Moscow Guide
Zamoskvareche and the south
The Tretyakov Gallery
Address: The gallery is five-minutes' walk from Tretyakovskaya metro: turn left outside, cross the road, go straight on and bear right at the first turning to reach its ornate entrance on Lavrushinskiy pereulok
Website: www.tretyakov.ru
Price: R250; students R150
Opening time: 10am–7.30pm; closed Mon; ticket offices close at 6.30pm. One-and-a-half-hour guided tours in foreign languages may be booked in advance ( 
953 52 23 or 238 20 54) for R1000–1500, or you can simply tag along behind a group for a free commentary. Alternatively, you can rent an audioguide for R300 (ID required as deposit), which gives a room-by-room rundown of the gallery, although it's slightly out of date.
Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery (Tretyakovskaya galereya, familiarly called the "Tretyakovka") has the world's largest collection of Russian art – over 100,000 pieces – and is a must-see for anyone. The gallery owes its existence to the financier Pavel Tretyakov (1832–98), who began collecting Russian art when he was 34, and in 1892 donated 2000 works to the city of Moscow, together with his own house and other buildings, united after his death by a neo-Russian facade designed by the artist Viktor Vasnetsov. Tretyakov's influence on Russian art was enormous, for without his patronage many artists might never have achieved success or created large pictures requiring many years' work. Nationalized after the Revolution, the gallery acquired a host of expropriated icons and paintings and went on to purchase Socialist Realist art, increasing its collection almost fivefold. Though its exhibition space was doubled in the 1930s, the lack of space remained acute until the construction of an entirely new building on the Krymskiy val, and the refurbishment of its original premises in Zamoskvareche.
The only drawback is that you have to visit both galleries to enjoy the entirety of Russian art – which means two journeys and double the expense of tickets. This "old" Tretyakov Gallery, in the heart of Zamoskvareche, exhibits icons, portraits, academic and Symbolist art-works from medieval times up until the end of the nineteenth century, while the Tretyakov Galleryon Krymskiy val houses the Futurist and Social Realist art of the twentieth century.
You'll find an exchange office, ATM, information desk, art shops and toilets in the basement. There's a chic, expensive café (10am–11pm; closed Mon) outside the main entrance, and several fast-food outlets just around the corner on the way to the metro station.