As the mayor of Moscow said at a meeting with Muscovites, the inspection of objects of cultural heritage is becoming more expensive due to the fact that the state historical and cultural examination is carried out for the whole house, and not only for items that have a protected status.
“Please do the repairs as usual, except for the protection item in this house,” the mayor addressed the villagers. The authorities of the capital, he stressed, are in favor of preserving the architectural monuments, but in such a way that “it does not reach the point of absurdity.”
The Moscow Capital Repair Fund clarified that there are many residential buildings-monuments in the city. Of the more than 29,000 residential buildings included in the rehabilitation program, just over 360 buildings are objects of cultural heritage.
“Of the total number of monument houses, more than 90 objects have been repaired today,” Daniil Losin, head of the Moscow FKR Department of Work with Cultural Heritage Objects, told RG. “Among them, 18 houses underwent one-time repairs with restoration. Restoring complex decorative elements in them that have a protected status required special attention from specialists. By the way, last year we restored 15 unique houses. We’re not slowing down.”
According to him, thanks to the allocated subsidy from the city budget for carrying out restoration work as part of the overhaul, it is possible to keep a one-time contribution for capital repairs. If he understands what “preservation of cultural heritage” is in the issue of residential buildings, then the following becomes clear: major repairs are the first layer of the problem, but restoration is the second. However, restoration work is needed for a small number of monumental houses with “lace” decoration. The city of Moscow acted responsibly, not shifting the care of this historical splendor onto the shoulders of the residents. And this is correct, because theoretically not every resident of monument houses could afford it, because restoration is not only a delicate, but also extremely expensive matter.
To restore houses that are objects of cultural heritage, the Capital Repair Fund uses modern household technologies and state-of-the-art equipment.
“We create a unique digital twin of each house before restoration to preserve the architectural decoration with the utmost precision. It is with the help of laser scanning and 3D modeling that it is possible to recreate the lost fragments of ancient stucco with jewels,” Losin commented.
In 2022, the restoration of masterpieces of the capital’s housing stock, such as Yakov Tolstoy’s tenement house (29 Arbat street) and Yevgeny Opukhovsky’s tenement house (33 Starokonyushenny street), was completed. And at the moment, the Overhaul Fund is painstakingly restoring such objects, including the famous House with Animals on Chistoprudny Boulevard. By the fall, the legendary building will have a second life – restoration work will be completed to the delight of residents and local historians.
