10 facts about Gorky Park, Moscow’s most famous park

1. Occupies almost 220 hectares on the bank of Moskva River

Gorky Park. Summer cafe. Late 1930s

Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure – that’s what this public space is officially called, with people simply calling it ‘Gorky Park’.

People strolling around Gorky Park

It’s located to the southwest of the center, stretching along the bend of the Moskva River.

People dancing at the Gorky Park's embankment

The modern Gorky Park sprawls across almost 220 hectares of land, including large green spaces - Neskuchny Sad (‘Not Boring Garden’) and Vorobyovy Gory (‘Sparrow Hills’), as well as the Muzeon park of arts.

2. Began its history before the revolution

Alexandrinskaya (now Pushkinskaya) embankment and Krymsky (Crimea) Bridge, 1912-14

The history of Gorky Park began from Neskuchny Sad. In the 18th century, the country estates of noble Russian families were located there, along the right bank of the Moskva River – the Golitsyns, the Orlovs and the Trubetskoys. The estate of the latter was called ‘Neskuchnoye’.

Golitsyn rotonda of the 19th century, 1910s

It hosted grand gardens, where the capital’s nobility loved to take walks; different entertainment venues were made for them there. One after another, these estates were bought out by Nicholas I; in the 1820s-1830s, he created Neskuchny Sad and built a summer theater.

3. A ‘shop front’ for Soviet authorities

Gorky Park in 1930 through the eyes of an American photographer

After the revolution, Neskuchny Sad was nationalized and opened for visitors. In 1923, it hosted the first large agriculture and craftsmanship exhibition, long before a separate park was built for it, presently known as VDNKh.

The ‘Machines and Tools’ pavilion of the agriculture and craftsmanship exhibition, 1923

The ‘Machines and Tools’ pavilion, erected for the exhibition, survives to our day – a Constructivist building in the shape of a hexagon. Currently, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art is undergoing a reconstruction (read about this museum below).

Garage Museum project for the reconstruction of the "Machines and Tools" pavilion ("Hexagon")

The planning of the future park was headed by avant-garde architect Konstantin Melnikov; other prominent innovating architects – El Lissitzky, Alexey Shchusev and Alexander Vlasov – also took part in the construction.

Christmas tree in front of the main entrance of Gorky Park.

And the famous main entrance arch was designed by Georgy Shchyuko in the 1950s.

4. Designed not just for leisure but also for culture

Gorky Park in 1932

On August 12, 1928, one of the first Soviet parks of culture and leisure was opened here. Cafes, dance and fitness grounds, hammocks – all the conditions for leisure were created for the working masses. Apart from that, they were supposed to spend their time there culturally.

Opening of the Central Park of Culture and Leisure in Moscow. Propaganda group "Blue Blouse" performing, 1928

Here, ‘spoken’ newspapers with the latest news were read to the proletariat; propaganda brigades delivered speeches, as well.

Autumn in Gorky Park

In 1934, the Green Theater under the open sky with a capacity of 20,000 people was opened, where musical, theater and circus performances were held.

5. Bears the name of the main Soviet author

Gorky Park's main alley, 1935

In 1932, the park was renamed after main Soviet author Maxim Gorky – and this was uncharacteristically done during his lifetime.

Golitsyn rotonda and Andreevsky Bridge

On a side note, the still-living writer also didn’t appreciate the renaming of his native city Nizhny Novgorod to Gorky. During these years, Soviet authorities created a whole cult of personality around the name of Gorky, so other cities of the USSR saw streets, parks, as well as squares renamed with his last name.

6. The first parachute tower operated here

Parachute tower in Gorky Park, 1955

In the 1930s, the USSR saw a whole boom of parachuting; a unique building appeared in Gorky Park – a parachute tower. It was quite a popular attraction; anyone could descend from it with a parachute or in a spiraling chute, sitting on a special rug.

Gorky Park in 1931

In the 1950s, the tower was disassembled, because it was deemed too hazardous; ironically, before that, such attractions had been promoted across the entire USSR and in other neighboring countries.

7. In the 1990s, an amusement park was opened here

Amusement rides on Moskva River bank at Gorky Park, 1989

For the first generation of children who were born after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Gorky Park was associated with cotton candy, donuts and – most importantly – with rides.

Condor amusement ride, 1998

In the Soviet era, there were just simple carousels, but, from the 1990s and until the beginning of the 2010s, dozens of rides operated in the park – basically like a sort of local “Disneyland”.

'Breakdance' ride, 1995

A rollercoaster, a haunted mansion, the ‘Niagara’ water slide, flying cars, trampolines, scary towers with spinning gondolas, a bungee over a pond and much more. There were also two Ferris wheels in Gorky Park – one smaller and one larger.

8. Renovated in the 2010s

Gorky Park from above

By the beginning of the 2000s, the majority of the rides were removed, the Soviet pavilions had fallen into disarray and the park was quite a sorry sight. From May 2011, a massive renovation began, over the course of which the park became one of the most trendy and modern places in the capital.

Until 2014, Gorky Park housed a model of the Buran spaceship (later it was moved to VDNKh)

Landscape design, bike lanes, sports grounds, new cafes, the first co-working spaces and one of the first free public Wi-Fi zones appeared there.

9. The main Moscow skating rink

Skating rink in Gorky Park. Late 1930s

During winter, the park’s pathways were covered with ice for ice skating back in Soviet times, as well. But, in 2011, the largest skating rink in Europe with artificial ice (at the time) was constructed in the park. For the first time, people could ice skate without having to wait for negative temperatures; hence, the ice skating season lasted until the middle of March.

Gorky park's skating rink is now one of the largest in Europe

The total area of tracks and ice surface amounted to 15,000 square meters. Music, tents with tea and mulled wine, warm changing rooms and skate rentals supplemented the rink.

10. The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

In 2012, one of the most trendy and influential cultural institutions – the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, founded by Darya Zhukova and Roman Abramovich in 2008 – moved to Gorky Park. In many ways, it is this museum that is responsible for the “cultural leisure” Muscovites now experience in the park, conducting a broad number of exhibitions and lecture programs.

Soviet mosaics inside the Garage museum

The museum is located in the former building of the ‘Seasons’ restaurant, which was built in 1968. It was renovated for the Garage Museum by famous Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and his OMA office. He turned the practically ruined Soviet building into a modern museum, taking into great consideration the surviving details, incorporating them successfully into the new design. And an old Soviet mosaic mural became one of the features of the new museum.