CULTURE

Culture of moscow
The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
The world-famous Moscow's museums and galleries with their collections, are some of the largest and most important in the world. Frequent art exhibitions thrive on both the new and the classic, as they once did in pre-Revolutionary times, and are derived from diverse branches of the arts - painting, photography, and sculpture.
One of the most notable art museums in Moscow is the Tretyakov Gallery, which was founded by Pavel Tretyakov, a wealthy patron of the arts who donated a large private collection to the city.[13] The Tretyakov Gallery is split into two buildings. The Old Tretyakov, the original gallery in the Tretyakovskaya area on the south bank of the Moskva River, houses the works of the classic Russian tradition.[14] The works of famous pre-Revolutionary painters, such as Ilya Repin, as well as the works of early Russian icon painters can be found in the Old Tretyakov Gallery. Visitors can even see rare originals by early-fifteenth century iconographer Andrei Rublev.[14] The New Tretyakov, created in Soviet times, mainly contains the works of Soviet artists, as well as of a few contemporary artists, but there is some overlap with the Old Tretyakov Gallery for early twentieth century art. The new gallery includes a small reconstruction of Vladimir Tatlin's famous Monument to the Third International and a mixture of other avant-garde works by artists like Kazimir Malevich and Wassily Kandinsky. Socialist realism features can also be found within the halls of the New Tretyakov Gallery.

Tretyakov Gallery
Another art museum in the city of Moscow is the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, which was founded by, among others, Marina Tsvetaeva's father. The Pushkin Museum is similar to the British Museum in London in that its halls are a cross-section of world civilisations, with many plaster casts of ancient sculptures. However, it also hosts famous paintings from every major Western era of art; works by Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, and Pablo Picasso are all sampled there.
The State Historical Museum of Russia (Государственный Исторический музей) is a museum of Russian history wedged between Red Square and Manege Square in Moscow. Its exhibitions range from relics of the prehistoric tribes inhabiting present-day Russia, through priceless artworks acquired by members of the Romanov dynasty. The total number of objects in the museum's collection numbers in the millions. The Polytechnical Museum,[15] founded in 1872 is the largest technical museum in Russia, offering a wide array of historical inventions and technological achievements, including humanoid automata of the 18th century and the first Soviet computers. Its collection contains more than 160,000 items.[16] The Borodino Panorama[17] museum located on Kutuzov Avenue provides an opportunity for visitors to experience being on a battlefield with a 360° diorama. It is a part of the large historical memorial commemorating the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812 over Napoleon's army, that includes also the Triumphal arch erected in 1827. There is also a military history museum not to be missed, it includes statues, military hardware, along with powerful tales of that time.

Bolshoi theatre
Moscow is also the heart of Russian performing arts, including ballet and film. There are ninety-three theatres, 132 cinemas and twenty-four concert-halls in Moscow.[18]
Among Moscow's many theatres and ballet studios is the Bolshoi Theatre and the Malyi Theatre as well as Vakhtangov Theatre and Moscow Art Theatre. The repertories in a typical Moscow season are exhaustive and modern interpretations of classic works, whether operatic or theatrical, are quite common. State Central Concert Hall Rossia,[19] famous for ballet and estrade performances, is the place of frequent concerts of pop-stars such as Alla Pugacheva and is situated in the soon to be demolished building of Hotel Rossiya, the largest hotel in Europe.

Bolshoi Theatre during an April 2005 performance
Moscow International Performance Arts Centre,[20] opened in 2003, also known as Moscow International House of Music, is known for its performances in classical music. It also has the largest organ in Russia installed in Svetlanov hall.
There are also two large circuses in Moscow: Moscow State Circus and Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard[21] named after Yuri Nikulin.
Soviet films are integral to film history and the Mosfilm studio was at the heart of many Soviet classic films as it is responsible for both artistic and mainstream productions.[22] However, despite the continued presence and reputation of internationally-renowned Russian filmmakers, the once prolific native studios are much quieter. Rare and historical films may be seen in Salut cinema where films from the Museum of Cinema[23] collection are shown regularly. Demographics
Population: According to the 2002 Census the population of the city was 10,382,754, however, this figure only takes into account legal residents, and not the several million estimated illegal immigrants and gastarbeiters living in the city. Moscow is home to an estimated 1.5 million Muslims, including about 100,000 Chechens.
Historically, Moscow was the largest city in the Soviet Union, however its collapse has led to a decline in Siberian cities as well as most other Russian cities. As a result, Moscow's growth and dominance over St. Petersburg and the rest of the nation has accelerated.
Due to a low birth rate[68] and high mortality rate, the population of Russia has been declining by about 700,000 persons per year since the fall of the Soviet Union. In 2003 the number of deaths exceeded the number of births by approximately 49,400.[69] While the birth rate has risen in more recent years, the average age of Moscow's population continues to increase. In 2004 there were more than twice as many people over the age of 55 as there were under the age of 14.[69]
Substantial numbers of internal migrants mean that Moscow's population is still increasing, whereas the population of many other Russian cities is in decline. Migrants are attracted by Moscow's strong economy which contrasts sharply with the stagnation in many other parts of Russia. In order to help regulate population growth, Moscow has an internal passport system that prohibits non-residents from staying in the capital for more than ninety days without registration.
Ethnic groups: The 2002 Census reported the national composition as:
Russian 84.83%
Ukrainian 2.44%
Polish 1.9%
Tatar 1.60%
Armenian 1.20%
Azeri 0.92%
Jewish 0.76%
Belarusian 0.57%
Georgian 0.52%
Moldovan 0.35%
Tajik 0.34%
Uzbek 0.23%
Mordvin 0.22%
Chuvash 0.16%
Vietnamese 0.15%
Chechen 0.14%
Chinese 0.12%
Ossetian 0.10%
Korean 0.08%
Kazakh 0.08%
Pushtu 0.06%
Bashkir 0.06%
German 0.05%
Avar 0.05%
and many other groups of less than five thousand persons each.