The State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow is one of the largest museums in Russia with over 100 000 works of art - icons, paintings, graphics and sculpture - spanning the entire history of Russian art. Its collection of Russian realism from the second half of the 19th century is the best in the country.

    The Gallery collection was started by Pavel Tretyakov, the owner of a successful textile firm, and became famous from the minute it was opened to the public in 1870. After Tretyakov's death the gallery's collection grew rapidly, especially after the October Revolution when museum collections were privatised: art was bought, donated or "transferred" from other museums, private collections, cathedrals and monasteries. The latest part of the collection, dating from 1950 - 1990, opened recently, on 25th May 2000.

    The central facade of the gallery's main building dates from 1902-1904 and was designed by the famous Russian painter V. Vasnetsov