Lefortovo Museum
From Moscowiki
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Closed: Monday and last Friday of the month
Moscow Museum Guide
[edit] Description
Lefortovo Museum (branch of the Museum of History of Moscow) is devoted to the history of a separate district in Moscow counting some 300 years. At first this area in the outskirts of Moscow on the bank of the Yauza River was called Nemetskaya Sloboda (German settlement). This district was created by Ivan the Terrible especially for foreigners standing on Russian service, so that they could keep their habits of living. Time went by; New Sloboda appeared in this area under Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich, father of Peter the Great.
Later on, this district beyond the Yauza River was named in the memory of Franz Lefort, a Swiss of French origin, close friend and fellow-champion of Peter the Great. In his boyhood Peter arranged here battles for “his royal amusement”; his two regiments consisted of peasants’ children from local villages. In this funny way the first Russian Emperor rehearsed his future military victories.<br /.
The history of Lefortovo is also connected with the name of Yakov Bruce, the first Freemason in Russia and (as the legend tells) the offspring of Druids. Like Lefort, he supported Peter the Great on his way to throne.
In the 18th century Lefortovo was the residence of Russian Emperors and Empresses. Princess Angalt-Tserbskaya Sofia-Frederica, the future Empress Catherine the Great, spent her first months in Russia in Lefortovo; when she came into power, she ordered to build a magnificent palace here. Later Lefortovo became the base of some elite troops of the Russian army and a military school; millitary hospital was also built in this district. The Museum’s exposition contains portraits, engravings, maps, uniforms and weapons of those times.
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