Flower paintings, film costumes and terracotta warriors: items on display at VDNKh exhibitions in May

Blooming and sunny May is a great time to visit eye-catching and educational exhibitions at VDNKh. The exhibitions will introduce visitors to the work of Russian artists and the biographies of outstanding directors and artists. Walking through the exhibition halls, guests can also learn about the history of Ancient China and see Banksy's famous street graffiti. Visitors to the main exhibition will discover the amazing world of the Star Wars film series created by director George Lucas.

Floriculture eco-center

The Floriculture ecological and educational center (Pavilion No. 29) invites visitors to attend the solo exhibition Color...You, created by the Russian artist Natalia Petrova. It tells guests about flowers and color, which taken together invoke special harmonious combinations, close to the rich inner world of the painter. The exhibition includes three series of works:  Flowers, St. Petersburg's Parks and Avenues and Landscapes of the Seasons. Natalia Petrova is a member of the Union of Russian Artists, a member of the Union of Moscow Artists and a participant in more than 50 Russian and foreign exhibitions. Her works are exhibited in the Kaliningrad Amber Museum, Sarov Art Museum and Surgut Art Museum, as well as the museum of the German city of Pforzheim. The exhibition is free to visitors and will run until June 2 inclusive. 

Visitors can go further and see the works of contemporary Russian artists at the World of Primula exhibition at the State Biology Museum named after K. A. Timiryazev  (Pavilion No. 31). It houses paintings by members of the Russian Society of Botanical Illustration Lovers. Painters create works using different techniques. Some artists use watercolors to depict spring flowers. Others are inspired by the Chinese Mogu-Fa painting,  a unique ancient technique with no outlines and strokes applied on canvas. Artists convey images using colorful spots and harmonious lines. The exhibition is open until June 2 inclusive. Admission by tickets.

Film Museum

The Film Museum at VDNKh (Pavilion No. 36) invites visitors to several exhibitions. One of them is dedicated to the outstanding film director, actor and screenwriter Stanislav Govorukhin (1936–2018). The exhibition opened three years ago to mark the 85th anniversary of his birth. The exhibition displays more than 300 items belonging to him. For example, visitors can see the manuscripts of the first literary works and paintings by Stanislav Govorukhin. The display cases feature an extensive collection of his smoking pipes. Among the exhibits are letters from Vladimir Vysotsky and Alexander Solzhenitsyn. In addition, the exhibition displays a unique item - a fragment of the helicopter that crashed during the filming of White Explosion. The portrait of Stanislav Govorukhin is complemented by stories from his friends and associates: director Sergei Solovyov, actor Sergei Nikonenko and actress Tamara Akulova, singer and composer Alexander Rosenbaum, artist Alexander Shilov, actress and State Duma deputy Elena Drapeko. Videos are shown on screens. Visitors are welcome until the end of the year. 

The Film Museum also hosts the  Our People. The Universe of Leonid Gaidai's Characters exhibition. It opened last year to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the film director, screenwriter and actor. The exhibition space is done as an apartment building where the characters from his films live. Visitors can find themselves in Shurik’s kitchen or look into Shpak’s hiding places. The display cases contain originals and copies of items associated with the work and biography of the director. The materials exhibited tell visitors about how Leonid Gaidai created his legendary and much-loved films Operation Y and Shurik’s Other Adventures, The Diamond Arm, Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Profession, It Can’t Be! and others. Using the latest multimedia technologies, visitors will be able to test a time machine and be transported into one of the director’s films. The exhibition is open until July 8. 

Fans of the work of actor Oleg Yankovsky (1944–2009) are lucky to attend the exhibition in the same museum. It is open to mark the 80th anniversary of the actor’s birth. The exhibition introduces visitors to Oleg Yankovsky’s childhood and the start of his work in Saratov. A separate exhibition section is dedicated to the filmography of Oleg Yankovsky and the images that he created in such films as The Shield and the Sword, The Very Same Munchhausen, Flights in Dreams and Reality, Nostalgia and Anna Karenina. Posters, photos from film sets, set designs and costumes are on display. The display case features a costume of Alexander Karenin in the film Anna Karenina (directed by Sergei Solovyov, 2009). The exhibition runs until July 8. 

