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      VDNKh in lights: the wheel at sunset and dinner

      ⏱ 3 h 30 min🚶 3 km🍽 1📍 6 stops
      🐢 A little — under 3 km

      Sunset from the height of the Sun of Moscow, then the Main Alley as the arch, pavilions and Kosmos light up, and dinner in the Russian wine pavilion.

      🌙 Evening🏛 History and architecture🏘 Off the centre
      🗺 Open in Yandex Maps
      1. 1
        🌅 Sun of Moscow Ferris wheel
        2-я Останкинская ул., 3
        🎟 ticket
        A 140 m Ferris wheel — the biggest in Europe, with a panorama of VDNKh and the Ostankino Tower.
        About 10 minutes on foot from VDNKh metro. Arrive 40 minutes before sunset: in late October the sun sets around 17:20, in November around 16:30. The ride takes about 20 minutes, and from the top you see the Ostankino Tower and the whole exhibition.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Sun of Moscow Ferris wheel
        © MBH · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The wheel opened on 10 September 2022, on Moscow's 875th birthday.
        • It is 5 m taller than the London Eye (135 m), which was previously Europe's tallest wheel.
        • One revolution lasts 18 minutes 40 seconds; there are 30 cabins, each holding up to 15 people, and five of them have a transparent floor.
        • In clear weather visibility reaches 50 km — you can see the Stalin-era skyscrapers, Ostankino and the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin.
        • The structure weighs 1,800 tons; a model of it was tested in TsAGI's wind tunnel for winds up to 44 m/s.
        • The wheel replaced the earlier "Moscow 850th Anniversary" wheel, dismantled in 2016; building on the old spot was ruled out because of utilities and a metro line.
        • The wheel runs all year round — at temperatures from −10 to +40 °C.
      2. 🚶 on foot
      3. 2
        🏛 VDNKh Main Entrance
        A monumental 1950s triumphal arch topped with the Tractor Driver and Collective Farm Girl sculpture, with a wide main avenue behind it.
        Approach the arch already at dusk: the lights come on with the dark, and the Main Alley starts here.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        VDNKh Main Entrance
        © Don-vip · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The arch was built in 1954 to a design by Innokenty Melchakov during the post-war reconstruction of the exhibition.
        • The five-span gate was conceived as a triumphal arch in honour of victory in the war.
        • The earlier main entrance of 1939, designed by Leonid Polyakov, is now called the North Entrance.
        • The arch is crowned by Sergey Orlov's Tractor Driver and Collective Farm Girl sculpture, clad in gold smalt.
        • The restoration begun in 2017 was the first in the arch's history.
        • The exhibition itself opened on 1 August 1939 and now covers 240 hectares.
      4. 🚶 on foot
      5. 3
        🏛 Central Pavilion of VDNKh
        пр-т Мира, 119, стр. 1 (ВДНХ, павильон № 1)
        The main pavilion of the exhibition at the end of the Main Avenue — a multi-tiered building with a spire and a star on top.
        The best shot is from the middle of the alley, when the pavilion and the star on the spire are already lit.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Central Pavilion of VDNKh
        © Dmitry Ivanov. · CC BY-SA 3.0
        Central Pavilion of VDNKh
        © Gennady Grachev from Moscow, Russia · CC BY 2.0
        • The pavilion was built for the opening of the renewed exhibition in 1954, designed by Georgy Shchuko and Yevgeny Stolyarov; with the spire it is 90 metres tall.
        • The multi-tiered silhouette with a gilded spire and star recalls the central tower of the Admiralty in Petersburg.
        • An avenue with 14 cast-iron fountains leads to the pavilion from the Main Entrance.
        • The pavilion received the name "Central" in 1964; the facades carry the USSR coat of arms and medallions with the arms of the Union republics.
        • Two medallions with the arms of the Karelo-Finnish SSR were removed in 1956 and put back only during the 2018 restoration.
        • In 2014 a forgotten huge canvas by Alexander Gerasimov, "The Second Congress of Collective Farmers and Shock Workers", was found in the basement.
      6. 🚶 on foot
      7. 4
        🏛 Friendship of Peoples Fountain
        A big 1954 fountain at the centre of VDNKh: gilded statues around a sheaf of grain in a granite bowl.
        The fountain has been mothballed for winter since mid-October and has no water, but the 16 gilded figures around the bowl are well visible in the evening too.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Friendship of Peoples Fountain
        © Dmitry Ivanov · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Friendship of Peoples Fountain
        © Don-vip · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The fountain was built for the opening of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition in 1954; the architect was Konstantin Topuridze.
        • The 16 gilded girls in national costumes symbolise the Union republics; in 1954 there were 16, including the Karelo-Finnish SSR.
        • In the centre, on a granite pedestal, is a sheaf of wheat, industrial hemp and sunflowers.
        • The fountain has 800 jets that constantly change their pattern.
        • The fountain was restored in 2018–2019: about 5 kg of gold went into regilding the figures.
        • The opening of the VDNKh fountain season in spring and its closing in autumn are notable city events with concerts.
      8. 🚶 on foot
      9. 5
        🖼 Kosmos Pavilion
        🎟 ticket · VDNKh grounds are free, the pavilion exhibition is ticketed
        A pavilion with an arched glass dome and a Vostok rocket at the entrance, with authentic spacecraft inside.
        The domed arch with the Vostok rocket in front of it is the most spectacular facade of the exhibition in the dark. Inside is by ticket; if you want to go in, check the hours on the VDNKh website.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Kosmos Pavilion
        © Евгений Самарин · CC BY 4.0
        Kosmos Pavilion
        © AlixSaz · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The pavilion was built in 1939 to a design by Ivan Taranov, Viktor Andreev and Nadezhda Bykova and showed agricultural machinery.
        • In 1951–1954 a hall with a glass dome was added to it.
        • The pavilion got the name Kosmos in 1967, when rockets and satellites began to be shown here.
        • After restoration, the Cosmonautics and Aviation centre opened here on 12 April 2018.
        • The exhibition has more than 120 examples of aviation and space technology from dozens of industry enterprises.
        • In front of the pavilion stands a model of the Vostok rocket on which Gagarin flew.
      10. 🚶 on foot
      11. 6
        🍸 Glavvino wine restaurant at VDNKh
        пр-т Мира, 119, стр. 510 (ВДНХ)
        ▮▮▮▯▯
        Dinner two minutes from Kosmos, open until 23:00: a tasting set for two, cheeses and tartare. On Friday and Saturday better to book a table.
        🍴 A Russian wine pavilion at VDNKh: tasting flights and a big choice of wines by the glass. Try: a tasting flight, a cheese plate, tartare, bruschetta.

      ↩️ Getting back: From Glavvino ≈25 min on foot along the Main Alley to VDNKh metro, or a taxi

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