- This course has passed.
Moscow – City of Art, Power and Prayer
24 March 2022 - 28 March 2022
This study tour has been postponed until further notice. If you are interested in joining us, please send a message via Contact page and we will keep you updated about this tour.
Description
Moscow offers a unique mixture of antiquity and modernity. Its architecture ranges from the pure fantasy of St. Basil’s Cathedral to the harsh utilitarianism of early twentieth century Constructivism. Its art includes the most sublime icons and the most uncompromising abstractions of the avant-garde (with much between…). For further details please see information and itinerary listed below.
Price (based on 14 participants)
£1,965.00 per person sharing a twin/double room
£140.00 single room supplement
£500.00 deposit is needed to confirm your place
The price includes:
- Lecturing by Andrew Spira
- Return scheduled flights British Airways London Heathrow/Domodedovo Moscow
- All airport taxes, security charges and local taxes
- 4 nights’ bed & buffet breakfast accommodation at Courtyard Marriot Hotel (4*)
- Lunch in local restaurants days 2, 3, 4, 5
- Dinner in hotel day 1
- All coach transfers in and around Moscow
- All entrance charges to visits as per the itinerary
- Services of an English speaking local guide throughout
- VOX headsets throughout
The price does not include:
- Visas* please see below for further information
- 3 Dinners
- Teas or coffees during any mid-morning / mid-afternoon breaks
- Refreshments
- Any incidental and personal expenditure (laundry, telephone, etc)
- Taxis or other transport not specified
- Personal insurance
*Visas: British citizens and most other foreign nationals require a tourist visa. Current cost for UK nationals is around £141.00 including service charge. It is not included in the price of the tour because you must procure it yourself. You will need to complete an online application in the two-month period before departure, and submit this along with your passport. As of 10th December 2014, it is obligatory for UK residents of all nationalities to attend one of three application centres, in London, Manchester or Edinburgh, in order to submit biometric data (fingerprints) as part of the visa application process. Visa issuing times vary from country to country but UK residents should expect to be without their passport for approximately three weeks.
CIBT Visas can procure the visa for you. https://cibtvisas.co.uk/russia-visa
Your lecturer: Andrew Spira
Andrew graduated from the Courtauld Institute of Art before completing a Master’s degree in Museum and Gallery Management at City University, London. He worked at the Temple Gallery, London (specialists in Byzantine and Russian icons), and as a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Subsequently, he was Programme Director at Christie’s Education.
Your Hotel: Courtyard Marriot City Centre Hotel (4*)
https://www.marriott.com/hotels/
7 Voznesenskiy Pereulok, Moscow, 125009
Some of Moscow’s most famous landmarks are on the hotel’s doorstep, including Red Square destinations such as the Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral and Lenin’s Mausoleum. Metro stations and the legendary Bolshoi Theatre are only minutes away. The hotel has several restaurants, a fitness centre and beauty shop. Most standard rooms have showers only. If you require a bath, please let us know at the time of booking.
Tour Itinerary
Day 1/ Thursday 24 March 2022
Depart on scheduled British Airways flight from London Heathrow Airport to Domodedovo International Airport, Moscow.
Arrival in Moscow and met by local guide
Transfer by private coach with guide’s assistance to Courtyard Marriot Hotel
Check in to Courtyard Marriot Hotel
Dinner – Hotel restaurant
Day 2/ Friday 25 March 2022
After breakfast transfer by coach to:
Mary and Marfa Church
This beautifully secluded art nouveau church has paintings by Mikhail Nesterov and is still in use as a convent originally founded in 1908 by Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.
Short walk to nearby Old Tretyakov Gallery
Old Tretyakov Gallery
The main museum of historical Russian art in the world with an unparalleled collection of icons and oil paintings. Among its many masterpieces is Andrei Rublev’s Old Testament Trinity.
Transfer by coach to New Tretyakov Gallery
Lunch at Tretyakov Brothers’ Restaurant in the gallery
New Tretyakov Gallery
These galleries cover the history of Russian art from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day, with keyworks by Malevich, Kandinsky and Petrov-Vodkin.
