Friendship of Peoples Fountain

The main fountain of the exhibition was switched on in 1954, on the square between the Central Pavilion and the Ukraine Pavilion.

Who made it

It was designed by the architect Konstantin Topuridze with the sculptors Zinaida Bazhenova, Alexandra Teneta and Ivan Chaikov. A granite bowl in the shape of a sheaf is ringed by sixteen gilded female figures, each in the costume of one of the union republics as they stood when it was built.

Why sixteen

There were sixteen republics in 1954: the Karelo-Finnish SSR existed until 1956, and its figure stayed in the composition long after the republic itself was gone. That is why the count does not match the familiar fifteen.

How it works

The gilding is gold leaf, which gives the warm shine people come for at sunset. Bronze sturgeon are set around the rim of the basin, throwing jets towards the centre, and about eight hundred vertical jets rise from the bowl. The basin is over eighty metres across, so the fountain functions as a square in its own right.

Now

The structure was restored in 2018, with new pumping equipment and fresh gilding. It is lit in the evening, the water glowing from below and the figures reflected in the surface of the basin. The fountain runs in the warm season; in winter the basin stands dry.

Address

VDNKh, Moscow · square by the Central Pavilion

Opening hours

Fountain in the warm season; the square always

Prices

Free

On the map