Censored state media, restricted mediums of expression and an oppressive past: maybe this is what narrowly defines your view of the former Soviet Union and the Russia created as a result. From beneath the gabled roofs and behind the whimsical brick walls of the Tretyakov Gallery however, this belief easily falls apart.

Meet the lifetime treasure of the merchant Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, a timeline of artistic growth and evolution in Russia lovingly brought together as a “universally accessible repository of the fine arts”. Russian romanticism and iconography comes to life in the 150 000 exhibits, all of which originate from Russia, spread out over 8 buildings in the 17th Century estate including a church as old as the estate. From the main building, the Lavrushinskiy Pereulok on Lavrushinskiy Lane, Ivan the terrible looks on with the head of the son he murdered rested on his lap as pictured by Ilya Repin. From the Trinity dabbed onto parchment by Andrei Rublev rose Russian icon art. The most recent addition is the Krymsky Val building enclosing the other half of the permanent collection from the 20th Century onwards.

From Stalin to Lenin, the founders of the former Soviet Union remain standing, frozen, within the Graveyard of Fallen Monuments. Art has the power to retell, it has the power to recreate and it has the power to revive so it is with this that the Tretyakov Gallery keeps the Russian spirit ablaze.