EXPRESS WALKING TOUR

HOTEL PICK-UP

Our guide will pick you up from your hotel reception and bring you to the beginning point of the tour via the Subway. (Subway tickets are included.)

BOLSHOI THEATRE

Bolshoi Theatre is the best point to start the walking tour. This historic building is one of Moscow’s most symbolic sites that will impress you with its white columns built in classical style. The beautiful Theater square is dominated by a fountain and flowerbeds in the form of vases. Discover the main secret of Apollo statue, which decorates the entrance to the Theatre!

REVOLUTIONARY SQUARE

Revolutionary Square is situated opposite to the Bolshoi Theatre. Before 1918, it was called Resurrection Square. The name of the Square was changed after the street battles between revolutionists and government forces. Today, in the center of the square, stands a monument of the German philosopher Karl Marx – the author of the Scientific Communism Theory, which was tried out in Russia during the Soviet period. Near the square, you will see the oldest fountain of Moscow, designed in a symmetrical Neoclassical style by Joseph Bove. Learn how the fountain was used in the 19th century?

METROPOL

Metropol is one of the oldest hotels in Moscow. With its guestroom inventory of 400 rooms, it was the largest hotel in the city when opened in 1905. Combining historical luxury with modern technological solutions, rooms of the Metropol have antiques and paintings by famous artists. Modern style and delicate mosaic panels decorating its façade illustrate the passion of the hotel’s founder – philanthropist SavvaMamontov – to modern art. Majolica panel “Princess of Dreams” on the central façade of the hotel amazes citizens and tourists with its grace. Discover who made this panel?

LUBYANKA SQUARE

Take a dive into the history of Moscow by walking in and around the Lubyanka Square, which appeared in Moscow in 1806. Earlier in the center of the square, there was a water fountain. After the reconstruction works carried out by the Soviet government in 1930s, the fountain was replaced by the monument to FeliksDzerzhinski. He was a commissar of the Red Army, a comrade of Lenin and Stalin and the head of the All-Russia Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution. Later the All-Russian Commission was modified into NKVD – Stalin’s repression device, and then into KGB – Committee of State Security. The headquarters of KGB were situated in a building dominating the Lubyanka Square. Today the main office of FSB – Federal Security Service – has its main office there. Discover where is now the Monument to Dzerzhinski located?

NIKOLSKAYA STREET

Walk from Lubyanka Square to the Red Square along the famous Nikolskaya Street. This street dates back to the 13th century and is one of the oldest streets in Moscow. Nikolskaya Street has always been a place of religion and education. Several convents and churches are standing next to a College and Academy at this street. Book Printing in Russia first started here – with the construction of the first Printing house of the country in the 16th century. Today, it is one of the most beautiful pedestrian streets of the city. Discover what was the title of the first book published in Russia in 1564?

RED SQUARE

The most popular and famed places of Moscow is the Red Square! For sure – Red Square – is a must-see place for everybody! Before the end of the 15th century, there was a market in the same place where the Red Square is today. Later the market was transferred to another place and Red Square appeared at this place, and Russians began to call it by the name “KrasnayaPloshchad.” Today, parade is staged at Red Square once a year on the 9th of May to celebrate the victory of Russia over Nazis. The Square is surrounded with a number of glorious historical structures from different centuries – starting with Kremlin Walls from the end of the 15th century and finishing with GUM Department Store dating back to the end of the 19th century. Discover why the Red Square is called so?

SAINT BASIL CATHEDRAL

Saint Basil Cathedral – an amazing and mind-boggling structure – stands magnificent at the head of the Red Square. Russia’s most recognizable building was built in 1561 to celebrate Ivan the Terrible’s crucial defeat of the Khan of Kazan and capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. Its differently colored cupolas and richly decorated tower-like churches will give you an impression of an enigmatic small city standing in front of you. Discover, what is the main peculiar feature of the Cathedral’s architecture?

LENIN MAUSOLEUM

ausoleum was built in 1924 as the final resting place for Vladimir Lenin – the founder of the Communist Party. Joseph Stalin, who assumed the leading position after Lenin’s death, pushed for the preservation of Lenin’s body to let the coming generations of communists venerate Lenin as sacrosanct idol of the Communisms. The body of Joseph Stalin also lied several years in Mausoleum besides the body of Lenin. However, after Khrushchev criticized the cult of Stalin’s personality at the 22nd meeting of the Communist Party, Stalin’s body was taken out from the Mausoleum and buried behind it near the Kremlin Wall. Discover, other world famous personalities who have been buried behind the Mausoleum near the Kremlin Wall?

GUM DEPARTMENT STORE

Built at the end of the 19th century in a New Russian Style, GUM Department Store directly occupied a special place in the trading life of the city. It was the first Store in Moscow where sellers started to use price labels and embodied the principle – “The Customer Is Always Right” – by suggesting a Book of Complaints and Suggestions. Today, GUM is the most expensive and the most beautiful shopping center in Moscow. Discover, how GUM was used during the era of Stalins’ ruling?

ALEKSANDROVSKY GARDEN

Alexandrovsky Garden is one of the first public parks in the capital. The Garden was laid out here at the beginning of the 19th century after the victory over Napoleon, and named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I, who ruled the country at that time. Its colorful flowerbeds, impressive fountains and beautiful alleys and green lawns will cheer you up. There is an Eternal Fire near the entrance to the Garden with a tomb for Soviet Soldiers, who have fallen in the Great Patriotic War against Hitler. Do you know how many soldiers did USSR sacrifice for the Victory?