towards a finale

So, all that is left to do is to decide on the final 'tenth' for the 10-of-the-best series. The minor problem is that these have got a bit out of order on this blog; the bigger problem that I cannot decide between many different places that have not yet made it to the list. There is VdnKH, the All Russian Exhibition Centre, with its massive Soviet-style park of elegant regional pavilions, and their peculiarly Russian transformation into masses of tiny stalls. (All with the added benefit of being in close proximity to the Space Museum, the outrageously dated Hotel Cosmos, and the glories of ice sculptures in the winter.)

Or the fabulous new interior of the Stanislavsky Theatre (shown here, part of a stylish refurbishment of the whole factory). Or any of the new and developing contemporary art centres, also in renovated factories - Winzavod, ArtPlay, Flacon or Fabrika. Or - of course - all the many fab places, especially nightclubs, that I never frequented during my extended stay in Moscow.

At this very last moment, then, all suggestions welcome for 'number 10'.  

10-of-the-best 5: Bar Strelka

Even in the brief time I have been away, the Moscow art and design scene seems to have blossomed (it being the summer obviously helps). Finally made it to Bar Strelka, for an evening drink on the high-level outside terrace overlooking the river; definitely one of the coolest places to be right now. In fact the whole Red October factory island is buzzing. Read a brilliant piece by the author Gary Shteyngart ("Born in Leningrad, U.S.S.R., in 1972, I have been coming back almost every year since my late twenties to poke fun at my birthplace"). He calls Strelka the centre of 'the Snob universe', Russia's very own glossy for the cultural elite; but also hopes (hopelessly) that places like this can be part of making the country more 'normal' - for "If Russia can become a normal country, then maybe my past can be normalized, too" .




For more cool spots outdoor eating and drink spots, read this from moscow-in-your-pocket.
For more about Bar Strelka, and the Strelka Insitute, see this video.  

10-of-the-best: no.4 Gorky Park

Gorky Park is in a constant process of re-invention right now, which is partly about an (almost first) attempt to make Moscow a more liveable city and partly about some weird deals between the Kremlin, the mayor and an oligarch or two (so what is new?)

The initial stage, commissioned through the Strelka Institute (set up by oligarch Alexander Mamut), was to add in some new urban designish elements - benches, more up-market cafes, an outdoor cinema and a summer 'beach', whilst clearing the last of the mini Coney Island type fairground rides from the river frontage. Then this next stage, which is AMAZING! There is now the biggest and best skating area I have ever seen, a mixture of different rinks linked by ice ways, all framed by some quite neat wooden and colourful pavilions and bridges.*  I note that their website has a fab, that is to say quite hammy, animated CAD walkthrough (skatethrough?) crooned over by Louis Armstrong.

The stage to follow in the Spring is the shift of Garage from, well the garage (Melnikov-designed constructivist) it was in, to here. This is publicised as beginning with a pavilion by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, then a  temporary home designed by Rem Koolhaas’s Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) together with Olga Trevias/Form Bureau, which will convert the Park's concrete 1960s Vremena Goda (Four Seasons) restaurant, long abandoned. After that,  Garage will come to "occupy a nearby 8,500 square meter hexagonal pavilion. The historic 1920s pavilion of six sections with a courtyard (was) first constructed to house the first All-Union Agricultural Exhibition.."

So, of course, this leads to interesting questions. Well of course the usual one as to whether it will happen. And then there is the cash.  It was already known that Roman Abramovich has had a hand (and money) in the re-development of Gorky Park and now his girlfriend Dasha Zhukova, the owner of Garage, is moving in there too. As Andrew Osbourn put it in the Telegraph earlier this year: "using part of his estimated £8.4 billion fortune to turn (Gorky Park) into a showcase for the Russian capital is an undertaking likely to further endear Mr Abramovich to the Kremlin which regularly urges oligarchs to plough some of their fabulous wealth back into society". But then - maybe - they are also getting some real estate in return.

* I took the photo just after the ice had been cleaned, hence the emptiness. In fact, each winter since Soviet times, the paths of Gorky Park have been watered and left to ice all winter. I have only not skated there in the last couple of years because it always seemed as full as rush-hour in the Metro. Having a refrigerated bed has meant that this mild winter has not caused a problem; and the rink is just as full as it was in past times. 


Go here for more about the Gorky Park facilities and a list of the best other ice rinks in Moscow. 

10-of-the-best: no.3 Solyanka

Dragged V to Solyanka (the restaurant, not the road or club) for Sunday lunch today, which in fact is much too uber-trendy for his liking. But I have to have it on my list of best non-mainstream-tourist places to hang out, just because it shows that Muscovites* also have cool, contemporary cafes where you can sit all day with your chums, the newspapers and/or your iPad - and with your kids if you have them; that is, that there is life beyond the superficiality of most tourist-class restaurant bling and chintz.

And if you prefer something more cozy and even less showy, then there is always People Like People/Lyudi Kak Lyudi/люди как люди, just around the corner.


*Actually some Muscovites don't like it, because the original started out in St. Petersburg.

10-of-the-best: no. 2 State Kremlin Palace

In the late 1950s and early 60s Khrushchev built a massive, modernist, glass and concrete 'palace' for communist party meetings, right within the historic Kremlin. The scale is monumental, with seating for 6,000 people, and not surprisingly the building is not well-liked, given that a considerable part of an older Russian heritage was destroyed to enable its construction.

