The State Tretyakov Gallery (Russian: Государственная Третьяковская Галерея), in Moscow, Russia,  is the national treasury of Russian fine art and one of the greatest museums in the world. It is located in one of the oldest directs of Moscow – Zamoskvorechye, not far from the Kremlin.

The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Moscow merchant Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov (1832-98) acquired works by Russian artists of his day with the aim of creating a collection, which might later grow into a museum of national art. In 1892, Tretyakov presented his already famous collection to the Russian nation.

The façade of the gallery building was designed by the painter Viktor Vasnetsov in a peculiar Russian fairy-tale style. It was built in 1902-04 to the south from the Moscow Kremlin. During the 20th century, the gallery expanded to several neighbouring buildings, including the 17th-century church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi.

The Gallery's collection consists entirely of Russian art and artists who have made а contribution to the history of Russian art or been closely connected with it. The collection contains more than 130 000 works of painting, sculpture and graphics, created throughout the centuries by successive generations of Russian artists.

Russian art works, ranging in date from the 11th to the early 20th century, are on the show in Gallery's historic building on Lavrushinskiy Pereulok.

New building of the Tretyakov Gallery at Krymskiy Val houses a unique museum exhibition of national 20th century art.

Icons are an acquired taste - although the Tretyakov collection is impressive - and it's hard to get excited over the derivative, Italian-influenced portraits and landscapes of the 18^th Century, but the rejection of the Imperial Academy's restrictive diktats and the attempt to create a national art for the people that gained momentum as the 19^th century progressed produced some fascinating results. Fans of Russian literature can entertain themselves by seeing how the concerns and ideals of the great 19^th century writers were reflected by the artists of the same period.

And it is not only the historical gallery on Lavrushkin Pereulok that makes up the "All Russian Museum Union of the Tretiakov Gallery" (to give it its full title), there's also the House of Artists on Krimskii Val, which houses the gallery's collection of 20^th century art. It's a bit of a trek from the center, but well worth the effort to see the fine collection of early modern art - including Malevich's epoch-defining Black Square - to have a chuckle at the gross pomposity of the "masterpieces" of Socialist Realism, and to discover the sporadically fascinating works of the post-war Soviet avant garde.

The gallery is named after its founder, the great Moscow industrialist and patron Pavel Tretiakov. The museum lies on the site of an estate built in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Tretiakov bought it in 1852 and moved his collection of art here. It had taken him more than thirty years to put together, and before he died the museum was already open to the public free of charge.

The patron also commissioned from the best artists of the day several portraits of the great contemporary figures of Russian art and literature, among them Dostoevskii, Ostrovskii, Turgenev and Tolstoi. This formed the basis of the gallery's portrait collection, which also contains two paintings of the founder himself.

In August 1892, Pavel Tretiakov presented his collection to the city of Moscow, and in 1898 he died. After his death the building was reconstructed, with the addition of the "Russian-style" fasade, designed by Viktor Basnetsov, which has become the emblem of the gallery. In 1918 the gallery was transferred into the hands of the state, and received its present name.