Central Alley fountains, famous Golden Spike fountain gushing water at VDNKh

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin opened the restored arch of the main VDNKh entrance. Visitors can also admire the upgraded Golden Spike fountain, 14 central Alley fountains, as well as the southern and northern rosaries.

The main entrance arch’s new elements

The city started restoring VDNKh’s main entrance arch last year, and the central section is now complete. The central section’s utility mains have been replaced, its façades have been renewed, and new architectural lighting has been installed. Restorers used Terrazzite stucco facing, as used in the 1950s, after studying surviving samples.  

The Tractor Driver and Kolkhoz Woman sculpture that was restored last year stands on top of the main entrance arch. Workers reinforced the sculpture’s pedestal and restored its unique gold-smalt surface. The sculpture is also covered with a special substance that protects it from the elements.

Fountains and 20,000 flowers: the Central Alley’s main attractions

Fourteen Central Alley fountains in octagonal permanent bowls faced with red granite, have been restored. The fountain complex’ utility mains have been replaced completely, concrete pools and wells have been renovated, and new granite tiles have been installed.

“Today, we are witnessing a landmark stage in the VDNKh restoration programme. We are launching 14 Main Alley fountains including all the main VDNKh fountains. We have repaired the utility infrastructure of the 14 fountains, and they have been restored completely,” Sergei Sobyanin noted.

The work was conducted in compliance with the 1954 project that called for casting fountain bowls and wells on location. Therefore the shapes are slightly irregular, differing from geometrical octagons. The experts did their best to retain the fountain’s original historical image.

Over 4,000 roses have been planted along the enfilade’s perimetre, and the fountains are now covered with flowers. In addition, 12,000 flowerbeds have been made between the fountains. Visitors will admire over 20,000 flowers, including white alliums, Indian shots, blue verbenas, grey cineraria and navy-blue sages. Over 20,000 cubic metres of fertile soil was used for the Central Alley grass and flowerbeds to keep them healthy.

“Over 20,000 flowers, specifically, 4,000 roses, have been planted on the alley. VDNKh is becoming more interesting and attractive,” Sobyanin noted.

Landscape park. Rent-a-bike, walking alley and lots of light at VDNKh

The first stage of VDNKh’s new green area – its new park area – is being completed. The park begins from the northern loop. Pavilion One is now already  open. It is a bright building, with a roof like a cloud, houses 200 bicycles of all sizes that can be rented from 10 am to 10 pm.

Symbols of the landscape park– red and English oaks –are near the pavilion. It is easy to recognise them by their leafage –English oak branches are directed upwards and practically pressed into the trunk while red oaks have large spreading crowns.

The new Big walking alley begins from this northern loop and is over five km long. The paths are paved with granite in three colors. Lindon trees have already been planted along the sides. A comfortable atmosphere is created by 220 historical streetlamps. Another 119 will we installed soon. The park also has 300 new style streetlamps. These are elegant four-metre tall lamps with light emitting diodes. Comfortable benches from thermal pine trees are installed along the alley.

Blue molinia, tawny day lily and yellowwood— what other surprises will be offered by rosaries at VDNKh?

VDNKh’s unique rose gardens — northern and southern — have been restored. The first is located near the Big Walking Alley and the latter spreads from the Central Pavilion to Pavilion 71. The composition is formed by 21 square flowerbeds on an area of over 200 square metres. Wild Mallow, blue molinia, orange crocosmia, and sharp-scaled wood reed and many others have been planted there. It also has a collection of roses from seven countries — Britain, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Russia, the United States and France. This rose garden has 37,000 annual and perennial plants and eight trees.

The southern rose garden is over 1,500 square metres in area. The historical plan has been restored. About 12,000 plants have been planted. Including 500,000 roses, yellow lilies, wood reed, day lilies, several types of sage, verbena, catnip and a cladrastis tree, and ornamental lattices are wrapped in grapes. Benches have been installed for guests to relax.

Walkways are paved with large concrete tiles in the northern and southern rose gardens. Visitors will see floral decorations close by as they approach the walkways from the side paths. Benches have been installed; visitors can enjoy the diverse forms and shades of this floral picture.

