St Petersburg Strategy Of Cultural Heritage Preservation

Independent Traveller - This technique shall decide main priorities, standards and trends of protection of the St. Petersburg cultural heritage. It elucidates the issues of safety, restoration and use of landmarks, ensembles and city environment in addition to reconstruction and new building in St. Petersburg historical areas. The technique calls upon to provide notional, legal and procedural aspects of transformation and improvement of town landscape, which essence is set by the following method: “preservation through growth, development by way of preservation”.

Cultural heritage within the epoch of globalisation

Cultural heritage is a non secular, cultural, economic and social capital of irrecoverable worth. Along with pure wealth, it is the main basis for national self-respect and recognition by the world neighborhood.

Post-industrial civilisation has realised the very best cultural heritage potential, the need of its saving and effective use as one of the most necessary sources of the world economy. Losses of cultural values are irreplaceable and irreversible. Any heritage losses will inevitably be reflected on all life areas of the present and future generations, will result in non secular scarcity, historical reminiscence breaks, impoverishment of the society on the entire. They cannot be compensated both by the trendy cultural growth or by creation of latest significant works. The accumulation and preservation of cultural values is the idea of civilisation growth.

St. Petersburg cultural heritage. The worth is within the authenticity

Among world megalopolises, St. Petersburg is a landmark being unique by scale that has conserved the immense historic centre and a necklace of suburban ensembles in their major features. The city picture is created not only by architectural masterpieces but in addition by the integral architectural and spatial environment. A high degree of preservation and authenticity of historic territories has been the premise for inscription of the St. Petersburg historic centre along with suburban groups of monument on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The majority of historical capitals have been shaped during centuries altering their structure. St. Petersburg was being established dynamically, with a broadest scope on a vast area of pure amphitheatre of the old sea. The start of a new capital within the Baltic area has turn into a novel town planning experiment based on the synthesis of common European cultural traditions, artistic improvement of styles, planning solutions and constructing types being new for Russia. New architectural principles have organically been mixed with natural situations and Neva mouth peculiarities. In doing so, St. Petersburg being also called “the second Amsterdam, Northern Venice, New Rome and Versailles” has acquired traits of inimitable originality. The following structural elements have been fashioned on its territories: Peterburgskaya side – the original core with pre-regular planning parts, Vasilievsky island – a strict rectangular system, Admiralteyskaya side – a multipath construction with radial and arc directions in addition to giant villages at Moskovskaya side and Vyborgskaya aspect connected with the city core by perspective mainlines.

The rational geometrically regular planning has been mixed with free outlines of waterways and included a system of dominants producing visual panoramas and views. High-water Neva initially served as the central city area predetermining the majestic scale and width of city squares and ensembles. Suburban residences and the town-fortress Kronshtadt that have generated a single agglomeration are inseparably linked with construction.

The town planning framework has been developed within the epoch of classicism when its greatest ensembles have been created. Baroque and classicism has been a “gold century” of St. Petersburg artwork of structure. The authentic town planning construction has retained its logic despite a quick change of kinds. The worth of this surroundings has been enriched by the actual fact that it is the true St. Petersburg belonging to Pushkin and Dostoevsky, the “Silver century” of Russian culture.

From the Petrine time, the construction process has been regulated by a stiff system of legislative acts. Everything has been regulated, namely: road width, block laying out, module and character of development together with typical constructing designs. Since the second half of the 18th century, a “single facade” street improvement principle has been fastened, a firewall system has been developed inside blocks. The following elevation limitations have been determined in the center of the nineteenth century: not more than the street width, not higher than eleven sazhens (23.5 m) being equal to the Winter Palace eaves stage. The parameters established have decided the area volumetric wholeness of town.

The distinctive degree of preservation of the St. Petersburg historic growth has been attributable to the reality that new development through the Soviet interval has been carried out outside the historical city core. Only local transformations have been performed in central areas whereas the constructivism architecture has been developed in new areas, with the latter type becoming the principle Russian contribution into the world structure of the 20th century. Today the Soviet neoclassicism (“Stalin’s empire style”) has also been recognised. The industrial metropolis belt constitutes an organic highly effective layer of cultural heritage. All standards of European panorama artwork have been represented in backyard and park complexes – from chamber “suspended” gardens to public parks. Outstanding country’s individuals have been buried in necropolises. The archaeological heritage types invaluable annals of the “concealed” city and previous settlements.

