Moscow museums · History
History · since 1994
The Old English Court
original name: Музей «Старый Английский двор»
The oldest surviving secular building in Moscow. The value is in the vaults themselves: almost no 16th-century interiors are left in the city, and these were recovered by Baranovsky, the restorer who saved half of it.
Minimum route
45 minutes
Founded
1994
Ticket
from ₽350
Today
12:00–20:00
What to see
The Treasury Chamber with its 16th–17th-century interior and the original vaults; the display on Russian–English trade and finds from the Zaryadye digs.
Minimum route — 45 minutes for the essentials
The Treasury Chamber and the vaults. Half an hour, then a walk through Zaryadye.
Reference
About the museum
Chambers given by Ivan the Terrible to the English merchants of the Muscovy Company in 1556 — one of the oldest secular buildings in Moscow. A museum since 1994, part of the Museum of Moscow. Formerly called the English Podvorye.
The building
16th-century chambers. Their present look is the result of Pyotr Baranovsky’s restoration of 1968–1972; before that the building was buried in later additions.
What people who know say
what the place is
And we came to the Mosco the 4. day of October, and were lodged that night in a simple house: but the next day we were sent for to the Emperour his secretarie, and he bade vs welcome with a cheerefull countenance and cheerefull wordes […] and then we were appointed to a better house: and the seuenth day the secretary sent for vs againe, and then he shewed vs that we should haue a better house: for it was the Emperour his will, that we should haue all things that we did lacke, and did send vs meade of two sorts, and two hens, our house free, and euery two dayes to receiue eight hens, seven altines, and two pence in money.
Getting in
How to get there
Metro Kitay-Gorod or Ploshchad Revolyutsii
Opening timeschecked on 15 August 2026, open sources
closed for the day
| Mon | closed |
| Tue, Wed, Fri–Sun today | 12:00–20:00 |
| Thu | 11:00–21:00 |
Closed Mondays. Tickets on the website, at the museum and at the Zaryadye Park box offices.
Ticketschecked on 15 August 2026, open sources
Adults 350 ₽; visitors aged 7–18 175 ₽.
from ₽350
tickets online only · timed entry
When to go
Tickets online only. Best combined with the park on a warm day.
Contacts
Of interest to children
16th-century chambers and the story of the English merchants — from 8.
Access for visitors with limited mobility
The museum — no. 16th-century chambers: steep steps and vaulted cellars, no platform lift.
Getting there — partly. Kitay-Gorod has no lift; the paths in Zaryadye park are level. 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. Kitay-Gorod has no lift; the paths in Zaryadye park are level. 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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