Moscow

• Airport "Vnukovo"
• How to get to the airport
• Useful phones
• Interesting places to visit

Airport "Vnukovo"

International airport «Vnukovo» 

How to get to the airport

Metro "Yugo-Zapadnaya" - air terminal Vnukovo D
Bus ¹ 611, 611c
Route taxi 45
Metro "Oktyabrskaya" - air terminal Vnukovo D
Bus ¹ 705 m
Metro "Teplyi stan" air terminal Vnukovo D
Bus ¹ 526

Useful phones

Country Code for Russia	7
City Code for Moscow	495
Fire City Emergency Services	01
Militia (Police) City Emergency Services	02
Ambulance City Emergency Services	03
"MOSGAZ" Gas Service	04
Emergency Towing Service	388-2266
International Medical Clinic	280-8388/7138/7177/8374
Medhelp - 24-hour service	434-0034
Medicina - Ambulance	250-9900
Mediclub - Canadian Clinic (Michurinsky Prospekt, 56)	931-5018/5318, 932-8653
Drug Store House (4, 4th Dobrininsky per.)	237-4034
Farmacon Drug Store (Tverskaya ul., 4)	292-0301
Moscow's Pharmacy inquiries	927-0561
Western Union, money transfer	119-8250
American Express	956-9000/12
United Card Service	956-4806/2156 (Emergency Service)
The Moscow's OVIR head office	207-3032
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Visa Department)	241-9022, 244-1705
Committee on Culture of the Moscow's Government	921-3258
Municipal taxi	927-0000
Moscow's Taxi	238-1001
Railway Terminals Inquiries	266-9000/01...09
All domestic flights	580 9360
Directory Inquiries, General Inquiries About Moscow in Russian	09
telegram by phone	06
inquiries about telephone numbers and addresses (chargeable)	05-9
Inter-city telephone inquiries	07
International telephone inquiries	8-190
DHL	956-1000 call DHL
Theater & Concert Tickets	927--6982/83
Time (in Russian)	100

Interesting places to visit

1. The Moscow Kremlin and Red Square

   The Moscow Kremlin and Red Square is situated in the very center of the capital of Russia. Its monumental walls and towers, golden-domed cathedrals and ancient palaces stand high on the Borovitskiy Hill above the Moskva River forming a magnificent architectural ensemble. Since 1991, the Kremlin has been the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation. The ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. At the moment “The State Historical and Cultural Museum-Preserve “The Moscow Kremlin” is situated on the Kremlin’s territory. Red Square (Krasnaya ploshchad) is the most famous city square in Moscow. As major streets of Moscow radiate from here in all directions, being promoted to major highways outside the city, the Red Square is often considered the central square of Moscow and of all Russia. Each building in Red Square is a legend in its own right. One of these is Lenin's Mausoleum. Nearby is the elaborate bright-domed building of Saint Basil's Cathedral and also the palaces and cathedrals of the Kremlin. On the eastern side of the square is the GUM department store, and next to it the restored Kazan Cathedral. The northern side is occupied by the State Historical Museum, whose outlines echo those of Kremlin towers. The only sculptured monument on the square is a bronze statue of Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky, who helped to clear Moscow from the Polish invaders in 1612, during the Times of Trouble. Nearby is the so-called Lobnoye Mesto, a circular platform where public ceremonies used to take place. The square itself is around 330 meters long and 70 meters wide