The unique worth of St. Petersburg is in its authenticity, versatility and universal significance of cultural property.

Cultural heritage as an element of stable development of St. Petersburg

The present-day lifetime of St. Petersburg and prospects of its development are inconceivable without cultural heritage. The heritage in lots of respects forms a particular mentality of St. Petersburgians, approves the succession of humanitarian values, underlines an unofficial status of the Russian cultural capital and creates a world picture of St. Petersburg.

For St. Petersburg, the heritage has the same significance as pure assets, oil and diamond deposits have for different regions. The heritage has been included into many social processes and is a source of non secular enrichment. The structure of historic ensembles contributes to a harmonic equilibrium in the neighborhood, improvement of a broad vary of activity.

The mobilisation of the financial resource of cultural heritage is the idea of city regeneration. In the top, it's simply high aesthetic qualities and the diploma of preservation of the historical surroundings that provide a particular funding attractiveness of St. Petersburg and its actual commercial worth, function a pledge for people’s welfare. It shall be expressed not only within the immediate financial effectivity and the growth of inhabitants employment in varied areas of activity but also in a broad range of indirect advantages, which is ready to turn out to be a property of the entire metropolis group (revenues from the heritage management, restoration, tourism and its infrastructure).

State policy within the subject of cultural heritage preservation

The basic principle is to offer built-in heritage preservation, according to which this activity is efficient only inside the framework of the coverage of financial and social improvement of St. Petersburg as a part of initiatives for prospective planning and town construction. The preservation of cultural heritage properties ought to turn out to be the necessary thing factor of town upgrading technique.

The built-in preservation principle consists of the initiating, controlling and coordinating perform of state management agencies within the improvement of associate relationships with the basic public and with the non-governmental sector. One ought to stimulate an interdisciplinary, interdepartmental approach to the cultural heritage preservation utilizing all accessible sources. The downside of cultural heritage preservation must be solved not only by landmark safety companies but in addition by those structures, which are engaged in fixing matters of town planning and architecture, economics and industrial growth, ecology, transportation, territory improvement, property complicated, housing and communal advanced, authorized services, and so forth.

Various ideas of cultural heritage preservation

The conventional “protection from +” primarily based on measures of prohibitory nature can be legitimate in the present-day circumstances. If there are many financial objects, the landmark protection necessities generate battle situations in the center of social, cultural and financial improvement of city territories. In this case, the cultural heritage preservation is alienated from the space people, the city dwellers get deprived of participation in such exercise.

The different idea is “protection for +”. With such a management coverage, it is advantageous for population. Some inconveniencies of residence on a particular territory linked with protective limitations are compensated by sure privileges. The integrity of cultural and natural environment becomes a top quality that can provide development of the city group (through revenues from tourism, restoration and reconstruction works, enhancement of social standing, etc.).

The new technique is constructed on the basis of balanced and harmonic relations between community requirements, economic exercise and protection of historic surroundings. It ought to result in the popularity of the final duty for heritage preservation.

Protection practices.

Composition and subjects of cultural heritage

During a protracted time period individual landmarks have been protected, with no account of their surroundings. The specifics of St. Petersburg cultural heritage dictates a mixture of by-object, environmental and town planning practices. The topics of cultural heritage safety are key parts, parameters and traits of the surroundings, that are the carriers of historic, architectural, artistic worth. Along with particular person cultural heritage properties, the main town planning ideas are also protected. The highest value have the space volumetric framework, configuration of central water areas, basic city silhouette, river panoramas, main sq. ensembles, views of major streets. The open spaces being architecturally organised and visible channels of notion of dominants, ensembles and environmental growth are essential for St. Petersburg with its broad lands. The subjects of cultural heritage protection consist of the surroundings character together with the block and part planning module, scale, elevation and compartmentation of the event. Suburbs and areas being distant from the central a part of St. Petersburg have another growth scale and a special landscape significance. The city planning protection supplies the archaeological survey regime for the earliest and most valuable cultural layer sections as properly as prospecting and monitoring measures.

Such notions as “combined safety zones”, “subjects of protection” within the principle and apply of safety exercise have first appeared in St. Petersburg.

