Sights in Outer North of Moscow

Our section on sights in the Outer North of Moscow covers sights in the Northern and North-Eastern Administrative Districts of the city. This roughly covers the area of Moscow between the Third Ring Road to the MKAD Ring Road from Leningraskoe Shosse to just beyond Proskepkt Mira/Yaroslavskoe Shosse. Other major roads in between include Dmitrovskoe Shosse and Altufievskoe Shosse. This part of Moscow is mainly served by the northern ends of the dark green, grey and orange lines of the metro, including the monorail.

Around Altufievo Metro Station

Altufievo Estate

  • 147 Altufievskoe Shosse
  • Altufievo
  • http://www.hramaltuf.prihod.ru/ (Church)

Situated in Park Chermyanka in the very north of Moscow next to the MKAD ring road in Moscow's Lianozovo District is the Altufievo Estate. The village of Altufievo is known to have existed since 1585 and the first estate and park were built here in the mid-18th century. The original estate house was reconstructed in the Russian gothic style in the mid-19th century and then once more in the early 20th century. Close to the estate house is the beautiful red-and-white-striped… Read more »

Around Begovaya Metro Station

Central Moscow Hippodrome

  • 22 Ulitsa Begovaya
  • Belorusskaya, Begovaya
  • http://www.cmh.ru

The Central Moscow Hippodrome is one of the oldest hippodromes in Europe having been founded in 1834. The main building was built later between 1889 and 1894. After the Russian Revolution, races were stopped for some time and only resumed in the 1920s. Vladimir Lenin gave a speech at the hippodrome and this event is commemorated by a monument outside. Today races and other events are still held at the hippodrome, but you can no longer (legally) place any bets there as gambling has… Read more »

Around Dinamo Metro Station

Petrovsky Travellers Palace

  • 40 Leningradsky Prospekt
  • Dinamo
  • http://www.petroffpalace.mos.ru/en

The Petrovsky Travellers Palace was completed in the late 18th century in the Russian gothic style according to a plan by the architect Matvey Kazakov. It was built on the orders of Empress Catherine the Great to serve as an imperial residence when travelling from St Petersburg to Moscow, although the boundaries of the capital have now long since incorporated the palace. In 1812 Napoleon very briefly used the palace as his base during his occupation of Moscow and left it in ruins… Read more »

Around Rechnoy Vokzal Metro Station

Moscow Canal and Bukhta Radosty

  • North of Moscow (cruise from the Northern River Port)
  • Rechnoy Vokzal

From the Northern River Port a mini-cruise to Bukhta Radosty (Bay of Joy) makes an ideal day trip. The boat leaves the river port in the morning, makes a stop for around 5 hours at Bukhta Radosty, and then returns to Moscow. To get to Bukhta Radosty you will travel through the Moscow Canal, which was originally known as the Moscow-Volga Canal and was constructed between 1932 and 1937 using GULAG prisoner labour with tens of thousands of forced labourers dying in the process. The… Read more »

Northern River Port

  • Leningradskoe Shosse
  • Rechnoy Vokzal

On the side of Leningradskoe Shosse opposite to Park Druzhba is another park where the Northern River Port is located. The main entrance to the park is marked with a statue of a woman holding a model of a boat above her head. Behind this is the building of the river port which was built in 1937 and is a great example of what is known as the Stalinist architectural style. Its central spire is topped with a star which once stood on the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower and its entrance is… Read more »

Park Druzhby

  • Between Leningradskoe Shosse and Ulitsa Festivalnaya
  • Rechnoy Vokzal

Park Druzhby (Friendship Park) in Moscow's Levoberezhny District was opened in 1957 by delegates of the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students which was held in the Soviet capital. In addition to its natural attractions, including some ponds, there are also several statues and sculptures in the park. Two works by the famous Soviet sculptor Vera Mukhina entitled 'Bread' and 'Fertility' can be found by the entrance on Leningradskaya Shosse. Many of the other monuments in the park… Read more »

Around Savyolovskaya Metro Station

Savyolovsky Railway Station

  • Ploschad Savyolovskogo Vokzala
  • Savyolovskaya

Savyolovsky Railway Station is probably the least well-known of Moscow's nine railway stations. It was built between 1897 and 1902 and gets its name from the station of Savyolovo which is now incorporated into the city of Kimry in the Tver Region. It is unique among Moscow's railway stations as no long-distance trains leave from here, only suburban trains (elektrichki). From here suburban trains go to Odintsovo, Dubna, Dmitrov, Dolgoprudnoe, Kimry, Lobnya, Taldom and Yakhroma… Read more »

