Preservation of Historical and Cultural Monuments

Categories / Architecture/Urban Planning/Architectural-planning Organizations and Institutions
PRESERVATION OF HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MONUMENTS. A systematic comprehensive organization of measures aimed at research, preservation, restoration and controlled use of inherited structures and objects of cultural importance. Its formation dates back to the second half of the 19th century. Before the 1910s, the effort to protect cultural monuments was developed by various, unrelated state institutions, including the Imperial Archaeological Commission, the Technical-Building Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Synod, the St. Petersburg Governor General's Office, and the Academy of Fine Arts. Lack of centralised management hampered the process of preserving some objects of artistic value, many of which were lost. In 1909, the Society for the Protection and Preservation of Monuments of Art and Antiquity in Russia (existed up to 1915) was founded under the supervision of Grand Prince Nikolay Mikhailovich; it included the Commission for the Registration of Monuments of Art and Antiquity for the St. Petersburg Province. Artists, art historians, collectors, critics and writers all became members of the Society's Presidium and Council, including figures such as A.N. Benois, N.N. Wrangel, P.P. Weiner, V.A. Vereshchagin, S.K. Makovsky, N.K. Roerich, I.A. Fomin, A.V. Shchusev, and permanent members A.P. Aplaksin, A.E. Belogrud, M.V. Dobuzhinsky, V.P. Zubov, V.V. Suslov and many others. Concerns for the protection of monuments were discussed by the All-Russian Congresses of Artists (1912) and the All-Russian Congresses of Architects (1914). After October 1917, the protection of monuments came under jurisdiction of the People's Commissariat of Education (the Joint Artistic-Historical Commission) and of the People's Commissariat of Property (Collegium of Museum Affairs and Monument Protection). The Department of Museums and Monument Protection (in 1930s it was called the Department for the Protection of Monuments) of the Management of Artistic Affairs (headed by G.S. Yatmanov) was created on 15 October 1918, and was the first united institution in this sphere in Russian history. Its members registered all objects to be protected (the List of Monuments Under State Protection was accepted in 1935), described wooden structures set for demolition on the city outskirts, measured the property of demolished religious buildings, and organized museums in the former Sheremetev Palace, Stroganov Palace and Shuvalov Palace. From 5 June 1938, the Bureau for the Protection of Leningrad District Monuments took over this role. During the Siege of 1941-1944, under the supervision of the Bureau, the Emergency-Restoration Battalion was established (1941-1943), which measured the extent of damage done throughout the city, and temporarily conserved, documented or photographed damaged monuments. In 1942, the Academic-Expert Council was created, and emergency measures and methods were developed. On 21 November 1943, the State Management of Architectural Affairs was set up, and included the State Inspectorate for the Protection of Monuments (SIPM, headed by N.N. Belekhov). During the post-war years, work was organised for the study of St. Petersburg's historical-cultural inheritance (including archival-bibliographical and natural research of city buildings), as well as of its suburbs; working together with architectural and restoration workshops, methods for restoring works of different kinds were developed. The success of these systematic measures was hampered by the fact that the State Inspectorate for the Protection of Monuments was subjugated to the Main Architectural-Planning Administration, which meant the Inspectorate could not fight against large scale vandalism of culturally important items in the city centre over the course of the so-called "complete repairs" of 1950s-1980s. In the 1980s, projects were designed by the United Districts for the Protection to improve the Historical City Centre, as well as Petrodvorets, Pushkin and Pavlovsk, and later other suburbs and St. Petersburg outskirts. The list of monuments under state protection by 1985 was enlarged to 4,039 objects; by 2000, to 5,660; by 2003, it included over 7,000 monuments. In 1996, the State Inspectorate for the Protection of Monuments was transformed into the Committee of State Control, Use and Protection of Monuments, subject to St. Petersburg City Administration.

References: Восстановление памятников архитектуры Ленинграда. 2-е изд. Л., 1989; Кормильцева О. М. Как начиналась охранная деятельность // Санкт-Петербург: Культура. История. Искусство. Сохранение наследия. 1998. № 1. С. 3-5; Новиков Ю. В. Охрана памятников истории и культуры // Там же. С. 5-8; Памятники истории и культуры Санкт-Петербурга, состоящие под государственной охраной: Справ. СПб., 2000.

T. A. Slavina, A. V. Burdyalo. Aplaksin Andrey Petrovich
Belekhov Nikolay Nikolaevich
Belogrud Andrey Evgenievich
Benois Alexander Nikolaevich
Dobuzhinsky Mstislav Valerianovich
Fomin Ivan Alexandrovich
Makovsky Sergey Konstantinovich
Nikolay Mikhailovich, Grand Prince
Roerich Nikolay Konstantinovich
Shchusev Alexey Viktorovich
Suslov Vladimir Vasilievich
the Sheremetevs
the Shuvalovs
the Stroganovs
Vereshchagin Vasily Andreevich
Weiner Peter Petrovich
Wrangel Nikolay Nikolaevich, Baron
Yatmanov Grigory Stepanovich
Zubov Valentin Platonovich, Count
Восстановление памятников архитектуры Ленинграда. 2-е изд. Л., 1989
Кормильцева О. М. Как начиналась охранная деятельность… // Санкт-Петербург: Культура. История. Искусство. Сохранение наследия, 1998
Памятники истории и культуры Санкт-Петербурга, состоящие под государственной охраной: Справ. СПб., 2000
РГИА. Ф. 789. Оп. 13. Д. 76, 85а-85б; ЦГА СПб. Ф. 7384. Оп. 37. Д. 1253. Л. 15–74; Там же. Ф. 9683. Оп. 1. Д. 456. Л. 240–394.
Новиков Ю. В. Охрана памятников истории и культуры… // Санкт-Петербург: Культура. История. Искусство. Сохранение наследия, 1998 Archaeological Committee
Synod
Academy of Arts
Academy of Arts
Siege of 1941-44
1966
1984
1990