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.

Handy hints for travellers 17: not the Bolshoi...

I may get myself into trouble here, especially because I have only been to one performance of the Bolshoi 'round the corner' from their base (too expensive, and the main building only just renovated);  and have come to an unsupported opinion that the shows at the Novaya Opera are too cheap and uneven (!) But, I would strongly recommend seeing the ballet or opera at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre as a key part of the Moscow traveller's experience.

Why you may ask? Well because the tickets are inexpensive (under 20 pounds/$30), the theatre is small but interesting, and the performances I have seen - Stone Flower and Madame Butterfly - have been very moving. Several important provisos here. I don't know much about music, ballet or opera. I saw Madame Butterfly sung in Italian with Russian surtitles so I did not understand a thing, And it has to be admitted that  the scenery had a miscellaneous quality, tending to wobble, whilst the staging asked some odd and distracting 'business' of the performers. But still I cried. Which has never happened before (to me) in an opera. Ever.

So that seems good enough reason for a recommendation.

Tosca!

The proper Bolshoi Theatre has been under renovation since the summer of 2005, and was meant to be finished in March 2008. According to the Moscow News from the beginning of 2009: "In the past few months, no one was willing to risk a prediction on an official opening date, and some people even said that the work could drag on for several decades. (Russia's Minister of Culture Aleksandr) Avdeev, however, reassured the public that the Bolshoi renovation would be finished by the end of 2010."

So, at the moment, the Bolshoi company performs ballet and opera in the theatre next door. We went to see Tosca (seats 750 rubles/£15) which was a great romp with plenty of drama and volume. I do feel a bit a cultural snob about the staging though. There was a lot of very literal interpretation, much hand-wringing and - what seemed odd to me, although I know almost nothing about opera - a liberal slavering of religious iconography, including a life size crucifix and a smoke ring halo over Mario as he gets shot (sorry, given the story away). Is that in the original?