In total, about 300 people gathered at the monument to Alexander Griboyedov that day. Among them were architects, experts in the field of heritage protection, and ordinary Muscovites. The rally was held within the framework of the Day of Unified Actions to Protect Cultural Heritage, which included public events held in St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl, Perm, Kazan, Tula and Pskov.
The Moscow action was carried out by one of the coordinators of the Arkhnadzor movement, Konstantin Mikhailov. In his opening speech, he spoke about "national shame", the need for publicity and the desire for constructive cooperation. Other speakers developed the same themes in their speeches - Boris Pasternak, Natalya Samover, Galina Malanicheva, Vladimir Paperny, Marina Khrustaleva, Yuri Vedenin, Rustam Rakhmatullin. All public figures and representatives of the expert community were unanimous in their concern for the fate of the cultural heritage of Moscow and Russia as a whole and expressed their unanimous protest against attempts to introduce provisions into the law facilitating the removal of cultural heritage from state protection. Natalia Dushkina was, as always, extremely precise and uncompromising in her wording. "Architecture is not the square footage you pay for!" - reminded the professor of Moscow Architectural Institute to the younger generation. And local historian Sergei Brel called on everyone who is not indifferent to the fate of the heritage to fight against legal illiteracy and study the laws in order to more clearly represent their rights and real opportunities for the protection of monuments.
However, already on the eve of the day of the rally, it was almost obvious that the scandalous amendment on reconstruction could be avoided. Confidence in this was added by the fact that the city authorities allowed the holding of the action, and the fact that a collective letter of foreign architects was sent to the President of the Russian Federation, who appealed to the head of state with a request to prevent rash decisions. And, indeed, at a meeting of the State Duma Committee on Culture, which took place on the same day after the end of the rally, it was decided that the wording “reconstruction of a cultural heritage site for modern use” is unacceptable in the law. Commenting on the cancellation of this amendment, Rustam Rakhmatullin noted the great merit of the deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Council Andrey Kovalev. Arkhnadzor also considers it a great achievement that the second reading of the bill in the lower house of parliament, initially scheduled for December 22, has now been postponed to January next year. This will give city defenders the necessary head start - in particular, now there is time for another meeting of the working group, at which it will be possible to discuss and concretize several more parameters that do not allow changing the appearance of historical buildings.
As for the Saturday rally of "Arkhnadzor", it was completed by Rustam Rakhmatullin. Thanking law enforcement agencies, members of "Arhnadzor" and all activists who came to the event, he read out the resolution. This document, which was signed by everyone, noted the successes that the city protection movement of Russia has been making recently, and contained an appeal to the federal and city authorities with an appeal to enter into a dialogue with the public in order to preserve the cultural heritage of Moscow and Russia.
