The cinema was opened in 1936 on the site of Saint Paul and Peter Church, which was demolished in the 1930s by the Soviet authorities.

In 1983, the building was redeveloped when the facade was decorated with scenes of many famous Soviet-Armenian movies including Chapayev, Pepo, David Bek and Sayat Nova.

Moscow Cinema is the main venue of the Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival, an international film festival held in Yerevan every year since 2004.

[2] The square in front of the cinema was named after Charles Aznavour as part of the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of Armenian independence in 2001.

The cinema has also an open-air theatre located at the eastern side of the building.