80th anniversary of Moscow’s famous exhibition

(2 Aug 2019) LEAD IN:
The world largest museum and recreation space opens in Moscow, in celebration of its 80th Anniversary.
The legendry Soviet Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy, attracts 30 million visitors a year, and celebrates Soviet proganda art.
   
STORY-LINE:
This week in the centre of Moscow the legendary Soviet exhibition venue Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy, known by its acronym VDNKH, opened its doors to the public in celebration of its 80th anniversary.
Spanning almost 2.5 Kilometers, it is the world's largest museum and recreational complex in the world.
It remains incredibly popular, attracting 30 million visitors a year.
The venue was first opened on August 1, 1939 initially to showcase the agricultural achievements of the Soviet Union.
"The exhibition that was organised then, the exhibition of collective farms, had the goal of showing that the new life has come," says Pavel Nefyodov, Historian and Curator of the VDNKH Museum.
"The past is left in the past, and now we have the new happy life, we have the abundance, the wealth, we have the new happiness under the command of the Communist Party,"
The need for this propaganda was acute. It was shortly after the peasantry of the Soviet Union was forced to join the collective farms with centralised Soviet management, known as collectivisation.
The process was harsh, so the Soviet government wanted to promote positive ideas about life in the collective farms to reconcile people with the new reality.
"Of course, during the Soviet time the exhibition was the propaganda tool,  where ideological lines and campaigns were either implemented or tested and given birth. It was absolutely an exclusively ideological project, which was aimed at promoting some topical idea," says Nefyodov.
Archival photographs of the displays of agricultural produce presented at the early exhibition bring to life the atmosphere of that era and its propaganda.
Soon after the World War II the complex grew into the biggest showcase of not only agricultural, but also industrial, and technological accomplishments of the Soviet Union.
"Of course, during the Soviet time the exhibition was the propaganda tool where ideological lines and campaigns were either implemented or tested and given birth, of course it was an exclusively ideological project, which was aimed at promoting some topical idea," says Nefyodov.  
The monumental Stalinist architecture, grand statues, splendid fountains, including the world renown "Fountain of People's Friendship"; huge pavilions in the style of 15 Soviet republics, demonstration of Soviet space achievements – all this contributed to the same goal of promoting and maintaining the idea that the Soviet Union is a world leader in all spheres.
"This component, this splendour, ostentatiousness in a sense, of this exhibition, has been its characteristic feature throughout its history. Hence this redundant architecture, the excessiveness in the decor, hence the desire to impress," says Nefyodov.
The statue of Worker and Collective Farmer remains the most remarkable and recognisable symbol of VDNKH.
Created for the World Expo in Paris in 1937 where it adorned the Soviet pavilion, the statue was then brought to Moscow and installed on a pedestal at the North (at that time - the main) entrance to the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition.
Quite a few new spaces opened in connection with the anniversary including exposition "Cultural Code of VDNKH".

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