Moscow Guide
Zamoskvareche and the south
The Tretyakov Gallery on Krymskiy val
Address: On Krymskiy val
Opening time: Tues– Sun 10am–7.30pm
Price: R250, students R150
On Krymskiy val, Vuchetich's "Swords into Ploughshares" (a copy of the original sculpture presented to the UN in 1957) and other allegorical statues greet visitors to a riverside arts complex. Although you'll first encounter the Central House of Artists and the entrance to the sculpture park, it's only a minute's walk to the entrance of the new Tretyakov Gallery on the eastern side of the building. This takes up where the old Tretyakov left off, with a bravura display of twentieth-century Russian art, from dazzling Futurist designs to Socialist Realism and "nonconformist" art from Soviet times, exhibited on the fourth floor. Additionally, it holds regular temporary exhibitions of anything from European Cubism to masterpieces from the Russian Museum, on the second floor (for which a separate charge is levied).
Photography is not permitted; cameras must be left at the cloakroom. On your way upstairs, you'll pass a scale model of Tatlin's un-built Monument to the Third International, in the foyer on the second floor. The permanent exhibition fills some forty rooms; artworks are captioned in English, with an explanatory text in each room.