UNESCO experts are shocked: a new building on the Sofiyskaya embankment destroys the view of the Kremlin

Coordinator of the Arkhnadzor public movement Konstantin Mikhailov, speaking at a meeting of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, again mentioned the situation with the Sofiyskaya Embankment in Moscow: a six-story building was erected in the block opposite the Kremlin in the UNESCO heritage protection zone, where developers are selling apartments with views of the Kremlin. Meanwhile, international experts were extremely critical of this project, noting that it violates the basic principles of buffer zones and closes traditional species. The expert asked Putin to pay attention to this situation. In response, the President said: “I will also look [at] what happened in Moscow on the problematic project that you just mentioned. If nothing can be done there, then nothing can be done. But I will nevertheless take a look..."

Meanwhile, this problem arose three and a half years ago, when Arkhnadzor drew attention to the start of construction of an elite residential complex of the Zolotoy residential complex on Sofiyskaya embankment. Now this construction is almost complete. And it seems that Russia is facing difficult explanations with UNESCO regarding its fulfillment of its international obligations to preserve the World Heritage site - the Moscow Kremlin.

And all this is due to the irrepressible greed of Moscow officials and developers. But Putin once instructed “to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972), the requirements of practical guidelines for the implementation of this Convention, as well as the decisions of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in relation to the cultural heritage sites included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. located on the territory of the Russian Federation".

It turns out that no one was going to carry out his instructions, since the Moscow authorities allowed the development company Capital Group to build a 5-6-storey "multifunctional complex" 21 m high in the Kremlin's security zone, supposedly corresponding to the legal parameters of regeneration, thus cutting off the traditional and the famous views of the Kremlin from Zamoskvorechye, from Kadashevskaya embankment and from Bolotnaya square.

But these views are the perception of the World Heritage site, and their change has a direct impact on what UNESCO calls the “Outstanding Universal Value” (OUV) of the site. It is not surprising that UNESCO and the international ICOMOS (International Council for the Preservation of Monuments and Sites - Ed.), For which the decisions of the City Planning and Land Commission of Moscow, headed by Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, are not yet obligatory, turned out to have a different view of these views.

In his material on this scandalous topic, Mikhailov talks in detail about the requirements of UNESCO and ICOMOS, and how Moscow developers totally ignore them. And we are talking about the very braces on which the Russian authorities insist so much, and about the most "central" braces, about the Kremlin!

International experts are worried, they write:

“It would be necessary to preserve the dominant role of the entire Kremlin in the city structure. This is due to the parameters of the buildings in the neighborhood, their scale and dynamics. The island should provide a calm and harmonious environment for a World Heritage site.

The new urban environment should preserve the memory of the structure, scale and typological characteristics of the lost urban environment in order to interpret it in modern architectural language without imitation or pseudo-historicalism..."

However, developers spit on these recommendations from the height of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. And now UNESCO and ICOMOS state:

“The new complexes will to a large extent become a visual barrier that will cross the traditional views from Zamoskvorechye and Bolotnaya Square to the entire Kremlin, especially in the part of the Vostok project.”

The projects significantly increase the level of urbanization in the immediate vicinity of the Kremlin. As indicated in the ICOMOS message, this will create risks for the facility ...

The above threatens to some extent the dominant role of the entire Kremlin in urban planning. Visual and landscape analysis shows that the proposed silhouette of the complex, especially its "Eastern" part, too dynamic with variable floors, contradicts the panorama of the Kremlin from the traditional viewpoint from Bolotnaya Square.

ICOMOS is also puzzled as to how the requirement to match the lost traditional urban structure (within the regeneration regime) is being met. The structure proposed by the Vostok project launches a radically different urban structure that has nothing to do with the typological characteristics of the historical urban environment. In addition, the pseudohistoricism noticeable in the architecture of buildings does not contribute to links with the historical layer. There are some efforts in the West project, but the heavy and bulky volumes of buildings do not correspond to the scale and characteristics of the historical urban environment. "

Mikhailov, citing all these statements, is sure that Moscow officials simply framed Putin:

“Russian President Vladimir Putin gives instructions on the strict observance of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and the Guidelines for its implementation.

After that, the city authorities of Moscow approve the construction project not only in the security zone, but directly opposite the Moscow Kremlin. And the Russian cultural authorities, having waited until the fall of 2020, when the developers have almost completed it, send the project documentation to UNESCO - ICOMOS.

Demonstrating in this way an absolutely disregarding attitude to the Convention and its Guidelines, and, accordingly, to the presidential commission..."

The expert believes that the city authorities will either pretend that nothing special has happened, or they will "sprinkle ashes on someone's head".

Mikhailov does not believe in the option with complete or partial disassembly of the constructed building, since the developers will not forgive the city authorities for this.

But the most bitter and embarrassing thing, according to Mikhailov, is that in 2021 the “dominant role of the Kremlin” is being protected from the domestic authorities and developers by foreign experts and organizations. And the Kremlin itself is silent ...

As you know, the 45th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Convention, will be held in Russia in 2022. It will be extremely embarrassing if a new building on Sofiyskaya Embankment becomes the subject of conversation at this forum.