Find helpful information for parents planning to visit the museum with children.
Do children receive free admission?
Children age 6 and under may visit the permanent exhibition and exhibits with free admission tickets. Children age 7–17 may visit the permanent exhibition and exhibits with reduced-fare tickets, free admission days – every Wednesday. Tickets for tours, lectures, and other children’s activities must be purchased. Certain activities for adult visitors offer discounted tickets for children and adolescents. To receive a free or discounted ticket, you may be required to present a document confirming the age of the child (adolescent) to a museum staff member (cashier). If you have forgotten the required documents, you can visit the museum on the usual terms. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.
Can visitors with children enter the museum without waiting in line?
Visitors with children age 6 and under may enter the museum without waiting in line. Entrance is arranged through a separate entry. To the Main Building: from Kolymazhny Lane (see the diagram). To the Gallery: from Maly Znamensky Lane or through the main entrance (see the diagram). Visitors with children over the age of 6 can enter the museum and purchase tickets at the ticket offices on the usual terms.
Can I bring a stroller to the museum?
When visiting the museum with children under the age of 4, a stroller may be used; however, the museum reserves the right to limit the number of visitors with strollers in certain halls (due to the size of the strollers and limited space). During your visit, you may use a museum stroller. Our small strollers will allow you to view any of the exhibition halls freely. To receive a museum stroller for temporary use, consult the clerk at the information desk on the day of your visit.
The museum does not provide specified areas for temporary stroller storage. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Where can a child eat at the museum?
In the museum café or lobby, including food that you bring yourself. Food and drink, including bottled water, are prohibited in the museum halls for both children and adults. Please note that regardless of the age of the child, museum employees will ask you to step outside the museum halls to give your child a drink or snack. We recommend that you plan your child’s eating schedule in advance so that it will not interrupt tour participation.
Can I nurse my child?
Yes, in any area except the exhibition space. Bringing food into halls with exhibits is prohibited for every category of visitor. In the Gallery you may nurse your child in the entry area or café, or you may ask the building administrator for permission to enter the area beyond the information desk. If you are already in the exhibition area, go up the staircase to the 3rd floor; at the end of the staircase, you will see a small hall with a comfortable bench. In the Main Building you may nurse your baby in the entry area or café. Unfortunately, the Main Building is less equipped for visitors with small children, but all of the needed changes will be introduced as part of the upcoming reconstruction.
Does the museum have a changing table?
In the Main Building (12 Volhonka St.) visitors with children may use changing tables available in women's and men's bathrooms. In the Gallery (14 Volhonka St.) you can find a changing table next to the women's bathroom on the ground floor. In the kids educational center "Museion" (Kolymazhny Pereulok Bldg. 6/2/3) there is a changing table on the ground floor next to the wardrobe.
Can a child draw in the museum halls?
It is permitted to draw with a black-graphite pencil on paper that is A4 size (or smaller) without an easel.
At what age can a child visit the museum without being accompanied by an adult?
For an individual visit to an exhibition or participation in children and family activities in the exhibition – 12 years old and up. For children’s activities in lecture halls outside the exhibition area – 10 years old and up. For creative activities in workshops – dependent upon the visitation rules of the specific workshop.
Can a child take part in adult activities?
Parents can choose to have their child participate in activities for adult visitors if they are sure that the child is able to manage an entire tour, a lecture or a concert on an adult level and will not create a disturbance for other visitors, the tour guide, or the lecturer. Please note that you need to purchase a guided tour voucher or a ticket to a lecture or a concert for your child. Holding a child throughout an event is not allowed. Otherwise, we recommend that children attend activities designed for their age group. Keep in mind that children may find activities designed for the adult audience dull. This could hinder a child’s future interest in attending cultural events again.