2. Lenin's Mausoleum also known as Lenin's Tomb

   Lenin's Mausoleum also known as Lenin's Tomb, situated in Red Square in Moscow, is the mausoleum that serves as the final resting place of Vladimir Lenin. His embalmed body has been on public display there since the year he died, 1924. Aleksey Shchusev's diminutive but monumental granite structure incorporates some elements from ancient mausoleums, such as the Step Pyramid and the Tomb of Cyrus the Great.
   On January 21, the day that Lenin died, the Soviet government received more than 10,000 telegrams from all over Russia, which asked the government to preserve his body somehow for future generations. On the morning of January 23, Professor Alexei Ivanovich Abrikosov—a prominent Russian pathologist and anatomist embalmed Lenin's body to keep it intact until the burial. On the night of January 23, architect Aleksey Shchusev was given a task to complete within three days: design and build a tomb to accommodate all those who wanted to say their goodbyes to Lenin. On January 26, the decision was made to place the tomb at the Red Square by the Kremlin Wall.
   More than 10 million people visited Lenin's tomb between 1924 and 1972. Lenin's body on permanent display in Moscow
   The tomb is open every day except Mondays and Fridays from 10:00 to 13:00. There is normally a long line to see Lenin. No photos or video are allowed inside the tomb.

3. The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

   The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is the tallest Eastern Orthodox church in the world. It is situated in Moscow, on the bank of the Moskva River.
   When the last of Napoleon's soldiers left Moscow, Tsar Alexander I signed a manifesto, December 25, 1812, declaring his intention to build a Cathedral in honor of Christ the Saviour "to signify Our gratitude to Divine Providence for saving Russia from the doom that overshadowed Her" and as a memorial to the sacrifices of the Russian people.
   The Cathedral had taken many years to build and did not emerge from its scaffolding until 1860; elaborate frescos by some of the best Russian painters continued in the interior for another twenty years. The Cathedral was consecrated at the very day Alexander III was crowned, May 26, 1883.
   After the Revolution, on December 5, 1931, by order of Kaganovich, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was dynamited and reduced to rubble. The flooded foundation hole remained on the site until, under Nikita Khrushchev, it was transformed into a huge public swimming pool. With the end of the Soviet rule, the Russian Orthodox Church received permission to rebuild the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, in February 1990. A temporary cornerstone was laid by the end of the year and the completed Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was consecrated August 19, 2000.

4. The State Tretyakov Gallery

   The State Tretyakov Gallery is the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world. The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Moscow merchant Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov (1832-98) acquired works by Russian artists of his day with the aim of creating a collection, which might later grow into a museum of national art. In 1892, Tretyakov presented his already famous collection to the Russian nation.
   The collection contains more than 130,000 exhibits, ranging from Theotokos of Vladimir and Andrei Rublev's Trinity to the monumental Composition VII by Wassily Kandinsky and the Black Square of Kazimir Malevich. In 1977 the Gallery kept a significant part of the George Costakis collection.

5. The Bolshoi Theatre

   The Bolshoi Theatre (Bol'shoy Teatr) is a theatre and opera company, which gives performances of ballet and opera.
   The company was founded in 1776 by Prince Peter Urussov and Michael Maddox. Initially it gave performances in a private home, but in 1780 it acquired the Petrovka Theatre and began producing plays and operas.
   The current building was built on Teatralnaya Square in 1825 to replace the Petrovka Theatre, which had been destroyed by fire in 1805. It was designed by architect Osip (Joseph) Bove, who had built the nearby Maly Theatre in 1824. At that time, all the Russian theatres were imperial property.
   The theatre was inaugurated on 18 January 1825. Initially it presented only Russian works, but foreign composers entered the repertoire starting from 1840. A fire in 1853 caused extensive damage; reconstruction was carried out by Albert Kavos, son of Caterino Kavos, an opera composer, and reopened in 1856. During World War II, the theatre was damaged by a bomb but was promptly repaired.
   The Bolshoi has been the site of many historic premieres including Tchaikovsky's Voyevoda and Mazeppa, and Rachmaninoff's Aleko and Francesca da Rimini.

6. Central Park of Culture and Rest

   Central Park of Culture and Rest is an amusement park in Moscow, Russia, named after Maxim Gorky.
   Gorky Park was opened in 1928 and is located at Krymsky Val. The park was created by the amalgamation of the extensive gardens of the old Golitsyn Hospital and the Neskuchny Palace and covers an area of 300 acres (1.2 km?) along the river.
   Gorky Park has children’s play areas, fun fairs, various rides, an enormous Ferris wheel, and one of the mockups (test units) from the Buran space shuttle program for the kids to take part in the “Cosmic Experience”.
   During the winter the footpaths flood over and freeze, which allow ice-skating around the park.

