Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Central Asia and North Asia (meaning the Russian republics of Cukotka, Yakutiya and Pri-
amurie).
But the entire continent is pretty well represented, including the countries that were not
part of the Russian or Soviet empires. The collection covers an equally vast time period,
from ancient times through to the 20th century, including painting, sculpture and folk art.
One unexpected highlight is a special exhibit on Nikolai Rerikh, the Russian artist and ex-
plorer who spent several years travelling and painting in Asia.
ART GALLERY
ART4.RU
499-136 5656;
www.art4.ru
; Khlinovsky tupik 4; admission R200;
by ap-
pointment; Okhotny Ryad)
Anyone can be a museum director, as demonstrated by Moscow businessman-turned-art-
collector Igor Markin. His 700-plus-piece collection had outgrown his private properties, so
he decided to start a museum where he could display his art and share it with the public.
And so art4.ru ('Art for Russia') was born.
The small gallery space is used to exhibit not only pieces from Markin's own collection,
but also up-and-coming artists that he has 'discovered'. It's a unique experience that is worth
investigating if you're interested in Russia's hot contemporary art scene.
MUSEUM
GOGOL HOUSE
noon-7pm Wed & Fri,
2-9pm Thu, noon-5pm Sat & Sun; Arbatskaya)
Nineteenth-century writer Nikolai Gogol spent his final tortured months here. The rooms -
now a small but captivating museum - are arranged as they were when Gogol lived here.
You can even see the fireplace where he famously threw his manuscript of
Dead Souls
.
An additional reading room contains a library of Gogol's work and other reference mater-
ials about the author. The quiet courtyard contains a statue of the emaciated, sad author sur-
rounded by some of his better-known characters in bas-relief.
SYNAGOGUE
LYUBAVICHESKAYA SYNAGOGUE
Converted to a theatre in the 1930s, this building was still used for gatherings by the Jewish
community throughout the Soviet period. Today the building serves as a working syn-
agogue, as well as a social centre for the small but growing Jewish community in Moscow.
PARK
PATRIARCH'S PONDS
