VDNKh Park

VDNKh (the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy) is Russia's largest exhibition and park complex, located in the north of Moscow. Its 136-hectare grounds combine parks, ponds and dozens of historic pavilions. The complex opened on 1 August 1939 as the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (VSKhV): Vyacheslav Molotov, Chairman of the USSR Council of People's Commissars, cut the ribbon to the song "Slavsya, Rodina obilnaya", and more than 3.5 million people visited in the first three months.

History

At opening, visitors were received by more than 50 pavilions, among them "Mechanization", "Sericulture", "Horticulture" and pavilions of the Soviet republics - the Bashkir ASSR, the Byelorussian SSR, the Far East, the Soviet Arctic. The complex was built as a model village with stables and demonstration plots.

In July 1938 Vera Mukhina's sculpture "Worker and Kolkhoz Woman", shown at the 1937 World's Fair in Paris, was brought to the approach avenue leading to the exhibition's main entrance. The exhibition's setting inspired the famous film "The Swineherd and the Shepherd" by director Ivan Pyryev.

In 1954 the exhibition strengthened its focus on the Soviet republics: that year the Friendship of Nations fountain appeared, and the Main Pavilion was built to a design by architects Georgy Shchuko and Yevgeny Stolyarov. Until 1964 it was called the "Central" pavilion. In 2014 a painting by Alexander Gerasimov, "The Second Congress of Kolkhoz Workers and Shock Workers", was found in the basement of the Main Pavilion.

After the collapse of the USSR the complex went through a period of decline. Its revival began in 2014 with a programme of scholarly restoration of the pavilions: Pavilion No. 18 "Electrical Engineering" (formerly the Byelorussian SSR) reopened in 2015, Pavilion No. 19 "Computing and Information Technology" (formerly the Azerbaijan SSR) and Pavilion No. 10 "Standards" (formerly the Moldavian SSR) were restored in 2019. In 2021 a trade and exhibition centre of the Republic of Kazakhstan opened in Pavilion No. 11 "Metallurgy", and in October 2023 Pavilion No. 66 "Soviet Culture" (formerly the Uzbek SSR) opened.

In 2024 the complex marked the 85th anniversary of its opening; the anniversary year was also significant for several of VDNKh's landmark structures, including Pavilion No. 1 "Central" and the ceremonial entrance arches.

Today

Today VDNKh hosts the "Russia" international exhibition-forum, presenting all 89 regions of the country, including 24 republics. The historic pavilions of the Soviet republics and economic sectors continue to be restored and reopened with new exhibitions.

Getting there

VDNKh is located in the north of Moscow, next to the metro station of the same name, from which a pedestrian avenue with the "Worker and Kolkhoz Woman" sculpture leads to the complex's main entrance.