State Historical Museum on Red Square

Saturday, December 27, we met the Shepards at Sokol and went to Red Square where we walked around and decided to go to the State Historical Museum. This is the large red building that looks like a palace at the opposite end of Red Square from St. Basil's where costumed greeters are frequently seen at the entrance.

State Historical Museum at the left.

A side view of the State Historical Museum
taken before entering Red Square.


The decorative walls inside the museum.


Looking up at the ceiling. The upper right-hand
corner shows a part of the "family tree" of
Russian emperors.


Another view of the "family tree"
of Russian emperors.


A 3,000 B.C. boat made from a huge tree.

The museum was constructed in 1875-1881 and officially opened in 1894. It contains over 4 million exhibits and covers the history of Russia from the Stone Age to the present as you move from room to room.

I especially liked the metal figure at the left.


A cute sleigh.


Greg looking at the big globe in the room
with Peter the Great exhibits.


Another room for exhibits of Peter the Great era.
Cannon are featured in the center.

Here we are in the hallway near the entrance.
We really enjoyed our visit to this museum.
It was surprising to even see a framed copy
of America's Declaration of Independence.

It was a nice time to visit Red Square and nearby to see the holiday decorations lighted at night. As we left the museum, the light on the frost in the air gave the appearance of fireflies. It was beautiful but we were unable to capture it with the camera.

There are decorated New Year's trees
all around Moscow, as the trees are called.

The big celebration for Russians is New Years. That is when Grandfather Frost traditionally comes to a group to pass out presents. He doesn't go to individual residences. Instead of celebrating Christmas on December 25, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7, which is a Wednesday this year. Since that is a holiday, the Russians get the rest of the week off from work and have to go back to work on Sunday, January 11.

Grandfather Frost is ready for a
picture taken with him.

Soldiers with Grandfather Frost.

The museum can be seen in the background
as we stand near the skating rink in Red Square.

Have your picture taken with
Lenin & Peter the Great.
The museum is in the background.

There was a lot of activity going on near Red Square that was fun to see.

The children had fun riding down on the sled.


This Ferris wheel is turned manually by the
two guys on each side.


Temporary vendors were set up at the right with
crafts and souvenirs.


Music was playing from this stage.
The English translation is "Russian Winter."


Chris & Greg with an ice sculptor of the Snow Maiden.

By now we were getting pretty cold, so we walked through the GUM, the expensive mall that is on one side of Red Square.

Here we are inside GUM getting warm and
enjoying the nice Christmas decorations.


It's always fun to see children.


The sign is telling us Happy New Year,
and we wish all who might read this blog
the same: с Новым годом!