Protection zones form a protection territory where the regime of city planning and financial activity is established offering the bodily safekeeping of a cultural heritage property and its historical surroundings. A peculiarity of safety zoning in St. Petersburg consists of combined protection zones in the historical centre. Apart from them, there are functioning protection zones regarding historical and cultural landmarks of Petrodvortsovy, Pushkinsky, Krasnoselsky districts of St. Petersburg, Kronshtadt and villages of Kurortny district of St. Petersburg.

In order to determine St. Petersburg as a World Heritage web site, territories have been marked out, that are essentially the most important by their historic and cultural value, their object composition and use regimes.

The St. Petersburg territory safety topics as a World Heritage website are as follows:

historical development, panoramas and views being perceived from the Bolshaya Neva embankments, visible points, from which the most valuable ensembles are open in the best way;
ratio of the background improvement and the dominant system (city silhouette);
compositional axes and dominant notion instructions. The major instructions, from which the architectural elevation dominants are perceived, shall be protected against improvement.

The following shall be established on these territories:

prohibition of a brand new development (with the exception of measures aimed toward regenerating the historic surroundings and adapting the cultural heritage properties for modern use);
prohibition of change of the historic planning structure of streets and front traces of blocks;
limitations on the reconstruction of objects being of historic and cultural value (buildings, front facades, gardens, and so on.).

Differential limitation regimes are established on the remaining part of mixed safety zones, which permit the reconstruction with out changing the planning construction (driveway community, block laying out of blocks), primary environmental characteristics, particular person cultural heritage properties, including archaeology, providing preservation of the historic improvement. The protection regimes should be included into the Regulations for growth and land management in St. Petersburg as the idea of city planning and design documentation.

At the present second, 7783 cultural heritage properties (In other words, almost 10 p.c of landmarks being protected by the state on the territory of the Russian Federation) are underneath state safety in St. Petersburg. They are architectural ensembles, buildings and engineering amenities, gardens and parks, ponds and canals, monumental and backyard and park sculpture, historical burials and archaeological sites. The lists of landmarks replicate the periods of growth of the architecture up to the middle of the twentieth century.

The safety topics of cultural heritage properties mirror useful peculiarities of the architectural look of facades, configuration and total dimensions of buildings, historic interiors, constructions, priceless and steady planning structure components and metropolis territory zoning. The safety subjects can apply to the building construction, together with the interiors, or be limited by a facade. So measures of permissible transformations are decided on the object stage the same as at the city planning stage.

Threats and risks of physical loss (destruction) of the St. Petersburg architectural heritage

The threats of bodily loss (destruction) of heritage properties are related with natural ageing processes, which speed up the following:

unfavourable climatic conditions (high humidity, lengthy snow and ice prevalence, up to 110 temperature transitions throughout 0° a year); pure disasters (floods, spring water, underneath flooding, landslides, hurricanes, winds, storms); geological and hydrogeological peculiarities of the Neva mouth (structurally unstable soils);
atmospheric pollution;
uncontrolled urbanisation and motorcar site visitors;
irrelevant new construction in the historic environment;
improper constructing upkeep situations;
fires;
vandalism and different aggressive actions.

There is also a hazard for the preservation of cultural heritage properties in the intensive tourism leading to excessive load on the properties. “Total” restorations inflicting injury to the landmark authenticity are dangerous.

The pure ageing processes are determined by the life cycle of buildings and construction materials, limits of safe operation of buildings.

The lack of correct protection of buildings and services from atmospheric situations, technogenic load on soils and constructions, elevated fuel content material and acidic rain create a cumulative impact. The steel corrosion and plastering layer carbonisation processes are getting activated, “wild” loose patina corrode bronze and copper surfaces, abrasive influence destroy gilt, granite and marble are getting regenerated, floor water destroy foundations, biological defects apply to wood constructions. Due to the influence of ecological and anthropogenic elements, 9 cultural heritage properties (Wooden buildings suffered from fires: a dwelling constructing (8 Yeleninskaya street), a primary college (2 Illykovskiy prospect), the primary house of the Rat’kovs-Rozhnovs’ property (3 Chernikova street, town of Lomonosov), a country home of the end of the 19th century (8 Primorskaya avenue, town of Peterhof), a house where V.I. Lenin hid himself from the Provisional Government (11 Yaroslavsky prospect) and a Yu.Yu. Benois’s nation home (17 Tikhoretsky prospect); The following cultural heritage properties have been demolished autocratically: Salamandra Insurance Company’s nation home (9 Vysokaya street, village of Lisiy Nos), N.V. Grave’s nation home (11 Sofiyskaya road, Shuvalovo-Ozerki) and the main constructing (a part of it) of the Yelenin Women’s Cancer Hospital named after A.G. and E.I. Yeliseyev (32 Politekhnicheskaya street).

