Right on Red Square, this museum consists explores the Russian history from the ice ages of the mammoths right up to the 19th century.

The first floor which runs up to the beginning of Peter the Great, and the 17th century holds many relics and artifacts of historical interest.

Notable items include a longboat excavated from the banks of the Volga River, gold artifacts of the Scythians, birch-bark scrolls of Novgorod, manuscripts going back to the sixth century, Russian folk ceramics, and wooden objects. The library boasts the manuscripts of the Chludov Psalter (860s), Svyatoslav's Miscellanies (1073), Mstislav Gospel (1117), Yuriev Gospel (1119), and Halych Gospel (1144). The museum's coin collection alone includes 1.7 million coins, making it the largest in Russia. In 1996, the number of all articles in the museum's collection achieved 4,373,757.