smalt in accordance with a structure's original construction during restoration is impossible in certain cases.
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.
A non-free image has been removed from this page.
The Stone Flower not long before its reopening in early April 2019.
Konstantin Kokoshkin / Kommersant
VDNKh's leadership and the cultural heritage department within Moscow's mayor's office have responded to public criticism by insisting that the fountain has been restored to its "historical façade." However, even if that is the case, many experts do not agree with that kind of approach, as similar arguments about the restoration of Notre Dame have shown. "The restoration workers have said that they chose 'an analogous color palate,' meaning that they tried to find perfectly identical pieces of smalt. That's not necessarily a good thing: the viewer should be able to figure out where the authentic, real, original part of the fountain ends and where the restored part begins, and that's where 'we made it
