Travel to Russia

The Armory also houses the State Diamond Fund, a separate collection containing the most valuable gems in Russia. The highlights of the collection are the priceless diamond-encrusted Coronation Crown of Catherine the Great and the 190-carat Orlov Diamond, given to the Empress by her lover Count Grigory Orlov and set into the Imperial Sceptre. The collection features a whole host of jeweled necklaces and earrings as well as the world's largest sapphire. Visitors may also be lucky enough to see a few more Faberge Eggs in the collection.

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The red and white crenellated walls and golden domes of Novodevichy Convent make it one of Moscow's most attractive monasteries. Situated a short walk from the Luzhniki Sports Stadium, in a tranquil southern suburb of Moscow, inside a bend in the Moscow River, the Convent's leafy gardens are a pleasure to stroll in during the summer months and a welcome retreat from the bustle of the city. Most of the capital's monasteries were built between the 13th and 16th centuries, not merely as religious centers but as fortified structures with the express purpose of defending the city from Tatar and Pole attacks. Novodevichy, or "New Maidens Convent" in English, was founded by Vasily III in 1524 to commemorate the recapture of Smolensk from the Lithuanians in 1514.

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Since its foundation towards the end of the 18th century, Moscow's celebrated Bolshoi Theater has experienced a turbulent and dramatic history. The forerunner of today's theater was Prince P.V. Urussov's Public Opera and Ballet Theater, commissioned by Catherine the Great in 1776 and financially backed by the Englishman Michael Maddox. The first of many disasters struck the theatre in 1805 when fire gutted the building, leaving it beyond repair and Maddox completely penniless. Ownership of the theater was then transferred to the state and Moscow acquired its first Imperial Theater.

The program of tour