The Kuskovo Palace Museum

Kuskovo Palace Museum was built as a summer residence by Count Pyotr Sheremetyev in the 18th century. Kuscovo which 12 km east of the Kremlin, into a mini-Varsailles with elegant buildings scattered around formal gardens. The palace is standing on the banks of the lake, where the Count staged mock sea battles to entertain Moscow society. To the south, across the lake, is the informal park. North of the mansion, in the formal grounds, is an orangery which now houses an exhibition of 18th to 20th-century Russian ceramics. Here is an open-air theatre where the Sheremetyev's troupe of serf actors performed twice weekly, a pond-site grotto, a Dutch House, an Italian villa, a Hermitage for private parties, and a church with a wooden bell tower. The museum contains paintings by French, Italian and Flemish artists, Chinese porcelain, furniture and articles of everyday life from the 18th and 19th centuries.