There aren't any methods for everlasting preаervation. The main task is to droop the pure ageing and put on processes and minimise the factors of their acceleration) have been lost over the past five years. 1317 landmarks are within the energetic destruction phase.

Measures and methods for counteraction to damaging phenomena

The acceleration of physical destruction of cultural heritage properties by anthropogenic and natural elements is a threat of their “survival” and a possibility to be transferred to future generations. The disproportion between dangers, which are to be prevented, and means getting used for this objective, is completely rising.

The common measures for suspending the destruction processes are as follows:

discount of the sources of air pollution and vibration (motor automobile branching, limitations of the variety of parking heaps, prohibition of auto traffic near especially priceless landmarks; transferring out of industrial enterprises, recovery and renovation of commercial lands);
discount of the vulnerability of historic buildings via proper operation and maintenance of buildings, constructing safety in opposition to atmospheric circumstances, elimination of defects weakening the structure and allowing the ingress and capillary motion of water and stopping from drainage;
efficient use of historical buildings being appropriate for their worth and never contradicting the preservation;
prohibition of using unsuitable and dangerous supplies during restoration, conservation and repair;
physical safety (reinforcement of doors, video surveillance, monitoring and management centres, and so forth.);
systematic fire security measures.

The insufficiency of protecting measures requires conducting interdisciplinary research of the wear of historic buildings, impacts and interactions of physical, chemical and organic destructions on the premise of permanent monitoring and development forecast. For each kind of danger and forms of historic services, one should elaborate routine preventive measures with a complex of organising, administrative and technical measures on the prevention of threats, reduction of losses and damage. Apart from special plans just in case of an emergency scenario, they need to be fashioned on an interdepartmental foundation with the employment of fireside security companies, civil defence and emergency scenario services, ecological supervision agencies, emergency rescue companies and militia.

It is important to provide the mandatory insurance coverage of the risks of loss (ruin), injury, theft of cultural heritage properties. The requirements and guidelines for maintenance and operation of cultural heritage properties must be elaborated with the account of features of this type of actual estate.

Restoration, preservation, reconstruction of cultural heritage properties. Leningrad – St. Petersburg restoration school

The qualitative upkeep and correct operation are the most effective and the only sparing method for heritage preservation. Timely preventive and preservation works improve the dates of inter-restoration durations. In a certain sense, the preservation (various methods of protection for susceptible constructions, parts of services and decor) may be an different alternative to the costly restoration.

The restoration is a forced and emergency measure; it provides a deep interference into the true material of the landmark entails reconstruction components and drifts away a particle of authenticity. The Venetian charter that has approved international restoration ideas prefers preservation, and the restoration is carried out in unique cases when different conservation methods are helpless.

The strategies of reconstruction and integrated scientific restoration have decided the specifics of the Leningrad restoration faculty. It was attributable to destructions of the Great Patriotic War. During the postwar interval, this distinctive development and restoration activity has been performed with the utilization of conventional technologies, by a radical investigation of true landmark fragments, iconographic and archive supplies. The postwar restorations are called a deed of revival being exclusive by the dimensions and complexity, supreme mastery, depth of scientific research. Today works by outstanding restorers are of unbiased historic and cultural and creative worth.

The historical technique of the present-day outlook established a fundamentally different requirement for restoration – maximal preservation of authenticity. For this purpose, the renewal of a lost cultural heritage property can be justified in exclusive cases – as a method of town planning restoration or reconstruction of the ensemble integrity. In principle, it isn't allowed to erect elements of buildings not carried out at its time but being included into the author’s historic idea. The value of later historic features is recognised, the weather of types from totally different epochs aren't eradicated, the principle of reducing landmarks to the stylistic unity is negated (the so-called “stylistic” or “romantic” restoration as of the optimum date – for the period of landmark flourishing). In addition, the item beneath restoration should not be renovated as a lot as a level so that it should be perceived as a relic of past rebuilt from bottom up. The restoration apply in St. Petersburg is based on the precept of archaeological restoration (i.e. an intensive methodical studying in actuality similar to studying of an archaeological site). In accordance with the Venice Charter, the scientific restoration shall end when fantasy begins.

