The Pushkin Fine Arts Museum

Opened in 1912, the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum possesses a collection of European art second in Russia to only St. Petersburg's Hermitage. Much of the strength of the collection is in Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting, a result of the oft-forgotten fact that such works gained an appreciative audience in Russia long before they captured the imagination of collectors further west. Manet's Dejeuner sur l'herbe resides here, as do Renoir's Bathing in the Seine, a host of fine works by Van Gogh and Matisse, and an entire gallery of Gauguins. Perhaps most exciting, however, is the long-anticipated "Gold of Troy" exhibition, slated for April 1996.