Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sadly, Red October might be losing a part of its pull as the embattled independent Dozhd
TV channel (that is, half of the trendy crowd in local bars) is moving out and the pro-Putin
LifeNews channel is taking over the premises.
SCULPTURE PARK
ART MUZEON & KRYMSKAYA NABEREZHNAYA
Now fully revamped and merged with the wonderfully reconstructed Krymskaya Naberezh-
naya embankment, is this motley collection of (mostly kitschy) sculpture and monuments to
Soviet idols (Stalin, Sverdlov, a selection of Lenins and Brezhnevs) that were ripped from
their pedestals in the post-1991 wave of anti-Soviet feeling. All of these stand in a lovely
garden with boardwalks and many inviting benches.
Moscow's answer to London's South Bank, Krymskaya Naberezhnaya features wave-
shaped street architecture with many Scandinavian-style wooden elements, beautiful flower
beds and a moody fountain that ejects water randomly from many holes in the ground - a
sure way to make children (and some adults) run and laugh unstoppably for hours on a hot
sunny day.
Moored here, the
cruise ship Valery Bryusov
is being converted into an art and educa-
tional venue, complete with a cinema, a musical venue, cafes, a co-working space and even
a barber shop!
The
Vernisage
, an artists' market, is about the only place left here from the old days. The
embankment begins near the tip of Bolotny Island, where the mammoth-sized
statue of
sculptor Zurab Tsereteli surveys the area from a giant column. We'd call it fully pedestrian-
ised, if not for the cyclists and in-line skaters who often create what resembles a very nor-
mal Moscow traffic jam. There is a shop renting bicycles and in-line skating equipment.
This is the starting point of the vehicle-free 8km route that runs through Gorky Park,
Neskuchny Garden and Vorobyovy Gory.
ART GALLERY
GARAGE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
11am-9pm Mon-Thu; Oktyabrskaya)
The brainchild of Moscow art fairy Darya Zhukova, incidentally the girlfriend of oligarch
Roman Abramovich, has seen better times, but it remains one of the hottest modern art ven-
ues in the capital. Retaining its original name, Garage is now housed in a temporary, though
