VDNKh Complex, Moscow

After leaving Izmailovo Kremlin and before heading to the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, we made a brief stop at the VDNKh Complex. More than just an exhibition centre, VDNKh feels like a vast open-air park, complete with landscaped gardens, wide walkways, decorative fountains, and monumental pavilions. Passing through the Main Entrance and the Central Pavilion, we were greeted by the imposing statue of Lenin that dominates the central avenue.

Front.

Rear.

Without saying much about the imposing Lenin monument at the front, our guide proceeded to lead us further in to one of VDNKh’s most iconic highlights - the Friendship of Peoples Fountain (also known as the Friendship of Nations Fountain). For many visitors, it is one of the most striking and symbolic sights in Russia. Designed in the early 1950s by sculptors Z. Bazhenova, L. Bazhenova, Z. Ryleyeva, I. Tchaikova, and A. Teneta, the fountain celebrates the unity of the Soviet republics. Sixteen gilded bronze maidens stand proudly around a golden sheaf of wheat, each figure dressed in the national costume of her republic: Russia, Armenia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Lithuania, Latvia, Tajikistan, Estonia, Turkmenistan, Moldova, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan. The sixteenth, representing the Karelo-Finnish SSR, was later dissolved and merged back into Russia in 1956.

The fountain’s grand scale is equally impressive. Its red-granite basin is powered by eight pumps circulating thousands of liters of water, feeding some 800 jets that create dazzling, ever-changing displays. Both a feat of engineering and a work of art, the fountain embodied the Soviet ideal of unity and shared identity. 

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26.12.1991 - nearly 34 years ago - the former republics have all declared independence as sovereign nations. The Friendship of Nations Fountain, once a proud emblem of unity among the fifteen republics, now stands as a nostalgic reminder of an era long past. Though the political landscape has changed, the fountain endures as an unforgettable symbol of the Soviet dream and remains one of Moscow’s most striking and photogenic landmarks.

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Looking at the sixteen maidens at the Fountain, I couldn’t help but reflect on the formation of my own country. On 16.09.1963, four distinct entities - Malaya, Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak - came together to form Malaysia. Yet, less than two years later, on 09.08.1965, Singapore officially separated from the federation. Instead of preserving the original framework of three equal partners, Sabah and Sarawak were subsequently reduced in status, reclassified as merely two of the thirteen states within Malaysia. The other eleven states had already formed part of Malaya, and this maneuver fundamentally altered the balance envisioned at the federation’s birth.

In terms of resource sharing and political recognition, Sabah and Sarawak have since had to contend with being treated as two of thirteen rather than as equal founding partners. To this day, the struggle to restore the rightful position of Sabah and Sarawak under the Malaysia Agreement of 1963 (MA63) continues. Yet, the journey remains unfinished, with no clear light at the end of the tunnel - only an enduring hope for fairness and recognition.