The Central House of Artists is an acclaimed Moscow art gallery showcasing the best of modern Russian and Soviet era art.
As well as works by Russian artists, the gallery also hosts regular exhibitions of the best of Western art, including paintings from the likes of Salvador Dali and Francis Bacon. It is also a branch of the State Tretyakov Gallery.
The gallery has an enormous exhibition space spreading over some 10,000 square metres.
Work started on its construction in the 1960s after the Soviet hierarchy gave the go ahead for two art galleries to be built in Moscow - one as an overflow from the Tretyakov, the other as an exhibition arena for the Union of Artists of the USSR.
Eventually it was agreed only to build one new gallery for both projects and while work started in 1965 on what now looks more like a giant warehouse than an art gallery, the Central House of Artists did not open to the public until 1979.
Each year there are more than 300 different exhibitions and the gallery plays host to around 600,000 visitors who wander through its vast three-storied space to explore the ever-changing exhibitions.
The main exhibition area, on the first floor, is a continuation of the Tretyakov's collection of 20 th century Soviet art with works by the likes of Kandinski and Malevich on display.
Western masters of the 20 th century are well represented with paintings by Dali and Giorgio Morandi among many others.
On the entrance level, members of the artists' union display their creations and many works within the gallery are for sale. The first floor has a series of art shops selling, among other items, designer jewellery, Soviet posters and ceramics.
The eclectic nature of the artists' unions means that the focus and themes of exhibitions are also constantly evolving. So, for instance, there have been displays covering design, advertising, fashion and photography as well as architecture over its three decades in existence. In fact, the building itself is often mistaken for a warehouse or factory because of the enormous advertising signs on its roof.
The area surrounding the Central House of Artists is also of great interest. Muzeon Park, known as Fallen Monument Park, pays almost ghostly homage to the former leaders of the Soviet Union and the peasants whose statues once bestrode Moscow's boulevards.
With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the statues were knocked down from their pedestals and unceremoniously dumped in what was then known as the Park of Fallen Heroes.
The statues are now upright, though without their pedestals, and more monuments have been added so the statues within the park number around 700. In 1995, a Second World War section was added that features statues created in the Socialist Realism style that had never been on display before. And 300 sculptures of the victims of communist rule, made by EvgenyChubarov, were installed in 1998.
The Central House of Artists is one of Moscow's great artistic venues and showcases the best of modern Russian art.
