Today I was reminded by a helpful Facebook feature about an interesting day out that happened 2 years ago in Moscow. A friend of mine invited me to check out an exhibition hosted by the State Historical Museum. My main occupation at that time was looking after my 9 month old and a 4 year old – of course, I would agree to visit any kind of exhibition just to have a valid reason to get out of home! However, that was not just any exhibition – they brought Thracian gold from Bulgaria. For a person as crazy about accessories as I am, that was something I could not miss!
November is not the best time to go out in Moscow. Grey most of the time and already very cold. The State Historical Museum is located right in the middle of all the main tourist sights – Red Square, Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral, Bolshoi Theatre. An area full of magnificent buildings and tourists.
Normally, I like to walk around areas like that, there’s always something new to learn, new details you can notice on these old buildings, but I would rather do it on a warmer day. So, in we went in a search for Thracian gold. Thracians that lived on the territory of modern Bulgaria in the 6th century BC, did not have any own written language, so these exposition pieces are pretty much the only tangible documents of that era.
The craftsmanship, attention to details, such delicate work – the collection is amazing! Most of it is showcased by state museums in Bulgaria, but some of the items belong to private collectors and are rarely seen by public, let alone – put all together for such an impressive exhibition.
Coming out of the museum, we decided to go for coffee in a cafe in GUM, on another side of the Red Square. It’s one of the most famous department store in Moscow (and, perhaps, in all former Soviet states) – GUM Trading House. It was built in the end of 19th century and remained home for all the most desirable shops for more than a century. As any historical place around Moscow’s city centre, it does get very crowded, but it is definitely worth a visit.
It was all decorated for Christmas and New Year and hosted its own exhibition. You could see retro cars produced by Gorky Autumobile Plant in USSR. All shiny and restored, they looked pretty cool to me :)
If I got you interested in any of those wonderful places, you can check them out in more detail – here are their websites:
The State Historical Museum (couldn’t find, whether they have an English version, but Google can help you out with translation ;)
tinyexpats.com 
Beautiful!
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Retro cars look so cool! My boy would have a fit seeing them live! Beautiful place! Looks almost magical!
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I’m sure it was especially interesting for boys and men :)
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Funny thing is, my husband doesn’t care for cars. He probably doesn’t enjoy it. But my boy is crazy!! Don’t know where he gets that from.
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That can’t all of Thracian gold, and at least according to The Balkan Escape not everything is found either :)
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Oh no, I did not mean that it was all Thracian gold – what I meant was, they do not have any written documents, so exhibits like these are the only things that can be studied to learn more about their life.
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Fabulous exhibition and such beautiful pieces. It is in such a wonderful location as well. I was lucky enough to visit Moscow twice – once in 1990 and once two years ago and the difference was amazing. I remember walking around GUM all those years ago and it was very different to the way it looks today. We did the same thing, brought the children in to warm up, they were not impressed at having been marched from Arbat to Red Square with lots of site-seeing inbetween in the cold and snow. I love the look of the GAZ cars – I wanted to buy a restored (and souped up) Volga when we were in Kazakhstan but they were too expensive.
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Great experience – comparing Moscow then and now :) Although, I agree, sightseeing in Moscow in winter is quite challenging :)
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i love the look and sound of GUM, how fantastic to have such a wonderful place to visit in your host country
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Yes, it’s a part of Moscow’s history still used in modern day, I really liked it.
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[…] GUM is one of the oldest and most beautiful department stores in Moscow (you can read more about it here in my post about a retro car exhibition in […]
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