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Heritage at Risk:
Preservation of 20th Century Architecture and World Heritage
International conference
International conference
April 17 - April 20, 2006
The Enfilade of the Main Building
It is well known that Russian Avant-garde and Constructivist
architecture of the 1920s - early 1930s made one of the most
important contributions to the International Modern Movement. But
the deadline for rescuing some of these buildings is fast
approaching.
Many of iconic buildings of the Avant-garde have been deteriorating
for several decades. In Moscow this includes Konstantin Melnikov's
workers' clubs, and communal housing such as Ivan Nikolaev's student
hostel. Most of these buildings will have their 75th anniversary
over the next few years and yet have had minimum maintenance since
their construction. The most tragic example of this is Moisei
Ginzburg's "Narkomfin" apartment building 1928-1930, which was on
the World Monuments Fund's Watch List for the 100 most threatened
sites world-wide in 2004.
Nearly all of these buildings have only "local" or "regional" listed
status in Russia's state heritage register. This means that they are
vulnerable to the worst sort of conservation practice: facadism and
crude refurbishment. As a result, many of these buildings have lost
their historical authenticity and cannot therefore be included in
the World Heritage List that would protect them from further
mutilation.
Russian specialists and foreign architects have been aware of the
plight of the treasures of the Russian Avant-garde for years.
Unfortunately this architecture is not appreciated inside Russia
itself. Russia's professional community has tried hard to lobby the
cause of these buildings, but with few results.
Judging the importance of the Russian architectural Avant-garde in
the international context, and bearing in mind the well-established
creative interrelations between Russia and other countries, it is
evident that this is not only Russia`s heritage, but at least part
of it belongs to the world community. Such important buildings as Le
Corbusier`s "Centrosojus" or the "Narkomfin" house in Moscow, the
ensemble of Stachki street in St. Petersburg or Alvar Aalto`s
Library in Vyborg are considered to be in the group of the most
important witnesses of the 20th Century Modern Movement located in
Russia. Global fame is also connected with the monuments of the
Stalinist architecture of the mid 1930s - 1950s including famous
Moscow metro stations and high-rise structures. And yet 20th century
Russian architecture is underrepresented in the World Heritage List.
The Russian Academy for Architecture and Building Sciences, Russia's
Ministry for Culture and mass communications, the Moscow Chamber of
Architects, the Moscow Committee on Architecture and Town-planning,
the Moscow Committee for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage and
the Schusev Architecture Museum, with the support of Russia's UNESCO
Commission, ICOMOS International, DOCOMOMO International, World
Monuments Fund and International Union of Architects (UIA) are
organising an international conference devoted to this problem and
to the issue of contemporary preservation methods for 20th Century
architecture. The conference is held under patronage of the Moscow
Government.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Alexander Kudryavtsev,
President of the Russian Academy for Architecture and Building
Sciences,
President of the Moscow Architectural Institute
The general partner of the conference - CAPITAL GROUP.
Russian version
Programme
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