The public movement "Arhadzor" writes in its blog about the construction, which is being carried out on both sides of the Kutafya Kremlin towers. A high metal fence appeared there, behind which you can see the construction site. On the south side, on the site of the former storage rooms, a monolithic frame rises - the basis of the future annex to the Kremlin, the blog says. Arhnadzor reminds that the Kremlin, as a UNESCO site, does not have a buffer zone that could protect it. But the area around it is a security zone under Russian law. The public movement will send a request to the Ministry of Culture to find out if the work has been agreed and what is planned to be built near the Kremlin.
For "Arhnadzor" there was also good news - the dismantling of the metal fence that encloses Zaryadye and acts as an advertising medium. The public movement enthusiastically embraced this event: “The“city of money”, luxurious on the outside and full of abomination of desolation inside, is being replaced by the“city-garden”- an open, green space of the future park”.
And the coordinator of "Arkhnadzor" Konstantin Mikhailov found out what was the reason for the decision to close Bolshoi Znamensky Lane for passage in Moscow. It turns out that the architectural monument, the house of Sergei Shchukin, is the summer residence of the Minister of Defense of Russia. In the fall, the lane will be reopened. Mikhailov writes: “And really - what, any civilian riffraff will scurry past the windows of the Shchukin mansion back and forth, back and forth? They will tolerate until autumn, and then, you see, they will forget where it was possible to walk."
Architect Vladimir Zlokazov in the blog "Living Streets" talks about the transport situation in Yekaterinburg. He writes that while officials try to follow the car-centric American model, Americans themselves are rediscovering the bicycle. He proposes to do the same to the Yekaterinburg authorities and comes up with his project for the construction of a road junction at the intersection of Obyezdnaya and Moskovskaya.
The UrbanUrban blog talks about budget projects to improve the environment of poor areas in South American cities. For example, in Caracas, Venezuela, a children's center for orphans was created in an unused space under the highway. The center includes a shelter, a children's playground and a woodworking workshop. And in Medellin, Colombia, six months ago, an escalator appeared in one of the poorest areas of the city. It lifts people up a steep slope equal to the height of a 28-story building.
An article dedicated to the activities of the Shchusev Museum of Architecture caused a heated discussion in the "Architectural Heritage" blog. The author claims that it is extremely difficult to gain access to the museum's archives. And the published guide to the museum's collection makes it clear that the creation of a catalog of archival funds accessible to researchers is not included in the tasks of the management. In addition, the guidebook does not really explain what is kept in the museum, the blogger writes. He concludes: "Most likely, MUAR has been and will remain in the foreseeable future a" black box "in the history of architecture, absolutely useless for science." This article was followed by other accusations and reproaches towards MUAR. So, LJ user renardetraisin asks: "Why is there no exposition in this beautiful huge mansion, but there are a lot of funds closed to visitors?" And blogger zamos is outraged: “Think about the cost of a photo! It costs 3000 rubles to scan one photo! " The employee of the museum Elizaveta Likhacheva (lizzy78) had to answer all these claims. She noted that the Museum of Architecture is not an archive after all, and it does not work according to archival rules. As for access to funds, all European museums have the same rules: you need to write a letter explaining the research topic, and if a scientist wants to publish the fund's material, you will have to conclude an agreement,”Likhacheva writes. She emphasizes that the museum does not have a permanent exhibition, since ten years ago it was deprived of five thousand meters of exhibition space, evicted from the Donskoy Monastery and moved to a building requiring major repairs.
In the blog "Architectural heritage" you can also read about the estate of SP Derviz or the "Kiritsky palace" near Ryazan, which is an early work of the architect Fyodor Shekhtel. It dates from around 1889. Blogger olster28 writes about the abandoned estate of the Povalishins in the village of Vasilievsky, Smolensk Region. The estate, built in the classicism style, includes a church, a bell tower, a house and other buildings.
The blog "My Moscow" devotes its post to the history of the former German settlement in the north-east of Moscow, on the right bank of the Yauza. A blogger aroundtree talks about the wooden mansion of the merchant Nosov in Moscow, designed by Lev Kekushev in 1903. Kraeham writes about the history of the old Samara house of the Prokhorovs at the corner of Chapaevskaya and Ventseka streets.
In the blog "Soviet Architecture" you can learn about the gallery houses of Kiev 1940-1980s. And daria-iz-orla talks about Kulturny lane in Oryol and its wooden houses.
