134 NORTH EASTERN EUROPE
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp160–61 and pp162–3
Melnikov House w
Дом Мельникова
Dom Melnikova
Krivoarbatskiy pereulok 10. Map B3.
q Smolenskaya.
This unique house was
designed by Konstantin
Melnikov (1890–1974), one of
Russia’s greatest Constructivist
architects, in 1927. Made from
brick overlaid with white
stucco, the house consists of
two interlocking cylinders.
These are studded with rows
of hexagonal windows, creat-
ing a curious honeycomb
effect. A spiral staircase rises
through the space where the
cylinders overlap, linking the
light, airy living spaces.
Melnikov’s house was built
for his family, but it was also
to have been a prototype for
future housing developments.
However, his career was bligh-
ted when Stalin encouraged
architects towards a new
monu mental style. In spite of
this, Melnikov was one of the
very few allowed to live in a
privately built dwelling in
central Moscow. His son,
Viktor, had a studio in the
house until his death in 2006.
A portrait of Pushkin’s wife,
Natalya GoncharovaViktor Melnikov’s light-filled art
studio in the Melnikov House
Pushkin Museum
of Fine Arts r
Музей изобразительных
искусств имени АС
Пушкина
Muzey izobrazitelnykh
iskusstv imeni A.S. PushkinaUlitsa Volkhonka 12. Map C3.
Tel 697 9578. q Kropotkinskaya.
1,2,16, 33. # 10am–7pm Tue–
Sun. & 8 9 = English.
http://www.museum.ru/gmiiFounded in 1898, the Pushkin
Museum of Fine Arts houses
several excel lent French
Impressionist and Post-
Impressionist paint ings. These
reflect the tastes of many private
collec tors, whose hold ings were
nationalized by the Soviet gover-
n ment. The most important of
these belong to two outstand ing
connois seurs, Sergey ShchukinPushkin
House-Museum e
Mузей-квартира А.С.
Пушкина
Muzey-kvartira A.S. Pushkina
Ulitsa Arbat 53. Map B3. Tel 241
- q Smolenskaya. # 10am–
6pm Wed–Sun, 10am–9pm Thu. &
^ 8 English (book in advance).
Alexander Pushkin rented
this elegant, blue and white
Empire-style flat for the first
three months of his marriage
to society beauty Natalya
Goncharova. They were
married in the Church of the
Great Ascension on Bolshaya
Nikitskaya ulitsa in February- However, by May 1831
Pushkin had tired of Moscow,
and the couple moved to St
Petersburg, where a tragic fate
awaited him. Gossip began to
claim that Pushkin’s brother-
in-law, a French officer called
d’Anthès, was making advan-
ces to Natalya. Upon receiv-
ing letters calling him “Grand
Master to the Order of
Cuckolds”, Pushkin challenged
d’Anthès to a duel, dying of
his wounds two days later.
The ground floor exhibition
gives an idea of what the city
would have been like when
Pushkin was growing up,
before the Great Fire of 1812.
Among the prints, litho graphs
and water colours there are
some unusual wax figures of
a serf orchestra that belong ed
to the Goncharova family.
Pushkin and Natalya lived
on the first floor. There are
very few personal possessions
here, although the poet’s
writing bureau and some
family portraits are displayed.
The atmosphere resembles a
shrine more than a museum,
an indication of the special
place Pushkin has in the
hearts of Russians.
Cathedral of Christ
the Redeemer t
Храм Христа Спасителя
Khram Khrista SpasitelyaUlitsa Volkhonka 15. Map C4.
q Kropotkinskaya.Rebuilding this cathedral,
blown up on Stalin’s orders in
1931, was the most ambitious
construction project by the
enterprising mayor of Moscow,
Yuriy Luzhkov. The basic
struc ture of the new cathedral
was built between 1994 and- Before this, the site was
and Ivan Morozov. Shchukin had
over 220 paintings by French
artists, including Cezanne, and
had also champ ioned Matisse
and Picasso when they were
rela tively unknown. Morozov
also collected these two painters
along with pic tures by Renoir,
Van Gogh and Gauguin. High-
lights include Nude by Renoir,
The Great Buddha by Gauguin
and Goldfish by Matisse.
Following the collapse of
the Soviet Union, the curators
admitted that they had count less
works of art hidden away for
ideo logi cal reasons. Some of
these are now on display,
includ ing paint ings by Russian-
born artists Vasily Kandinsky
and Marc Chagall. There is an
envi able collection of Old
Mas ters and art from ancient
civi lizations, such as the
Treasure of Troy display, with
gold artifacts excavated from
the famous city in the 1870s.