In actual situations of today’s St. Petersburg the place more than 7 thousand landmarks are in need of urgent restoration interference (with expenditure volumes being not lower than 60 billion roubles), the built-in scientifically justified restoration remains the precedence among other preservation methods.

The St. Petersburg restoration school has completely professional applied sciences and mastery. It has made its contribution into the worldwide experience. The secrets and techniques of mastery, skills and knowledge secure its competitiveness.

After the crisis of Nineties, the restoration again becomes a considerable factor of St. Petersburg economic and social life. The restoration exercise in St. Petersburg is carried out by 399 licensed organisations with the whole number of employees over 12 thousand individuals. In certain circumstances, the restoration as an business branch is capable to stimulate the economic development and creation of workplaces. The specific nature of restoration totally justifies particular measures of state support and stimulation (tax privileges, state orders). The restoration packages of non-profit organisations “St. Petersburg development fund”, “Restoration and development of Oranienbaum” fund, “St. Petersburg facades” program, Federal purposeful program “Russian tradition ( )”, “Preservation and growth of St. Petersburg historic centre” subprogram Federal purposeful program “Preservation and development of architecture of historical cities ( )" instantly influence on the survival and the rise of the variety of restoration companies. Restoration requires a particular mastery and should be carried out by companies shown themselves well. However the monopoly for the given kind of works must be excluded. The existence of small and medium companies having high-class specialists is the most effective guarantor of the architectural heritage preservation.

It is important to provide every kind of help so as to revive firms being engaged within the production of traditional materials for restoration.

The pressing task is to establish a scientific and research centre (a restoration institute) for the development and implementation of recent restoration ideas, requirements and strategies, new applied sciences assembly the specifics of St. Petersburg heritage, evaluation of the quality of supplies and works, certification and coaching of specialists. It is expedient to train specialists on the restoration and safety of heritage in the system of secondary particular and better training on the basis of city orders.

The other measures on offering the restoration activity are as follows:

thorough differentiation, establishment of standards and tariff charges for all kinds of restoration works;
provision and protection of author’s rights via establishing of quality indicators, mastery certificates where potential;
propaganda of the quality of restoration works via exhibitions, competitions, craftsmen workshops in vacationer zones;
stimulation of coaching, allocating of grants (subsidies, bounties, gratuitous loans);
establishment of master-classes stimulating each high-class specialists and gifted youth wishing to acquire the mastery secrets;
broad informing of the group through mass media.

It ought to enhance the profession dignity, the worth of social and financial significance of restoration and crafts, and, consequently, open new prospects of employment and private realisation.

Modern structure in the context of cultural heritage safety

None of the cities out of the number of those which may be referred to as museums underneath the open sky cannot be preserved. St. Petersburg is a developing megalopolis; subsequently, the coordination of pursuits of the cultural heritage protection with the need of improvement and reconstruction of territories is likely certainly one of the most important problems.

The answer of problems of reconstruction of territories and structure together with new development is possible only supplied the elaboration and observance of a system of limitations and preferences providing the conservation of key parts of the historical surroundings. The reconstruction must be carried out on the premise of historical-cultural and historical-town-planning skilled examinations figuring out the importance and diploma of safekeeping of cultural heritage properties of all levels: the city on the whole as a historical settlement or a site, its huge fragments (for instance, blocks of postwar low-rise buildings), ensembles, particular person buildings and services.

The integration of contemporary architecture into the historic improvement periodically arises in the concept and follow of the protection methodology. The new structure within the historic setting context is probably considered one of the essential components of the strategy of cultural heritage preservation. The development regulation zones determine potentialities of recent development on territories of the incomplete or degraded city planning setting, broken avenue fronts, intrablock sections and at the locations of lost buildings. New construction should serve to the restoration of city planning fabric, replica of the misplaced city panorama components, planning construction, scale, compartmentations, rhythm, silhouette, visual hyperlinks, spatial ratios of improvement.

There are various techniques of the harmonic inclusion of recent structure into teams of historic buildings: from complete “dissolving” of latest architectural spaces, materials and colour within the surroundings to “counterpoint” methods, all types of stylisations and reconstructions via new construction, by new technologies and supplies. Unlike reconstruction, which places a false equality signal between the original and the relic of previous rebuilt from bottom up, the regeneration and renovation as extra inventive methods dictate new structure the necessity of showing internal regularities of the historical environment, architectonics of creative pictures.

