Zaryadye Park

Zaryadye opened in 2017 on the site of the demolished Rossiya hotel, itself built over a cleared historic quarter, and it was designed by Diller Scofidio and Renfro with a landscape divided into four zones planted as tundra, steppe, forest and wetland, with the ground folded so that paths run over and under structures. The piece everyone photographs is the floating bridge: a concrete V cantilevered seventy metres out over the Moskva with no supports under the far end, giving a view back at the Kremlin and Red Square. Underneath and inside the folds are a concert hall with a retractable roof over an amphitheatre, an ice cave kept below freezing, a media centre and a small archaeological museum showing part of the old Kitay-Gorod wall found during construction. The historic churches of Varvarka street stand at the park's edge and are now oddly framed by it.

History

The historic Zaryadye district was cleared in rounds, in 1936, 1947 and the 1960s, and the Rossiya Hotel was built on the site in 1967. The hotel had been taken down by 2007, and the park opened on 9 September 2017; Time magazine listed it among the World's Greatest Places in 2018 (Wikipedia, Zaryadye Park).

What to look for

• The floating bridge - a concrete V cantilevered over the river with an open end.
• The four landscapes - tundra, steppe, forest and wetland planted across the site.
• The buried structures - concert hall, ice cave and museum folded under the ground.
• The Varvarka churches - older buildings now standing at the park's edge.

When to go

May to September for the planting; the bridge works all year. Two to three hours.

What to expect

The bridge is extremely crowded and photographing it without people is not realistic. Planting looks thin in early spring and late autumn. The paid attractions inside are short and gimmicky. It sits directly on the tourist route, so expect queues at weekends.

Nearby

Red Square and St Basil's are next door; the Moskva embankment runs below.

Key facts