Roman Abramovich to finance œ1.25bn to turn Gorky Park into Moscow version of Hyde Park


Russian business tycoon Roman Abramovich would reportedly finance 1.25 billion pounds for the makeover of Moscow’s Gorky Park, that will draw inspiration from London’s Hyde Park and include a London Eye-style Ferris wheel.

In an attempt to please his 29-year-old girlfriend Dasha Zhukova, the 44-year-old oligarch will finance a state-of-the-art modern art gallery inside the park to be curated and run by her, The Telegraph reports.

Zhukova, the mother of Abramovich’s young son Aaron and a self-professed art lover, has already confirmed that she plans to move her Moscow-based Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture into the famous park once a Soviet-era exhibition centre that currently lies in ruins is restored.

The paper quoted Sergey Kapkov, the park’s General Director and a close associate of the oligarch, as saying that the park will be made almost like Hyde Park.

“What is there in Hyde Park that we cannot have in Gorky Park? We do not want Disneyland here. There will be a single observation wheel on a par with London’s (and) we want to build the biggest ice-rink in Moscow and maybe in Europe,” Kapkov added.

The 300-acre territory has suffered a serious setback since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, and most of its 173 structures and greenery needs renovation.

In 2010, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had said that Moscow should have its own Hyde Park.

“I recently happened to be in London and took a look at Hyde Park. It looked wonderful. The (Moscow) authorities should build our own Hyde Park and plant the same kind of trees and so on,” he added. (ANI)



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