History on the outside, future on the inside: VDNKh transformation in the last eight years

On August 1, the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy (VDNKh) celebrates its 83th birthday. It went through a lot in that time: grand openings, war, multiple reconstructions and the switch to free market in the 1990s. The VDNKh rehabilitation program started in Moscow eight years ago.

Now VDNKh is one of the largest open-air architecture museums with 49 cultural heritage sites on its grounds. Each year, there are new interactive expositions, modern public spaces, education and culture centers being opened.

Mos.ru dives into the transformations undergone by the 300+ hectares large grounds in the recent years.

History in architecture

Moscow authorities set their sights on restoring VDNKh in spring of 2014, launching an ambitious project to restore, rebuild and overhaul pavilions and facilities, along with re-landscaping the entire VDNKh grounds. The main idea was to restore VDNKh to the look it had in 1954 when its key symbols came to be. In eight years, 26 cultural heritage sites, including iconic pavilions, alleys, flower gardens and fountains, have been restored.

Waking through the restored main entrance arch, guests of VDNKh step into the alley with 14 fountains. After 50 years in service, their engineering networks were in a dire state. They were renovated completely in 2018. From there, you can get a nice view of the Central Pavilion with a spire and the gold star. Its restoration started at around the same time.

If they continue their walk along the VDNKh alleys, visitors are going to come upon dozens painstakingly restored buildings, fountains and landscaping objects. Examples are Pavilion No. 14 Computer Engineering and Informatics (Exhibition and Trade Centre of the Republic of Azerbaijan, former Azerbaijan SSR pavilion) decorated with oriental motifs, the Golden Spike fountain opened after a restoration, or reconstructed South and North rose gardens.

Wonders of park architecture and art: VDNKh invites you to take a stroll along its new walking routesLiving history: reminiscences of VDNKh visitors of various years

Coming around the Central Pavilion, guests approach the legendary Friendship of Peoples fountain. Restoration artists needed about five tons of gold leaf to renovate it. It is surrounded by restored pavilions: No. 71 Nuclear Energy (former RSFSR, now occupied by the Public Services Palace), No. 5 Physics (former Latvian SSR, now Moscow Urban Economy Museum), No. 11 Metal Production (former Kazakh SSR, now the exhibition and trade center of the Republic of Kazakhstan), No. 58 Agriculture (former Ukrainian SSR, now the “Slovo” Centre for Slavic Writing) and Pavilion No. 34 Space, now the Cosmonautics and Aviation Centre.

The work the restoration architects did was immense. They dismantled all the structures that weren’t original: false façades, partitions, appendixes, revealing the initial look of the facilities. The restoration work brought quite a few discoveries with it. Hidden behind plywood in Pavilion No.1 Central was a high relief sculpture by Yevgeny Vuchetich; other pavilions revealed secret paintings, panels, mosaics, plaster moulding elements and rare movies from the 1950-1980s. In the landscape park, historians found out the creator of the ornamental pillar: it was El Lisitsky, an outstanding Russian avant-garde artist.

From space expanses to mini-Moscow

History at VDNKh is not only kept in the building façades and interiors. VDNKh is now one of the key museum clusters in Moscow. Expositions dedicated to a variety of subjects are opening in the historical pavilions. There are already 23 of them now. They tell the history of Russia and space exploration, about how Moscow was built and how its municipal services operate now, about arts and sciences.

The VDNKh museum city started in 2017. One of the first to invite visitors was Russia Is My History Historical Park in Pavilion No.57 (Industry Square). Its main feature is interactive exhibitions expounding on the evolution and development of the Russian state from the Rurik dynasty to the present time.

The Museum of Cinema located in Pavilion No.36 near the Golden Spike fountain will soon celebrate its first anniversary: 5 years at VDNKh. The Museum introduces Muscovites to movie and photography machinery, movie stills, costumes, posters and sketches, personal belongings of cinema personalities. There, they organize public talks on cinematography history and theory and show rare digital and analogue movies.

 

One of the major museum spaces is the Cosmonautics and Aviation Center in Pavilion No.34 Cosmos. It has over 400 air and space vessels, including a full-size model of Mir orbital station. Presently, it’s the largest museum complex focused on space exploration history. A replica of the Buran shuttle orbiter stands nearby. Inside, everyone can imagine themselves a space shuttle pilot.

Recently modernized Moscow City Scale Model Pavilion in Sirenevaya Alley offers its visitors a view of mini-Moscow. Pavilion No.5 houses the Moscow Urban Economy Museum with interactive installations, Pavilion No. 26 USSR Transport - the Moscow Museum of Transport where you can see a Moskvich car with a wooden body.

