A hallmark of Soviet-era architecture, Moscow State University towers over the Moskva River. Photograph by Macduff Everton

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Twenty years ago this was one of the most visually boring cities in the world, photographer Macduff Everton, told the author. Today, they both agreed, it is one of the most interesting, exotic, and exciting. This despite such Soviet knuckleheadedness as a theater designed in the shape of a star, an apartment building created to look like a hammer and sickle, and a cultural affairs center shaped like a tractor. The streets of Moscow pulsate with history.

It’s no secret: Despite Russia’s turmoil, Moscow streets clamor with life. Photograph by Macduff Everton

Strolling old Arbat, a 15-minute walk west of the Kremlin, the author was struck by the loggias, balconies, and baroque grandeur. The street could have been in Rome or Paris, except almost all the structures had a unique Russian twist, including trimmings of cherry red, mint green, and ocher. The 19th-century villas along the Boulevard Ring, a greenbelt that circles central Moscow, are simpler and more severely Russian because they were constructed after Napoleon’s invasion of Moscow in 1812, a time of financial austerity.