At the same time, new construction can threaten the physical state of neighbouring buildings. The development and reconstruction on structurally unstable St. Petersburg soil within the setting of dense city improvement relate to the very best category of geotechnical complexity. The reconstruction and improvement in the historic centre must be carried out with the account of geological and hydrological options.

The striving of traders to build within the historic a half of the city, near landmarks, evidences of the celebrated nature of the life exercise in these areas and of a high commercial profitability, which immediately depends upon the environmental surrounding. Views from windows have become a price parameter. Visual factors, visible links, metropolis panoramas must be catalogued as topics of environmental and city planning safety.

Open metropolis spaces

The distinctive function is given to the St. Petersburg historic centre surroundings by a symbiosis of open spaces (ensembles of squares and embankments, gardens and parks, boulevards and streets) and a dense intrablock development. Open spaces are part of the architectural heritage. They play the principle function in providing the recreation and leisure wants of the city neighborhood and they're essential within the social interaction. Open areas express the collective lifetime of the city and are a kind of public lounge of St. Petersburg. They have a commercial value, assist the financial revival not only through creation of workplaces but additionally via enchancment of the city attractiveness for business investments and dwelling.

The city rehabilitation programs of huge and small spaces (yards) lead to a better understanding of the worth and qualities of the setting. The enchancment of open areas, their saturation by museified archaeological websites and minor forms enhance the quality of lifetime of metropolis dwellers on the entire.

In spite of the significance of open spaces, they're often violated, they're getting occupied by numerous vehicle parking heaps, there's a air pollution problem. Motorists stay primary customers of such spaces.

The handiest technique for the preservation and popularization of the historic environment is to involve open areas in the social turnover by growing footpath zones and their infrastructure. The establishment of a cushty situation within the historical centre is contributed by its improvement, gardening, lighting and installation of minor architectural types being in contrast by scale to the encompassing development and corresponding to the environment aesthetics. The lack of concord, ignoring of the traditions, area overload can generate notion issues, lack of the sense of security and comfort, make an open area unattractive and unfriendly. The visible degradation additionally arises as a end result of conglomeration of technical promoting means (advertising boards, pylons, indicators, and so forth.). Similar distortions of primary squares and view panoramas are impermissible (the area from the Bolshaya Neva river to Liteyny Bridge, embankment of Moika river, Fontanka river, embankment of Griboyedov canal, Marsovo pole, Spit of Vasilievsky island, Dvortsovaya sq., Ostrovskogo square, Kazanskaya square, Dekabristov sq., Teatralnaya square, Truda square).

Green areas (gardens, parks, boulevards, public gardens in the city centre, palace and park ensembles in suburbs) are an integral a part of the historic landscape. Along with water arteries, they kind a posh of ecologically secure territories of the historical setting and are an essential attribute of St. Petersburg as a World Heritage site. The preservation technique should provide the inviolability of panorama structure sites, systematic conduction of integrated restoration and preventive upkeep works, revival of the garden theatre tradition, creation a backyard artwork museum under the open sky.

In the follow of planning of the open space improvement, one should extra flexibly use the public and private partnership. The direct involvement of metropolis dwellers will give an impact of self-development, realisation of private and collective accountability, respect to the present city construction.

Legal norms on the preservation of cultural heritage

The foundation of the cultural heritage preservation is the corresponding regulatory base. The legal framework of the panorama safety sphere is formulated within the following documents :

worldwide regulatory acts: European conventions on the safety of archaeological heritage (London, 06.05.1969, for the USSR, it turned effective on 14.02.1991), Convention on the safety of world cultural and pure heritage (Paris, sixteen.eleven.1972, for the USSR, it grew to become effective on 12.01.1989), Convention on the protection of architectural heritage of Europe (Granada, 03.10.1985, for the USSR, it grew to become effective on 01.03.1991);
Federal Law “On cultural heritage properties (historical and cultural landmarks) of peoples of the Russian Federation " (hereinafter known as the “Federal Law”);
Decree of the USSR Council of Ministers dated sixteen.09.1982 No. 865 “On approval of the Regulations for protection and use of historical and cultural landmarks”, as utilized with regard to an element not contradicting the Federal Law;
Order of the USSR Ministry of Culture dated thirteen.05.1986 No. 203 “On approval of the Instruction on the order of accounting, provision of safekeeping, maintenance, use and restoration of immovable historic and cultural landmarks” and Order of the USSR Ministry of Culture dated 24.01.1986 No. 33 “On the arrangement of protection zones of USSR immovable historical and cultural landmarks”, as utilized with regard to a part not contradicting the Federal Law.

