All-Russia Exhibition Centre
All-Russia Exhibition Centre or VVC (a former Exhibition of Achievements of the People's Economy or VDNKH) is a famous Russian trade and entertainment show. Its huge area, located in the north-east of Moscow, includes numerous exhibitions and a beautiful park.
1. It is the 2nd largest center in the capital, which is also in the TOP-50 of largest exhibitions in the world.
2. The total area of VVC is more than 520 hectares (the area of all pavilions is 134,000 square meters).
3. The symbol of VVC is a huge monument The Worker and Collective Farm Woman. The sculpture was erected in 1937 for a pavilion at the Paris exhibition, cut into 65 components and placed on 28 railway platforms for transportation. The best engineers, mechanics, fitters, welders and tinsmiths set the sculpture for 11 days after transportation.
4. It is planned to introduce the new concept of VVC as a major cultural and exhibition center and the main Moscow public park.
5. The Exhibition of Achievements of the People's Economy was opened in 1939 and became very popular. For the first 5 months over 3,000,000 people visited it. The authors of the project had to make a decent platform filled with 250 luxurious pavilions and fountains.
6. One of those, the fountain Friendship of the Peoples, is surrounded with golden female sculptures. They symbolize 15 republics of the former USSR. This fountain should have been called the Golden Sheaf, which was supposed to reflect the abundance of agriculture in the USSR. However, the fountain was renamed to the Friendship of the Peoples, so that all the VDNKh pavilions looked the same. There are also many small fountains on the VVC territory, such as the Boy with a Fish, Medicine (lost in 2011), and many others.
7. By 1940 the exhibition was visited by 4.5 million people. When the II World War started the exhibition was closed, and all the exhibits were evacuated to Chelyabinsk.
8. Up to the Great October Revolution the area of the current VVC was occupied by the Township visiting circus. The circus toured the country during the summer, and returned to Moscow in the autumn.
9. On June 23, 1992 the President of the Russian Federation issued a decree, according to which VDNKh was renamed to the State Joint Stock Company "All-Russia Exhibition Center" (VVC). In the mid and late 1990s, many pavilions of VVC were leased by warehouses and shops.
10. There is a bunker located under the house of Friendship of the Peoples on VVC territory. Its capacity is 300 people, and it has everything one needs for a stand-alone 2-days accommodation. There are also a recreation room, a storage room, a room for the air filtration, and an office for the General Secretary.
11. Up to 1951 a huge 25 meter high sculpture of Joseph Stalin was standing at the place of the current rocket near the Space pavilion. It was one of the main symbols of VDNKh in 1939.
12. The prototype of the most famous Soviet aircraft TU-154 was used as a museum. Over 40 years it has been standing in front of the former pavilion Aviation and Space, which was visited by several million people. On September 13, 2008 the aircraft was cut into scrap metal.
13. There is an illegally built house on the VVC territory, which belongs to the notorious Russian oligarch Yakov Yakubov. This castle is located between pavilions Fishery and Rabbit-breeding. In November 2014 the court returned the ownership of the castle to VVC.
