Here are four excellent museums in Moscow that should not be overlooked on a visit to the Russian capitol. From Paleontology to Mayakovsky, these museums are a must-see

Here are four of Moscow’s less famous museums: the staid Gorky Museum, housed in a Moscow moderne mansion dripping with decoration, the futurist Mayakovsky Museum, a shrine to one of the poetic greats of the revolution, the strange little Museum of Water, where you can take a tour of the cleaning and disposal, as well as the history, of the Moscow water supply and the Orlov Museum of Paleontology, where mammoths and dinosaurs await.

A sense of dread seems to infuse the walls of the Gorky Museum. The shadowy moderne mansion where the museum is housed served as a palace-prison from 1931-1936 for a broken Gorky who had sacrificed his own beliefs to save his friends. Gorky lived large segments of his life in exile, both under the Tsarist and then the Communist regime. A staunch believer in free speech and democracy, Gorky shocked the world by returning to the Soviet Union in 1931 at Stalin’s behest, and serving as a shill for the state. Placed under unannounced house arrest in 1934, Gorky died under mysterious circumstances in June of 1936.

The Ryabushinsky Mansion in which the Gorky Museum is housed is an architectural monument in itself, built by Fyodor Shekhtel, with stunning internal and external attention to detail. The mansion is a perfect emblem of turn of the century Russian elegance, and one of the city’s greatest and best-preserved Moderne structures.

The Mayakovsky Museum is worth seeing even if you know nothing about the storming Futurist poet himself. The museum is a futurist explosion of angular lines, swirling metal structures and maze-like rooms connected by poetic theme and breezeways that leave you guessing exactly what floor you are on. The experimental structure of the museum itself, lovingly created by a group of Russian artists and opened in 1989, is a physical testament to the nonconformist futurism of Mayakovsky himself.

Mayakovsky, like Gorky, is a writer who became disillusioned with the increasingly censorial and autocratic Soviet regime. His tumultuous and tragic life is representative of many of the young, enthusiastic Fellow Travelers who later fell afoul of the state.

The Museum of Water, a tiny but fascinating record of the delivery of water to Moscow, from the initial methods for bringing water to the Kremlin through its tower-wells through the canalization of the growing metropolis to the modern purification plants, massive engineering designs, and sewage disposal methods of the modern megalopolis. The museum will put to rest a number of questions, from “is it safe to drink water from the tap in Moscow?” to “Where does all the poop go?” The museum leads daily excursions for students, and they are booked well in advance (the museum works only weekdays, and is more popular than you might think) but it is easy to link yourself onto an already existing excursion or simply ask permission from the enthusiastic staff to wander the fascinating exhibits.

The Orlov Museum of Paleontology is more than just a building full of bones. It is a piece of monumental architecture and a gorgeous example of how architecture, art and science can merge to form a harmonious whole. From the fence outside the museum, with its dinosaur designs, to the monumental ceramic mosaic-sculptures that adorn the walls of the museum and illustrate evolution, ancient sea life, and the complexities of nature’s design, the museum is a work of art in itself. Perhaps more impressive, however, is the collection itself, one of the most extensive in the world—a panorama of the development of life on earth from the earliest organisms to ice-age mammoths and modern man himself. The museum is very kid-friendly, with paper and colored pencils even offered to children so they can give shape to their impressions.

Gorky Museum

6/2 Malaya Nikitskaya Ulitsa

Tel: 290-0535

Metro: Arbatskaya

Hours: 12 - 7 p.m. Wed, Fri, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Thurs, Sat, Sun. Closed last Friday of the month.

Mayakovsky Museum

Address: Lybyansky Proyezd 3/6, Moscow 101000

Tel: 921-9560, 921-9387

Metro: Lybyanka, Kitai Gorod

Hours: Monday, Tuesday and Friday - Sunday 10am - 5pm, Thursday 1pm - 8pm, closed Wednesday

Water Museum

Sarinsky pr-d, 13;

Tel: 276-92-13

M. Proletarskaya

Open 10-5 Mon-Fri

Paleontology Museum

117647, Moscow, 123, Profsoyuznaya Ulitsa

(495) 339-1500, 339-4544

Metro station 'Tyopli Stan'

Wednesday to Sunday, 11am - 6pm

These museums offer an exciting panorama of Russian culture. All of the museums are easily accessible via the Moscow Metro.