#Things to do in Moscow

9. Bolshoi Theater

The Russian Ballet is renowned the world over; it’s pretty much the benchmark by which every other ballet school is measured – so while in Moscow, it’s almost certainly a given that you’re going to want to catch a performance at the world-famous Bolshoi Theater. Operas are held more frequently than ballets, so you have some scope for viewing a variety of performances – but even if theater isn’t your thing, it’s still worth checking out the interior of this significant building, which was opened on 20 October 1856, the coronation day of Tsar Alexander II; English-speaking tours start on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 11.15am.

10. Novospassky Monastery

Claiming to be the oldest monastery in Moscow, Novospassky is located within striking distance of Taganskaya Placel, in Moscow’s southeast. The centerpiece of this monastery is the Transfiguration Cathedral, which, with its five domes, was built in the mid-17th century by the Russian Imperial family and modelled on the Kremlin’s Assumption Cathedral. The history of Christianity in Russia is depicted in frescoes, and the family tree of the Romanovs – spanning back as far as the Viking Prince Rurik, but abruptly ended by the execution of the last Tzar and his family in 1918 – inhabits one entire wall. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the monastery was claimed by the Soviets during their rule and used as a prison; later it became a police drunk tank and then an art restoration institute, until finally becoming a Russian Orthodox church again in 1991.