Fountains and skateboards

Almost a hundred years ago, in the 1930s, a project was developed to move the city centre from its historic part to the south, to an undeveloped area. This project was based on an obvious fact. The streets in the central part of the city are not wide and spacious enough for a vibrant urban life. The houses are not tall and spacious enough. And the squares, on which the ambitious designs of modern architects could be realised, simply don't exist. The 20th century didn't want to constantly look back at the past, it wanted to go forward, and only forward.

It was decided to leave the historical central part of the city unchanged - to let tourists walk there during the day and the public drive up to the theatre entrances in the evenings. However, all administrative and management functions were decided to moved to another part of the town. The plans were enormous, and part of these plans had time to start being implemented.

In 1935, a general plan for the development of the city was drawn up, and an architectural design competition for the new centre was announced. It is very interesting to look at these projects even in blueprints. I think that one day all these projects will be realised in the virtual world, and one will be able to walk these streets in a virtual reality helmet.

The winner of the competition was architect Noah Trotsky. His design was used to build the Palace of Soviets in the neoclassical style. The architectural design of the adjoining square could not be completed at once, and later the idea of moving the city centre was abandoned. The city centre was left in its historical place.

The fountains appeared on the square much later, in 2006. Now it seems like they've always been there - but I remember that before, the square was just a huge empty space. The terraces by the fountains soon became popular with skateboarders - they are very convenient for skating and jumping. Walking by the fountains on sunny days you're bound to see a rainbow - and probably more than one.