Looking back to the 12th century to find out that during that time Moscow was only a small wooden town.

Today the capital of Russia is one of the biggest cities of Europe with the population over 13 million people.

Moscow is a political, scientific, historical, architectural and business centre, from which power and might of the Russian state developed.

If you've heard of Moscow, you've probably heard of the famous Red Square and the Kremlin.

From the second half of 18th century the Arbat became the most aristocratic quarter of the city. The Muscovite intelligentsia settled in this area. There have never been any factories here, nor any workers' huts. Muscovites used to say: 'For money, go to Zamoskvorechye, for a career, go to St. Petersburg, but for knowledge and memories, go to the Arbat.'

House number 53 on the Arbat was built in the mid-18th century and was home to the newly married Pushkin and his young wife. It was here that the poet held his stag night, to which he invited his friends Denis Davydov and Pavel Nashchokin. The flat was later home to the cousin of the great composer Tchaikovsky. Between 1920 and 1921 the building housed the avant-garde Red Army dramatic theater. In February 1986 after considerable reconstruction, a museum was opened in the mansion to celebrate the life and works of Pushkin.
Click here to see Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts official site.

Sivtsev-Vrazhek Lane used to be the residence of Pushkin's eldest daughter, Maria Gartung, on whom Tolstoy modeled his famous character Anna Karenina. The house just around the corner, at the junction of Plotnikov and Bolshoi Mogiltsevsky Lanes, is adorned with a marble sculptured frieze depicting the Pushkin, Gogol and Tolstoy surrounded by mythological characters, that was originally intended to decorate the portico of the future Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.

Not far from the Arbat in Glazovsky Lane at the junction with Smolensky Boulevard there is a magnificent mansion # 32. In the late 18th century General Glazov lived here, and his name is perpetuated in the name of the street. At the end of the last century the mansion was bought by Mikhail Morozov, a renowned patron of the arts and founder of the Morozov picture collection. He graduated from the history and literature faculty of Moscow University, and was a highly educated man with refined tastes. While still a student he started collecting paintings by European and Russian masters. Morozov was highly regarded in artistic circles. His wife, Margarita is depicted in Vrubel's paintings Venice and The Swan Princess (which are kept at the Tretyakov's Gallery).

The Morozovs financed the Moscow Conservatoire and the Stroganov Art School, and it was his funds which were used to build the hall of Greek sculptures in the Museum of Fine Arts. However, Morozov's fame and prestige pale in comparison with his remarkable wife, Margarita. She was a splendid woman with an extraordinary intellect who was able to gather brilliant people around her. The poet Andrei Beliy and the statesman Milyukov worshipped her. After the death of her husband in 1903 she continued to live in the mansion and opened a salon. It had nothing in common with the high society salons where people merely indulged in idle chatter. The meetings at Madame Morozov's house were a place for political discussions and literary readings. Her guests embraced a broad political spectrum, from the liberal Milyukov to Bolsheviks, who used to read their lectures on Marxism.

Together with the philosopher Trubetskoi she founded a Religious and Philosophical Society in memory of Vladimir Solovyov. The best Russian philosophers like Berdyayev, Florensky and Bulgakov became members. The group advocated the moral cleansing of the personality on the basis of religious consciousness, and looked for the sources of its philosophy in the works of Dostoyevsky.

In 1910 in conjunction with the Society Margarita Morozova set up a publishing house called Put ('The Way'). That same year in accordance with her husband's will she gave his collection of paintings to the Tretyakov Gallery (later some of the paintings were transferred to the Hermitage and some to the Pushkin Museum).

To the right of Arbat runs Spasopeskovsky Lane. At #10 there is a sumptuous mansion in the neo-Empire style. It was built in 1914 by the architects Adamovich and Mayat for the millionaire financier Vtorov. Vtorov's mysterious death in his study gave rise to various rumours: it was suggested that he had been murdered by the Red Guards, or that his own son killed him in order to get his hands on his father's money. Whatever the truth was, the mansion had a bad reputation, and appeared in the pages of Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita" as the house in which Satan's ball was held.

After the revolution the mansion was expropriated and used as an office for the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs. Today it is the American Ambassador's official residence.