 Znanie.VDNKh culture and awareness project brings together over 20 museums in varying formats. It sets up public talks, music shows, expert meetings, movie screenings, stage performances and master classes in the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman Pavilion and at other venues. Its agenda is growing season to season, increasing the numbers of events and participants, adding new formats, areas and subjects.

Michurin’s apple trees, an eco-trail and ponds

One of the main features of VDNKh is its unique landscaping objects: flower alleys, groves and parks. No less attention was paid to their restoration than to the historic pavilions and sculptures.

Central Alley flower gardens were one of the first to be restored in 2016-2017. A unique system of flowerbeds taking up about 60,000 square meters was rebuilt following design drawings from the 1950s. There one can find coniform thujas, white cannas, cotoneaster, cineraria and alyssum. In spring and summer, millions of blooming tulips and roses bring joy to visitors.

Michurin’s garden located behind the Cosmos Pavilion has had a makeover as well. In 2017-2018, natural stone walking paths were laid down there, larch trees planted and lighting renovated; the monument to Ivan Michurin, a plant breeder and biologist, got a makeover, together with its base. Over 2,200 plants, including 13 varieties of apple trees bred by Michurin, were planted in the garden.

In 2018, a huge park brought together the green areas around VDNKh, the Ostankino park and the Botanical Garden. VDNKh has five theme areas symbolizing the transition from untamed nature to civilization. The Botanical Nature, Entertainment Nature, Wild Nature, Arts and Sciences Nature and Cultivated Nature areas are connected by a great 5.6 kilometer long walking alley. French landscape architect Michelle Péna designed the park. Here you can, inter alia, find rare plants from different natural areas, walk through a green maze or along an elevated eco trail.

The pond cascade built along the Kamenka River back in 1803 was also drained, cleaned and filled back in 2018. That’s how VDNKh got a beach, a pontoon, an ecosystem display and lots of other landscape amusements.

To make it easier for visitors to find those and other landmarks, specialized walking routes have been designed at VDNKh. Some of them are focused on architecture, others introduce visitors to the remote corners of the park, still others would be great for families with kids.

Recreation for every taste

Visitors of every age or inclination can find something to amuse them around the vast VDNKh grounds. Families with kids would like the Soyuzmultpark center. Eighteen multimedia attractions for it were developed in Pavilion No.7 Seeds last year. Using 3D animation and virtual reality technologies, children and their parents can take a fresh look at the well-known Russian and Soviet cartoons.

Fans of modern technologies would be well-served to have a peek at the latest robotics achievements at the Robostation at Pavilion No. 2, Popular Education (former North Caucasus Pavilion). There, you can meet a robo-fortune-teller, see a Robofish, the first of its kind, pet a Robodog or learn how to make a robot on your own.

Moskvarium, one of the largest aquariums in Europe with over 12,000 aquatic creatures, has been in operation at VDNKh since 2015. You can continue your visit to flora and fauna by land at the City Farm that introduces visitors to the country life and over a hundred animal species. Fans of horses are welcome at the Center of National Equestrian Traditions. Lovers of nature – in the Forest gallery. The Fairy Tale Theater invites everyone to become a character in a fairy tale.

Holidays and anniversaries are getting grand celebrations at VDNKh venues year in and year out. The Green Theater, the Culture Center, the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman Pavilion regularly host music and stage shows, evenings with artists or poets, comedy shows, theatrical and opera performances, music fests.

Sports fans also have quite a bit to do at VDNKh. In summer, there are frisbee, crossminton, lacross, soccer, volleyball and chess practice sessions. There are open-air yoga and Qigong lessons, runs around VDNKh parks. Numerous rental offices offer bikes, roller skates, scooters, pedal cars and skateboards. In winter, the largest skating rink in Moscow opens at VDNKh.

In order to keep up their energy for all those amusements, visitors have over 180 restaurants, cafes and other catering establishments to choose from. Some of them are located in historical pavilions, others – in new buildings created to fit the exhibition space. The Restomarket gastronomy complex opened there last spring.

Exhibitions and business events

On top of everything else, VDNKh remains one of the main sites in Moscow for nation-wide business events and international trade fairs. VDNKh is one of the 50 best congress centers in the world. Every year, there are congresses, conferences, exhibitions and other events in multiple formats. The closest right now are the Travel! Russian National Tourist Forum (August 4-7), the Green City flowers and eco foods fest (August 25-28) and Textillegprom exhibition (September 6-9).