7. The Old Arbat

   The Old Arbat is a picturesque pedestrian street within the Garden Ring of Moscow. Nowadays, it is one of Moscow's most touristy streets, with lots of entertainment and souvenirs sold. The Old Arbat should be distinguished from the nearby New Arbat, constructed back in the 1960s as Kalinin Avenue and lined with Soviet skyscrapers made of steel, concrete, and glass. The Arbat was first attested in 1493 as a road leading from the Moscow Kremlin to Smolensk. The origin of the name is Tatar and means suburb (the same as Rabat). During the 16th and 17th centuries, the neighbourhood was graced with elegant churches, notably the one featured in Vasily Polenov's celebrated painting A Courtyard in Moscow (1879).
   In the 18th century, the Arbat came to be regarded by the Russian nobility as the most prestigious living area in Moscow. The street was almost completely destroyed by the great fire during Napoleon's occupation of Moscow in 1812 and had to be rebuilt. Alexander Pushkin lodged in one of its mansions for a short time, and there is a statue of him and his wife Natalie in front of this house. Another famous native was the writer Andrey Bely, many of whose novels feature impressionist portrayals of this patriarchal area.

8. The Moscow Zoo

   The Moscow Zoo is the largest and oldest zoo in Russia.
   It was founded in 1864 by a group of professor-biologists, K.F. Rulje, S.A. Usov and A.P. Bogdanov, from the Moscow State University. In 1919, the zoo was nationalized. In 1922, the ownership was transferred to the city of Moscow and has remained under Moscow's control ever since.
   The zoo had an area of 10 hectares when it first opened, with 286 animals. In 1926, the zoo was expanded to adjacent lands, increasing the area to 18 hectares. The zoo's original buildings were wooden, built in the old Russian style with intricate wood trims. In 1990, the zoo was renovated. In addition, the zoo was expanded once more. New exhibits were opened including a sea aquarium, an aviary, a creatures of the night exhibit, a sea lion aquarium and a special zoo for children.
   The Moscow zoo has over 6000 animals from more than 1000 species and covers an area of about 21.5 hectares.
   The zoo studies animals’ behavior, feeding and reproduction and breeds rare endangered species.

9. Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoi Boulevard

   Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoi Boulevard used to be the only circus in Moscow between 1926 and 1971 and still remains the most popular one. The circus building was opened on 20 October 1880 as the Solomonsky Circus. Known by a variety of names during the Soviet period, the troupe was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1939. Among the famous performers who worked there were the clowns Karandash, Oleg Popov, and Yury Nikulin, who managed the company for fifteen years and whose name it bears since his passing in 1997. In front of the building is a remarkable statue of Nikulin, whose son has been in charge of the circus ever since his death.

10. The All-Russia Exhibition Centre or All-Russian Exhibition Centre

    The All-Russia Exhibition Centre or All-Russian Exhibition Centre is a permanent general-purpose trade show in Moscow.
    VVC is a member of exhibition associations: IUEF (since 1991) and UFI (since 1997). The exhibition was established in 1939 as the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (VSKhV). In 1954 many buildings of the VSKhV were renovated and the exhibition was expanded to include other domestic industries and fields of science, technology and culture. After five years of restructuring, the exhibition was reopened in 1959 as the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy.
    The most memorable feature of the exhibition site is the statue Worker and Kolkhoz Woman (Rabochiy i Kolkhoznitsa), featuring the gigantic figures of a man and woman holding together the famous "hammer and sickle". The statue enjoys a wide recognition among the Russian-speaking population as it is featured on a logo of Mosfilm, Russia's largest movie studio. There are also monuments: “To the Conquerors of Space”, famous fountain “Friendship of Nations” and other seesights and attractions.
    In 1992, VDNKh was renamed, receiving its current name VVC. It occupies 2,375,000 square metres of which 266,000 square metres are used for indoor exhibits.