Immortalised in print and song, Gorky Park is the best-known park in Moscow, famous for its funfairs and rollercoaster rides.
But the park that became the symbol of a new freedom and the end of the Soviet era thanks to the Scorpions' 1990 hit Wind of Change has been given a $2billion makeover, funded in part by the Chelsea Football Club owner and oil billionaire Roman Abramovich.
The funfairs and rollercoasters have gone, as has the entrance fee, and the park has been revitalised as a spot for Muscovites and visitors alike in which to relax, to cycle or jog, enjoy a picnic and a summer ice cream or ice skate in winter.
An ultra modern and chic art gallery, bankrolled by Abramovich and run by his girlfriend DashaZhukova, is also planned within the park grounds.
It has added up to a big change for the park the park - a favourite for locals and the setting for Martin Cruz Smith's eponymous Eighties' Cold War thriller and 1983 film.
While it retains a mouthful of an official name - the Central Park of Rest and Culture Named After M. Gorky - thankfully it's more simply known as Gorky Park.
Laid out in 1928 on 300 acres along the banks of the Moscow River, this park, in fact, was the first of its kind in the then Soviet Union and became the prototype for hundreds of others to embody Soviet ideals of public health and public space. It was planned by the Soviet avant-garde architect Konstantin Melnikov and created by amalgamating the grounds of the old Golitsyn Hospital and the Neskuchny Palace, and its riverfront setting helped establish a "beach" for sun worshipping locals over the years.
Before its 2011 refurbishment, Gorky Park was split into two distinct parts. The first - aimed at families and children - was home to the entertainment rides with boats for hire and horses to ride. While it retained some popularity, the park's shabbiness and rundown look saw it derided by locals and visitors alike as a poor man's Disneyland.
The more sedate side of the park still contains formal gardens and woodlands consisting of the former Golitsynskiy and Neskuchniy Gardens, names familiar to any student of Russian literature, and an oasis of green in the city.
Gorky Park is also home to the Green Theatre, an outdoor amphitheatre that is one of the city's biggest venues and regularly hosts rock gigs, theatrical events and more formal music concerts.
But it is winter that Gorky Park comes into its own when its pathways, so lush in summer, freeze over and the whole place becomes an enormous skating rink. As well as dedicated ice skating areas and ice hockey rinks, the latest makeover has also created kilometres of specially prepared tracks so visitors can skate along the river embankments.
Cafés and restaurants in the park provide refreshments and cooling or warming drinks, depending on the season, as Gorky Park once again becomes one of the best outdoor destinations to visit in Moscow.
