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      Ostankino: the tower, the pond and the Japanese Garden

      ⏱ 4 h 30 min🚶 4 km🍽 1📍 4 stops
      🚶 Moderate — 3–7 km

      A viewing platform at 337 metres, an estate by a pond, lunch at VDNKh and the most beautiful garden in Moscow.

      👶 With kids🏛 History and architecture🌳 Parks and nature
      👶 7–12, 13+ years · ✗ hard with a stroller

      Children under 6 and visitors with limited mobility are not admitted to the Ostankino Tower, so with a toddler in a stroller the route's main point is not accessible. VDNKh and the Japanese Garden are fine with a stroller.

      🗺 Open in Yandex Maps
      1. 1
        🌅 Ostankino TV Tower
        🎟 ticket · guided tours only, passport required
        The tallest structure in Europe at 540 m, with a glassed-in observation deck at a height of 337 m.
        A timed tour, passport required
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Ostankino TV Tower
        © Gennady Grachev from Moscow, Russia · CC BY 2.0
        Ostankino TV Tower
        © Alexander Grebenkov · CC BY 4.0
        • Designer Nikolai Nikitin claimed he came up with the tower in a single night, and that the shape of the base was suggested by an upside-down lily he saw in a dream.
        • The tower's concrete shaft is compressed by 149 steel cables.
        • The foundation is shallow, 3.5 to 4.6 m; because of doubts about it, construction was halted in 1961.
        • The first TV signal from the tower went out on 4 November 1967, for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution.
        • The observation deck and restaurant opened in 1969.
        • In the fire of 27 August 2000 three floors burned out and three people died.
        • The Seventh Heaven restaurant at 328–334 m reopened only in 2016, after the fire.
      2. 🚶 on foot
      3. 2
        🏛 Ostankino Estate and Ostankino Pond
        🎟 partly ticketed · the park and pond are free, the open palace pavilions require a ticket
        The Sheremetevs' wooden palace of the late 18th century with a theatre hall (currently under restoration, visible from the outside; the Egyptian and Italian pavilions are open) and the five-domed Trinity Church by Ostankino Pond.
        The Sheremetev estate by the pond; the main palace is under restoration (it's promised to open no earlier than the end of 2027) and can be seen from outside; the Egyptian (since autumn 2025) and Italian (since September 2026) pavilions are open — check hours and season with the museum
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Ostankino Estate and Ostankino Pond
        © Alexxx1979 · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Ostankino Estate and Ostankino Pond
        © Vtorou · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Ostankino Estate and Ostankino Pond
        © Usadboved · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • Construction of the palace-theatre began in 1792 to designs by Francesco Camporesi, Ivan Starov and Vincenzo Brenna; the theatre opened in July 1795.
        • It is the only late 18th-century theatre building in Russia that has kept its stage, auditorium, dressing rooms and machinery.
        • The serf actress Praskovya Zhemchugova, who became the wife of Count Nikolai Sheremetev, performed on the stage here.
        • Trinity Church was built in 1678–1683 by the serf architect Pavel Potekhin; inside is a nine-tier carved iconostasis.
        • The estate was visited by the Polish king Stanisław August Poniatowski, Paul I and Alexander I.
        • In 1938–1982 the museum was called the Museum of Serf Art.
      4. 🚶 on foot
      5. 3
        ☕️ Shokolot family café at Moskvarium · 🧸 play area
        пр-т Мира, 119, стр. 23 (Москвариум)
        ▮▮▮▯▯
        Lunch on the way to the garden — a cafe in the Moskvarium building at VDNKh; entry to the second floor is free, but check whether they let you into the cafe without a ticket
        🍴 A family café right inside the Moskvarium building, with a big sea-themed play area and a mini cinema showing cartoons. What to order: desserts, homemade lemonades, ice cream.
      6. 🚶 on foot
      7. 4
        🌳 Japanese Garden of the Botanical Garden
        🎟 ticket · open from late April to mid-October
        A garden in the Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the traditional Japanese style, with a pond, stone lanterns, pavilions and little bridges.
        Especially good in May (cherry blossom) and October (maples)
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Japanese Garden of the Botanical Garden
        © Andrey Korzun · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Japanese Garden of the Botanical Garden
        © Carbonkidka · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Japanese Garden of the Botanical Garden
        © Andrey Korzun · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The idea of the garden was proposed by the botanical garden's deputy director Pyotr Lapin and the Japanese ambassador Akira Shigemitsu; negotiations began in 1978.
        • The garden was designed by the Japanese master Ken Nakajima, who created Japanese gardens in many countries.
        • Nakajima and three assistants worked almost by hand: stones of 3–5 tonnes were set with a tripod and winch.
        • The stones were brought from Western Ukraine, since the rounded boulders of the Moscow region were not suitable for a Japanese garden.
        • The garden has a thirteen-tier pagoda and more than 100 plant species, including the momo maple from Hokkaido.
        • The sakura blooms here in May for about a week, and that is when the garden gets the most visitors.

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