This museum, honoring the greatest poet in Russian history, and one of the most significant figures in world literature, is not the most inspiring of collections, although it is well organized and labeled.

This imaginative and exciting museum is dedicated to the life and works of Vladimir Mayakovsky.

Vysotsky was born in 1938 to a family of servants.

Moscow's Museum of the Armed Forces is perennially popular with war buffs for its vast collection of military memorabilia, with pride of place going, unsurprisingly, to exhaustive displays about the Soviet Union's part in the Second World War.

Part of the Great Kremlin Palace complex, the Armory is home to Moscow's oldest and most prestigious museum, which boasts a staggering collection of Tsarist artifacts, Russian and foreign jewelry and armour.

The Diamond Fund is a separate institution, run by the Ministry of Finance.

The imposing building that stands to your right if you enter Red Square through the Resurrection Gate is the State Historical Museum.

This museum, the only one of its kind, is well worth the visit, not least for the nostalgia it should inspire in anyone who grew up in the heady days of the space race.

There are more than 160,000 exhibits in Russia's largest technical museum, and some fantastic miniatures.

This is one of the most extensive natural history museums in the world, displaying the earth's flora and fauna from prehistoric times to the present day.