Moscow, home to well over 10 million people, is the largest city in Europe. The city is so vast that one would always have the potential to discover new things in it, even after having lived there for an entire lifetime. I recently happened to be there on a brief, two-day visit. The given time was way too limited to explore the city as much as I’d have liked to. Choosing what I was going to visit out of a virtually endless list was not an easy task. After all, I made it to the following sights which I here give as a few suggestions on what to see in Moscow in 2 days.
Get your skip-the-line tickets to Moscow’s best museums online, often with included extras such as audio guides and museum maps.
Moscow International Business Center – Skyscrapers of Moscow
Unlike most cities in continental Europe, where municipal authorities have prohibited the construction of tall buildings so as to preserve the cities’ traditional character, Moscow has acquired a reminiscent of North America, Arabia, or East Asia skyscraper district for itself. The Moscow International Business Center is located in the Presnensky District of the city’s Central Administrative Okrug, about 4 km west of the Red Square, and occupies an area of 60 hectares. The particular locality was chosen due to being the only area in central Moscow suitable for accommodating such a project. It can be easily reached by underground, through either Mezhdunarodnaya or Vystavochnaya stations which both are located within its premises.
The plan of its construction was first conceived in 1992, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet regime, and is still underway. After its completion, an astounding 250-300.000 people are estimated to be present in it at any given time, either living, working or visiting. The complex includes five of Europe’s seven tallest buildings, only the first and the fourth missing.
The complex’s most notable three structures, according to the degree they personally impressed me in, are:
- The federation tower is a pair of two skyscrapers, distinguished from each other as the West and the East one. The latter is an impressive, super-tall building with an elegant curvy shape. Reaching a height of 373 meters, it held the title of Europe’s tallest building between December 2014 and October 2017, when it was surpassed by the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. It is currently the second-tallest building in Russia and Europe, and the 36th in the world.
- The Mercury City Tower, 339 meters in height, is the complex’s 3rd tallest building. The characteristic, brass-like color of its glass facade makes it stand out from the rest of the towers and gives it an air of paramount grandiosity.
- The Evolution Tower, 255 meters in height, is rather significantly shorter than several of its giant neighbors, though one could argue it to be the most remarkable of all. That’s so due to its bizarre, spiral, DNA-like shape, to which it apparently owes its name, too.
Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills)
Vorobyovy Gory are directly translated into English as ‘Sparrow Mountains’, though ‘Sparrow Hills’ has been chosen as a fitter translation for a good reason. The truth is that the term ‘hills’ still does it a favor as, reaching 220 meters height from the sea level and some 60-70 meters from the river level, one could well dub them a heap of soil or something. The term ‘sparrow’, I also found to be inaccurate as, apart from some lonely jackdaws, I saw no other thing flying around. During the Communist times, the hill – nothing surprising about it – was renamed Lenin Hills.
Leaving its dubious name out of consideration, this hill definitely worths a visit. It is situated on the south bank of a sharp curve of Moskva River, some 7 km south of the city center, and it can be reached via the homonymous metro station. The park has a horseshoe shape and it’s about 5 km in length and 300 meters in average width. It arguably makes for the best natural viewpoint in the city of Moscow. Along its ridge, one can enjoy some beautiful views of Moscow center to the north, as well as get a nice glimpse of the honored Moscow State University to the south. Along its foot, one can have a pleasant stroll on the riverside pathway while marveling at Luzhinki: Russia’s largest stadium on the opposite bank.
Novodevichy Convent
Also known as Bogoroditse-Smolensky Monastery, the Novodevichy Convent (translated as New Maidens’ Monastery), is probably the most well-known cloister of Moscow. It was founded by the Grand Prince of Moscow Vasili the 3rd in the year 1524 to commemorate his conquering the city of Smolensk, and has remained intact since the 17th century.
Under the sway of the Soviet Union, it was successively turned into a Museum of Women’s Emancipation, a Museum of History and Art, and the Moscow Theological Institute (when Stalin decided to give ground to the Russian Orthodox Church during the 2nd World War years). It was finally given back to the nuns in 1994.
The most conspicuous building of the complex is the Smolensky Cathedral, dedicated to a painting of Mary known as Our Lady of Smolensk. The complex includes numerous other notable churches and towers. Sportivnaya metro station is the closest to the spot.
Fallen Monument Park and Peter the Great Statue
The Fallen Monument Park, currently known officially as Muzeon Park of Arts, hosting more than 700 statues, is the largest open-air sculpture museum in Russia. It is especially known for its large collection of Soviet-themed artworks moved there after the regime’s collapse. Walking in it, one can get a good idea of how it must have felt to be surrounded by grave-looking stone Lenins, Stalins, Kalinins, and hammer-and-sickles. Oktyabrskaya and Polyanka are the closest metro stations.
By the side of the Park also stands the statue of Tsar Peter the Great, on an islet in Moskva River. This is a huge, impressive, and elaborate statue designed by Georgian artist Zurab Tsereteli and erected in 1997 to commemorate the 300 years of the Russian Navy. It is the eighth tallest statue in the world and weighs a whole 1.000 tons.
