![VDNKh Ice rink](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/VDNKh_Ice_rink.jpg)
Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy (russian: Выставка достижений народного хозяйства, ''Vystavka dostizheniy narodnogo khozyaystva'', abbreviated as VDNKh or VDNH, russian: ВДНХ, ) is a permanent general purpose
trade show
A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and cu ...
and
amusement park
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...
in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
.
Between 1991 and 2014, it was also called the All-Russia Exhibition Centre (russian: Всероссийский выставочный центр). It is a state
joint-stock company
A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certificates ...
.
Location and transportation
VDNKh is located in
Ostankinsky District
Ostankinsky District, also called simply Ostankino, is an administrative district (raion) of North-Eastern Administrative Okrug, and one of the 125 raions of Moscow, Russia. VDNH exhibition center and Ostankino Tower, the tallest structure in Eur ...
of Moscow, less than a kilometer from
Ostankino Tower
Ostankino Tower (russian: links=no, Останкинская телебашня, Ostankinskaya telebashnya) is a television and radio tower in Moscow, Russia, owned by the Moscow branch of unitary enterprise Russian TV and Radio Broadcasting N ...
. It is served by
VDNKh subway station, as well as by
Moscow Monorail
The Moscow Monorail (russian: Московский монорельс) is a monorail line located in the North-Eastern Administrative Okrug of Moscow, Russia. It runs from the Timiryazevskaya via Fonvisinskaya and VDNHa metro stations to Serge ...
.
Cosmonauts Alley
Cosmonauts Alley (russian: аллея Космонавтов) is a wide avenue in northern Moscow leading to the Russian Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics and the Monument to the Conquerors of Space. The pedestrian-only avenue connects the museum an ...
and the
Worker and Kolkhoz Woman
''Worker and Kolkhoz Woman'' () is a sculpture of two figures with a sickle and a hammer raised over their heads. The concept and compositional design belong to the architect Boris Iofan It is 24.5 metres (78 feet) high, made from stai ...
statue are situated just outside the main entrance to VDNKh. It also borders
Moscow Botanical Garden and a smaller , and in recent years the three parks served as a united park complex.
History
1935–1939 construction
The exhibition was established February 17, 1935 as the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (VSKhV) (russian: Всесоюзная сельско-хозяйственная выставка; Vsesoyuznaya selsko-khozyaystvennaya vystavka). An existing site (then known as Ostankino Park, a country territory recently incorporated into the city limits), was approved in August 1935. The master plan by
Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky was approved in April 1936, and the first show season was announced to begin in July 1937 and was designed as a "City of Exhibitions" with streets and public spaces, which was very common in the 1930s of the 20th century.
However, plans did not materialise, and three weeks before the deadline
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
personally postponed the exhibition by one year (to August 1938). It seemed that this time everything would be ready on time, but again the builders failed to complete their work, and regional authorities failed to select and deliver proper exhibits. Some pavilions and the 1937 entrance gates by Oltarzhevsky were torn down to be replaced with more appropriate structures (most pavilions were criticised for ''having no windows''). According to Oltarzhevsky's original plan, all of the pavilions were to be constructed from wood. In 1938, a government commission examined the construction and decided that it did not suit the ideological direction of the moment. The exhibition was considered too modest and too temporary. Oltarzhevsky was arrested, together with the Commissar for Agriculture and his staff, and eventually released in 1943. Later, he worked on the
1947-1953 Moscow skyscraper project.
As a result, in August 1938
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
, addressing the assembled
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Верховный Совет Союза Советских Социалистических Республик, r=Verkhovnyy Sovet Soyuza Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respubl ...
, declared that the site was not ready, and the opening was postponed until August 1939. It finally opened on 1 August 1939, and was open to the public between 08:00 and 23:00 until 25 October with a daily attendance of 40,000. The 1940 and 1941 seasons followed but following
German invasion German invasion may refer to:
Pre-1900s
* German invasion of Hungary (1063)
World War I
* German invasion of Belgium (1914)
* German invasion of Luxembourg (1914)
World War II
* Invasion of Poland
* German invasion of Belgium (1940)
* G ...
in 1941 the exhibition was closed until the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
1939 pavilions, as presented in 1950 album and today:
Image:Pavillion Kirgizia VDNKh 01.jpg, Pavilion of Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...