Return to hotel by coach
Dinner at leisure
Day 3/ Saturday 26 March 2022
After breakfast walk to nearby
Kremlin
This is the historical core of Russia with several magnificent Cathedrals richly decorated with frescoes and icons. The Cathedral of the Annunciation contains one of the most beautiful icon screens in Russia. Also visit the Cathedral of the Dormition, the Cathedral of the Archangel and the Armoury Chamber particularly the costumes of the Tsars.
Lunch Barbosco Restaurant on Red Square
Walk to nearby
St Basil’s Cathedral
Familiar as a backdrop to innumerable news broadcasts, this unforgettable extravaganza in Red Square has to be seen to be believed.
State Historical Museum
This is a treasure trove of art and documents, dating back to the shamanic origins of Russian history. The building itself, completed in 1881, was a monument to national identity, a worthy companion to St. Basil’s which it faces.
Gum
We will explore GUM, the grandest shopping arcade in Russia, built in the Neo-Russian style in 1890-3.
Return to hotel on foot
Dinner at leisure
Day 4/ Sunday 27 March 2022
After breakfast on foot to nearby metro station
Metro Tour
The Moscow Metro has to be the most fabulous in the world. Responding to the Soviet initiative to bring culture to the masses, its stations really are ‘palaces for the people’, decorated with grand schemes of political imagery in a multitude of media – sculpture, bronze, mosaic and more.
Pushkin Fine Arts Museum (Main Building)
This museum holds Moscow’s major collections of non-Russian art. It has several masterpieces from the earliest times, including a number of spectacular Egyptian funerary portraits from Fayum, one of the key precedents for the icon painting tradition. It also has marvellous oil paintings by Perugino and El Greco and many others.
On foot
Lunch Voronezh Restaurant nearby
Coach to
Andronikov Monastery & Andrei Rublev Icon Museum
A former monastery on the left bank of the Yauza River, it is home to the Andrei Rublev Museum of Old Russian Art, where icon painter Andrei Rublev lived out the last years of his life. Now contains a marvellous collection of icons.
Gosplan Garage Building (exterior)
The Gosplan garage, designed by Konstantin Melnikov in 1936, epitomises Constructivist architecture. Not only is the building conceived to serve the purposes of ordinary people, but its style is radically abstract – expressive but without ornament – embodying the ideas of Suprematist and Constructivist artists.
Return to hotel by coach
Dinner at leisure
Day 5/ Monday 28 March 2022
Check out of hotel after breakfast and load bags onto coach
Coach to
Shuchusev State Architecture Museum
Named after Russian and Soviet architect Alexey Shchusev whose works may be regarded as a bridge connecting the Revivalist architecture of Imperial Russia with Stalin‘s Empire Style.
We will also visit the Konstantin Melnikov exhibition
Coach to
Skryabin House
The little-altered apartment of the late Romantic composer, Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, whose experimental fusion of sound and colour took him to, and over, the threshold of mystical experience.
Lunch local restaurant
Coach to
Kolomenskoye
Kolomenskoye was the site of a royal estate, featuring a 17th century wooden palace, built in the ‘old Russian style’ and a spectacular tent-roof church of the 16th century. Several wooden buildings from other parts of Russia have also been moved to the park, transforming it into an open-air museum of traditional architecture. Tour of historic part of estate and visit to house of Peter the Great.
By coach to airport for BA flight to London Heathrow airport
Booking Information
For further information:
Contact: Mary Bromley
Telephone: 020 7266 7815 / 0770 288 7383
Email: [email protected]
Write: The Course, 105 William Court, 6 Hall Road, London NW8 9PB
This tour is organised by Heritage Group Travel who are responsible for all the arrangements. Please refer to Heritage Group Travel Booking Terms and Conditions which can be sent upon request. The Company holds ATOL number 3707 and ABTOT licence number 5060 for your protection. This itinerary is subject to change should local conditions or unexpected restrictions occur. As the tour is arranged many months in advance visits may be subject to amendment.
