The Alexey Komech Prize was established three years ago by the State Institute of Art History, the Library of Foreign Literature and the Northern Pilgrim Publishing House. This award immediately became very prestigious, and not only because it bears the name of Alexei Ilyich, one of the main ideologists of the modern movement for the preservation of heritage, a man for whom, for his exceptional honesty and professionalism, not only his comrades-in-arms, but also opponents have deep respect. The credibility of the award is primarily based on the fact that it is awarded by the professional community itself. For the two previous years, the award was given to the professor of the Moscow Architectural Institute Natalya Dushkina and the director of the Ulyanovsk Museum-Reserve Alexander Zubov, whose services in the field of the struggle for the architectural heritage cannot be overestimated.
The current laureate Alexei Kovalev, according to his St. Petersburg colleague, deputy chairman of the St. Petersburg branch of VOOPiK Alexander Kononov, is a legendary person, since it was he who stood at the origins of the first social movement in the northern capital - the so-called. groups for the rescue of the monuments of Leningrad. In 1986, the group launched two high-profile campaigns in defense of the Delvig House and the Angleterre Hotel. In the early 1990s, Aleksey Kovalev became a deputy of the Legislative Assembly, and to this day he is the only people's choice of the then convocation who is still re-elected for his honest and firm position on the legacy.
The award ceremony was preceded by a round table, the theme of which was formulated by the organizers as "Preservation of Cultural Heritage and Civil Society". Alexey Kovalev made the central report on this discussion. He said that today the main subject of his concerns is the updated federal law "On cultural heritage sites (historical and cultural monuments) of the peoples of the Russian Federation."
Let us recall that a number of amendments have been made to the text of the law, which have already been approved by the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the first reading, but cause the most serious concerns among the defenders of the heritage. Thus, Aleksey Kovalev is convinced: "In its current version, this document is capable of putting an end to any protection of heritage sites." He stressed that the working group, which a year ago began work on "rewriting" the law, did not include a single expert on heritage protection, and numerous comments of experts were simply ignored by lawmakers. As a result, this document is full of distortions. In particular, the issues of civil legal encumbrances and registration of objects are well worked out in it, however, there is no provision on obligatory archaeological examination of the developed lands, and the entire section devoted to restoration is "crumpled". The latter even included the blatant term "overhaul of an architectural monument." But the most dangerous for the heritage, according to Aleksey Kovalev, is the new concept of "land plot" being introduced into the law, which replaces the traditional "territory of the monument".
In general, in the opinion of the participants in the discussion, an almost absurd situation is being created: the new law will not help, but interfere with the protection of heritage sites. If now this catastrophe can somehow still be prevented, then only with the help of professionally drafted amendments. For their development, an expert group is currently being formed, which, as Aleksey Kovalev hopes, will nevertheless include the defenders of the heritage.
It is no coincidence that the participants in the discussion focused mainly on the problems of legislation, since all kinds of local conflicts grow out of the nationwide, initially flawed system of protecting monuments. Complementing Alexey Kovalev's speech on the draft of the new law, Rustam Rakhmatullin recalled the appearance in this document of a new provision on state historical and cultural expertise, which can now be carried out not by methodological advice at the monuments protection authorities, but by any individual expert. However, in all fairness, Rakhmatullin noted that the current examination does not guarantee that the interests of the objects of historical and cultural heritage will be respected, as an example reminding the audience of the story that only the publication of fictitious examinations of the Guryev chambers in Potapovsky Lane helped Arhnadzor save them from destruction.
However, not only officials and investors trample on the interests of heritage sites. Paradoxical as it sounds, it often happens that the leadership of cultural institutions also plays a similar role. As the representatives of "Arkhnadzor" reminded the audience, the initiators of the destructive reconstructions for the original objects of history were the theater "Helikon-Opera", and the Moscow Conservatory, and the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. AS Pushkin. The director of the latter, Irina Antonova, immediately defended the project for the reconstruction of her museum: “Don't turn me into an enemy of heritage! You cannot listen only to social movements and declare all state structures corrupt! " Irina Aleksandrovna is sure that in the case of the underground construction of the museum, blind adherence to the letter of the law is nothing more than "ordinary bureaucracy."
Another problem of the current system of the protection of monuments, the participants of the round table called the fact that whole layers of the national cultural heritage are not covered by it at all. We are talking, for example, about wooden temple and estate architecture, the remains of which we, according to the architectural historian Mikhail Milchik, will lose in the next 10 years. The process may halt the development of the system of national parks and the conduct of emergency response work, but since no funds will be allocated for both in the coming years, historians can only record the current state of objects and carefully preserve the memory of them.
Certainly, a certain optimism is inspired by the social movements in defense of heritage that have been gaining strength in recent years. However, the activities of the MAPS, "Arkhnadzor", the Foundation for the Revival of the Russian Estate and other organizations are only catching up with the destructive process, recapturing individual monuments. Natalia Dushkina, a founding member of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee for the Preservation of the Heritage of the 20th Century, believes that today we are faced with a change in the very foundations of the systems for the protection of monuments and their restoration. In particular, both in Europe and in our country it is now believed that the most valuable is not the form of a monument, but its essence, and the essence, which is in constant development. In fact, this means that the architecture of the past does not have to be maintained in its original state, it is enough to give it the opportunity to live and develop together with the city. According to Natalia Dushkina, such attitudes can be considered a rollback in the entire theory and methodology of restoration 150 years ago, at the time of Viollet-le-Duc.
However, so far this is more likely a discussion, but in practice, as Lev Lifshits, chairman of the award jury noted, “monuments in our country are persecuted in the same way as people, because a true monument contains the truth, and one must either reckon with it, or destroy… . And, undoubtedly, it is especially important that in the tough debate of society and the authorities regarding the protection of monuments, not only journalists and historians, but also representatives of the authorities decide to speak out for heritage. Aleksey Kovalev, the current winner of the Komecha Prize, is just such a person. In addition to the merits of the fearless Petersburger, the jury of the award decided to posthumously commemorate the activities of the director of the State Museum of Architecture named after V. I. Shchusev David Sargsyan on the preservation of the Moscow architectural heritage.