Around Sokol Metro Station

Heroes of the First World War Memorial Park

  • Between Ulitsa Peschanaya and Ulitsa Novopeschanaya
  • Sokol

The Heroes of the First World War Memorial Park started out in 1915 as a war cemetery for Russian soldiers who fell in the First World War. In 1932 the cemetery was closed and mass executions even took place here in the years of the Great Terror. In 1948 a park was developed over the former burial ground and it was only during the time of Perestroika that First World War Memorials were once again erected here. In 1998 the Transfiguration of the Lord Chapel and four memorials were… Read more »

Around Teletsentr Monorail Station

Ostankino Museum-Estate

  • 5 1-ya Ostankinskaya Ulitsa
  • Teletsentr
  • http://trinitychurch.ru/
  • Currently closed for restoration

The village of Ostankino was first mentioned in 1558 and the first estate was founded here in 1584. After the Time of Troubles in the early 17th century the estate was granted to the Cherkassky dynasty of princes. In 1743 Princess Varvara Cherkasskaya, the last of her dynasty, married Count Pyotr Sheremetev and so the estate passed to the wealthy Sheremetev family, who turned the estate into a summer residence. It remained the property of the Sheremetevs until it was confiscated by… Read more »

Ostankino TV Tower

  • 15к1 Ulitsa Akademika Koroleva
  • Teletsentr
  • http://tvtower.ru/
  • 10:00 - 22:00. Daily from May-October.

Standing at 540 metres tall, the Ostankino TV Tower is the most visible sight in this part of Moscow. The tower was built between 1963 and 1967 and today still functions as a TV tower providing radio and television coverage to over 15 million people. In 2000 the tower made international headlines as a fire broke out on three floors at a height of 460 metres, which resulted in three deaths. Also located inside the tower are a rotating restaurant at between 328 and 334 metres high… Read more »

Around Timiryazevskaya Metro Station

Park Dubki

  • Between Ulitsa Dubki and Ulitsa Ivanovskaya
  • Timiryazevskaya

Situated between Ulitsa Dubki and Ulitsa Ivanovskaya in the Timiryazevsky District is Park Dubki, which gets its name from the oak-groves located here (the Russian for oak is 'dub'). The 19 hectare park was renovated in 1995 and includes two ponds as well as play areas for children and sport grounds. In the south of the park is the wooden St Nicholas' Church at Solomennnaya Storozhka which was originally but in 1916 by the architect Fyodor Shekhtel, but practically completely… Read more »

Timiryazevsky Park

  • Ulitsa Timiryazevskaya
  • Timiryazevskaya

The Russian State Agrarian University Konstantin Timiryazev Moscow Agricultural Academy Park, for obviously reasons, is normally always just referred to as Timiryazevsky Park. There has been a park here since at least the 17th century and it is even believed that Peter the Great himself planted some of the oak trees here. In 1865 the Petrovsky Agricultural and Forestry Academy was founded here which was renamed in 1923 in honour of Konstantin Timiryazev, the Russian botanist and… Read more »

Around Ulitsa Sergeya Eizenshteyna Monorail Station

Rostokino Aqueduct

  • park behind 184 Prospekt Mira
  • Ulitsa Sergeya Eizenshteyna

In the park on the side of Prospekt Mira across from the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman Monument is the only surviving aqueduct in Moscow. The Rostokino Aqueduct, as it is known due to its location in the Rostokino District, crosses the River Yauza and was commissioned in 1780 by Catherine the Great to serve as part of Moscow's water supply system. Russia's war with Turkey meant that the work was delayed and it was only completed in 1804 when Emperor Alexander I, Catherine's grandson,… Read more »

Worker and Kolkhoz Woman Monument

  • 123Б Prospekt Mira
  • VDNKh, Ulitsa Sergeya Eizenshteyna
  • http://www.moscowmanege.ru/o-ploshhadke-rabochij-i-kolxoznica/
  • 12:00 - 21:00. Closed on Mondays.

