Sanduny Banya

Sila Sandunov, an actor at the imperial theatres, opened a bathhouse here in 1808; the buildings that stand are from 1894 to 1896, commissioned by later owners who spent lavishly and produced something closer to a palace than a wash house - a Moorish hall, baroque and rococo rooms, marble, carved wood, stained glass, a pool under a colonnade. It has been in continuous use since, through every change of regime, and remains a working banya rather than a museum. The ritual is the point: heat in the parilka, a beating with a bundle of birch or oak leaves administered by an attendant if you want it, then cold water, then rest and tea, repeated. Men's and women's sections are separate, with several classes of hall at different prices; the top men's hall is the famous one. It appears in films regularly, which does not seem to have changed how it operates.

What you actually see

• The 1896 halls - Moorish, baroque and rococo rooms built like a palace.
• The ritual - heat, a beating with leaf bundles, cold water, rest, repeated.
• The colonnaded pool - the cold plunge under columns in the top hall.
• The continuity - a working bathhouse through every change of government since 1808.

When to go

All year; the banya makes most sense in winter. Three hours for a proper session. Weekday afternoons are quietest.

Honest expectations

Prices vary sharply by hall and the top class is expensive. Sections are strictly single sex. Bring or hire a sheet, hat and slippers. The heat is genuinely severe and the leaf beating is not gentle; anyone with a heart or blood pressure condition should ask a doctor rather than take a travel note's word for it.

Nearby

Kuznetsky Most and the Bolshoi are a short walk south.