The large glass dome in Moscow’s Zaryadye Park near the Kremlin was vandalized on Monday, less than a day after it opened to the public, the Moscow Mayor’s Office said.
The damaged dome with 150 solar panels partially covers a concert hall and is the world’s biggest translucent structure without partition walls, according to the Mayor’s Office. It also contains some of the park's plant life designed to reflect Russia’s diverse climate.
“This clearly happened from the impact of some object,” an engineering official, Galina Gordyushina, said in the online statement issued by the Mayor.
Zaryadye Park was inaugurated on Moscow City Day and the capital’s 870th birthday on Sept. 9 after five years of construction. The 14-billion-ruble ($245 million) park opened to the wider public on Monday, Sept. 11.
Gordyushina promised to repair the damage swiftly but warned that it would be difficult, saying “replacing one glass triangle is not only expensive but also requires complicated technical work.”
Park director Pavel Trekhlyob said: “We are all of course very disappointed to see such a careless attitude toward the park’s objects and its botanical collection.”
The park’s closure one day after it opened drew sardonic commentary from at least one social media user:
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