Tretyakov Gallery

The Tretyakov Gallery in Zamoskvorechye holds the greatest collection of Russian art in the world — from medieval icons through the realist school of the 19th century to the radical avant-garde of the early 20th. The founding collection was assembled by the merchant Pavel Tretyakov, who donated it to Moscow in 1892, and the holdings have grown substantially since.

The highlights are spread across two buildings. The main gallery in Lavrushinsky Lane focuses on pre-revolutionary art: Rublev's Holy Trinity (the greatest surviving medieval Russian icon), the vast canvases of the Wanderers movement, and portraits by Repin and Kramskoi. The New Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val covers the 20th century, from Malevich's Black Square to Socialist Realism and the Soviet avant-garde. Allocate at least half a day for each if you take the art seriously.

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A story
Pavel Tretyakov was a 19th-century merchant who decided Russia needed a national gallery of its own art. He began buying paintings in 1856 and kept buying until he had assembled the finest collection of Russian painting in the world, then donated the entire collection — over 1,800 works — to the city of Moscow in 1892. He was not a nobleman or a state institution; he was a textile merchant who thought Russian art deserved a home.

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