But I love it. This is not so much because of the building design itself (although there are some fabulously classic Soviet murals) but more about the sheer scale of the whole 'mass' experience. I first visited in the 1970s to see the Bolshi Ballet perform, and was literally swept away; first by the huge crowds pouring down symmetrical sets of stairs to divest themselves of coats; and then by the same crowds moving upwards to the main concert hall itself.

This experience is repeated at the interval; this time everyone surges upwards to the largest room I have ever seen, where buffet-style, these 6,000 people simultaneously snack on Russian champagne and slices of bread and cheese/caviar/meat (at least that's what it feels like). Have visited much more recently, and enjoyed it in much the same way.

I should note that none of my Russian friends and colleagues seem to share this same enthusiasm, nor many of my English workmates; that seeing an event here is not cheap; and that it tends to the extremely popularist - right now they are running Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance. But, well, to me, attending an event here is still a great way to capture something of the country's Soviet past.  The proper post-Soviet name is the State Kremlin Palace (GKD/гкд in Russian), although most people still know it as the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. Moscow-in-your-pocket is an easy place to start to see what's on and this is usually a good site for buying tickets.

10-of-the-best: No. 1 Mayakovskaya Metro Station

I have been putting together a list of the 10 best things to do in Moscow, that aren't in the standard tourist guides.

And I find myself starting with one thing that is ALL the tourist guides, the Metro. The best station must be Mayakovskaya - which has the most breath-taking light/flight/air themed mosaics on the ceiling. It is also the most 'lightweight' in design and looked after well; it has no adverts for example. The glorious part though, which is easy to miss, is the entrance hall to the north exit directly onto Tverskaya.

To find it when you get off the train, take the direction where the escalator goes down. And then rise up into a masterpiece of art and architecture.

10-of-the-best 9: Museum of Architecture

Finally found my way to the Schusev State Museum of Architecture today - a brilliantly tumbledown and miscellaneous, artifact-filled set of buildings (an old aristocratic estate) just next to Biblioteka Lenina metro station. For those interested in the subject there is a stunning exhibition of architectural drawings and photographs of 1930s Stalin-approved projects by the State architecture department Mosproekt -1 (finishes 10 February 2011); some conceptual work from, I think, architectural students; and then a show of photographs in what is rightly called 'the ruined annexe' where the temperature inside was colder than outside, but the space is extraordinary.

Like many provincial English museums, the place is staffed by old ladies, all of whom were extremely helpful. I recommend a visit, if only to see the (unfortunately rather picturesque) effects of underfunding of museums like this in Post-Soviet Russia.

For Soviet/Russian architectural groupies, the museum also has virtual exhibitions. 

10-of-the-best 7: Gorky's House

Got taken to what is usually called the Gorky House Museum in tourist guides. And it is fab. A brilliantly gorgeous example of Russian art nouveau architecture (Russian modern) by Fyodor Shekhtel, who should be just as well known as Charles Reenie Mackintosh, Antonio Gaudi, Hector Guimard and all the rest.

The building is also known as the Ryabushinsky Mansion - the original clients - who were themselves a very interesting turn-of-the century family. Then that 'restless man' Maxim Gorky lived there from 1931 to 1936, a reward from Stalin for returning to the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile Fyodor Shekhtel fell out of favour after the Revolution - Art Nouveau was despised by Soviet critics of the period. Many of his Moscow mansions were leased to foreign embassies, so were (and are) inaccessible to visitors. But there is still a lot of Art Nouveau in Moscow, and this small house one of the most beautiful examples.

10-of-the-best 8: Mayakovsky Museum

One reason I have been out visiting trendy restaurants is that a friend has been staying, meaning I have been a proper tourist for a couple of days, having a great time with him visiting various Moscow sights.

So finally got to the Mayakovsky museum, which is just around the corner from where I live, near Lubyanka. Mayakovsky was a futurist/constructivist poet and writer(1983 - 1930) and the museum is an extraordinary three-dimensional representation of his life and work, a four-storey sophisticated spiralling down (based on the designs of Tatlin's tower) of metaphorical constructions, and multi-layered images.

The work itself - just the sheer energy, confidence and creativity of the immediate post-revolutionary period - is astounding. All the usual suspects are there; Rodchenko, Malevich, Tatlin, Melnikov, just to name a few. There are letters, collages, photographs, paintings, sketches, notes and much else, set at all kinds of angles and relationships. It took my breath away twice, once for the glories on show; and then because these original and irreplaceable works are just stuck under glass (sometimes), jumbled up so some difficult to even see, and then cut or overpainted or generally mistreated. This might be seen either as an expression of Mayakovsky's anarchy and exuberance (ignoring the fact that he committed suicide), or of a terrible lack of concern for the long-term preservation of these precious artefacts. Or both.

The Maykovsky Museum website is only in Russian (there is an English link which doesn't seem to work, but there is always Google Translate). For a 3D virtual tour of the museum interior try here. And for some poetry and his manifesto A Slap in the Face for Public Taste visit a favouritely weird website, archiving the works of Marxists across the globe.