Moscow museums · History
History · since 1917
The Museum of Contemporary History
State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia
original name: Государственный центральный музей современной истории России
The collection is large, but the display is built ideologically and is unreliable as a source of knowledge — we say so plainly. The value is the building: this is the Moscow English Club, the one from the novels, and some objects such as the propaganda porcelain.
Minimum route
2 hours
Founded
1917
Ticket
from ₽500
Today
10:00–20:00
What to see
The building of the Moscow English Club — the club of Eugene Onegin and War and Peace, with the lions on its gate; Soviet propaganda porcelain; the collection of gifts to Stalin.
Minimum route — 2 hours for the essentials
The halls of the turn of the 20th century, then the propaganda porcelain and the gifts to Stalin. Look at the house itself: it is the English Club.
Reference
About the museum
Russian history from the second half of the 19th century to today: about 1,300,000 items. Founded in 1917 as the Museum of the Revolution and opened to the public in 1924.
The building
The Razumovsky estate of the 1780s, rebuilt after the fire of 1812 (A. Menelaws, D. Gilardi). From 1831 to 1917 it housed the Moscow English Club.
Good to know
Free for under-16s, disabled visitors of groups I and II, Heroes of the Soviet Union and of Russia, ICOM members.
Getting in
How to get there
Metro Pushkinskaya, Tverskaya or Chekhovskaya
Opening timeschecked on 15 August 2026, open sources
closed for the day
| Mon | closed |
| Tue, Wed, Fri–Sun today | 10:00–20:00 |
| Thu | 11:00–21:00 |
last admission 30 min before closing
Box office closes half an hour early. Closed Mondays.
Ticketschecked on 15 August 2026, open sources
When to go
Almost never crowded. Thursday until 21:00.
Contacts
sovrhistory.ru · +7 (495) 699-67-24 (guided tours), +7 (495) 699-54-58 (recorded information)
Of interest to children
20th-century history is dull without preparation; for older children on a theme, yes.
Access for visitors with limited mobility
The museum — partly. An 18th-century mansion: a platform lift, some halls up steps.
Getting there — partly. Pushkinskaya has no lift. Moscow metro stations almost never have lifts to the platform, except on the Big Circle line and the MCC. A wheelchair user is better served by the surface buses, which are low-floor across the centre.
Getting there — partly. Pushkinskaya has no lift. Moscow metro stations almost never have lifts to the platform, except on the Big Circle line and the MCC. A wheelchair user is better served by the surface buses, which are low-floor across the centre.
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