Sergei Sobyanin attends Atom Pavilion opening ceremony at VDNKh
VDNKh has launched a new pavilion called Atom to host a museum dedicated to the history and achievements of the nuclear industry. The opening ceremony was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko and Rosatom Group CEO Alexey Likhachev, in addition to President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Gennady Krasnikov, Hua Liu, Deputy Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Belarus Minister of Energy Viktor Karankevich, diplomatic envoys of Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Hungary, Egypt, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, UAE, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and South Africa.
“When we were discussing projects for the future pavilion, there were several of them, from the most utilitarian to the most sophisticated ones. As a rule, we favor the simplest, most quickly erected and inexpensive projects, taking into account the ongoing challenges we are facing, and so on. But, amazingly, we’ve chosen the most challenging and the most extraordinary project. And it’s even more incredible that this project has come to fruition the way it was intended and it looks even cooler than it seemed to be on the drawings and booklets. So I congratulate you all on the launch. This is a big milestone for VDNKh, for Moscow, for Muscovites and for our country,” said Sergei Sobyanin.
Spanning 25,300 square meters, including 1,200 square meters of usable roofing, the new pavilion is a scientific and technological exhibition facility with seven floors, three of them located underground.
To create the atomic energy museum, the Moscow Government, jointly with Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, held an international competition in 2016, which was won by an architectural concept of Russia’s UNK project design office. The pavilion was built from 2017 to 2023 at Rosatom’s expense.
“For many decades, the nuclear industry has ensured the security and sovereignty of our country, guaranteed and robust energy supply to our citizens and various sectors, and this is the most important industry for our economy. The Atom Pavilion, where we are present today, is the largest exhibition of nuclear energy, and here everyone will be able to learn about the great past, present and future of our nuclear industry,” noted Alexander Novak, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
The project involved the following remarkable engineering solutions:
— a 54-meter cantilever extension of the supporting structure;
— deepening of the building to minus 17 meters;
— a 12-meter-high single glazed façade system;
— a 26-meter wall in the ground for fencing the pit;
— construction work at a site located in the floodplain of the Kamenka River with Class III soils (by complexity characteristics).
The Atom Pavilion can accommodate up to 2,000 visitors at a time.
“Today I would like to say many thanks to Mr. Sobyanin and the entire Moscow Government not only for realizing the dream of this pavilion, but also for the fact that since the moment when the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy became a project of the Moscow Government, it has transformed beyond recognition. And this is extremely important not only for Moscow, but also for the nation as a whole,” added Sergei Kiriyenko, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Russia.
Rosatom Group CEO Alexey Likhachev also noted the contribution of those who were present at the ceremony to the project of creating the new exhibition facility and thanked the builders.
Exhibition in Atom Pavilion
The exhibition accommodated in the pavilion highlights the history and present-day achievements of domestic nuclear energy as a high-tech and safe industry that makes a great contribution to ensuring Russia’s defense capability and economic growth, for visitors to get a closer look at the USSR atomic project, explore the Tokamak or Nuclear Reactor installations, etc.
The exhibition facility is built as a science center and is intended for both a wide public and industry professionals, its storyline winding from the past to the future through the present, thus echoing the pavilion’s architectural features.
The underground exhibits are focused on the time of the core pioneering discoveries, with the Soviet Atomic Project and Time of the First zones. The former introduces visitors to the emerging national nuclear physics and highlights the creation of atomic weapons, so visitors will learn about nine iconic contributors to the atomic project, such as three times Heroes of Socialist Labor Igor Kurchatov, Anatoly Alexandrov, Boris Vannikov, Nikolai Dukhov, Yakov Zeldovich, Andrei Sakharov, Efim Slavsky, Yulia Khariton, and Kirill Shchyolkin.
The exhibition’s central displays are Creation of Laboratory No. 2, Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, The First Main Directorate and the Start of Work, The First Chain Reaction at the F-1 Reactor, The Role of Soviet Intelligence in the Atomic Project, Pioneering Plutonium Production, The First-Ever Industrial Reactor A, KB-11, Creation and Testing of the RDS-1, Nuclear Race, Kuzma’s Mother and Nuclear Parity, and Moscow Treaty of 1963. Visitors will see a number of exhibits, such as the F-1 Nuclear Reactor, the RDS-1 Bomb and the Tsar Bomba.
The exhibition called The Time of the First occupies the combined space of the first and second underground floors and is dedicated to the era of the 1950–1980 s, when the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes opened doors for the most daring experiments and pushed the boundaries of the possible for mankind, its main sections including Towards the Dream, Spirit of Discovery, Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, and The First Tokamak Fusion Reactor.
The desire to use atomic energy for the benefit of mankind enabled breakthrough discoveries in a variety of fields, from electrical power and shipbuilding to aviation and astronautics as the atom has become a symbol of the future, inspiring people to undertake the most ambitious endeavors. Visitors will see models of a subterrene, the Atomic Ruler of the Sky airship and the Volga-Atom nuclear-powered vehicle and will also be able to visit the captain’s cabin of the pioneer nuclear icebreaker Lenin.
The exhibition called Contemporary Atomic Industry on the ground floor is dedicated to the present for sightseers to learn about the possibilities of using nuclear technology in energy, medicine, food industry (food processing) and agriculture (water desalination), its main sections covering New Nuclear Technologies, the Northern Sea Route and the Rosatom Planet. The main exhibit is a nuclear reactor whose very complex and at the same time harmonious process of interaction between many elements is metaphorized through music; so, visitors can watch an incredible show and listen to the Atomic Symphony.
