With summer in full swing, Russia's main exhibition centre offers a number of opportunities to beat the heat and have a good time. Visitors to VDNH are encouraged to see Museum City expositions, participate in free events at the Knowledge.VDNH project, take a stroll through the Landscape Park, enjoy cartoons at the Soyuzmultpark or embark on a virtual tour around Russia in the 360MAX cinema.
Museum City
VDNH features around twenty different types of museums. Among those include the Cosmonautics and Aviation Centre, Slovo Centre for Slavic Writing, Museum of Cinema, the Oil Pavilion, as well as the recently opened Moscow Transport Museum and Special-Purpose Garage Museum of the Russian Federal Guard Service. Visitors of VDNH can observe a full-scale model of the MIR orbital station as well as a unique collection of cars from top public officials. They can discover more about the history of the most national of Soviet cars—the Moskvitch; stand in the shoes of a legendary rocket aircraft—Buran; observe more than 23,000 miniature buildings on the interactive model of Moscow; or get to know a happy robot family while learning the basics of robotics.
Knowledge.VDNH: cultural and educational project
Through September, VDNH will run the summer season of the Knowledge.VDNH programme. Participation in the city's largest cultural and educational project is free of charge. The Worker and Kolkhoz Woman Pavilion is the traditional venue for the project. Now in its sixth season, the programme includes a series of lectures on arts and culture, science and space, along with Media Mondays and Literary Wednesdays for children and adults. The lecture series is arranged by Moscow State University's School of Journalism and includes various workshops, guided tours, recitals, plays and concerts.
Soyuzmultpark Multimedia Entertainment Centre
The Soyuzmultpark Multimedia Centre features 18 interactive attractions for young visitors and their parents. Here you can watch beloved cartoons in the Dome Cinema, create your own cartoon characters in virtual reality and explore the fantastic worlds created by the film studio over the years. For example, you can visit the tropical rain forest with Mowgli, help Alice from The Mystery of the Third Planet fight robots, jump the roofs of Stockholm with Karlsson, learn wisdom of Vasilisa The Lazy and weave a magic tablecloth. Until the end of summer vacation, the media centre is open with free admission by session.
360MAX VR Cinema
Space walks, horrors, musical videos, flights above the metropolis—over 50 films of different genres await visitors to the 360MAX VR-cinema at VDNH. One of the most interesting features is the virtual journey around Russia's most picturesque sites and regions. Visitors can gaze upon the wild nature in all its glory—see how clouds are formed on Mount Ai-Petri in Crimea, witness the lotus flowers bloom in the Astrakhan nature reserve, watch guillemots nesting on the Kola Peninsula and hear the songs of whales near Kamchatka. The 360MAX VR Cinema is a self-service theatre: tickets are available via the info booth or online, contact-free. For admittance, simply scan your QR code.
Landscape Park
Those who love walking in the fresh air are invited to visit the Landscape Park. This unique recreational area is spread across more than 87 hectares. Five thematic platforms—the Botanical Nature, Nature of Entertainment, Wild Nature, Nature of Arts and Science, as well as Cultivated Nature—are connected by the 5.6 km Main Alley. During the summer heat, it is most pleasant to take the above-ground ecotrail protected by the shade of century-old oak trees from the Sheremetiev's grove. Visitors can also enjoy the light breeze on the wooden path running along the Kamensky ponds.
Participants in the Friends of VDNH loyalty programme will have access to discount tickets at the Cosmonautics and Aviation Centre, the Slovo Centre for Slavic Writing, the Buran Interactive Museum Complex, Robostation, the 360MAX VR Cinema, among other exhibition venues. For a full and regularly updated list of partner venues of the programmes, see the individual programme pages on the VDNH website.
Measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are still in place at VDNH. Visitors are expected to wear face masks and gloves and observe the required social distancing inside pavilions.