We continue to collect signatures under an open letter against the dismantling of the Shukhov Tower
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The tower, built in the Shabolovka area by the project of engineer Vladimir Shukhov in 1920–1922, is a unique hyperboloid structure used for radio and then television broadcasting from 1922 to 2002. The Shukhov Tower was the first large building in Moscow after the October Revolution and became one of the symbols of the Russian avant-garde; its innovative design for its time was erected despite the lack of metal, without the use of complex technical devices. However, despite the uniqueness of the monument and the fact that the tower has the status of an object of cultural heritage, it has never been comprehensively restored, and since 1991 it has not even been painted. Therefore, all the existing problems with the safety of the Shukhov Tower are on the conscience of its owner, who at one time signed a security obligation - the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network (RTRS), which is part of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation and the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications. …
After many years of inactivity, during which historians of architecture, defenders of heritage, architects and engineers, including Vladimir F. Shukhov, great-grandson of Vladimir Shukhov, and the Shukhov Tower Foundation headed by him, unsuccessfully tried to restore this unique monument, the Ministry of Communications came up with a proposal: dismantle the tower unnecessary for this department, in order to then carry out its "restoration in a new place in volumes and proportions, repeating a similar structure created in 1922" (quote from the draft decree of the government of the Russian Federation, published on March 7, 2014). Such a wording may imply a complete loss of the monument's authenticity and the creation of a remake.
Consider the arguments of officials and counter-arguments of experts - the historian of architecture, associate professor of Moscow Architectural Institute Anna Bronovitskaya, director of the Avant-garde Center of the Moscow Museum of Tolerance, Alexandra Selivanova, president of the Shukhov Tower Foundation Vladimir F. Shukhov, TsNIPI of building metal structures named after N. P. Melnikov, headed by the director N. I. Presnyakov.
Ministry of Communications: The tower may collapse, and there are 17 buildings in the potential destruction zone, including residential buildings, a school and a kindergarten.
Experts: despite the corrosion, the Shukhov Tower is quite stable. This was confirmed in their conclusion in February 2014 by the specialists of the TsNIPSK them. N. P. Melnikov (this document is at the disposal of the editorial board of Archi.ru). There is a danger of individual parts falling out - but only in a vertical downward direction. such a structure cannot fall on its side in whole or in part.
The statements about the danger of the collapse of the building made by the Ministry of Communications are based on an inaccessible examination, carried out at his request by the Central Research Institute of Industrial Buildings.
Ministry of Communications: Dismantling and re-assembly will not damage the tower.
Experts: TsNIPSK specialists emphasize that dismantling is tantamount to the destruction of the monument: parts of the tower are held in place by rivets, not screws, in addition, there are a lot of these parts - the tower was assembled from all metal fragments available during the Civil War, including small ones. The experience of TsNIPSK employees in restoring the sculpture "Worker and Kolkhoz Woman" by Vera Mukhina after dismantling showed that the old metal frames after dismantling are not suitable for reuse: Mukhina's masterpiece now stands on a completely new frame. The same fate may await the Shukhov Tower, with the difference that it all consists of a frame.
Ministry of Communications: Moving a monument to a new location is a common practice. At the All-Russian Exhibition Center, in Gorky Park or in the area of Kaluzhskaya Square (these options were named by the Deputy Minister of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation Alexei Volin at a meeting of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on March 7, 2014), the Shukhov Tower will be successfully preserved, and access to it will be provided to the population - the fact that in the current situation, it is allegedly impossible to do. At the same time, the tower will be transferred from the RTRS balance sheet to the Moscow Department of Culture.
Experts: According to Federal Law N 73 "On objects of cultural heritage (historical and cultural monuments) of the peoples of the Russian Federation", the monument is inseparable from its site. Its transfer in Russian and world practice is possible only in exceptional cases: with the threat of flooding, natural or man-made disaster - we do not observe anything like this on Shabolovka.
As at the time of its construction, today the 150-meter tower serves as the high-rise dominant of its area. In addition, it is the "focal point" of the adjacent complex of monuments of the 1920s – 1930s: nearby are the Khavsko-Shabolovsky residential area of the ASNOVA group, the first commune house of Georgiy Volfenzon, Ivan Nikolaev's student dormitory, Moskvoretsky Mostorg (Danilovsky department store) by Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky and others. In the event of its “disappearance”, the historical appearance of a significant urban area will be distorted, and the appearance of the tower in a new place - for example, at the All-Russian Exhibition Center - will distort its appearance.
In addition, the transfer of the tower from not the most popular area to one of the status "cultural centers" of the city contradicts the policy of decentralization of the cultural infrastructure declared by the Moscow authorities.
Ministry of Communications: The Shukhov Tower is a "typical" engineering structure, so it can be disassembled and moved - unlike a "real" monument.
Experts: By the same principle, the uniqueness of the Parisian Eiffel Tower can be denied. The Shukhov Tower was erected according to a special project, its solution was imprinted by the period of creation with its technological and economic level, and during the installation process Vladimir Shukhov himself repeatedly made adjustments. There is no doubt that during the reassembly of the Shukhov tower, no one will reproduce the techniques of the early 1920s, and this is another reason to call the “new” tower just a fake.
The arguments against the dismantling of the Shukhov Tower were considered at a meeting of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on March 7, 2014. There, the representative of the Ministry of Culture Vladimir Tsvetnov, Director of the Department of Control, Supervision and Licensing in the Field of Cultural Heritage, clearly stated: “Objects of cultural heritage, including the Shukhov Tower, are not subject to dismantling. Dismantling of cultural heritage sites is not provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation."
However, on the same day, the already mentioned draft resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation, providing for the transfer of the tower, was published, and it turned out that the funds for dismantling had already been found by the Ministry of Finance. Vladimir F. Shukhov, President of the Shukhov Tower Foundation, sees this as the result of pressure from stakeholders. He and other experts suspect that behind the idea of relocating the monument is a project to build a high-rise building in its place: since when the object is demolished, a building of the same height can be erected in its place, this will bypass the restriction on high-rise buildings within the 3rd transport ring. That is, there is an opportunity to build a 150-meter skyscraper in the center of Moscow: the section of the tower and the adjoining Shukhov Plaza business center together provide enough 2 hectares for this.
You can express your protest against the dismantling of the Shukhov Tower by contacting the electronic reception of the Moskomarkhitektura, the website of the Russian government or the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications [email protected].
You can sign up under an open letter against the dismantling of the tower here.
