Not so long ago one of the main symbolsthe Great Soviet Union, embodying the ideals of peace and friendship between the sister republics, was located on the territory of the former Exhibition of Economic Achievements, and now the All-Russian Exhibition Center, the Fountain of Friendship of Peoples. This structure can rightly be called one of the most striking monuments of architecture of the Soviet era.
History of creation
The fountain was opened in 1954, its first name sounded like "Sheaf", or "Golden Sheaf", and only in August,

What the Fountain of Friendship of Peoples looks like and what it symbolizes at VDNKh
There is a fountain in the Peoples' Friendship Square,earlier Kolkhoznaya, and its main theme was the demonstration of the abundance of prosperous socialist agriculture. A stepped base is crowned by a huge bowl-shaped sheaf from the ears of rye, sunflowers and hemp. Around him were statues of sixteen gold-leafed girls-collective farmers, symbolizing 16 republics of the USSR.

Who is the sixteenth?

It is generally known that there were 15 republics in the USSR,so many involuntarily ask: "Who is this sixteenth girl?" Some people expressed the opinion that, perhaps, this is Bulgaria, because, thanks to close economic and political ties, it was once actually called the 16th republic of the USSR. However, this opinion is erroneous. The thing is that in the period from 1940 to 1956 the Karelian-Finnish Autonomous Republic had the status of a union republic. So in 1954, at the time when the "Friendship of Peoples" fountain was being created, the Soviet Union did not have 15, but 16 union republics, and therefore this sixteenth girl is a full-fledged representative of the Karelian-Finnish SSR.