Image:Belarus 2-VDNH-101008.jpg, Pavilion of Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
Image:Pavillon Uzbekistan 01.jpg, Pavilion of Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...
Image:Pavillion Karelia VDNKh 01.jpg, Pavilion of Karelia
Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...
Image:ВДНХ. Павильон №58 («Украина»).jpg, Pavilion of Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
Image:Pavillion No2 VDNKh 02.jpg, Pavilion of North Caucasus
The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...
Image:"утраченный павильон Туркменской ССР на ВСХВ".jpg, Pavilion of Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
Image:VDNKh-Armenia.jpg, Pavilion of Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
1948–1959 renovation
In October 1948 the State ordered the renewal of the Exhibition, starting with the 1950 season. Again, the opening was postponed more than once; the first post-war season opened in 1954 (still as ''Agricultural'' exhibition). In the 1956 season the planners set aside an ''Industrial area'' within the main territory; more restructuring and rebuilding followed. In 1959 the park was renamed Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (russian: Выставка достижений народного хозяйства, Vystavka dostizheniy narodnovo khozyaystva) or ВДНХ/VDNKh.
By 1989 the exhibition had 82
pavilion
In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings:
* It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
s with an exhibition area of 700,000 square metres. Each pavilion (including the 1939 "regions") had been dedicated to a particular industry or field: the ''Engineering Pavilion'' (1954), the ''Space Pavilion'' (1966), the ''Central Industrial Zones Pavilion'' (1955), the ''Atomic Energy Pavilion'' (1954), the ''People's Education Pavilion'' (1954), the ''Radioelectronics Pavilion'' (1958), the ''Soviet Culture Pavilion'' (1964).
During Soviet times, each year VDNKh hosted more than 300 national and international exhibitions and many conferences, seminars and meetings of scientists and industry professionals. These events attracted about 11 million visitors annually, including 600,000 guests from outside the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. The "Radioelectronics" exhibition hall for some years housed the working (and unique) prototypes of the most advanced
ES EVM
The ES EVM (russian: Единая система электронных вычислительных машин (ЕС ЭВМ), translit=Yedinaya sistema electronnykh vytchislitel'nykh mashin (ES EVM), "Unified System of Electronic Computers"), o ...
computers to date, which were time-shared by many research organisations right on the premises.
The most memorable feature of the exhibition site was the ''
Worker and Kolkhoz Woman
''Worker and Kolkhoz Woman'' () is a sculpture of two figures with a sickle and a hammer raised over their heads. The concept and compositional design belong to the architect Boris Iofan It is 24.5 metres (78 feet) high, made from stai ...
'' (''Rabochiy i kolkhoznitsa'') statue, featuring the gigantic figures of a man and woman holding together the famous "
hammer and sickle
The hammer and sickle (Unicode: "☭") zh, s=锤子和镰刀, p=Chuízi hé liándāo or zh, s=镰刀锤子, p=Liándāo chuízi, labels=no is a symbol meant to represent proletarian solidarity, a union between agricultural and industri ...
". The sculpture, which reaches 25 meters toward the sky, was designed by
Vera Mukhina
Vera Ignatyevna Mukhina (russian: Ве́ра Игна́тьевна Му́хина; lv, Vera Muhina; french: Vera Moukhina; – 6 October 1953) was a prominent Soviet sculptor and painter. She was nicknamed "the queen of Soviet sculpture".
B ...
and originally crowned the 35-meter-tall Soviet pavilion at the Paris
. The statue featured on a logo of ''
Mosfilm
Mosfilm (russian: Мосфильм, ''Mosfil’m'' ) is a film studio which is among the largest and oldest in the Russian Federation and in Europe. Founded in 1924 in the USSR as a production unit of that nation's film monopoly, its output incl ...
'', Russia's largest movie studio.
