23 July 2018 в 12:06

Just space: What museums were the most popular with football fans

The Museum of Cosmonautics tops the list of the most popular attractions among tourists visiting Moscow: more than 16,000 people decided to go there to explore the history of space research and Russia’s achievements in this field. In addition, online walking tours provided by the Mosgortur travel agency were available for residents and guests of the capital during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Tours from Smolenskaya to Arbatskaya, from Kropotkinskaya to Kitay-Gorod and from Arbatskaya to Tretyakovskaya metro stations were the biggest hit.

A ranking of city museums that pulled in the largest number of Russian and foreign tourists during the 2018 World Cup has been drawn up. A total of more than 23,000 people visited 45 Moscow museums from 14 June through 15 July, using their FAN IDs that offered a 50-percent discount on admission. (FAN ID is a fan’s identity card required to attend World Cup matches – mos.ru.)

“Tourists took interest in science and history museums and fine arts. The top five most visited Moscow museums during the World Cup were the Museum of Cosmonautics (over 16,000 visitors), the Museum of Contemporary Art (over 1,600 visitors), the Tsaritsyno Estate Museum and the Museum of Moscow (over 1,000 visitors each), and the Kolomenskoye Estate Museum (around 700 visitors),” said Vasily Ovchinnikov, general director of Mosgortur.

Fans who wished to explore central Moscow on their own could rely on Mosgortur’s chat bot for help. The tours included top must-see sites, museums and architectural monuments. As many as 16,000 people took advantage of the online guide from the beginning of the World Cup till 16 July.

Russian-speaking tourists accounted for the majority of the chat bot users (94 percent). English-speaking and Spanish-speaking guests made up five and one percent, respectively.

The most popular online walking tours were a historical tour from the Smolenskaya to Arbatskaya metro stations, a tour from Kropotkinskaya to Kitay-Gorod (from the Church of Christ the Saviour to the Romanov boyar chambers) and a tour of nobility sites from Arbatskaya to Tretyakovskaya.

In order to attract more visitors, city museums are introducing special terms for those interested in their expositions. Schoolchildren from all over the world can visit museums of the Moscow Department of Culture free of charge. These are more than 90 museums. Free tickets for permanent expositions can be obtained at museum ticket offices. Moscow school students are required to show their Moskvyonok cards or social school student IDs at the entrance. Children from other regions and countries need not show anything.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup final took place at the revamped Luzhniki Stadium. France won its second World Cup champion’s title after defeating Croatia.

The non-stop football celebration in Russia went on for a whole month from 14 June through 15 July. The matches were played in 11 host cities at 12 stadiums with a total seating capacity of more than 550,000. Team Russia made it to the quarter-finals, its best World Cup result ever, but lost to Croatia in penalty shootouts after a fierce fight.