The largest museum of its kind in Moscow, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts is a great place to visit for the Moscow tourist who is looking for something with a cultural and historical bent. The name is actually somewhat misleading, however. Most visitors anticipate that the institute is named in honor of Russia’s “father of poetry”, Alexander Pushkin, but this is, in fact, not the case. Nonetheless, the Museum is considered to be one of the most impressive in the Western world, featuring prominent works of art from all over Europe.
Its collection was originally comprised of perfect copies of ancient statuary, but over time many genuinely ancient artifacts have been contributed such as the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus, and the Story of Wenamun. In 1918, once the Russian capital was moved to Moscow, St. Petersburg’s famous Hermitage museum supplied the Pushkin Museum with much of its current collection of paintings, including important works by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Picasso, and Matisse.