Moscow marks warm weather with fountain ceremony

In Moscow summer is approaching with the sun shining brightly and temperatures rising, prompting the city administration to switch on the local fountains.

Moscow has more than two hundred and seventy fountains, which were all turned on simultaneously by Mayor Yury Luzhkov.

“With the remote control I have in my hands I give the command to turn on all the Moscow fountains,” the mayor said.

The ceremony took place at the fountain called ‘The Music of Fame’, opened in 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary of Russia’s victory in the Great Patriotic War. It is the biggest music fountain in the capital.

The ceremony was dedicated to the events of the Great Patriotic War, with participants dressed in historic military uniforms and the playing of military songs.

Moscow’s fountains are switched off in the middle of autumn and do not function during the cold winter months.