Fountains, dinosaurs and outdoor gyms: new features for Moscow parks

It is not only central Moscow that has seen its parks upgraded. Read this Mos.ru article to find out about other places that have recently become much more suitable for strolls, leisure, fun and fitness.

New vista points, playgrounds, outdoor gyms, running tracks, street lamps and benches are coming to 129 green areas, including the city’s parks, boulevards and public squares. The bulk of this work has already been completed at more than 40 local parks.

Pump track and a promenade at 850th Anniversary of Moscow Park

The 850th Anniversary of Moscow Park now has everything a person may need for active leisure, including two football pitches, volleyball and basketball courts, and a workout area. There is also a five-kilometre cycle track, a climbing wall, bungees, a fountain and a pump track – a special cycling track with pits, bumps and slopes.

The park will also surprise visitors with its bronze monument to Hans Christian Andersen, who is depicted carrying the Ole-Lukoje mystical umbrella, with Thumbellina seated on the Danish storyteller’s cylinder hat and the Ugly Duckling walking beside the author. 

Kids can enjoy a play area divided into eight zones. Those more interested in a shashlyk (barbeque) outing can do so at four picnic areas with gazebos and meat grills. A scenic promenade with stairs descending to water surface stretches along the river’s bank. Trees and bushes will be planted at the park before the end of November.

Dinosaurs, workouts and table of elements models at Akademichesky Park

Akademichesky Park, a new public space not far from the State Darwin Museum, greets its visitors with three large figures of the dinosaurs Olorotitan and Ivantosaurus and the prehistoric rhino Elasmotherium. The staircases, ramps and artificial hills punctuate the change in altitude.

Production facilities that were once situated here have now yielded to pathways with gazebos and benches, pergolas and a whole new sports cluster, which consists of a football pitch and stands, a basketball court, a workout area and a running track.  There are also three outdoor gyms, including one for therapeutic exercise. One of the playgrounds features models of the chemical elements oxygen, uranium and lithium.

Dry fountain and flowerbeds replace waste area in Bolshoi Spasoglinishchevsky Pereulok

A rotunda with an amphitheatre, paths, pergolas, benches, playgrounds and fitness machines have replaced an abandoned area in Bolshoi Spasoglinishchevsky Pereulok. The public square for active and relaxing leisure for people of all ages and interests was built in response to requests of local residents.

Paved walkways transition to small grounds and terraces surrounded by flowerbeds, trees and bushes. There is also a dry fountain, wrought-iron staircases and gazebos.

Stage, fountain, and a pillbox at 30th Victory Anniversary Park

In 1941, a defence line ran between what is now Chertanovskaya Street and Kirovogradskaya Street. The area was turned into a park 34 years later to mark the anniversary of the great Victory. The new public space featured a pillbox with a Soviet 52-K anti-aircraft gun, a German Pak 40 anti-tank gun, and a monument to children prisoners of Nazi death camps. Nowadays, the park has got a concert stage, new benches and waste bins and light posts with energy-saving lamps. It is slated to receive a fountain before the end of autumn.