VDNKh

Description

Essentials about the VDNKh in brief

Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy – it is probably the most bulky and obscure name for a tourist attraction you can imagine (that’s why from now on we will use the Russian abbreviation “VDNKh”). What used to be a sort of “World’s Fair” for the Soviet socialist republics is now a huge recreation and entertainment area used for various cultural, amusement and sporting events, and is still highly popular with Muscovites. Every year, about 20 million locals and tourists come to the VDNKh grounds for recreation, fun, entertainment, education, sports and, of course, photography.

The history of the VDNKh

The construction of the VDNKh

The VDNKh was originally founded in 1939 as an exhibition of the achievements of the Soviet national economy. At that time, a gigantic exhibition city with about 250 buildings was built out of the ground in the north of Moscow to present the achievements of the socialist economy to the public. In huge pavilions, the Union Republics of that time displayed the most important goods and developments of their industry and agriculture. Architecturally, the VDNKh is a mix of different architectural styles – from neoclassicism to art deco and baroque to oriental stylizations and Soviet modernism, architects were largely allowed to live out their fantasies here (as long as they were compatible with the dogmas of socialist realism, of course).

The VDNKh in and after the Second World War

With the beginning of World War II in the summer of 1941, the exhibition was officially closed – part of the exhibits was sold, another part was evacuated. During the war years many of the pavilions fell into disrepair, but were rebuilt after the Soviet victory. Between the 1950s and 1990s, the VDNKh presented an idealized model of a happy and progressive country. Beautiful pavilions, designed in the tradition of the Soviet republics, displayed the socialist world’s many achievements and advances in industry, commerce, agriculture, and science. Because of its national importance to the Soviet Union, special emphasis was placed on the theme of space.

The VDNKh after the end of the Soviet Union

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the VDNKh began to decay and fall into disrepair. The pavilions were cleared out and often rented out as market space. From 2005, the exhibition grounds were developed as a fairground, where trade and public fairs were held. However, as of 2014, the VDNKh was given a new lease of life. Many of the pavilions were restored to their former beauty, a theater was opened and the Polytechnic Museum and Europe’s largest oceanarium were built on the site.

The sights on the grounds of the VDNKh

In addition, on the exhibition grounds or in its immediate vicinity are the former largest Ferris wheel in Europe (before there was the London Eye), the famous Fountain of Friendship of Peoples, which was a symbol of unity of the multiethnic Soviet Union (and, incidentally, was the first light and music fountain in the world), the beautiful Fountain of the Stone Flower in the form of a huge flower decorated with glass mosaic and the famous monument Worker and Kolkhoz Peasant (the couple sculpture of a man and a woman holding a hammer and sickle above their heads became the symbol of the Soviet Union). And last but not least, we should mention the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, which is a special highlight of VDNKh. If you have a little more time, you can also visit the Ostankino Tower, which is only a short distance from the VDNKh, and the Moscow Botanical Garden.