Moscow Kremlin Museums

The Moscow Kremlin Museums (MMK) is a major state-run museum complex located within the Moscow Kremlin. Its origins trace back to the Kremlin Armoury museum, which was founded in 1806, though the institution took its current form in 1991. Since 2001, the museum has been headed by Yelena Gagarina, the daughter of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. In 2020, the museums attracted 424,922 visitors—an 86 percent drop from 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic—yet still ranked 46th on the list of the world’s most-visited art museums that year.

The museum complex includes several distinct sites: the Kremlin Armoury, the Diamond Fund, the Dormition Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Archangel, the Cathedral of the Annunciation, the Residence of Patriarchs and Church of the Twelve Apostles, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe, and the Ivan the Great Bell Tower.

The museum’s first public exhibition opened in 1814. Emperor Nicholas I officially renamed it “The Moscow Armoury Chambers” on August 22, 1831. During Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, many cultural objects were damaged, ruined, lost, or relocated.

The Armoury Chamber is part of the Grand Kremlin Palace complex, housed in a building contracted by architect Konstantin Ton in 1851. It holds the core of the museum’s collections, including ancient state regalia, ceremonial royal clothing and coronation dresses, vestments of Russian Orthodox Church hierarchs, gold and silverware by Russian craftsmen, West European artistic silver, ceremonial arms and armor, carriages, and horse ceremonial harnesses.

The Assumption Cathedral stands on Cathedral Square, surrounded by Old Russian architecture, including cathedrals, churches, the Ivan the Great Bell-Tower, the Facets Palace, and the Patriarch’s Palace. Dedicated to the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, it was built as the principal church of the Russian state. In 1326, the first Moscow Metropolitan Peter ordered the relocation of the quarters from Vladimir to Moscow. A new building was constructed in 1479 by decree of Grand Prince Ivan III. For six centuries, the cathedral served as the national and religious center of Russia. Its walls are covered with murals by painters from around the world, and it eventually housed a collection of Russian medieval art monuments. After the 1917 Revolution, the cathedral became a museum.