Gorky Park

Aleksandr Scherbak/TASS
Moscow's main park, Gorky Park boasts a long and eventful history and a plethora of amusements. It has been Muscovites' favourite park for nearly a hundred years. This land was designated as the central municipal dump in 1900, and remained a dump for 20 years. Vladimir Lenin ordered the dump removed in 1921, and the land here and in the neighbouring Neskuchny Garden made suitable for the 1st National Agricultural and Primary-Industrial Exhibition. The area was cleaned and landscaped, and pavilions were built for the exhibition, shaping the current outline of Gorky Park. The park was intended as a spacious recreation and amusement spot for locals and visitors. There were amusement rides in the park from the mid-1980s on, but they were relocated elsewhere in the city in 2012, and Gorky Park was re-conceptualized as a family recreation spot with sports fields, bike and boat rental, Pioneer summer cinema, ping-pong tables and countless cafés. Celebrations and festivals are staged here during the warm season, devoted to culinary arts, kids' education, sports and many other subjects.