Just outside the All-Russia Exhibition Centre is one of the most impressive and most iconic statues in Russia - architect Vera Mukhina's masterpiece called the Worker and Kolkoz Woman Monument. The statue is an example of socialist realism at its best and features perfect specimens of a Soviet man and woman with the man holding up a hammer and the woman a sickle to form the Soviet symbol. The 24.5 metre statue was made from stainless steel for the 1937 World's Fair in Paris where… Read more »

Around VDNKh Metro Station

All-Russian Exhibition Centre

  • 119 Prospekt Mira
  • VDNKh
  • http://www.vvcentre.ru/ (centre)
  • http://krugorama.narod.ru/ (cinema)

For anyone with an interest in the Soviet Union, the All-Russia Exhibition Centre in the north of Moscow is a must. The centre was officially opened in 1939 as the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition, but after the Second World War this was reconstructed and in 1959 the whole centre was reopened as the Exhibition of the Achievements of the National Economy of the USSR. The centre was envisaged as a showcase for the achievements of the Soviet Union in various spheres and for this… Read more »

Charles de Galle Monument

  • outside 150 Prospekt Mira
  • VDNKh

On the other side of Prospect Mira opposite to the main entrance of the exhibition centre, is the semi-circular Hotel Cosmos and standing in front of the hotel is a statue of Charles de Galle. This bronze statue of the leader of the Free French Forces and then president of France was unveiled in 2009 on the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Read more »

Conquerors of Space Monument and Cosmonauts Alley

  • Kosmopark between Prospect Mira and Ostankinsky Proezd
  • VDNKh

One of several major landmarks visible from outside VDNKh metro is the Conquerors of Space Monument which takes the form of a rocket taking off with the base of the monument resembling the plume from the exhaust. In total it is 107 metres tall. The monument was opened in 1964 to celebrate the achievements of the Soviet space race. Both sides of the monument's base are decorated with large reliefs depicting scientists, engineers, cosmonauts, programmers and other workers who were… Read more »

Cosmonautics Memorial Museum

  • 111 Prospekt Mira
  • VDNKh
  • http://www.space-museum.ru/
  • 11:00 - 17:00. (Thursdays: 11:00 - 21:00). Closed on Mondays.

Behind the Conquerors of Space Monument in its base is the Cosmonautics Memorial Museum (more commonly known as the Space Museum), which was first opened in 1981 as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of Yuri Gagarin's historic space flight. In 2006 the museum was closed for large-scale renovation work and only reopened in 2009, becoming once more an especially popular attraction in the capital among people of all ages. The museum has many exhibits detailing the history of… Read more »

Main Botanical Gardens

  • 4 Ulitsa Botanicheskaya
  • Vladykino, VDNKh
  • http://www.gbsad.ru/

Moscow's, and in fact Europe's, largest botanical gardens are official known as the Nikolai Tsitsin Russian Academy of Sciences Main Botanical Gardens after their first director and due to the fact that they were created in 1945 to mark the 220th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In total the gardens occupy over 361 hectares of land and contain over 8,000 types of plants from all over the world. The main entrance to the gardens are located close to Vladykino metro… Read more »

Our Lady of Tikhvin Church in Alekseevskoe

  • 130 Prospekt Mira
  • VDNKh
  • http://tihvinskiy.ru/

In 1673 Tsar Alexis ordered that a church be built north of Moscow on the pilgrimage route from Moscow to Sergiev Posad. Work began in 1676 and the Our Lady of Tikhvin Church in Alekseevskoe was completed in 1682 after the tsar's death. In 1824 a bell tower was added. The pretty red and white church is an example of the elaborate Russian Uzorochye architectural style with five domes above three rows of kokoshniks. The church remained open during the Soviet period. Located in the… Read more »

Sergey Korolev Memorial House-Museum

  • 28 Ulitsa 1-aya Ostankinskaya
  • VDNKh
  • 11:00 - 19:00. (Thursdays: 11:00 - 21:00). Closed on Mondays.

In the small park across on the other side of Ostankinsky Proezd from the Kosmopark is the Sergey Korolev Memorial House-Museum. It is located in the house where the space scientist Sergey Korolev lived and worked from 1959 to 1966, having been given it by the state after the successful launch of the world's first satellite - Sputnik 1 - in 1957. The interior of the house has been preserved since Korolev's time there and many of his personal belongings are on display, including his… Read more »