GUM (State Department Store)
I do not personally happen to be a great fan of shopping malls. I could make for one of the best examples of time-waste for advertisers. And I could even take it so far as to say that I have a kind of psychological issue or phobia related to shopping malls, being struck by something resembling a panic attack any time I need be in one.
That’s why I would have never discovered the State Department Store, known by its Russian acronym GUM, if it weren’t for the chance. Looking for some food, we randomly walked into the building, upon which very instance I was left awestruck. This was by very very far the most beautiful shopping mall I have ever seen in my life.
This was mainly so due to it having been built by the end of the 19th century: when people still had some good taste for aesthetics. It consists of three three-storey, 240-meters-long arcades topped by massive glass roofs. The facades of the shops are painstakingly elaborated and the marble aisles bedecked with fountains, artificial trees, and other such plush articles.
The mall is located in the very heart of the city by the east edge of Red Square.
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior couldn’t be considered a historical monument. Its construction started in 1995 and was finished only in 2000. It can, though, well be recognized as one of the Russian capital’s most significant sights. This massive, 103-meter-tall temple can be seen from pretty much anywhere around central Moscow and bears the distinction of being the world’s largest Orthodox church.
The present temple is, however, the second one to have been built on the spot. The plan for raising a colossal church dedicated to the Savior Christ was first envisaged by Tsar Alexander the 1st at the beginning of the 19th century, as an act of celebrating the ousting of Napoleon from the city. The plan went through decades-long adventures until the cornerstone was finally laid in 1839. The construction also went through many more adventures, and the temple was only consecrated in 1883.
What took about seven decades to be built, was destined to stand for no more than five decades. On 5 December 1931, following an order of Joseph Stalin, the cathedral was dynamited and reduced to debris, after they’d made sure to extract the 20 tons of gold and other precious materials contained in it, so to fund their problematic economy.
The construction of a monumental palace to house the Supreme Soviet legislature then started in 1937. But it came to a halt only four years later, when the Nazi troops had forced their way to Moscow’s threshold giving the Communist leaders more demanding issues to resolve.
The present temple was finally built in the second half of the 90′, funded by private donations of more than a million Muscovites. The building’s adventures were not yet to end, however. Recently, in 2018, they discovered that its foundation is sinking. A costly, extensive underpinning and reconstruction operation is now being planned so to prevent it from collapsing.
The closest to the church metro station is Kropotkinskaya. Both the upper, main temple and the underground, dungeon-like, Greek-style one are accessible at no cost. Unlike most Russian churches I got to visit, for some weird reason (maybe for not infuriating God… or for raising their postcards sales) taking pictures inside the temple is prohibited and they seem to be rather serious about it. Although, if you are a little sneaky, you can take yours and I deem it rather unlikely you’ll end up in hell because of that.
Arbat
The Arbat District is the commerce and entertainment heart of Moscow. The main artery of the area is Old Arbat Street. This 1-km-long pedestrian street exists since the 15th century and is one of Moscow’s oldest. Today it is the place where all the fancy cafes and restaurants, souvenir shops, street musicians and other performers, the peculiar to Russia silly-costumed hustlers/promoters, and all such things are to be found. In almost parallel line with the old one runs also the New Arbat Street. That’s the city’s main nightlife hub.
Kremlin
If there is any one sight in Moscow which everyone owes to know, that’s the Kremlin. Being Putin’s (well… it could also be put like the Russian Federation President’s… but has there ever been any other one?… Oh, yes, there also was that drunk, white-haired bloke once) official residence, the Kremlin has come to become a metonym for the Russian government.
The word Kremlin actually means a ‘fortress’, and that’s what it is. The small hill on which it stands has been exploited for its strategic position since very ancient times. The Slavs took hold of it by some time in the 11th century, after expelling its previous Finno-Ugric proprietors. The first stone walls replaced the older oak ones in the 14th century. The fortress has played a very prominent role in the edification of the Russian Empire.
Today, apart from Putin’s home, it hosts numerous, invaluable historical buildings, museums, artifacts, and lots of Chinese tourists. There is a batch of different ticket choices, depending on which museums, if any, you want to visit together with the courtyard. It is rather expensive but it does worth the visit.
Red Square, Lenin Mausoleum, and Saint Basil’s Cathedral
No visit to Moscow could be complete without passing by the all-famous Red Square. This is the rather huge main public square of the city of Moscow. It is adjoined by the Kremlin to the west and the State Department Store to the east. Probably the most well-known landmark of Russia, the Saint Basil’s Cathedral stands on its south end. On its north end, one finds the State Historical Museum, the Resurrection Gate, and the Kazan Cathedral. Amidst the square, right in front of the Kremlin, lies Lenin’s Mausoleum where one can see the mummified body of the man who led, through its first stages, the most shocking politico-social movement the world has ever seen.
Stays & Activities in Moscow
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