In 1949, a decree of the USSR Council of Ministers was signed on the construction of the Republican Agricultural Exhibition in Kyiv. It was built on the site of a small suburban farm called Krasny Tavern. Construction began in 1952 and lasted 6 years. The official opening of the exhibition took place on July 6, 1958. The design of the exhibition was carried out by the Giprogorod Institute. The best artists and sculptors of the republic were involved in the design of the pavilions. In general, the architectural ensemble, designed in the Stalinist Empire style, repeats the “central” Moscow VDNKh.
Then the exhibition included the following pavilions: Main, “Mechanical Engineering and Instrument Making”, “Coal, Oil and Gas and Metallurgical Industry”, “Energy and Electrification”, “Construction and Building Materials Industry”, “Plastics and Polymer Materials”, “Agriculture”, “Grains and oil crops”, “Industrial crops”, “Animal husbandry”, “Vegetable growing, horticulture and viticulture”, as well as pavilions for full-scale livestock display. Later, the “Coal Industry” pavilions with a model of an operating mine, “Periodic Exhibitions”, “Mechanization and Electrification of Agriculture”, “Consumer Goods”, “Riches of the Sea” pavilions were built, and the “Public Education” and “Visual Agitation” pavilions were organized.
During the exhibition, it was visited by famous personalities of the planet: Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, French President General De Gaulle, UN Secretary General U Thant, Yugoslav President Broz Tito, Indian Prime Minister Shastri, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, US Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson and others. The exhibition was the organizer of all expositions dedicated to significant dates in the life of the country and its people, many prestigious expositions outside of Ukraine – in Leipzig, Montreal, Brno, Hanover, Moscow. Until 1993, the complex was called “Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy of the Ukrainian SSR” (the abbreviation “VDNKh” was popularly used).
Nowadays, the Expo Center does not have permanent exhibitions and is engaged in exhibition activities and entertainment events (for example, “Winter Country”, “Fairy Land” and others). The pavilions around the main square are mainly used for exhibitions, and the territory of the former agricultural exhibition is almost not used (most of the pavilions are rented out). More than 200 hectares of the Expo Center’s territory are occupied by a spacious green area with parks and forests, orchards and grass fields, lakes, children’s and sports grounds.
Where is the national complex “Expocenter of Ukraine”?
Academician Glushkov Avenue, 1
+38 067 824 16 31, +38 044 596 91 01