Cities of the 2022 Volleyball World Championship. A guide to Moscow: a golden-domed past and a progressive present

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In late August — early September 2022, Russia will host the Volleyball World Championship. A key city in the schedule of the planet’s championship is Moscow. In the capital, Russian volleyball players will have a match of the first stage against the team of Puerto Rico. All the games of Final Six will be held here as well.

A top tournament is a great reason to visit one of the most popular tourist cities in the world, and the Sport24 Guide will help you spend your time in Moscow in the most interesting way.

Red Square

Red Square is the most famous place in Russia and a World Cultural Heritage Site. This is the heart of the capital that attracts millions of tourists from all over the world every year.

Several key sights of the capital are collected here at once: the State Historical Museum, the St. Basil’s Cathedral, the Mausoleum, GUM, the Monument to Minin and Pozharsky.

Zaryadye Park

This contemporary, beautiful park in the center of Moscow with panoramic views of the city, entertainments, and a unique ecosystem is a great example of how something new and modern can be integrated into the historical context of the city. It’s where nature is combined with technology. The Zaryadye Park is like an oasis of tranquility in the very center of eternal movement of the capital. The most famous sight of the park is the floating bridge in the shape of a letter V or a boomerang over the Moskva River. It towers 15 meters above the water, and its length is 244.4 meters. From here you can enjoy the unsurpassed panoramic view of the Kremlin, the St. Basil’s Cathedral, or the residential building on the Kotelnicheskaya Embankment, as well as take a perfect selfie as a memento.

Tretyakov Gallery

The Tretyakov Gallery is the most famous art museum in the capital, founded by merchant Pavel Tretyakov in 1856. The museum complex has several branches, but the main — and iconic — building is located in Lavrushinsky Lane. It will take a whole day to appreciate the world’s largest collection of Russian paintings, graphics, and sculpture that grew out of private collections belonging to brothers Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov; you can get lost in the halls of the Tretyakov Gallery for a long time, but it’s worth it.

The most complete collection is one of art of the 2nd half of the 19th century. The pride of the museum is paintings by Perov, Kramskoy, Polenov, Ge, Savrasov, Kuindzhi, Vasiliev, Vasnetsov, Surikov, Repin, acquired by the founder of the Tretyakov Gallery himself.

Old Arbat

Arbat is one of symbols of Moscow, it is an old street in the center of the capital, with a long and beautiful history. It is older than 500 years already, and it has always been loved not only by residents of Moscow, but by travelers as well.

When walking down the Arbat Street, you can see many memorable places related to the history of the city. We advise you not to miss your chance! First, drop by the renovated «Khudozhestvenny» Cinema Theater, which now has several cafés, restaurants, and a branch of the library. Arbat itself begins from the same-name square and the Praga Restaurant, where Leo Tolstoy once read excerpts from his Resurrection, and ends with the buildings of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs near the Smolenskaya Square. The Museum of Optical Illusions, the Perfume Museum, the Bulat Okudzhava Monument, the graffiti-covered Viktor Tsoi Wall, the Monument to Alexander Pushkin and Natalia Goncharova, and dozens of street artists and merchants — all these create a unique charm of one of the country’s most famous streets.

Winzavod

The first Russian cultural complex fully dedicated to contemporary art and design. On the territory of the Center art exhibitions, art house film screenings, concerts, premieres of theatrical performances, and exhibitions of designers from all over the country are held.

In addition to exhibition activities, lectures on art and design are held on the territory of Winzavod. The center itself is a combination of various kinds of venues, shops and institutions, including art cafés, bookstores, exhibition halls, designer clothes showrooms, and children’s creativity studios.

Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center

The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center was opened in 2012 in the building of the Bakhmetyev Bus Garage, which is the monument of constructivism built by K. Melnikov and V. Shukhov.

The permanent exhibition of the museum is dedicated to the history of Russia from the reign of Catherine II to the present day, on the example of culture and everyday life of the Jewish people. Unlike traditional historical museums, the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center is interactive. Twelve thematic pavilions are equipped with panoramic cinema theaters, interactive screens, audiovisual installations based on unique photo and video archives, documents and interviews.

Garage Museum

The long-empty building of the Vremena Goda (Seasons) Restaurant built in 1968 in the style of Soviet modernism in the Gorky Park was selected for the Garage Museum. According to the architect’s idea, the building retained a number of internal elements (for example, mosaics and brickwork), but was significantly transformed for exhibition purposes.

Three floors of the museum with a total area of about 5,500 sq. meters host five exhibition rooms, a lecture hall, a project room, a children’s room, a café, and a bookstore. The museum introduces the audience to contemporary Russian and foreign artworks, helps national artists enter the world stage, implements research projects, issues grants, organizes lectures, seminars and film screenings.

Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve

The main architectural landmark of the reserve is its wooden palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich built in the 2nd half of the 17th century. Inside, it is a complex system of separate wooden rooms connected by passages. In the palace, historical interiors of 24 halls have been recreated, and thematic tours are given here, so you can try on national costumes of those years.

On the territory of the park three old gardens have been preserved, so you can relax, meet friends and family here. Also, there are several stones of unusual shape — «male» or «female» — in the park. According to the local lore, these are parts of the defeated horse of Saint George. Moreover, the Goose Stone in the Golosov Ravine, several springs, Kolomna oaks, and ancient churches will give you quite a new view of the capital.

Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve

Tsaritsyno is a palace and park ensemble in the south of Moscow built at the behest of Empress Catherine the Great in 1776. The Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve with the area of more than 100 ha is located on the undulated ground, on the site of the former estate of the Princes Kantemirs. The territory of the ensemble and the park is bounded by two deep ravines, the Tsaritsynsky ponds and the complex of greenhouses.

Tsaritsyno is the most important monument of so-called Russian Gothic. Two of the most famous architects of their era, Vasily Bazhenov and Matvey Kazakov, worked consecutively for 20 years to create the imperial residence. Tsaritsyno is the largest pseudo-Gothic building of the 18th century in Europe, and the only palace complex designed in this style.

Kuskovo Manor of the 18th Century

The manor, which belonged to the Counts Sheremetyevs, was intended for magnificent receptions, crowded theatrical celebrations, and festivities. More than 20 unique architectural monuments have survived to this day as well as the only French regular estate park in Moscow with marble sculptures, ponds, and pavilions.

One of the world’s largest collections of ceramics and glass from various countries — from antiquity to the present — is presented here. Every year, exhibitions are organized in the museum, classical music concerts are held, old traditions of manor festivals, receptions and festivities are revived.

To explore other places to visit, check out the guide from the fashion blogger:

Druzhba (Friendship) Cheburek House

This is a real Soviet cheburek (meat pastry) house. It was opened back in the 1960s, and since then, practically nothing has changed here, except for the cost of chebureks. A classic image of the cheburek house has been preserved here: standees, minimalism of the interior, fresh chebureks with a constant queue to get one. Despite this, it is not difficult to find a free table, since people have a quick and delicious snack and leave.

Underdog

A snack bar with junk food in the yards of the Maroseyka Street. In Underdog street food hits with the American flair are cooked: burgers, hot dogs, mac & cheese, and stewed pork ribs. Berlin currywurst with French fries can also be found here. Underdog seems to be created to long for or dream of America. Be sure to try the burger on Krispy Kreme sweet donuts with bacon and French fries seasoned with a truffle sauce.

Rovesnik Bar

Rovesnik is a space not far from the Tverskaya Street. The bar brings together young musicians, DJs, artists, and just good people who love simple cuisine and drinks. It’s a place to have breakfast or lunch with colleagues, listen to good music, and dance. We recommend ordering poutine — a traditional Canadian meal, a chili-raspberry burger, and one of original cocktails.

Pushkin Café

In Moscow, it is one of the most popular and iconic establishments with fifteen years of history.

The Pushkin Café in Moscow presents Russian noble cuisine as well as French and European ones. The dishes in the menu are written in the old-fashioned manner. You can try such dishes as «Sea animals replenished with various vegetables, a mound on green pasta», «Scallops with trout A la Carpacho pickled in white wine», «Marrow bones très délicieux», and many others. For dessert, delicious jams cooked of local berries and exotic fruits are offered, as well as specialty sherbets and ice cream.

Apartment 44 Café

Another opportunity to return briefly to the Soviet epoch with vintage posters, rotary phones, fabric lampshades, shelves with books. The menu of Apartment 44 includes European and Russian dishes: real borsch, tender tartare and crispy bruschettas, seafood and steaks, and delicious homemade desserts. The prices here are affordable, and in the evening you can get to the performances of piano players, jazz bands and retro musicians.

Khitrye Lyudi (Tricky People) Café

A cozy café on the territory of Winzavod. The menu combines European, Georgian, Israeli, Mexican, and Asian cuisines. Try burrito, a tricky solyanka, or young beef tournedos. It is worth visiting the Khitrye Lyudi Café not only because of food and drinks: jazz concerts, film screenings, exhibitions are held here, and parties with DJs on weekends.

Sculpture «Sport»

The sculptural composition, which is sometimes called «Volleyball Players», consists of two monuments installed on both banks of the Moscow Canal, opposite each other. There are two girls and one young man in each sculpture group. In one composition, one of the girls throws the ball, and in the other group, a young man is preparing to hit the ball back. The sculptures were installed for the opening of the canal in 1937.

Dynamo Sports Palace in Lavochkin Street

A legendary arena was built back in 1980, for the Moscow Olympics. Then exciting matches of the Olympic basketball and handball tournaments were held in the sports palace. After the Olympics of 1980, the palace regularly hosted the largest international and Russian competitions in volleyball, basketball, mini-football, handball, rhythmic gymnastics, and various types of martial arts.

Today, the Dynamo Sports Palace is the largest volleyball center in Russia, a home ground of the Dynamo Volleyball Club, a training base of the Russian national volleyball team.

Playgrounds in the Tsaritsyno Park

They are the epicenter of amateur volleyball in the capital. There are 6 playgrounds for classic volleyball, and one for beach volleyball. In Tsaritsyno, matches are played both on working days and weekends to continue until sunset. In summer, several dozens of amateur players come to Tsaritsyno every day to spend time playing their favorite game.

Clocks

A year before the start of the Men’s World Volleyball Championship, the countdown clock was launched in Moscow: it was installed on the Manezhnaya Square located next to the Kremlin and the Alexander Garden. Sergey Tetyukhin, the Olympic Champion, a General Manager of the Russian national men’s team, took part in the clock launching ceremony.