complex sculpture depicting an enormous flower with petals made of individual cobalt glass pieces atop a two-tier marble base with sculptural clusters surrounding its perimeter. The fountain was designed by the architector Konstantin Topuridze and the sculptor Prokopy Dobrynin and completed in 1954. By the early 2010s, it had begun to decay: the fountain's historical finish had begun to crumble, and half of its water pumps didn't work.
On April 18, the VDNKh exhibition complex published a photograph of the newly restored fountain on its social media pages. Many Internet users who saw the photo thought the historical landmark looked garishly colorful. Some asked for the restoration to be redone, calling it "kitschy" and "trashy."
Experts also raised concerns about how the Stone Flower's restoration changed its appearance. "The facets of the crystals on the outer bowl are painted in rather unnatural shades," said art historian Anna Bronovitskaya. "Their brightness is reminiscent of Christmas tree lights or Chinese celebratory décor, and it's difficult to associate them with natural stone. In addition, the crystals are not made of separate smalt cubes; instead, there's some kind of slab divided into rectangular prisms."
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