“Adam and Eve” Fountain

On Pyatnitskaya Street, in a small public garden next to Novokuznetskaya metro station, stands the sculptural “Adam and Eve” fountain — one of the recognisable small architectural landmarks of Zamoskvorechye. The composition depicts the biblical story of the Fall: the first humans beneath the crown of the tree of paradise, entwined by the tempting serpent. The fountain has become a meeting and photography spot for tourists and local residents alike, and its unusual treatment of a classical subject sets it apart from Moscow’s other fountains.

The monument appeared in 2007 as part of the improvement of a tourist route through the landmarks of Zamoskvorechye, timed to coincide with the celebration of Moscow’s 860th anniversary, and the fountain began operating a year later. The team of authors was led by the sculptor Maria Levinskaya, while the architectural design was prepared by the workshop of V. I. Simonikhin, comprising Simonikhin himself together with the architects A. A. Nekrasov, L. P. Osinkina and A. A. Sorokin. According to the sculptor, the models for the figures of Adam and Eve were her daughter and her daughter’s friend.

The sculptural group is installed on a square slab at the centre of a shallow basin. The bronze figures of Adam and Eve stand beneath a spreading tree, its trunk entwined by the serpent. In the tree’s crown, dozens of small details — leaves, apples, birds’ crests and insects’ wings — are picked out in gold leaf. In Eve’s hand is the apple of temptation. Four large apples fixed at the corners of the slab serve as nozzles, from which jets of water rise; the system is served by eight pumps, allowing the pattern of the cascade to change. After dark the composition is lit by multicoloured spotlights.

Before the revolution, this spot was occupied by a side chapel and outbuildings of the Church of St Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, built in 1744, which gave the street its name. The parish was well known in merchant circles: the church traditionally kept reference weights and measures, which made it a guarantor of honest trade at the neighbouring market. The building was demolished in 1930 during the construction of the metro and the vestibule of Novokuznetskaya station. Over time, residents nicknamed the fountain “Adamieva” — the letters of the name on the plaque are set too close together, and many people mistake the inscription for the surname of a non-existent sculptor.

Today the “Adam and Eve” fountain remains one of the informal landmarks of Zamoskvorechye and a point of attraction on tourist routes through the district between Pyatnitskaya and Bolshaya Ordynka streets. The small garden around the fountain is furnished with benches and is often used as a place for rest and gatherings, while the sculptural group, thanks to its unusual subject and fine detailing, regularly features in guidebooks devoted to Moscow’s unconventional monuments.

Small in scale but worked out down to the smallest detail, the fountain shows how modern urban landscaping can turn an ordinary public garden into a memorable piece of art. It has become an organic part of the appearance of Zamoskvorechye, preserving the memory of the demolished parish church through its very location, and continues to draw the attention of city residents almost two decades after it was installed.