Moscow Guide
Red Square
The Historical Museum
Opening time: 10am–5pm; closed Tues & the first Mon of each month
Price: R230, camera or video permits R100
The Historical Museum (Istoricheskiy muzey) established by order of Alexander III, and opened in 1894, occupies a liver-red building cluttered with pinnacles, chevrons and saw-toothed cornices. The interior is lavishly decorated with murals and carvings harking back to medieval Russia.
The first two rooms are notable for a pair of mammoth tusks, a replica of a grave containing the remains of a boy and girl, and scenes of Paleolithic life by Viktor Vasnetsov. Room 3 boasts a 5000-year-old oak longboat that was unearthed beside the River Volga, while Room 4 opens with a haunting wooden idol from the Gorbunkovsky peat bogs, and concludes with nephrite axe heads and gold-inlaid silver spearheads, used for ritual purposes.
Room 5, covering the Iron Age, has many wonderful exhibits, such as the Kazbeksky Hoard of deer and bird figurines. The hybrid nature of steppe culture is emphasized by the Turmansky Sarcophagus, shaped like a Greek temple with Chinese-style decorations on its "roof"; and glassware that once circulated between the Scythians and Sarmatians and the Hellenized and Roman trading cities on the Black Sea coast (Room 6).
In the ninth century AD these disparate peoples gave rise to the Kievan Rus, or Old Russian state, ruled by Scandinavian warriors known as the Varangians, who used the Volga and Dniepr as trade routes from northern Europe to Byzantium. Room 8 displays artefacts from this period and the conversion of the Kievan Rus to Christianity by Prince Vladimir in 988.
The ticket office, on the right inside the entrance, stocks a free brochure in English and rents audioguides (R110) that cover the highlights of the permanent exhibition, which is captioned in five languages. It's possible to book a guided tour in English (group rate R1000 with a translator, or R700 if you have your own translator, plus tickets: call 
692 37 31 a week to ten days in advance). Concerts of historical music are held at the museum as advertised.