Fountain of Friendship of Peoples - the embodiment of peace and friendship

Not so long ago, one of the main symbols of the great Soviet Union, embodying the ideals of peace and friendship between the sister republics, was located on the territory of the former Exhibition of Economic Achievements, and now VVC, the Fountain of Friendship of Peoples. This structure can rightly be called one of the most striking Monuments of architecture of the Soviet era.

History of creation

The fountain was opened in 1954, its first name sounded like "Sheaf", or "Golden Sheaf", and only in August, After the reconstruction of VSHV (All-Russian Agricultural Exhibition) and its re-profiling in VDNH received its new name "Friendship of the Peoples of the USSR" fountain. Then, in the early nineties, for all known reasons, the prefix "USSR" fell away by itself. The authors of the project were the talented artist-architect K.T. Topuridze in alliance with the remarkable engineer V.I. By Klyavin. Also, a team of sculptors worked on the creation of the images of the girls: Z. Bazhenova, Z. Ryleeva, A. Tenneta, M. Chaikoff and V. Gavrilov. It is interesting that as models, they were really posed by representatives of different nationalities, including ballerinas, pianists, and simple students.

What the Fountain of Friendship of Peoples looks like and what it symbolizes at VDNKh

There is a fountain on the Peoples' Friendship Square , formerly Kolkhoznaya, and its main theme was the demonstration of the abundance of prosperous socialist agriculture. A stepped base is crowned by a huge bowl-shaped sheaf of rye ears, sunflowers and hemp. Around him were statues of sixteen gold-leafed girls-collective farmers, symbolizing 16 republics of the USSR. The Fountain of Friendship of Peoples   Erected in the center of a large octahedral pond, whose length is 81 m, and width - 56 m. The length along the perimeter is 170 m, and the total area is 3723 sq.m. The system of jets of the central part of the fountain was originally capable of reaching a 20-meter height. Now, in view of the deterioration of the basic structures, the pumping station is not included at full capacity. The cyclicity of changing the figures of the fountain jets is an hour and a half, and the unique color night illumination changes for an hour 16 times. For this purpose, 250 strong searchlights were installed. The current plans of the Government to revive the All-Russian Exhibition Center include the complete restoration of all functions, initial characteristics, external and internal reconstruction of such a bright landmark of the capital as the Fountain of Friendship of Peoples.

Who is the sixteenth?

It is common knowledge that there were 15 republics in the USSR , so many people involuntarily question: "Who is this sixteenth girl?" Some people expressed the opinion that, perhaps, it is Bulgaria, because, thanks to close economic and political ties, it was in fact once called the 16th republic of the USSR. However, this opinion is erroneous. The whole point is that in the period from 1940 to 1956 the Karelian-Finnish Autonomous Republic had the status of a union republic. So in 1954, at the time when the fountain "Friendship of Peoples" was being created, the Soviet Union did not have 15, but 16 union republics, and therefore this sixteenth girl is a full-fledged representative of the Karelian-Finnish SSR.