The "Red Book of Moscow" was created by the public movement for the preservation of the architectural heritage "Arhnadzor", which arose by combining several large public projects quite recently - two months ago. But the activity of its participants - including well-known architectural critics, authors of books about Moscow, restorers, etc. - "Arhnadzor" has already attracted the attention of the press, the public and even state institutions. For a short time of its existence, the movement participants organized a picket in defense of the Shakhovsky estate, collected signatures under letters in defense of a number of Moscow monuments, conducted a unique series of excursions on April 18, turning Bakhrushin Street into a museum, organized a student competition “Moscow the Day After Tomorrow” … As you can see, the activity “Arkhnadzor "is more than diverse. But we must admit that the "Red Book" presented yesterday at the press conference is perhaps the most significant result of the work of a public movement available today.
The Red Book is actually not quite a book. In any case, it has not been published. This is a list of buildings in Moscow, the fate of which causes concern today. It included about 250 houses and ensembles, mainly located within the Garden Ring. It exists in electronic form, but it may be subsequently published as a book. In the meantime, two formats are available - CD-room, which were presented to journalists at a press conference, and, what is especially interesting, an interactive Google map.
All objects in the "Red Book" list are divided by types of threats: some are threatened with destruction for the sake of new construction or extensive reconstruction, others are destroyed themselves without proper repair. Somewhere new construction is already underway, somewhere it is planned. Each address is accompanied by a description of the state of the monument, as well as what exactly threatens it.
The press conference was held in the penultimate room of the suite, which was barely enough to accommodate all those present. Arkhnadzor coordinators Alexander Mozhaev, Konstantin Mikhailov and Rustam Rakhmatullin spoke about the Red Book. Without going into the details of the functioning of the project itself, they focused on the main thing - on its content, on architectural monuments that are in danger of disappearing or distorting.
Thus, the Tverskoy overpass, a monument to the modernist style of the 20th century, is going to be dismantled in connection with the implementation of a major urban development project, the so-called "Big Leningradka". The goals of which are simple and clear - to make this highway a high-speed one. Unfortunately, the initiators and developers of the concept are not interested in the monuments of architecture and engineering thought that are on its way.
The steam locomotive depot of the Nikolaev railway, built by a student of Konstantin Ton in 1849 in the form of a rotunda with a round courtyard, arched galleries and staircases, interferes with Russian Railways so much that its representatives have twice sent a petition to exclude this depot from the register of identified monuments. A new railway line is supposed to be laid on the site of the building.
To implement another major project - the International Exhibition Complex - it is planned to dismantle the Montreal Pavilion at the All-Russian Exhibition Center (the Moscow Pavilion, which represented the USSR at the 1967 exhibition in Montreal). And it is not yet clear whether it will be assembled in a new place or simply destroyed.
The sensational story of the "reconstruction" of the Children's World evoked a special response from the "Arkhnadzorovites": they decided to turn to the state for help in order to stop the reconstruction and return to the "Children's World" the look familiar to Muscovites from childhood. The moment for the appeal was chosen well, since recently the investor of the reconstruction project has changed, and there is a hope that it will be possible to somehow influence it.
Another controversial object is the 1950s car garage complex on Rogozhskaya Street, which houses a vintage car museum. The decision of the Moscow government on January 21 refers to the demolition of the garage buildings for the sake of building a museum. However, the Mosproekt-4 project, which was shown at the public council two days ago, was about preserving the original garage building of the fifties and placing a museum in it, adding, however, a glass floor. The construction, however, is planned in any case, large-scale, because the existing garage "does not use the potential of this place." In a word, the situation around this or that monument sometimes develops dynamically: either we demolish it or not.
These are just brief histories of several sites that were mentioned at the press conference. In fact, as already mentioned, there are about 250 such facilities in Moscow, and this is not yet the final figure. According to Rustam Rakhmatullin, over time, the list of the "Red Book" will be supplemented with new objects.
Therefore, the electronic format chosen by the authors of the project seems to be very successful. This is a convenient way of monitoring, open from both sides - for constant replenishment and editing, as well as for viewing. It can have as many readers as you like (unlike a book). Therefore, even if the authors undertake to publish a "paper version" of the book, it will become a beautiful, but optional addition to the project. The main thing in this project is the content, and the possibility of quick access to information. What the internet does just fine. I would like to understand the "Red Book" not as the final product of some work (by the way, gigantic and completely disinterested). This is more than just a list, it is a tool for public monitoring of the state of Moscow monuments. Strictly speaking, all public projects included in "Arhnadzor" were engaged in such monitoring in one way or another. I would like to consider the "Red Book" shown yesterday as the result of their joint efforts - in any case, this is how it all looks. What pleases - after all, as you know, in no country the protection of monuments and the urban environment does not do without public participation. The public is simply necessary here in order to question the accepted building practice, to voice (sometimes shout), to argue, to give no peace to either architects or government agencies. If the public does this, there is hope that nothing will happen on the sly. It is time to somehow organize and strengthen this social activity, to help it not to fade away in our difficult conditions. This is what Arkhnadzor does.
It is easy to see that through the efforts of this organization, the protection of Moscow monuments is indeed transformed into some new quality. There used to be scandals. Lots of scandals, more and less. There were also analytics, collections, articles. There were also lists, however, long ago and since then they have become outdated - they are constantly outdated. Now it is as if the time has come for databases and a systems approach. The approach pleases - finally, this information is collected and easily accessible. The data itself is terrifying. Somehow you think that more than 200 buildings, many of which are monuments, are being destroyed, and then you think that this is only in Moscow, and your hair stands on end. It is necessary, nevertheless, it is necessary to somehow monitor this. And then after all, there is already little left, and it may become even less.
