The largest historical museum of Russia, the State Historical Museum, was founded in 1872 by request of the Russian scientific community.
The State Historical Museum was supposed to "serve as a visual history", therefore the items were brought here from all over Russia. Altogether, Russian scientists, historians and archaeologists managed to collect more than 4 million showpieces.
In 1883, the day of the coronation of the Emperor Alexander III, the first 11 rooms of the museum, reflecting the history of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 12th century, were grandly opened to the public. The collection of the State Historical Museum contains a big deal of objects of value, ranging from archaeological finds, manuscripts, books, and ancient icons, to Russian and Western European military and hunting weapons, blacksmith instruments, scientific machinery, jewelry, glass and ceramic works of art, as well as clothing samples, a vast collection of estate furniture and many more. The visitors will be delighted to see some personal belongings of the greatest Russian monarchs: Ivan the Terrible, Peter I and even the last members of the Romanov dynasty. The museum recompiles a pretty extensive art collection, consisting of more than 500.000 items, including portraits of outstanding Russian and foreign personalities, landscapes of different parts of Russia, watercolors, drawings, and lithographs. Noteworthy, here represented are some unknown and anonymous artists, whose works and paintings are often not inferior to those of famous authors.
The permanent exhibition is organized in such a way that each of the rooms is dedicated to a particular historical era: the rich interior decoration of the premises corresponds to the time and style of the exhibited items. The frescoes, stuccos, wood carvings and other decorative elements allow the visitors to relive the atmosphere of the past.
Address: Red Square, 1/2.
Opening hours: 11:00-18:00, 11:00-20:00 (Sunday)
Day off: Tuesday, the first Monday of the month
