VDNKh, the Exhibition for the Achievements of the National Economy, opened in 1935 to be a sort of permanent Soviet state fair, where the state could show off the latest and greatest in agriculture, technology, physical culture and other spheres of Soviet achievement. In addition to pavilions for each major industry (including my favorites - meat and space), there are pavilions for each national republic and many autonomous regions, each intended to reflect the national architectural traditions of republics even when they did not have national architectural traditions to speak of, such as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Nowadays the complex is sprawling, and most Russians spend their time in the front, rollerblading on the miles of pavement, showing off their motorcycles at the main gates, or playing amusement park games for plush toy prizes. I recently got past the first series of fountains and pavilions to discover a strange land of architectural ruin with an incongruous medley of design features, all surrounding a lagoon with a strange tower in the middle.
High modernist principles meet neo-classicism, all topped off with "ethnic" flourishes. Now the plaster crumbles and the insides are filled with boxed appliances waiting to be taken to showrooms, guarded by security men playing video games. In ten years' time I predict it will be filled with posh clubs as Moscow finally develops a taste for Soviet nostalgia...and is willing to hike in the two miles or so from the metro.
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