Newszy: Moscow – The Image of Moscow in Russian Art from the Collection of the State Russian Museum, a landmark exhibition in Pavilion No. 1 “Central” at VDNH, has opened. The project brings 115 works (104 paintings and 11 sculptures) from St. Petersburg to the capital, many of them shown in Moscow for the first time.
Positioned as the season’s must-see, the exhibition occupies 9,400 square meters and spans Moscow’s visual history—from sacred icons and pre-Fire panoramas to the modern metropolis. Highlights include masterworks by Apollinary Vasnetsov, Vasily Surikov, Ilya Repin, Valentin Serov, Mikhail Nesterov, Vasily Vereshchagin, Isaac Brodsky, and others, as well as a rare cycle by Gerard Delabart depicting Moscow before the Fire of 1812.
Curated across four chapters—Old Moscow, New Moscow, Moscow as Capital, and Muscovites—the exhibition moves from medieval icon painting and Delabart’s city views to 20th-century urban transformations and portraits of outstanding Muscovites, including figures from theatre, science, and culture.
To welcome international visitors, gallery labels and wall texts are available in multiple languages. The jewel of the exhibition is Ilya Repin’s monumental canvas The Ceremonial Meeting of the State Council on 7 May 1901—a true visual manifesto of its era, symbolizing the essence of the capital’s identity and the continuity of the state’s central mission.
Bulat Nurmukhanov, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow City Tourism Committee, commented: “VDNH is rapidly becoming a favorite stop for travelers from the Middle East. The site combines world-class culture with easy mobility and comfort—think golf carts, e-scooters, and a walkable, family-friendly layout—making it effortless to add a major museum experience to any itinerary. This exhibition is the perfect reason to discover VDNH now.”
Visitor information. The exhibition runs for almost five months, through 1 February 2026. Opening hours: Tuesday–Sunday, 11:00–21:00 (last entry 20:00). Admission opens on 6 September.
Today VDNH is Russia’s largest museum and exhibition complex, uniting more than 30 museums and cultural venues and welcoming around 30 million visitors annually. It consistently ranks among the top three Moscow attractions most popular with international tourists.