The pavilion’s third floor — Atomarium — is intended to be a magnet for the younger generation of Muscovites as it combines interactive, gaming and scientific technologies. In the scientific and educational lab, everyone will be able to feel like a researcher, attend a master class, use a real-world atomic force microscope and other high-tech equipment.
On the usable green roof there is a restaurant with access to an open observation deck,
while the underground level accommodates the Anniversary Hall offering space for temporary exhibitions. The debut exhibition, People and Cities, to be held there, will highlight the life and growth of atomic industry backbone cities and Rosatom’s powerful footprint.
Visitors can stroll along the Alley of Knowledge unveiling some secrets of the discoverers and telling how great people used to detach oneself from daily routine to open doors to sudden insight.
The pavilion also has a two-level 250-guest conference hall with dressing rooms and utility rooms, which will host business and entertainment events. There is also a lounge with gaming areas, a cafe and a gift shop, which is separated from the conference room by a mobile wall enabling area fusion.
History of the peaceful atom at VDNKh
The Atom Pavilion was built instead of former Pavilion No. 19, a standard aluminum and glass building in poor technical condition, which had housed the Tajik SSR and Tatar ASSR pavilions. In 1967, they built the Mechanization and Electrification of Agriculture pavilion on the site, which was then renamed the Main Demonstration and Testing Computing Center spotlighting the features and capabilities of computers.
In the 1990 s, the pavilion housed the information and exhibition center of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations and hosted exhibitions of rescue equipment and rescue seminars; part of the building was rented out for retail and offices.
Its new era was marked by creation of Rosatom’s Atomic Energy Museum, the theme having featured at VDNKh earlier. Back in 1956, at the All-Union Industrial Exhibition, Pavilion No. 62 was renamed Atomic Energy for Peaceful Purposes to display measuring instruments, a collection of uranium ores, radiological protection equipment and models of research thermonuclear facilities. The central hall accommodated a 100-kilowatt operating nuclear reactor using uranium-235; for clarity, the reactor was open and visitors were able to observe Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation, a characteristic blue glow of an underwater nuclear reactor. The Atomic Pavilion was a tourist essential for foreign delegations.
In 1964, as the exhibition was expanding, the theme-specific display was moved to Pavilion No. 71 to showcase, in particular, models of nuclear reactors and nuclear facilities demonstrating how nuclear power plants and nuclear icebreakers operated.
In the recent VDNKh history, Pavilion No. 71 has been occupied by the My Documents flagship, while Pavilion No. 62, which was called Nature Protection with a change of the exhibition in 1967, houses the International Ballet Center.
Landmark restoration and new VDNKh museums
The ambitious project to revitalize VDNKh has been underway since 2014. In that time, 37 historical pavilions and other cultural heritage sites have been rehabilitated.
In particular, this year they have wrapped up seven facilities, including Pavilion No. 1 Central, Pavilion No. 2 Public Education (former North Caucasus pavilion), Pavilion No. 15 Radio Electronics and Communications (previously known as the Volga Region pavilion), Pavilion No. 44 Rabbit Breeding, Pavilion No. 51 Meat Industry (former Glavmyaso), Pavilion No. 59 Grain (previously known as the Moscow Region pavilion) and Pavilion No. 66 Soviet Culture (former Uzbek SSR pavilion).
Today, VDNKh offers a selection of more than 20 museums, such as the Cosmonautics and Aviation Center (Pavilion No. 34 Cosmos), the Slovo Center for Slavic Writing (Pavilion No. 58 Agriculture), the Russia is My History Historical Park (Pavilion No. 57), the Museum of Cinema (Pavilion No. 36, former Processing of Agricultural Products), the Oriental Museum (Pavilion No. 13, former Healthcare), the Moscow City Scale Model Pavilion, the Special Purpose Garage of the FSO of Russia (Pavilions No. 53 and 54), the Moscow Transport Museum (Pavilion No. 26, former Transport of the USSR), the Moscow Urban Economy Museum (Pavilion No. 5, former Physics), the Biotech Museum, a modern biotechnology center (Pavilion No. 30, former Microbiological Industry), the Oil Interactive Exhibition (Pavilion No. 25), the Museum and Exhibition Complex of Public Service History (Pavilion No. 71, former Atomic Energy), and the Horse Museum (Pavilion No. 42). There are also six national pavilions, including exhibition and trade centers of Azerbaijan (Pavilion No. 14, former Computer Engineering and Informatics), Armenia (Pavilion No. 68, former Coal Industry), Belarus (Pavilion No. 18, former the Republic of Belarus), Kazakhstan (Pavilion No. 11, former Metallurgy), Moldova (Pavilion No. 10, former Standards) and Uzbekistan (Pavilion No. 66, former Soviet Culture).
Work is currently underway on seven VDNKh cultural heritage sites, namely Pavilion No. 6 Chemistry (previously known as the Lithuanian SSR and later transferred to the Republic of Abkhazia), Pavilion No. 8 Young Naturalists (the Museum of Chocolate), Pavilion No. 35 Glavtabak, Pavilion No. 61 Tsentrosoyuz, Pavilion No. 67 Karelia (former Soviet Media), the Golden Spike restaurant and the Leto (Summer) cafe.
In addition, they plan to restore Pavilion No. 62 (the International Ballet Center, former Nature Protection), Pavilion No. 64 Optics and Pavilion No. 70 Moscow (also known as Montreal, originally built to present achievements of the USSR at the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, in Montreal).