This week, deputies from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia submitted to the State Duma a "protective" bill, which puzzled even city rights activists. According to Kommersant, the deputies propose to make the centers of Moscow and St. Petersburg a continuous security zone, in which any construction is possible only on the site of the demolished building and in its dimensions; where there was nothing before, capital construction will be banned. Commenting on the initiative, the coordinator of "Arkhnadzor" Konstantin Mikhailov called the ban on construction in territories that have no historical value strange. It is curious that in the Heritage Department, the bill did not arouse much enthusiasm: according to the representative of the department, replacing the lack of high-quality architecture in the center with its prohibition as such to the urban environment can only harm.
It is worth noting that the “national treasure”, which is going to be protected by this law, includes only those built before the well-known decree on “architectural excesses” of 1955, but the architecture of Soviet modernism did not receive such an honor. Anna Bronovitskaya, in a big interview on the openleft.ru portal, convinces of the opposite: the very idea of modernism to rebuild the human environment and the scale of the attempt to represent society in a holistic manner, even if it is crookedly carried out, cannot but fascinate, the expert believes. However, in reality, despite the social pathos and experimentation, modernism, like the rest of the Soviet period, remains an under-legacy. In the second part of the review devoted to him on the Arkhnadzor website, Natalya Dushkina writes about the threats of unsuccessful restorations. The expert is forced to note that the reconstruction replacing the preservation of monuments, judging by the award-winning project of the "revival" of the house-commune of Ivan Nikolaev, is being elevated to a principle where authenticity is deliberately sacrificed.
Restoration is approaching in the Melnikov house in Krivoarbatsky lane. Autumn Museum of Architecture. Shchuseva received a protective obligation from the user to start work before the end of the dispute between the heirs of the second half of the house. But now the restoration was prevented by the architect's granddaughter Ekaterina Karinskaya, who lived in the house and kept it all these years - Izvestia writes that the museum is evicting her from the mansion. The modern masterpiece of Melnikov, Lenin's Mausoleum is celebrating its 90th anniversary these days, in connection with which Rossiyskaya Gazeta and Rosbalt recall how the nationwide competition of 1925 for the project of the tomb for the leader was held.: The historic building, as noted on radiovesti.ru, will be turned into a memorial center, and the pre-trial detention center will be moved to New Moscow. And The Village publishes the details of the project for the restoration of the Khudozhestvenny cinema, on which the authors of the most popular park projects of recent times, the Wowhouse bureau, worked. However, they are engaged in restoration for the first time: the architects intend to cleanse the building of all Soviet alterations and return it to the look conceived by Fyodor Shekhtel. Restoration is also promised this year at several other well-known objects, for example, the house of the architect Matvey Kazakov and, possibly, even the Ostankino estate - the latter, however, the head of the Moscow Heritage Committee Alexander Kibovsky could not promise 100%. And Kommersant recently reviewed the most unpopular projects. Smolny in relation to heritage: among them the senseless move of the Central Naval Museum from the Exchange building to the Kryukov barracks is leading, which is why the abandoned monument began to slowly fall into desolation. On the contrary, active work will begin at the Admiralty in the coming years: Fontanka.ru writes about a project to adapt the monument to the needs of the Navy. The historic buildings will be covered with a glass dome, and inside they will be tied with transparent bridges like the eastern wing of the General Staff Building. And finally, Sochi: from the pre-Olympic city there have already been many reports about the unsatisfactory condition of the facilities, and now, when it is a week before the games, and from a fresh photo report in "Afisha" quite sad, it remains to hope for a miracle. However, according to Alexander Mozhaev, it has already taken place in Sochi: the Olympic Park, in the center of which there is an Old Believer cemetery, is itself a topographic miracle. “The picture will be unexpected, but definitely wonderful,” the author promises.
