State Museum-Reserve Tsaritsyno

The estate of the Museum-Reserve, located in the south of Moscow, had already been laid out at the time of Boris Godunov (16th century). Much later, Catherine II asked architect Vasiliy Bazhenov to build her a palace on this land. The Empress visited it when it was almost completed in 1785. She did not like what she saw and asked distinguished Russian architect Matvey Kazakov to go on with the work. Ten years later, when Catherine the Great died, the work stopped. Work started again two centuries later, when it was decided that a State Ethnic decorative and applied Arts Museum should be created there in 1984. Although it had been completed two years earlier the Grand Palace officially opened in 2005. Nowadays, the vast Museum-Reserve Tsaritsyno counts an architectural ensemble mixing red bricks, white stones and parks. Many exhibitions are held there and thematic excursions are offered.