015 the museum moved to spectacular new digs in Gorky Park - a derelict Soviet-era building, renovated by visionary Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. It hosts exhibitions, films and interactive programs featuring Russian and international artists.
Hermitage Gardens
(mosgorsad.ru; ul Karetny Ryad 3)
All the things that have improved Moscow parks no end in recent years fill this charming garden to the brim. Today, it is possibly the city's most happening place, where art, food and crafts festivals, and concerts, occur almost weekly, especially in summer.
Kolomenskoe Museum-Reserve
(mgomz.com)
Set amidst picturesque parkland on a bluff above a bend in the Moscow River, Kolomenskoe was a favourite destination for the princes of Moscow beginning in the 14th century, and is now a World Heritage site. The estate is an eclectic mix of churches and gates, as well as other buildings that were added over the years. The loveliest structure is the quintessentially Russian Ascension Church, built between 1530 and 1532. The museum-reserve is six miles south of the Kremlin, reached on foot via Kolomenskaya or Kashirskaya metro stations.
Museum of Soviet Arcade
Machines £
(15kop.ru; ul Kuznetsky most 12)
Growing up in the 1980s USSR was a peculiar, but not always bleak experience. Here is one example - a collection of dozens of mostly functional Soviet arcade machines. At the entrance, visitors get a bag full of 15-kopek Soviet coins, which fire up these dinosaurs that would look at home in old episodes of Star Trek.
New Tretyakov Gallery £
(tretyakovgallery.ru; ul Krymsky val10)