The historical buildings of the merchant Samara amaze with a variety of architectural styles and the quality of buildings, be they classicist estates, Art Nouveau mansions or the so-called. Russian style, buildings of the avant-garde and modernism of the 1960s. In the old part of Samara, one can study the history of the architecture of the Russian province, however, most likely, in the near future this opportunity will be lost. The fact is that over the past fifteen years, the city authorities have been actively encouraging development, and for the sake of cheap faceless construction, entire blocks of the historic city are being demolished.
The report "Samara: Heritage at Risk" was the first experience of MAPS with the monuments of the province. The choice of this particular city as a touchstone was determined by the activity of the local cultural community. In 2008, a high-profile campaign was launched here in defense of the world-famous monument of constructivism sentenced to demolition - the kitchen factory of the V. Maslennikov, in terms of having the shape of a sickle and a hammer. Local defenders came to support the experts of the international organization Save Europe's Heritage, led by Markus Binney and renowned architecture critic Andrei Gozak. The current book was born out of this trip, because European colleagues were equally shocked by how rich and diverse the historical buildings of Samara are and how rapidly they are degrading, unable to withstand the pressure of commercial construction.
It is deeply symbolic that the defenders of the heritage were united by the kitchen factory of the V. Maslennikov - the 1920s – 30s generally became a special period in the development of the Samara architectural school and presented the city with many unique objects. What is at least one of the largest garden cities of the 20th century - Bezymyanka - or huge factory buildings, at the sight of which Western experts throw up their hands and begin to talk about conversion with inspiration, refusing to believe that these magnificent creations of engineering thought in modern Samara are simply not needed by anyone. However, in fairness, we note that in addition to the buildings of the avant-garde in Samara, there are other remarkable monuments, however, although they can rightfully be called world-class objects, the authorities are of little interest.
According to experts, over the past 15 years, the total number of architectural monuments in Samara has decreased by a third. This statistic is so terrifying that at the presentation of the book there were calls to “go from words to deeds”. It is gratifying that this will be done in the very near future: with the support of Save Europe's Heritage, Samara heritage defenders are going to initiate a campaign for the preservation of the wooden Mashtakov House, which is crumbling in the very center of the city due to banal desolation. This beautiful mansion was built according to the project of the famous Samara architect A. Shcherbachev, who at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. he was extremely active in building up the city in the "Russian style".
In September 2009 alone, the register of protected monuments was reduced to several hundred sites, however, this list is carefully hidden from the public. In this way, the situation in Samara is reminiscent of how the Moscow authorities behaved in relation to the heritage sites several years ago, hiding everything that was possible, and behind the scenes making decisions on demolition or total reconstruction. But today Moscow social movements have learned to exist in this artificial information vacuum, and have even obtained from the Moscow Heritage Committee the right to get access to all the necessary documents on time. Muscovites even manage to track the manipulations of officials with the list of the so-called. newly identified objects - buildings that have not yet received a full-fledged protection status, a list that from time to time is replenished or reduced in a very arbitrary way. These examples inspire some optimism in Samara, although today in the city it is almost impossible to influence the decision-making process on the demolition of a particular object. According to the main initiator of the current Report, Vitaly Stadnikov, architects are completely removed from the sphere of heritage protection, and attempts to interfere often threaten with physical violence.
Samara collection, which includes articles by Andrei Gozak, who designed, by the way, in this city the modernist Library named after Lenin, professor of the Samara University of Architecture and Civil Engineering Sergei Malakhov, Samara art critic Vladimir Vostrikov and many others, according to MAPS chairman Marina Khrustaleva, in many ways turned out to be even more interesting than the Moscow Report. It covers a variety of aspects of the history and protection of monuments, and in addition to simply listing the numerous facts of vandalism, interesting historical studies have been published here about the formation of a special urban fabric, the types of Samara quarters, and the peculiarities of wooden buildings. About half of the book is devoted to the experience of competent preservation of cities like Samara, such as Tallinn, Tomsk, Gorodets.
Will a city with an active and thinking professional community and with such a unique architectural school be able to preserve its own identity? The answer to this question, alas, remains open so far. Perhaps the MAPS Report and its presentation in Samara, scheduled for December 11, will help clarify something. At least, the city authorities are unlikely to be able to “fail to notice” this event.
