Moscow Guide
The northern suburbs
The Durov Animal Theatre
The oddest sight is the bunker-like Durov Animal Theatre (teatr Zvery imeni Durova), a unique institution known to generations of Muscovites as "Dedushka (Grandpa) Durov". Its founder, Vladimir Durov (1863–1934), believed that circuses were cruel because they forced animals to perform tricks, rather than allowing their natural behaviour to be developed and shown on stage, accompanied by educational talks. His beliefs live on in this theatre, which still stages performances in which rabbits happily drum away, raccoons wash their paws before meals, and monkeys appear to "read" a book while searching for seeds between the pages – Durov never used punishments, only rewards. His results impressed Pavlov, and the theatre's future was guaranteed after the Revolution by the Commissar of Public Enlightenment. Durov once staged parodies of the Treaty of Versailles, and devised an act in which pigs and dogs boarded a train where a monkey punched their tickets, and a hen with a suitcase bustled up just as it departed "for Yalta". Sadly, this has now been relegated to the theatre's museum, where it is performed by mice (performances: Wed– Sun at 11.15am, 12.45pm, 2.15pm & 3.45pm; 
631 30 47; R70). Visitors should try to attend a full-blown show; call for details.