Nearest metro: Oktyabrskaya, Polyanka
Located in the Zamoskvoreche region of the city, which means simply "Across the Moscow River" in Russian, the President Hotel is just a 500 meter walk from Polyanka Metro Station and from there just one metro stop from The Kremlin and Red Square. Just a short walk from the hotel visitors will find the celebrated Tretyakov Gallery, home to the largest collection of Russian art in the world. The gallery is named after the financier Pavel Tretyakov, the prolific private art collector and patron, who donated approximately 2000 works of Russian art to the city of Moscow at the end of the 19th century. Without Tretyakov's extensive and generous patronage of the arts many Russian artists would have been unable to achieve so much and the world of Russian art would be considerably diminished. The gallery is now housed in an extensive, recently renovated complex and its collection comprises the entire spectrum of Russian art. Exhibition halls feature medieval icons, mosaics and murals, 18th century portraits, 19th century Realist works, 20th century Romantic, Symbolist and avant-garde canvases and displays of graphic and applied arts. The Tretyakov's magnificent collection of Soviet art is now housed independently in the enormous Central House of Artists, opposite Gorky Park and just two metro stops away, and is well worth a visit for those admirers of 20th century art.Inaugurated in 1928 as the Soviet Union's first "Park of Culture", Gorky Park covers an area of approximately 300 acres and is just a short drive or a couple of metro stops from the President Hotel. In the past the park was flooded during the winter and children and adults ice-skated through the avenues to the strains of music piped through loudspeakers. Today the park's somewhat dilapidated funfairs and adjacent hydrofoil jetty are its biggest attraction.
Just one metro stop away and a 5 to 10 minute drive from the President Hotel lies The Moscow Kremlin and the historical and spiritual heart of the city. From the very first wooden fort to the crenellated red brick towers and golden-domed cathedrals that we see today, there has been a settlement of sorts on the Kremlin site since the 12th century. Playing host to the political rulers of Russia for most of the country's history, the Kremlin has witnessed the reigns of such significant figures as the despotic Ivan The Terrible, the throne usurper Boris Godunov, the great Marxist hero Lenin and the tyrannical Soviet dictator Stalin. Today visitors can wander around the Kremlin complex, visit the five cathedrals containing the tombs of many of the Russian Tsars, peruse the State Amory's impressive collection of Imperial artifacts, attend a performance at the Great Kremlin Palace concert hall or admire the impressive Senate building, official residence of the President of the Russian Federation.
Adjacent to The Kremlin stands the vast cobbled expanse of Red Square, famed as the site of numerous Bolshevik demonstrations, Soviet parades and now occasional pop concerts. Flanking the square visitors can enjoy four of Moscow's major attractions; the brightly-painted St. Basil's Cathedral, the elegant 19th century GUM shopping mall, the Russian Historical Museum and Lenin's Mausoleum, still displaying the embalmed body of the founder of the Soviet State.
The President Hotel is an hour's drive from Moscow's main international airport, Sheremetyevo.
