Imperial Moscow University (Russian: Императорский Московский университет) was one of the oldest universities of the Russian Empire, established in 1755. It was the first of the twelve imperial universities of the Russian Empire. Its legacy is continued as Lomonosov Moscow State University, which occupies some of its original buildings.

Ivan Shuvalov and Mikhail Lomonosov promoted the idea of a university in Moscow, and Russian Empress Elizabeth decreed its establishment on 23 January [O.S. 12 January] 1755. The first lectures were given on 7 May [O.S. 26 April] 1755. Russians still celebrate 25 January as Students' Day. (Foundation of the university is traditionally associated with the feast of Saint Tatiana, celebrated by the Russian Orthodox Church on 12 January Julian, which corresponds to 25 January Gregorian in the 20th–21st centuries.)

The present Moscow State University originally occupied the Aptekarskij dom on Red Square from 1755 to 1787.

Catherine the Great transferred the university to a Neoclassical building on the other side of Mokhovaya Street; that main building was constructed between 1782 and 1793 in the Neo-Palladian style, to a design by Matvei Kazakov, and rebuilt by Domenico Giliardi after the fire consumed much of Moscow in 1812.

In the 18th century, the university had three departments: philosophy, medicine, and law. A preparatory college was affiliated with the university until its abolition in 1812. In 1779, Mikhail Kheraskov founded a boarding school for noblemen (Благородный пансион) which in 1830 became a gymnasium for the Russian nobility. The university press, run by Nikolay Novikov in the 1780s, published the most popular newspaper in Imperial Russia: Moskovskie Vedomosti.

Moscow University was transferred from the Senate to the Ministry of Education of the Russian Empire. Under the new Charter of the Imperial University of Moscow in 1804, the university was to be run by the University Council, which included ordinary and distinguished professors headed by the rector.

The rector was annually elected by a professorial assembly (closed voting with the help of white and black balls) and was approved personally by the Emperor of the Russian Empire. The deans of the faculties were also subject to election. The first elected rector was the historian and geographer Khariton Chebotarev. At the meetings of the council, not only the appointment of professors, honorary members, and adjuncts of the university was decided, but also the appointment of teachers in the gymnasium and the school of the district, and even the annual test of students. The meetings were to be held at least once a month. Annually the Council elected deans of faculties, which were approved by the Minister of Education.

The university was divided into four departments (faculty): moral and political sciences, physical and mathematical sciences, verbal sciences, medical sciences. Each department held its own meetings, on which a schedule was drawn up, tests were conducted for those wishing to obtain a degree, economic and financial issues were considered. The Faculty of Medicine was divided into departments: clinical (therapy), surgical, obstetrics. At the Faculty of Law, the teaching of natural, folk and Roman rights was introduced.