The White House – officially the House of Government of the Russian Federation – fronts a stately bend in the Moscow River, just north of the Novoarbatsky most.

It was here that Boris Yeltsin rallied the opposition that confounded the 1991 hard-line coup, then two years later sent in tanks and troops to blast out conservative rivals. The images of Yeltsin climbing on a tank in front of the White House in 1991, and of the same building ablaze after the 1993 assault, are among the most unforgettable from those tumultuous years.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Narkomfin

0.34 MILES

The model for Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation design principle, this architectural landmark was an early experiment in semicommunal living. Designed…

2. Kudrinskaya Apartment Block

0.42 MILES

The 160m, 22-storey Stalinist skyscraper at Kudrinskaya pl contains elite apartments, mostly occupied by pre-eminent cultural figures during Soviet times.

3. Central House of Writers (CDL)

0.57 MILES

The Central House of Writers is an elaborate art nouveau mansion dating to 1889. The historic mansion housed the administrative offices of the writers'…

4. Chekhov House-Museum

0.59 MILES

‘The colour of the house is liberal, ie red', playwright Anton Chekhov wrote of his house on the Garden Ring, where he lived from 1886 to 1890. The red…

5. Moscow Planetarium

0.59 MILES

The planetarium has become one of the biggest and brightest stars on the Moscow museum circuit, now incorporating all kinds of high-tech gadgetry,…

6. Moscow Zoo

0.63 MILES

Renovations in honour of the zoo's 150th anniversary are ongoing, but the place should be in great shape in coming years. Huge flocks of feathered friends…

7. Pushkin House-Museum

0.72 MILES

After Alexander Pushkin married Natalia Goncharova at the nearby Church of the Grand Ascension, they moved to this charming blue house on the old Arbat…

8. Bulat Okudzhava Statue

0.74 MILES

Bulat Okudzhava was a poet-turned-songwriter who lived and often performed on the Arbat in the 1960s. He inspired a whole movement of liberal-thinking…