Present day
In 1992, VDNKh was renamed, receiving the new acronym VVC, which remained in use until 2014. It occupies 2,375,000 square metres of which 266,000 square metres are used for indoor exhibits. The territory of VDNKh is greater than that of the Principality of
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
and has approximately 400 buildings. Inadequate maintenance of Vera Mukhina's statue caused such disrepair that the statue was disassembled. It was slated to be refurbished and installed on the top of the new pavilion by 2008, but funding shortages lead to dragged-out restoration. It was finally reerected in December 2009, now standing atop of a large constructivist pavilion, apparently recreating the original exhibition pavilion from the
1937 World's Fair in Paris that it was designed for.
The "VDNKh" (or VVTs) complex still operates including the name of a nearby
subway station
A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in the ...
and some sights:
* pavilions
* fountains
* a luna-park
* Cosmonautics museum
* a rocket and even a Buran spaceсraft
* The centre of oceanography and marine biology “Moskvarium” (or Moscow Oceanarium): 80 aquariums, 8000 species of sea creatures from all over the world including 500 species of fish, killer whales, three metre sharks, dolphins and Russian sturgeon.
During winter, VDNKh converts into a main Skating Rink with a total area of and the ice surface of more than , with a capacity of 4,500 people that can use the rink at the same time. It's the biggest skating rink in Russia and Europe.
Restoration
On 14 May 2014 the previous name VDNKh was restored, following an interactive poll. In addition, the mayor of Moscow announced that the
Russian space shuttle, the structural test article - TVA, which was an attraction and restaurant at
Gorky Park in Moscow was to be moved to the VNDKh, to be displayed near the
Vostok Vostok refers to east in Russian but may also refer to:
Spaceflight
* Vostok programme, Soviet human spaceflight project
* Vostok (spacecraft), a type of spacecraft built by the Soviet Union
* Vostok (rocket family), family of rockets derived from ...
rocket in front of the Cosmos hall. It was moved 5–6 July 2014 and re-assembled by 21 July.
In addition there is a
Su-27
The Sukhoi Su-27 (russian: Сухой Су-27; NATO reporting name: Flanker) is a Soviet-origin twin-engine supermaneuverable fighter aircraft designed by Sukhoi. It was intended as a direct competitor for the large US fourth-generation jet ...
fighter jet on display.
Currently, the larger international exhibitions are mostly held at the new facilities of
Moscow Expocentre.
In September 2018, Sergey Shogurov was appointed as CEO of VDNK. Under the leadership of Shogurov, new museum and exhibition spaces were opened, a Landscape Park was created, and objects of cultural heritage were carried out, public electric transport was launched. In 2019, the restoration of the "Fraternity of peoples" and "Stone Flower" fountains was completed.
File:Russia-Moscow-VDNH-3.jpg, Central Pavilion
File:VDNKh Allee.jpg, Central avenue
File:VDNH joy-wheel.jpg, Moscow-850 Ferris wheel
File:Moscow VDNKh Russian SFSR Pavilion asv2018-08.jpg, The Pavilion of Atomic energy
File:"вход на ВСХВ 1939 года в 2009 году".jpg, The old entrance gate to the exhibition centre
File:VVC central.jpg, The fountains at the entrance boulvards
File:Russia-Moscow-VVC-KrugovayaKinopanorama.jpg, Cirkorama theatre
File:WildeMaus ВДНХ.jpg, The entrance to the roller coaster
File:Moscow Russia Park.jpg, View from the Ferris wheel.
File:Центр Космонавтики и Авиации, Москва 20 - Cosmonautics and Aviation Center, Moscow.jpg, The Cosmonautics and Aviation Centre located in the Cosmos pavilion
File:ВДНХ, Москва - VDNKh, Moscow 16.jpg, The Propylaea - the central gate entrance
File:Исторический Парк «Россия – Моя история», Москва - Historical Park "Russia-My History", Moscow.jpg, Historical Park "Russia-My History"
File:ВДНХ, Москва - VDNKh, Moscow 9.jpg, Official bike rental
The site
![Montreal vdnkh3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Montreal_vdnkh3.jpg)
The exhibition centre was built in the era of
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
. The place selected was Moscow's northern suburb
Ostankino. The main planner was
Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky who planned a central avenue with fountains, small roads and a large square facing the central pavilion at the end of the avenue. A statue of
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
used to stand in the front of the pavilion. In the central square there is a big fountain called, Fontan Druzhba Narodov. In English it means, Friendship of People Fountain. Designed in the shape of an octagon, the fountain was created to glorify the people of the Soviet Union. There is another fountain called "
The Stone Flower Fountain
The Stone Flower Fountain ( rus, Фонтан «Каменный цветок», Fontan Kamennyj tsvetok) stands in the so-called "Industrial Square" of the Exhibition of Economic Achievements (VDNH) in Moscow, Russia. It was named and designed a ...
