No one interviewed in the park, however, was interested in giving him credit or talking about politics, though they agreed the park was much improved. “Before it was a quite a criminal place,” said Andrey Kritsky, the director of an audit firm whose daughter, Alice, 10, was hiding in a hollowed-out tree stump. Alice said, “We came here for mama’s birthday and took a boat and it was very nice.”

A short stroll away, Latin music thumped from a dance platform where two fitness instructors, sponsored by Reebok, led several dozen people in a Zumba workout.

The park, designed by the constructivist Soviet architect Konstantin Melnikov, opened in 1928. Originally called the Cultural Complex in the Open Air, it was renamed in 1936 after Gorky.

For older Russians, the renovated park offers an abundance of luxuries.

“There were not enough benches,” said Yelena Kleymyonova, 55, who was lying on a double-size wicker lounge chair with her companion, Valery Shishkin, 67. “Now it’s all different. No entrance fee. People can ride bicycles, and you can walk barefoot on the grass. It’s all so clean.

“There were no restaurants, but now there are plenty. You won’t go hungry here.”

At the center of the lawn, seven friends sat around a blanket on the ground, with a can of Pringles and bottle of Vittel mineral water, playing Monopoly. On another wicker lounger nearby was a young woman with a baby and, on the next chair over, a couple who seemed ready to make one — legs and arms entangled, kissing passionately.

Enjoying a different sort of devil-may-care sensibility was Danil Krablenko, 4, wearing an orange helmet with white stars, as he raced up and down the ramps on his in-line skates, jumping, twirling and twisting in the air. His brother, Aleksandr, 5, was doing the same.

Their father, Aleksei, 36, a professional fitness coach, said that more could be done, and faster, to improve Moscow, but the park renovation was a positive signal. “I like the trend,” Mr. Krablenko said. “At least they take into consideration what people want.”