Tourist Attractions

The Kremlin
The Kremlin is the place to which all Russian roads lead and from which most Russian power emanates. Here Ivan the Terrible and Stalin orchestrated their terrors; Napoleon watched Moscow burn; Lenin fashioned the dictatorship of the proletariat; Khrushchev led communism in the Cold War; Gorbachev unleashed perestroika (restructuring); and Yeltsin struggled to keep reform afloat. The Kremlin occupies a roughly triangular plot of land covering little Borovitsky Hill on the north bank of the Moscow River, probably first settled in the 11th century. Today it's enclosed by high walls. Red Square lies outside the east wall. The Kutafya Tower, which forms the main visitors' entrance, stands away from the Kremlin's west wall.

Cathedrals

St. Basil's Cathedral - built in the 16th century on Red Square by Ivan the Terrible to commemorate his successful military campaign against the Tartar Mongols in the besieged city of Kazan, its mass of brightly painted onion domes and turrets is now one of Moscow's best-known landmarks.

Novodevichy Convent and Monastery - beautiful 16th century convent founded by Vasily III in 1524 to commemorate the recapture of Smolensk from the Lithuanians ten years earlier and the resting place of some of Moscow's most famous artists, writers, politicians and public figures.

The Cathedral of Christ the Savior - magnificent replica of the 19th century church designed by the architect Konstantin Ton to commemorate Russia's victory over the French in the Napoleonic Wars, which was demolished on Stalin's orders in the 1930s but built anew in the 1990s to mark Moscow's 850th birthday.

Central Moscow
A visiting 19th-century French aristocrat, the Marquis de Custine, described the exterior of St Basil's Cathedral as 'a sort of irregular fruit bristling with excrescences, a cantaloupe melon with embroidered edges'. The exterior is so magical that the interior is a bit of an anticlimax. Nearby, you can still pay your respects at Lenin's tomb. Bordering Red Square, the magnificent GUM (State Department Store) was built in the 19th century to house 1000 shops. The hefty building north of Red Square is the stuff of nightmares and airport novels. It housed the KGB and the notorious Lubyanka prison - now home to the Federal Security Police.

A walk up the city's most famous thoroughfare, Tverskaya ulitsa, reveals 19th-century palaces, 1930s apartment blocks and glimmers of colour bouncing off the domes of half-obscured churches. The Arbat, once the quarter of court artisans, is also a good place for a stroll, passing elegant buildings, Stalinist eyesores and a pedestrian precinct complete with buskers and souvenir-sellers. As much a fabulous museum as it is an underground transport system, Moscow's famous metro survives in all its constructivist glory, with more chandeliers than Buckingham Palace and enough marble to fit out the kitchens of the world. Forty-four of its stations have been designated as architectural landmarks.

Museums

The Pushkin State Fine Arts Museum, in the south-west of the inner city, boasts a broad selection of European works from the Renaissance onward - mostly confiscated from private collections after the revolution.

The Tretyakov Gallery, near Gorky Park, has the world's best collection of Russian icons and a fine collection of pre-revolutionary Russian art. The Central House of Artists, next to the new Tretyakov Gallery building, is one of the places you're most likely to find good contemporary art. Past shows have ranged from 19th-century sacred art to the works of Gilbert & George. There are also numerous literary museums, usually situated in the houses of famous writers, such as Tolstoy, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Gogol and Lermontov.

Gorky Park
The most famous of Moscow's parks and gardens is Gorky Park, etched into Western consciousness thanks to a best-selling novel, a blockbuster movie and William Hurt's furry hat. The park stretches almost 3km (1mi) along the river and is a combination of ornamental garden, funfair and entertainment zone, hosting everything from science lectures to rock concerts in its auditoria. In summer, boats leave from the pier on river excursions, and in winter the ponds freeze over, transforming the park into a huge ice-skating rink.

Novodevichy Convent
The Novodevichy Convent (New Convent of the Maidens), a cluster of 16 sparkling domes behind turreted walls in the south-western loop of the Moscow River, is perhaps the most beautiful of the city's convents. The convent was popular with noblewomen, who would often retire here, but it was also used as a prison for rebellious royals, including Peter the Great's half-sister and his first wife. The convent's cemetery is Moscow's most prestigious resting place after the Kremlin wall. Sleeping peacefully are Chekhov, Eisenstein, Gogol, Khrushchev, Kropotkin, Mayakovsky, Prokofiev, Stanislavsky and Shostakovich. A recent addition is Raisa Gorbacheva, wife of the last great Soviet president.