Ivan Golunov and Pavel Merzlikin

“ The Moscow landmark is one of four historic fountains located in the VDNKh exhibition park, and a total of almost three billion rubles ($46.3 million) were spent to restore all four. Local activists expressed frustration at the fountain's "coarse" new look, and restoration specialists advised the public to wait a few years for the elements to return the flower to a more natural-looking state. The company that renovated the fountain has won almost every major restoration contract in western Russia in recent years—and it has been involved in a string of corruption scandals. ”

“ VDNKh representatives responded by explaining that the fountain's "screaming" paint job is only a temporary condition and that the smalt tones of the restoration are exactly the same as the original's. They claimed that the fountain's newfound shine is the result of "hydrophobic substances" painted onto its surface and said the coating should wash away to reveal the calmer tones visible in archival photos of the fountain. ”

“ Anna Bronovitskaya, who curated an exhibit about VDNKh in 2012, agreed with Pukhlov. "There are suspicions that they bought some kind of cheaper material. People counted on the fact that [the changes] would not be noticeable, but it turned out that even non-experts can see them very easily," she said. ”