Among the area's attractions and within a short walk of the hotel, guests will find the Lenin Funerary Train, nestling in a park adjacent to Pavelestsky Station. This glorious black and orange steam engine and wagon brought the Bolshevik leader's body to Moscow in January 1924 for his funeral in Red Square and has been preserved here at Paveletskaya ever since. The pavilion also contains an imposing bust of Lenin and various sculptures glorifying the achievements of Communism in Russia.
Just across the river from the hotel sits probably the oldest monastery in Moscow - Novospassky - thought to have been founded in the 12th century during the reign of Prince Yury Dolgoruky. Dedicated to the Savior and established initially on the site of the present-day Danilov Monastery, Novospassky was transferred to the Kremlin complex in 1300 by Ivan The Terrible and then relocated back to its original site in 1490 by Ivan III. Most of the remaining Monastery buildings date from the 17th century, when thick fortress walls and bastions protected the complex from the Tartar attacks of the Time of Troubles. During the 20th century the monastery played a more sinister role in Russia's history, serving the Bolsheviks as a concentration camp and later the NKVD as an archive, before eventually being returned to the church in 1991.
Located just down the hill from the Monastery and a short distance from the hotel lies the Krutitskoye Podvorye or Yard, housing a complex of 17th century buildings that have remained uninfluenced by Western design and exemplify ancient Muscovite architecture. Originally founded in the 14th century as the seat of the Metropolitan or spiritual head of the Christian minorities under Tartar rule, the Yard is now an interesting architectural feature and boasts an impressive Cathedral of Assumption, built entirely of brick, and a brightly tiled fairytale house or Teremok.