" facing the ''Ukraine Pavilion''. There is a smaller square facing the ''Space Pavilion'' in the centre of which stood a
Tupolev Tu-154
The Tupolev Tu-154 (russian: Tyполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian ...
aircraft, placed there in 1976 after the pavilion of ''Agricultural Machinery'' became the ''Cosmos Pavilion''. This aircraft was later scrapped in 2008.
A large statue of
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
stood in the square until 1948. This had previously stood on the banks of the
Moskva River
The Moskva (russian: река Москва, Москва-река, ''Moskva-reka'') is a river running through western Russia. It rises about west of Moscow and flows roughly east through the Smolensk and Moscow Oblasts, passing through centra ...
in the city centre. The square is called ''The Industrial Square''.
The northern area of the site is an area shared between the exhibition centre and the botanic gardens of the nearby
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...
. In it are agricultural pavilions and estate pools with vegetation including: ''Michurin's Garden'' and the ''Golden Spike Fountain''. All the fountains in the centre are covered with gold. There are also many statues situated throughout the site, particularly of Soviet leaders. In addition, the site houses cinemas, cafés,
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
pavilions as well as a church built after the fall of the Soviet Union.
In the southern area of the complex, near the central entrance there is an
Amusement Park
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...
with the
Moscow-850 Ferris wheel
A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsules ...
. It was built in 2004 as part of Moscow's 850th anniversary celebration. The restored Soviet pavilion from
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...
in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
is now the ''Moscow Pavilion''. Soviet architects' planned the pavilions and Soviet artists' designed the fountains. Designed in
Stalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture, mostly known in the former Eastern Bloc as Stalinist style () or Socialist Classicism, is the architecture of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, between 1933 (when Boris Iofan's draft for the Palace ...
, some pavilions were built in the ''wedding cake'' style; such as the ''Central Pavilion'' that was famous in the Communist States at that time.
In 2008, the ''Big Constructivist Pavilion'' was built as a replica of the original Soviet pavilion. In 2009, the renovated statue of
Worker and Kolkhoz woman
''Worker and Kolkhoz Woman'' () is a sculpture of two figures with a sickle and a hammer raised over their heads. The concept and compositional design belong to the architect Boris Iofan It is 24.5 metres (78 feet) high, made from stai ...
was erected on top of the building.
The
Worker and Kolkhoz woman
''Worker and Kolkhoz Woman'' () is a sculpture of two figures with a sickle and a hammer raised over their heads. The concept and compositional design belong to the architect Boris Iofan It is 24.5 metres (78 feet) high, made from stai ...
sculpture was originally created to crown the Soviet pavilion of the World's Fair. The organizers had placed the Soviet and Nazi pavilions facing each other across the main pedestrian boulevard at the Trocadéro on the north bank of the Seine.
Today visitors can rent a car or a bicycle to tour the site.
See also
*
Sokolniki Exhibition and Convention Centre
References
External links
Official websitein infoservices website
General informationin russianmuseums website
Virtual tours and panoramas of the VDNH VDNHin
WikiMapia
Wikimapia is a geographic online encyclopedia project. The project implements an interactive "clickable" web map that utilizes Google Maps with a geographically-referenced wiki system, with the aim to mark and describe all geographical objects ...
website
A comprehensive architectural history of the Exhibition in Russian
{{Authority control
Tourist attractions in Moscow
Buildings and structures built in the Soviet Union
Buildings and structures in Moscow
Soviet art
Economy of the Soviet Union
Trade fairs in Russia
Convention centers in Russia
Buildings and structures completed in 1939
Stalinist architecture
Soviet phraseology
Trade fair venues
Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Moscow