Fashionable, crowded and vibrant, one of the oldest districts in Moscow’s downtown, Khamovniki seems to have got the best of all worlds – the history, the culture and the entertainment.

The area takes its name from the old Russian word “kham,” at the time used for “flax.” Indeed, in the 17th century, Khamovniki established itself as the heart of Moscow’s textile production.

A reminder of those times is the church of St. Nicholas, which was commissioned by the area’s community of weavers in honor of their patron saint. Its bell tower has a tented roof and is one of the highest tented bell towers in the city. The church is known for having remained open even during the atheistic Soviet era. The best view of the church opens from Khamovniki’s longest avenue, Komsomolsky Prospect.

Nearby there is one of the capital’s most prestigious streets, Frunzenskaya Embankment, named after revolutionary leader Mikhail Frunze. The area of Khamovniki lies along one of the bends of the Moskva River, and the embankment boasts a truly prime location in the city center. It was especially popular with the Communist Party leadership. No wonder that it boasts plenty of quality Stalin-era buildings.

It should not come as a surprise either that the historic neighborhood is ridiculously expensive, offering the priciest real estate in Moscow’s downtown. Yet it is also extremely charming, which is why both before and after the revolution, Khamovniki was a magnet for Moscow’s artistic and literary elite.

In 1882, the author of “War and Peace,” Leo Tolstoy, bought a house in Khamovniki where he and his family spent the winter months. This quiet side street is now named after him and the house itself was turned into a museum, with plenty of memorabilia related to the author’s life.

For an even bigger cultural fix in Khamovniki, head to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. Although it is named after Russia’s iconic poet, in fact it has nothing to do with Aleksandr Pushkin himself. Opened in 1912, it possesses a collection of foreign art second in Russia to only St. Petersburg’s Hermitage. The museum’s pride and joy is its collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings – a result of the fact that such works gained popularity in Russia even before they captured the imagination of European art buffs.

The last outstanding sight of Khamovniki is Luzhniki Stadium. With seating for some 80,000, it is Russia’s largest. Built in 1956, the stadium has seen its fair share of history, from being the main venue at the 1980 Moscow Olympics to hosting a string of pop and rock stars, including the Rolling Stones, Madonna and Michael Jackson.