Event: Russia - Moscow

Tretyakov Gallery

When:	Daily; not Mon
Where:	Tretyakov Gallery
Costs:	Rbl225; concessions Rbl130 Russian citizens Rbl50; concessions Rbl30
Opening Hours:	Tue-Sun 10am-7.30pm; last entry 6.30pm

Founded in 1856, the Tretyakov Gallery holds the most important collection of Russian painting in the world, with more than 130,000 works of art from the 10th century to the present day. Not to be missed are Levitan's landscapes and the works of Vrubel and Kustodiev. The nearby New Tretyakov Gallery houses a fine collection of 20th-century art.

From gilt encrusted 12th-century iconography to 20th-century socialist realism, the gamut of Russian history is explored here through fine art. The 12th-century Vladimir Virgin, one of the most famous Russian icons, sits alongside works by Theophanes the Greek, Dionysius and Andrey Rublyov.

Besides the religious art must-sees, the permanent exhibition includes Andey Vrubel's series of striking and intense paintings depicting Mikhael Lermontov's The Demon, as well as works by Malevich and Kandinsky.