The Moscow City Museum (the Museum, for short) was founded in 1896 at the initiative of the Moscow city parliament, the Moscow City Duma. It was then called the Museum of Moscow Municipal Facilities and Services. In 1920, the Museum was renamed the Moscow Municipal Museum. In 1940 to 1986, the Moscow inhabitants knew it as the Museum of History and Reconstruction of Moscow. In 1986, the Museum received its modern name, the Moscow City Museum. In 2004, the Museum received the museum association status.
The original collection of the Museum was based on the materials presented by the Moscow City Duma at the 1896 All-Russian Arts and Industry Exhibition (held in Nizhniy Novgorod.
In 1892–1925, the Museum occupied the Krestovskiye Water Towers, demolished in the forties, and in 1925–1934 it was situated at the Sukhareva Tower, built in 1692–1695 by the architect M. I. Cheglokov and demolished in 1934. Since 1934, the Museum has been located at the Church of St. John the Theologian "under the Elm".
In early twenties, the scientific activity agenda of the Museum was developed by, among others, academic historians of the Moscow University and the Institute of Municipal Facilities and Services (D. N. Anuchin, B. B. Veselovsky, M. N. Tikhomirov, etc.) as well as by the painter A. M. Vasnetsov.
In 1947, the exposition of the Museum was for the first time organized on a historical and chronological principle; this exposition existed up to mid-seventies. Currently, because of lack of exposition area (less than 450 square meters (4,850 square feet)), the Museum only hosts the permanent "From a Settlement to a Capital. The History of Moscow from the 12th to the 17th Century" exhibition and the "Gilyarovsky's Moscow" exhibition; exhibitions based on the holdings of the Museum are also organized.
The holdings of the Museum contain over a million items; it includes rich archaeological collections, the pictorial art collection (A. M. Vasnetsov's The Old Moscow series of paintings, works of I. K. Aivazovsky, V. E. Makovsky, V. D. Polenov, V. I. Surikov, L. O. Pasternak, V. V. Nesterov, R. R. Falk, and others), collections of postcards with Moscow views of different times, and photographs. Exhibits of high interest are contained in the document and mail collection (private archives of such Moscow historians as P. V. Sytin and B. S. Zemenkov, of the chemist B. I. Zbarsky, and others), archives of state and other city institutions, collections of Moscow maps, guides, reference books, rare (e.g., hand-written) books and posters.
The material object collection, which includes collections of fabric, porcelain, glass, arms, household objects, numismatics, faleristics, and notaphily, tells something about the life of Moscow inhabitants during the whole history of the city. The scientific library stores over 60,000 books and 50,000 newspaper and journal copies.
Since 1946, the Museum has been performing archaeological research of Moscow, organizing household and historical guided tours and the work of the Young Archaeologists Club. Since 1950, it has been releasing the Works of the Museum of History and Reconstruction of Moscow book series (since 1996 called Works of the Moscow City Museum). The Moscow City Museum association includes the following branches: the Old English Court, the Moscow Archaeological Museum, the Museum of Christ the Saviour Cathedral, the Kuzminki Russian Country Estate Museum, the Lefortovo Museum, and the Mirek Russian Accordion Museum.
The Church of St. John the Theologian "under the Elm" by the Kitai-gorod Wall at 12 Novaya Square was built in 1825–1837 in order to replace a brick church built in 1658. Probably, the first wooden church of the late 15th century (known from 1493) appeared due to a small fortress that was situated outside the trading quarter confines and protected the East Moscow accesses. The church entered the city limits in the first half of the 16th century, after the Kitai-gorod Wall had been built. An enormous elm was growing by its altar until 1775. The Empire-style two-storey building that features a high basement floor is a monumental, rectangular body with a round dome drum.
Instead of a traditional altar jog, the East facade of the church is decorated by a solemn six-pillar portico. Because of the open spaces of the Lubyanskaya and Novaya Squares, the church is perceived as the main architectural object of the East Kitai-gorod. Apart from a high altar, the first floor of the church contained the side altars of Uncovering of the Heads of John the Baptist and of Luke the Evangelist; the basement floor contained the side altars of the Veil of Our Lady, of Nicolas the Wonderworker, and Mitrofan of Voronezh. In 1925, the church was shut down. Since 1934, the church has been occupied by the Museum.
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