Main Entrance Arch of VDNKh

The exhibition's ceremonial gates were built in the early 1950s to a design by Innokenty Melchakov, when the whole territory was being rebuilt from scratch. The arch is treated as a triumphal one: a massive central span, paired Corinthian columns on either side, and above it a heavy entablature carrying the coats of arms of the union republics. It is crowned by a bronze group by Sergei Orlov, Sergei Rabinovich and Ivan Slonim: a tractor driver and a collective-farm woman raising a sheaf of wheat above their heads. The arch sets the axis of the entire exhibition, and through it you can see the Central Pavilion with its spire, with the main avenues fanning out beyond. In the evening the lighting turns the colonnade golden, and the entrance becomes a stage set of light with a continuous stream of strollers passing through. The spans are wide enough for a crowd to pass freely, so even at weekends no bottlenecks form here. This is the first thing anyone arriving at VDNKh sees.

On the map