Gorky Park, Sparrow Hills, Moscow State University and Novodevichy Convent

South-west of the Garden Ring, the Moskva River traces a deep horseshoe bend bordered by wooded bluffs, riverside promenades, and two of Moscow's defining architectural ensembles: the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century cloister of Novodevichy Convent on the low northern bank, and the Stalinist tower of Moscow State University crowning the high southern ridge of Sparrow Hills.

Gorky Park and Neskuchny Garden

Entered beneath the monumental 1955 Stalinist triumphal arch on Krymsky Val (a short walk from Park Kultury or Oktyabrskaya Metro and directly opposite the New Tretyakov Gallery and Muzeon Park), Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure opened in 1928 to a master plan by Constructivist architect Konstantin Melnikov. Covering roughly 120 hectares (300 acres) along the right bank of the Moskva River, the park merged the grounds of the old Golitsyn Hospital with the eighteenth-century Neskuchny Garden (whose history dates back to 1753).

Inside the main parterre stand the Central Fountain, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art (housed in a former 1960s pavilion remodelled by Rem Koolhaas), and the Golitsyn Pond boat basin. A continuous timber-and-granite embankment path runs south-west through the wooded ravines of Neskuchny Garden along the riverbend to the foot of Sparrow Hills.

Sparrow Hills (Vorobyovy Gory) and Moscow State University

Rising 80 to 85 metres above the river surface (200 metres above sea level), Sparrow Hills is one of the highest natural viewpoints in Moscow. You can arrive by walking along the riverside from Gorky Park or by riding the Moscow Metro to Vorobyovy Gory station, which occupies the glass-walled lower deck of the two-level Luzhniki Metro Bridge directly over the water. From the observation terrace at the top of the bluff, a wide panorama opens across the river loop toward the 1980 Olympic bowl of Luzhniki Stadium, the golden domes of Novodevichy Convent, the skyscrapers of Moscow-City, and the distant Kremlin towers. A three-station aerial cable car links the Sparrow Hills terrace across the river to the Luzhniki embankment.

Directly behind the viewpoint stands the Main Building of Lomonosov Moscow State University, designed by architect Lev Rudnev and built between 1947 and 1953. Rising 239 metres (784 feet) across 36 central storeys, including a 58-metre spire topped by a 12-tonne five-pointed star, it is the tallest of Moscow's seven Stalinist skyscrapers ("Seven Sisters") and remained the tallest building in Europe until 1990. While interior entry to the university faculties is restricted to students and staff, the landscaped esplanade, fountains, and monument to founder Mikhail Lomonosov are open around the clock.

Novodevichy Convent and Cemetery

Across the river bend in Khamovniki (a short walk from Sportivnaya Metro or Luzhniki MCC station), Novodevichy Convent was founded by Grand Prince Vasily III on 13 May 1524 to commemorate the 1514 capture of Smolensk. Enclosed by high red-and-white crenellated masonry walls with 12 ornate towers, the monastery survived the seventeenth to twentieth centuries virtually intact and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.

At the centre of the courtyard rises the five-domed white-stone Smolensky Cathedral (traditionally dated 1524 to 1525, with scholarly attributions also to the 1560s), surrounded by late seventeenth-century Moscow Baroque (Naryshkin Baroque) structures including the six-tiered octagonal bell tower, the Refectory with the Church of the Assumption, and the chambers where Sophia Alekseyevna (half-sister of Peter the Great) was confined. Adjacent to the southern monastery wall lies Novodevichy Cemetery, the burial place of writers Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, and Mikhail Bulgakov, composers Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich, and twentieth-century political leaders. Check the official site for separate convent and cemetery opening hours before your visit.