Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
bring your passport. Keep in mind the 40% discount on 10am and 11am tours during
weekdays.
Novoslobodsky
MUSEUM
JEWISH MUSEUM & CENTRE OF TOLERANCE
noon-10pm Sun-Thu; Novoslobodskaya)
Occupying a heritage garage, purpose-built to house a fleet of Leyland double-deckers that
plied Moscow streets in the 1920s, this vast museum, filled with cutting-edge multimedia
technology, tackles the uneasy subject of relations between Jews and the Russian state over
centuries. The exhibition tells the stories of pogroms, Jewish revolutionaries, the Holocaust
and Soviet anti-Semitism in a calm and balanced manner. The somewhat limited collection
of material exhibits is compensated for by the abundance of interactive video displays.
We especially like those that encourage visitors to search for answers to dilemmas faced
by early 20th-century Jews - to stand up and fight, to emigrate or to assimilate and keep a
low profile.
Russia's Jewish population was quite small until the 18th century, when the empire incor-
porated a vast chunk of Poland then inhabited by millions of Yiddish-speaking Jews. They
were not allowed to move into Russia proper until the early 20th century - a policy that be-
came known as the Pale of Settlement. This led to the perception of Jews as an ethnic rather
than a religious group, which lingers up until now.
MUSEUM
GLINKA MUSEUM OF MUSICAL CULTURE
noon-7pm Tue-Sun; Mayakovskaya)
This musicologist's paradise boasts over 3000 instruments - hand crafted works of art -
from the Caucasus and the Far East. Russia is very well represented - a 13th-century
gusli
(traditional instrument similar to a dulcimer) from Novgorod, skin drums from Yakutia, a
balalaika
(triangular instrument) by the master Semyon Nalimov - but you can also see
such classic pieces as a violin made by Antonio Stradivari. Recordings accompany many of
the rarer instruments, allowing visitors to experience their sound.
This incredible collection started with a few instruments that were donated by the Mo-
scow Tchaikovsky Conservatory at the end of the 19th century. The collection grew expo-
