Grand Maket Rossiya

Opened officially in June 2012 after a trial year, and the second largest model layout in the world after Hamburg's Miniatur Wunderland, this is a single model of Russia from the Baltic to Kamchatka laid out over about eight hundred square metres, built at 1:87 and not attempting geographic accuracy so much as a compressed impression - regions placed next to one another with their characteristic landscapes, industries and buildings. There are tens of thousands of figures, several hundred moving vehicles, trains running on kilometres of track, ships and aircraft. Lighting cycles from day to night every thirteen minutes, and at night windows, street lamps, headlights and fires come on across the whole board. The pleasure is in the small scenes rather than the scale: fights outside a bar, a wedding, an accident, people swimming, a film shoot, thousands of tiny narratives placed for anyone who looks closely, and buttons around the edge that start individual bits of machinery. Children find it immediately; adults tend to stay longer than they expected.

Highlights

• The day and night cycle - lighting running through dusk and dark every thirteen minutes.
• The small scenes - thousands of tiny staged incidents hidden across the board.
• The moving traffic - trains, cars and ships running on schedule across the model.
• The compressed country - regions placed side by side with their landscapes and industries.

When to go

All year. Two hours. Weekday afternoons are quietest; school holidays are busy.

Practical notes

It is a private commercial attraction, not a museum, and the ticket is priced accordingly. Weekends and holidays bring crowds around the popular sections. Geography is impressionistic, not accurate. It is out from the centre near the Moscow highway.

Nearby

Moskovsky Prospekt runs close by; Victory Square is a short ride south.

Key facts