Moscow Guide
The northern suburbs
The VVTs
Address: A few-minutes' walk from VDNKh metro station
Website: www.vvcentre.ru/eng
Opening time: Daily 8am–10p for the VVTs grounds and daily 10am–7pm for the pavilions
Whether it's known as the All-Russia Exhibition Centre – abbreviated to VVTs in Russian – or by its old Soviet title, the Exhibition of Economic Achievements or VDNKh – this sprawling trade-fair cum shopping centre is a must for Muscovites and tourists alike – though foreigners come to savour the Stalinist pavilions and fountains rather than to shop.
Besides a winter festival (Dec 25– Jan 5) with troyka rides and folk dancing, the VVTs hosts other folkloric events throughout the year, posted on the website. In summertime, miniature "trains" run from just inside the main entrance to the old Space Pavilion at the far end of the grounds, providing a quick tour for R100. The funfair near the entrance has a 75-metre-high Ferris wheel which offers a stunning view, but neither it nor any roller coasters run during winter, when the dodgem cars are as exciting as it gets.
The VVTs website extols the history of its Soviet predecessor, the VDNKh. Its genesis was the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition of 1939, a display of the fruits of Socialism and a showpiece of Stalinist monumental art that was intended to open two years earlier, but was delayed by the purging of many of its leading participants. Scores of pavilions trumpeted the achievements of the Soviet republics and the planned economy; there was even one devoted to the construction projects of the Gulag. While propaganda belied the fact that the USSR had been harrowed by collectivization and was still gripped by the Great Terror, paranoia was so rampant that the statue of Stalin that dominated the show was searched for bombs, as if any harm to the idol might endanger the state.