Kremlin Armoury, Moscow

Kremlin Armoury tickets and prices

An adult ticket is 1,400 ₽; with an audio guide or a guided tour it is 1,900 ₽. Children aged 7–16 of any nationality pay 800 ₽, and under-7s go free but still need a ticket. Other discounts — for students, pensioners and 16–18-year-olds — are for Russian citizens only, so most foreign adults pay the full price.

The Armoury ticket covers the Armoury only. Cathedral Square, with the Kremlin cathedrals, the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bell, is a separate 1,100 ₽ ticket, and the Diamond Fund in the same building is another one again.

Tickets are sold on the official Moscow Kremlin Museums website from 17 days before your date and at the ticket offices in the Alexander Garden (9:30–16:30). Online payment needs a Russian bank card: Visa and Mastercard cards issued abroad have not worked in Russia since March 2022. If you don’t have one, bring roubles and buy at the ticket office on the day, or book a guided tour that includes the ticket.

Resellers often charge several times the face value. YesGo’s view: the only add-on worth paying for here is a real guide.

Opening hours and session times

The Armoury is open 10:00–18:00 every day except Thursday, with entry sessions at 10:00, 12:00, 14:30 and 16:30. Once you are in, there is no set route or time limit — you can stay until closing.

Ticket offices close at 16:30, the same time as the last session, so buying a walk-up ticket for 16:30 is cutting it fine. Cathedral Square keeps its own hours: 10:00–17:00 from 1 October to 14 May and 9:30–18:00 from 15 May to 30 September, also closed Thursdays.

The Kremlin occasionally closes to visitors around state events and public holidays, so check the official calendar the day before you go.

Is the Kremlin Armoury worth it?

Yes, if you like history, craftsmanship or jewellery: nowhere else in Moscow puts this many famous objects in one place, and 90 minutes is enough to see every hall without rushing. If you can only pay for one Kremlin ticket and you love museums, YesGo would pick the Armoury over Cathedral Square.

Skip it if you have one day in Moscow and would rather be outdoors. The timed ticket, the ticket-office queue and the security check add 30–60 minutes, and you can’t take a single photo inside. In that case Red Square and the Kremlin cathedrals give you more Moscow for the time.

Get the audio guide. Labels are brief and mostly in Russian, and the stories behind the objects are the whole point. The museum’s own guided tours are in Russian or with an interpreter you bring, so a private English-speaking guide is the easier option.

What to see inside the Armoury

• Monomakh’s Cap — the gold, sable-trimmed cap of the late 13th–early 14th century used to crown Russian rulers from Ivan the Terrible until the late 1600s. Where it was made is still debated; the museum calls it oriental work.
• Fabergé eggs — ten Imperial Easter eggs, the largest such collection anywhere, including one hiding a tiny clockwork model of the Trans-Siberian express.
• Thrones — the silver double throne of the boy tsars Ivan and Peter (1682–1684), with a hidden window at the back for an adviser to whisper answers, and Tsar Alexei’s Persian “Diamond Throne”, covered in turquoise and diamonds.
• Carriages — a hall of coaches and sledges from the 16th to the 18th century. The oldest is an English coach sent by King James I to Boris Godunov, the only one of its type left in the world.
• Coronation dresses — including Catherine the Great’s wedding and coronation gowns.
• Arms and armour — the 13th-century helmet of Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, Russian and oriental sabres, Turkish and Persian diplomatic gifts.
• Silver — the world’s largest collection of 16th–17th-century Western European silver, much of it gifts from English, Dutch and Swedish embassies.

Is the Diamond Fund part of the Armoury?

No. The Diamond Fund exhibition has been in the same building since 1967, but it is a separate museum with its own tickets, sessions and entrance. An Armoury ticket won’t get you in, and vice versa.

The Imperial crowns, the sceptre with the Orlov diamond and the giant gold nuggets are in the Diamond Fund; Monomakh’s Cap, the thrones, the carriages and Fabergé are in the Armoury. To do both on one day, book two sessions at least 90 minutes to two hours apart.

A short history

The royal arsenal became a separate treasury in 1508, under Vasily III. In the 17th century the Armoury was the Kremlin’s main workshop, where craftsmen forged weapons, made jewellery and painted icons.

When Peter the Great moved the capital, the craftsmen went to St Petersburg and the Armoury became a storehouse. Alexander I turned it into a museum in 1806, and the treasures were evacuated ahead of Napoleon’s army in 1812.

In 1851 the collection moved into Konstantin Thon’s new building by the Borovitsky Gate, where it still is. The Soviet state sold part of it abroad in the 1920s and 1930s, but ten of the Imperial Fabergé eggs stayed.

Armoury vs Cathedral Square vs State Historical Museum

Choosing one in the Kremlin? Cathedral Square gives you more open-air Moscow; the Armoury gives you more treasure. Both fit in one day: cathedrals in the morning, the 14:30 Armoury session after lunch.

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How to do it right

• Take the 10:00 session: the halls are quieter and you still have the whole day for the Kremlin and the centre.
• Start with the regalia and thrones while you are fresh — the carriages at the end are quick to see.
• Pair it with Cathedral Square: cathedrals in the morning, the 14:30 Armoury session after lunch.
• From the Borovitsky Gate it’s a 10-minute walk to the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour or 15 minutes to the Pushkin Museum.
• No photos inside — the museum shop sells postcards and catalogues of the main pieces.
• The audio guide costs 500 ₽ on top of the basic ticket and is worth it if you aren’t with a guide.

Questions