Red Square, the Tretyakov Gallery and GUM - these are the three whales on which modern tourist life in Moscow is based. However, even their splendor can pall. Sometimes you want to go on unhandled paths, look at something really non-standard, curious and interesting.
For connoisseurs of exotic, we offer a list of the most unusual places in Moscow, where everyone will find entertainment to their liking - from walking in nature to an alternative virtual universe.
10. Experimentarium
Address: Leningradsky pr., D. 80, building 11
Our selection opens with a unique phenomenon of its kind. This is not just a museum where exhibits are arranged on shelves and a label is glued on each. No, the real exhibits of the Experimentarium are experiments, from traditional chemical to optical and acoustic illusions, mechanical miracles, as well as magnetic things. And everyone can engage in them, from small to large.
Moreover, children in the Experimentarium may be more interesting than adults. After all, here you can collect and disassemble things, jump, scream and do dozens more things that are prohibited in ordinary museums.
And even in this unusual institution, shows are regularly held, in which they show and talk in detail (and very spectacularly) about the miracles that are hidden in the world around us.
9. Wall of Viktor Tsoi on the Arbat
Address: st. Arbat, 37/2, building 1,
Almost one third of a century has passed since the death of Viktor Tsoi in a car accident. However, as one of the very first inscriptions on the wall said, "Choi is alive." And in the hearts of his fans, he will live forever.
The material expression of this love can be seen with your own eyes on Old Arbat, where for many years Muscovites and guests of the capital have left inscriptions on the wall, pasted photographs and light candles. The wall of Tsoi is rightfully considered one of the main attractions of Moscow.
Over the past years, both the city hall and unknown vandals have repeatedly tried to paint the wall. However, each time, like a phoenix, she rose from the ashes in all her clumsy and touching greatness.
8. Sandunovsky baths
Address: Neglinnaya St., 14 p. 3-7
Bathhouse is an integral part of Russian national traditions as vodka, nesting doll and balalaika. And the Sandunov baths are the most famous of all.
In addition to, as a matter of fact, the bathing component, they are an impressive monument of Russian architecture of the turn of the century. At the time of their founding, they shocked the public with an unprecedented luxury then: separate male and female departments, a chic mirrored hall, clean linen and soft sofas.
Two centuries have passed since then, but the Sanduns keep the brand, so if you want to take a good steam in the atmosphere of “expensive, rich”, then you know where to turn. And the lines there are very long, so we recommend you to reserve places in advance.
By the way, Sandunovsky baths are also a cinematic attraction. Their interiors flashed in many films: in The Irony of Fate, Brother-2, in the Red Heat beloved by the Russian people, and even in the Battleship Potemkin.
7. Museum of Soviet gaming machines
Address: Prospekt Mira, 119, p. 57
This is probably one of the most unusual places in Moscow, which has no analogues in all of Russia. It is dedicated to slot machines that were once produced in the USSR.
Middle-aged readers probably remember how, dropping a fifteen-cents penny into the slot, they could play Sea Battle or shoot red targets with a rifle. So, in the museum, these memories can be brought to life again, all the machines in it are fully operational. By the way, they still require the very 15 kopecks that are issued at the entrance.
6. Moscow Butterfly House
Address: VDNH, Mira Avenue 119, p. 519
One of the most interesting and exotic museums in Moscow, the exhibits of which are real living butterflies. They fly completely freely throughout the room, delighting visitors (and sometimes even frightening when a giant tropical butterfly with a wingspan of a quarter meter flies past).
There is also a more traditional entomological exhibition in Butterflyarium, which the creators painstakingly gathered around the world for half a century.
They must warn that butterflies must be handled very carefully - after all, valuable museum exhibits. And a visit to the museum is limited to 40 minutes, so it’s worth considering in advance what exactly you want to see. The most reasonable solution is to hire a guide.
5. Picturesque bridge
Address: Moscow, 123103
Tall and beautiful bridges in the world will not surprise anyone. What about the highest cable-stayed bridge in Europe?
When implementing this project, Moscow architects showed the highest class, and its author was awarded the international prize for achievements in the field of construction.
The main difficulty was represented by environmental restrictions: both banks were “green” zones, where it was impossible to cost anything, plus ships should freely walk along the river. Therefore, the canvas of the bridge does not go directly across the river, but as if along it, but it is supported by a gigantic arch defiantly red.
This view is really impressive, and a silver capsule suspended under the arch attracts special attention. Once it was planned to make an observation deck there, then a restaurant, and now they are going to open a registry office. This, of course, will be the most unusual registry office in the world.
4. Scenery “Moscow. XIX century
Address: st. Mosfilmovskaya d. 1
To see with your own eyes the old Moscow of two hundred years ago, you do not need a mad professor and his magical time machine. You just need to come to the territory of the Mosfilm film studio and buy a ticket. And here she is, the very Moscow that the Russians saw in many paintings - from the Fandorin saga to the "Horseman named Death."
This is a real city, albeit a little ghostly. Although the full-face looks extremely real, the profile reveals that the buildings are models made of plaster and plywood. However, they are made very reliably: both the old spelling and the peddler's shop with goods, as well as the firewood carefully laid at the porch, are not forgotten.
By the way, several times the old Moscow with a flick of the wrist of the stage workers turned into revolutionary St. Petersburg, then into bourgeois Paris, but it always returned to its original state.
3. Rowing canal in Krylatsky
Address: Krylatskaya St., 2
In a city with a population of more than 10 million people, greens with large water are very rare. Therefore, the rowing canal in Krylatskoy shines so against the backdrop of the never-sleeping megalopolis, where everyone can touch the world of water sports and stare at kayaks, canoes and boats.
One of the most beautiful places in Moscow meets the best world sports and entertainment standards. It is completely man-made and isolated from the waters of the Moskva River, where waves from passing tourist vessels could interfere with athletes. And the International Canoe Federation generally considers this channel the best in the world.
However, it’s not a single sport that is so vividly popular and attractive for Muscovites. In Krylatskoye often held water festivals, for example, "Circle of Light" - a pyrotechnic show on the water.
2. Bunker-703
Address: 2nd Novokuznetskiy per., 14 building 1
Moscow is rich in bunkers, where the country's government planned to sit out in case of danger, if the Third World War suddenly bursts out. Now some of these shelters have turned into museums. “Bunker-703” was no exception.
The secret facility, despite its size (three buildings on top, two levels below and a giant ten-ton door, securely sealing the entrance to the holy of holies), served not as the headquarters of the KGB, but as a repository of documents. True, top-secret.
And I would still serve them, but groundwater began to seep through the walls, threatening the safety of papers. Therefore, the documents were hastily evacuated, and a museum was built in the bunker after restoration. It opened recently - last summer.
1. Another World - Virtual Reality Arena
Address: st. Foldable, 1 page 1
Virtual reality is still largely new and unknown. However, Moscow here is ahead of Russia. The club of virtual reality Another World has the largest squares in Europe (at least among those who use the “latest equipment”, as the club’s website hints).
Its creators devoted all their efforts to virtual reality as much as possible reminiscent of the reality given to us in sensations. This is the very “latest equipment” (starting from the sensors that hang players in abundance, weapons that resemble real ones, up to heat generators, air movement and earth trembling).
And then! Have you seen movies about post-apocalyptic reality? And there you will find yourself - at the epicenter. You really run, really fight, and insidious enemies dream of truly destroying you. The players say that the sensations are strong. And they recommend playing in a team - so much more fun.