In addition, the Film Museum holds the My Heart Is Full of Pity exhibition. The exhibition marks the anniversary of film director, screenwriter and producer Aleksei German (1938–2013). It opened in November 2023. Visitors will learn how the director worked on the film Hard to Be a God for 14 years. The hall showcases costumes, sketches, everyday objects and set photos. It collects about a thousand items related to the last film by Aleksei German. Interestingly, the exhibits were donated to the museum by the film’s creators. The exhibition will run until July 8 inclusive.

The museum also hosts the Between Light and Darkness exhibition. It marks the 80th anniversary of the lifting of the Siege of Leningrad. The exhibition covers films that reflect on the trauma of the residents of the huge city during the Great Patriotic War. The exhibition displays sketches for such feature films as Once There Was a Girl (directed by Viktor Eisymont, 1944) and Introduction to Life (directed by Igor Talankin, 1962). It shows footage from the documentary Leningrad in the Fight (directed by Roman Karmen, Valery Solovtsev, Efim Uchitel, Nikolay Komarevtsev, 1943). It also tells the stories of actors, directors and film workers who witnessed the siege of Leningrad in 1941–1944. The exhibition runs until May 26.

All exhibitions at the Film Museum are free. Free tickets are required for admission available at the museum's website.

Pavilions No. 21 and No. 22

Fans of George Lucas' Star Wars film series are invited to attend the exhibition In a Galaxy Far, Far Away. It will be housed in VDNKh’s Pavilion No. 21. Guests will immerse themselves into the atmosphere of intergalactic travel, feel like part of the movie series universe and learn many interesting facts about the famous film. They will see a gallery of costumes belonging to the main characters:  Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Yoda, Darth Vader and many others. Visitors will also meet robotic alien creatures. More than 200 exhibits are on display. Admission by tickets.

Visitors can also learn more about the work of one of the most mysterious street art artists of our time - Banksy - at the exhibition in Pavilion No. 22. His works are created using screen printing techniques and pop up in cities all over the world making a great impact on modern society. The To Find Banksy exhibition shows legendary walls with graffiti, paintings and sculptures, conceptual installations and original photo zones inspired by the work of the talented and mysterious artists. More than 150 exhibits are on display. They feature a description that helps visitors explore the artist's work and his perception of the world around him. A ticket is required to attend the exhibition. https://banksy.ru/tickets. 

The pavilion also houses the exhibition Terracotta Army.  Immortal Warriors of China. It displays recreated life-size statues of terracotta warriors and horses as well as copies of magnificent chariots and ancient weapons. The originals of these terracotta copies are in China. The famous army was ordered by Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang in the 3rd century BC. It contains more than 8,000 terracotta sculptures depicting warriors from different military branches. Visitors will find out what Chinese infantrymen, archers, crossbowmen and mid- and high-ranking officers looked like in ancient times. Information panels and a free audio guide are used to learn more about each exhibit. The exhibition also includes a collection of clothes worn by people of different Chinese classes , from peasants to the nobility and the emperor. The exhibition halls feature more than 150 items. Visitors can also enjoy excursions, theatrical performances, lectures and master classes. Admission by tickets.

All the exhibitions in pavilions No. 21 and No. 22 run until September 1.

VDNKh is a unique public space with over 85 years of history. It embraces 49 cultural heritage sites, including historic pavilions and fountains,  covering over 325 hectares.

In 2014, the municipality started an ambitious revival program. The Muscovites voted for returning the exhibition its historical name - VDNKh (since 1992, it used to be All-Russia Exhibition Center), and the specialists got down to beautification of the land, restoration of pavilions and landscape masterpieces of the complex.