Green fence, floral parterre and a dry fountain: Other delights in the upgraded VDNKh?

During the restoration of VDNKh, 500 bushes were used for a hedge fence and over 2,000 flowerbeds and about 7,500 square metres of grass were restored.

The flower parterre is located behind the Central Pavilion between the “Friendship of Nations” and “the Stone Flower” fountains. The patterns were restored from the 1950’s plans.

This effort was awarded the Moscow Restoration 2017 prize. In all, about 2 million flowers and 18,000 bushes on over 170,000 square metres were planted at the exhibition centre.

Renovators also upgraded the square in front of the Mosaquarium. Now it has a dry fountain (water spouts from the pavement) with an amphitheatre and dynamic illumination. A flowerbeds and a lawn will be planted around it.

The Golden Spike Fountain is returning

The Golden Spike is the most spectacular fountain at VDNKh. It consists of 66 water sprays, 30 of which are 25 metres tall. It was unused for 30 years but now it’s time has come again.

The first fountain, The Spike,  was established in 1939. It was made of concrete and decorated with copper. After the war it was decided to dismantle it and replace it with a new one. The new Golden Spike fountain was 16 metres high.

The restoration of the fountain started in 2016. It was 3D scanned. After some historical research, the 1954 design was found and used. The fountain was decorated with golden smalt from opaque coloured glass. The renovators managed to restore and decorated with this material about 85 percent of the sculptural elements.

The Kamensky Pond around the Golden Spike was also put in order. It was cleaned for the first time in its existence. The pond or bowl is deeper by 79 centimetres after 18,000 cubic metres of mud and clay were removed. The bridge for feeding fish has been also upgraded.

Pavilions on the Central Alley

Pavilion No. 1, “Central” will regain its 1950s look. The historical image of the building, with its columns, sculptures, bas-reliefs and a spire with a star was restored over the last 18 months.

The spire and red star crowning the VDNKh Central Pavilion were the first to open after the restoration in March this year. In April, the copper sculptures of a factory worker and a collective farm woman by Georgy Motovilov were uncovered from the scaffolding. Altogether, 15,000 square metres of the pavilion have been restored.

Experts cleaned and restored the bas-reliefs behind the columns on the southern and northern sides of the pavilion, adjusted and tinted to gold leaf column caps, coats of arms and ribbons decorating the facades and even recreated all 88 Central Pavilion windows. The old frames had cracked and did not protect the building from the elements. The building’s heat system was broken in the late 1980s – early 1990s when the pavilion was used as a retail outlet.

The pavilions of the former USSR republics in the Central Alley are also being returned to their erstwhile grandeur. The Armenia and Byelorussia pavilions are open to the public. Work is in progress on cultural and exhibition centres of Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova. The total area of interior overhauls and restoration is over 16,000 square metres.

“In addition, we are unveiling the magnificent façades of the main, first, Central Pavilion. The façade renovation work is over in the Agriculture Pavilion, as well as on the Entrance Arch. The VDNKh is acquiring its historical look, which is unfamiliar for many people today. The Exhibition is regaining the grandeur of the 1950s and is back to its original concept. Apart from these buildings, we are restoring the pavilions of former USSR republics – Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and a number of others. After the removal of cladding panels from these pavilions, we see their amazing architectural solutions,” Sergei Sobyanin said.

A spire topped with a five-point star and a standard with flowers and wheat ears has been restored on Pavilion No. 11, Kazakhstan (now Metallurgy). A tower crane was used to install the 1.5-tonne structure at the height of 30 metres. The 1954 pavilion will soon be back in full glory with an arch of triumph, open-work arcature, a glass dome with a spire, and national ornaments of colour majolica on the façade.

The Agriculture Pavilion to showcase Slavic writing systems

Specialists have completed the restoration of Pavilion No. 58, Agriculture, famous for its gleaming ceramic décor. Golden wheat ears in the ceramic wall niches symbolise fertility of the former Ukrainian SSR. There is a rotunda in the middle of the roof topped with the Stone Flower sculpture and a crown. The project has called for the restoration of 71,000 pyramid-shaped ceramic tiles.

