The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center is a museum dedicated to Jewish culture and religious tradition, the history of life and resettlement of Jews, and the history of Jews in Russia. It is located in the building of the former Bakhmetevsky garage, in Maryina Roshcha, in the north-east of Moscow.

The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center opened in Moscow in November 2012 and is thought to be the largest Jewish museum in the world. Construction of the museum is estimated to have cost $50 million. Vladimir Putin personally donated one month of his salary towards the construction of the museum.

This large and engaging museum dedicated to the complex history of Russian Jewry, is thoroughly modern in approach, favouring personal testimony, archival video footage and interactive displays – all translated into Russian and English. The exhibitions are divided chronologically, helping visitors to understand the life of Jewish communities as they travelled across medieval Europe, settling in shtetls before moving to the cities. The role of Russian Jewry in public life in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries is particularly well presented as is the fate of Soviet Jews and the role of Jewish soldiers during World War II. Visitors of Russian-Jewish origins will no doubt be particularly interested in hearing about what it meant to be a ‘Soviet Jew’ and finding out how and why so many left the USSR. Those expecting to find just a stark representation of pogroms, holocaust, hardships and suffering will be pleasantly surprised to find Russian Jewish history presented as something much more complex, filled with both struggles and achievements. The museum is located in the northwestern Moscow neighborhood of Marina Roscha and can also be reached by taking tram no.19 from metro

The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center is the largest Jewish museum in the world and the largest indoor exhibition area in Europe: an exhibition area of ​​4,500 m², a total area of ​​8,500 m². It is located on Obraztsov Street in the historic building of the former Bakhmetevsky garage, a monument of Soviet constructivism, built in 1925-1927 by the architect Konstantin Melnikov and engineer Vladimir Shukhov.

At the moment it is the most technologically advanced museum in Russia: the exposition of the museum is based not only on artifacts, but also on information submitted in an interactive form. This allows the visitor to get involved in the research process. About 50 million dollars were spent on the creation of the museum.

The exposition of the museum is divided into several thematic segments. It includes documents, photographs, letters, telling about the life of Jews in Russia, from the end of the XIX century to the present day, here you can see the T-34 tank, and the U-2 aircraft. The museum also has a space of temporary exhibitions, in which exhibitions are held.

Cinema “Nachalo”
Visiting the museum begins with a round hall in which visitors are invited to watch a 4D film dedicated to the time from the first days of existence – the creation of the world and the emergence of major religions – to the destruction of the Second Temple and the formation of the Jewish diaspora.

Migration card
A huge interactive table displays the history of Jewish migration. This exhibit can and should be touched with hands. Touching certain parts of the map, you can learn about the life of Jewish communities in each particular country.

Shtetl
In this part of the exhibition a typical Jewish place of Tsarist Russia with its squat houses, an obligatory market, a synagogue and a religious school (heder) was recreated. On huge, in two human growth, showcases unique images from a life of Jews of that time are projected.

Cities and beyond
Here, the atmosphere of the Odessa café of the late XIX – early XX century is recreated. In the hall there are sensory tables, sitting behind which you can find out about the problems that worried the minds of the Jews of that time.

Revolution
This part is devoted to the revolution in Russia, the Civil War and the participation of Jews in it. At the same time, it is told about the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which gave grounds for believing in the rapid formation of a national state in Palestine.

Soviet Union
The hall has a symbolic design, a five-pointed red star is mounted on its ceiling, frames of that time appear on the screens, as well as biographies of Jews of outstanding personalities of the era – scientists, politicians, cultural figures.

The Great Patriotic War and the Holocaust
On the huge screens, shots of the chronicle, photographs and interviews with veterans, participants in the partisan movement, former prisoners of the ghetto and fascist concentration camps are demonstrated. The main role here is given to memories.

Memorial
This is a place of sorrow, here you can light a candle in memory of those who died during the Holocaust and World War II, in a dark room on a wall like stars, the names of people appear every second and disappear into the heavenly space.

Postwar time
In this part of the exhibition one can learn about the anti-Semitism established in the USSR, the “doctors’ affair”, the six-day war and Moshe Dayan, the “refuseniks” movement, emigration and other events that determined the consciousness of Soviet Jews at that time. One of the most interesting elements of the exposition is the recreated kitchen of the Soviet “Khrushchev”, in which the life situations of the 60s and 70s are played out on established holograms.

From perestroika to the present day
The last part of the museum is devoted to the period of the formation of a new Russia, which turned out to be one of the most favorable for Russian Jewry. It has received what it has always striven for – freedom of religion, movement and respectful attitude on the part of official authorities.

The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center opened in Moscow on November 8, 2012. The opening ceremony was attended by Israeli President Shimon Peres and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The initiator of the creation of the museum were the chief rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar and the president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, Alexander Boroda. In 2001, the building of the former Bakhmetevsky Garage, in which the third bus fleet was previously located, was transferred to the Moscow Marinoroshchinskaya Jewish Community for free temporary use. Since 2002 the concept of the museum has been developed. In 2004, competitions and tenders were announced, which resulted in the winning of the American company Ralph Appelbaum Associates, which created many leading modern museums in the world.

In 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin transferred his monthly salary to the foundation for the construction of the museum, and Nikolai Patrushev, director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, donated 16 documents to the foundation of the future museum related to the fate of the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who at one time saved from the Holocaust The lives of thousands of Hungarian Jews.

In the period from 2008 to 2011, this building housed the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, which contributed to the creation of a cultural site on the site of the former bus fleet.

In March 2008, within the framework of the Second International Festival of Arts “Traditions and Contemporaneity” in Moscow Manezh, the detailed presentation of the museum project was held for the first time. Here, some of the exhibits of the Judaica collection, representing the “originality and richness of the culture and art of Russian and Soviet Jews”, including valuable and highly artistic attributes of the Jewish worship (chanukiah, bsam, parokhet, synagogue candlesticks), paintings by A. Lakhovsky, Mane- Kats, S. Yudovin and others.

In 2016, the Center for Tolerance of the Jewish Museum became a laureate of the UNESCO Prize for the dissemination of ideas of tolerance and non-violence.

Outside the exposition of the museum is the Center for Tolerance. This is an independent platform where trainings, seminars, lectures, workshops, round tables and much more are held. There are 60 iPads here, where you can answer various questions about tolerance, and compare your answers with the answers of others.

The museum also operates the Center of the Vanguard. It is located in the mezzanine at the entrance to the museum on top of the structure, in its structure resembling the Shukhov Tower. This platform is completely and entirely devoted to the art and culture of the 1910s-1930s. There are lectures, seminars, film screenings, master classes, exhibitions and concerts, and there is an open library where books and albums on the Soviet avant-garde and art in general are constantly accessible.

On the territory of the museum there is also a children’s center, where creative workshops, classes and lectures are held.

Children are offered to get acquainted not only with Jewish culture, but also with the cultures of other peoples – their art, language, holidays, customs and cooking. In the Children’s Center specially installed kitchen.

On June 13, 2013, a section of the Russian State Library was opened in the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, where books from the collection of the Schneerson family moved (see the Schneerson Library). The event on the occasion of the opening of this division of the RSL was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and representatives of various Jewish communities of Russia. With the proposal to place a unique collection in the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, Vladimir Putin made another February 19, 2013. Books are available to any citizen of Russia or another state who has reached the age of 18. To do this, it is enough to get a reader’s ticket of the RSL, which can be done here in the Jewish Museum.