The Fruit of Opulence bas-relief, a patchwork of smalt and colour ceramic, was restored above the main entrance and terrazzo mosaic floors are being laid inside. The pavilion will house a modern museum and educational display dedicated to the history, the present day and the future of the Slavic writing systems.      

Exhibitions, concerts and sport events: VDNKh to thrill visitors in summer

A hedge with 10,000 shrubs has been planted along the VDNKh’s main alley. Gardeners constantly restore local lawns and flowerbeds, cut off dry twigs, trim shrubs, and weed flowerbeds.

This summer, the management of the main national exhibition has prepared numerous new exhibitions, concerts, festivals, lectures and sporting events. VDNKh continues to host various exhibitions under Project Resident, which involves exchanges between Russian museums. The Worker and Kolkhoz Woman pavilion is hosting the ‘100^th April’ and ‘Endurance Test’ exhibitions featuring items from the collection of the Vladimir Mayakovsky State Museum collection. The Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts is also presenting its exhibits. The third season of the ‘Knowledge: VDNKh’ educational programme is a smash success here. The 2017 summer educational programme attracted over 15,000 people. Pavilion No. 67 (Karelia) is hosting an exhibition called ‘Round Ball, Smooth Field: Russian Football Chronicles 1897-2018’, timed to coincide with the 2018 FIFAWorld Cup.

In mid-June, a new unique concert facility opened on the roof of the VDNKh’s Worker and Kolkhoz Woman pavilion, and it will host concerts under the Rooftop Music project twice a week until late August. On Thursdays, it hosts jazz and instrumental music. Sunday concerts provide an insight into trendy music and other music genres ranging from Indie Rock and electronic (Techno-Dance & Techno-Pop) music to Rhythm & Blues and New Folk.

In the past two years, the VDNKh Green Theatre/Water Stage has won a reputation as one of the most popular open-air concert stages. This year, it hosts the Neo-Classics series of modern academic music concerts, with Polina Osetinskaya, Ilya Beshevli and Kirill Richter, who have been performing there since early 2018. Mariam Merabova and her MIRAIF project, as well as the Peter Nalitch music band, drew full houses this July. On 27 July, Andrei Makarevich will present his new Yo5 project.

This year, VDNKh will host the 4^th Inspiration International Art Festival. Each festival’s programme deals with one art genre or important subject. Festival participants perform topical and far-reaching works that highlight various music genres. The 2018 festival focuses on theatrical issues. Its events include a theatre outside a theatre, a theatre near a theatre and even a theatre without a theatre, as well as synthetic performances on the borderline between ballet and the circus, an impressive open-air show, an adventure-filled journey through mysterious spaces and an installation where everyone can cross the thin line between spectator and actor.

A resurgent VDNKh

Builders have resurfaced the exhibition’s 120,000-square metre central section and coated it with two layers, using 36,000 tonnes of an asphalt-concrete mixture. To carry this amount of material at one go, 1,800 KAMAZ lorries would be needed.  

In the central section of the VDNKh, virtually all the kerb has been replaced, measuring 15.5 kilometres, the length of the city’s Garden Ring. A 1,000-metre red-granite historical kerb stone section, surrounding flowerbeds between the Friendship among Nations and the Stone Flower fountains, is currently being restored without any construction equipment. By the way, visitors will be able to watch the restoration process.

In March-June 2018, a 20-hectare territory was improved between VDNKh metro station and the main exhibition entrance. In all, 39,800 square metres of lawns have been laid out in this area, and 53 trees and 2,500 shrubs have also been planted. Workers have installed 150 lamp posts and 230 standard lamps, 14 bus-stop pavilions and 19 road sign boards and have set up a car park for 494 vehicles.

“We are actively improving the territory around the VDNKh. About 20 hectares have already been revamped, and parking space and bus traffic have been streamlined. The VDNKh’s improved and people-friendly territory continues to expand each month, and the VDNKh is becoming more and more attractive,” Sergei Sobyanin noted.

The city is to carry out improvements on an 11-hectare territory near the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman monument and Cosmonauts Alley until 1 September.