Individual norms aimed at regulating authorized relationships on the protection of cultural heritage are contained in Town planning code of the Russian Federation, Land code of the Russian Federation, Tax code of the Russian Federation, Federal Law “On architectural exercise in the Russian Federation”, ”On privatisation of state and municipal property”, ”On licensing individual sorts of activity”, laws regulating the budget relations.

The authorized base requires enchancment and development both at the federal stage and at the regional degree.

The federal law, the identical as dated 15.12.1978 “On the protection and use of historic and cultural landmarks” (hereinafter referred to as the “RSFSR Law”), which was legitimate before, provides a subdivision of cultural heritage properties into classes of historical and cultural significance (federal, regional and local (municipal) value). Such a division of cultural heritage properties, because the follow of use of the RSFSR Law has shown, has no justified standards, the system of state preservation measures doesn't depend on classes of historical and cultural significance. In present-day conditions, the “category classification” creates undesirable barriers for the implementation of state protection, entails issues of the delimitation of state property relating to cultural heritage properties, their financing at the expense of assorted degree budgets. A denial to divide cultural heritage properties into categories will permit to deliver a heritage protection system into conformity to the norms of civil, land, budget and city planning legislation.

In order to preserve cultural heritage properties and develop the legal acts adopted, which regulate legal relationships within the sphere of state heritage protection:

1. Make the following proposals on amendments and addenda into the Federal Law:

exclude norms on the division of cultural heritage properties into varied classes of historic and cultural significance;
present, in respect of St. Petersburg as a metropolis of federal significance, particular norms establishing a chance of introduction of combined cultural heritage safety zones in circumstances of concentrated location of landmarks;
present a norm on a risk of allocation budget subsidies to the cultural heritage property’s proprietor for financing of expenses on the preservation of the cultural heritage property if the regime of financial activity of this object established for the aim of its preservation doesn't enable to provide a worthwhile use of the property;
present obligatory insurance coverage of the dangers of loss and damage of cultural heritage properties on the conduction of restore and development works as well as in case of а pure disaster with a condition that the insurance coverage compensation payable if an insured event occurs shall be directed exclusively to the reconstruction of the cultural heritage property being misplaced or broken;
embody properties fixed with state museums, libraries, theatre and live performance institutions, educational institutions into the list of cultural heritage properties.

2. Elaborate and approve restoration norms and guidelines on the federal degree:

on preparation, coordination and approval of design and price range documentation for the execution of works on preservation of cultural heritage properties;
on the execution of each type of repair and restoration works supplied within the Federal Law.

3. Introduce amendments into Tax code of the Russian Federation:

into the listing of off-sale bills decreasing the taxable base for the tax on revenue of organisations, embody the amounts directed as charitable activity to the repair and restoration of cultural heritage properties;
embody the amounts directed as charitable exercise to the repair and restoration of cultural heritage properties into the number of property tax deductions reducing the taxable base of the natural person’s income.

four. Introduce addenda into the Code of the Russian Federation on administrative authorized relationships with regard to vesting of state authorities dealing with the protection of cultural heritage properties in Subjects of the Russian Federation with powers relating to drawing up of minutes and reviewing cases of administrative delinquencies within the sphere of cultural heritage protection.

5. Introduce into Law of St. Petersburg dated 26.11.2003 No. “On the property tax of organisations” of the addition providing a tax exemption for organisations, which major type of exercise is the restoration of cultural heritage properties.

6. In adopting a St. Petersburg legislation on the land tax, present, in the list of tax privileges, a possibility of tax exemption for organisations in respect of the plots of land belonging to them and referring to the class of lands of historic and cultural significance.

7. Pursuant to the norms of Town planning code of the Russian Federation:

elaborate the Regulations for land use and improvement in St. Petersburg including a St. Petersburg map of town planning zoning, on which the boundaries of territories of cultural heritage properties, zones with special conditions of the use of territory are specified (in particular, protection zones for cultural heritage properties) in addition to city planning regulations of territorial zones containing the limiting dimensions of land plots and parameters of permitted construction and reconstruction of capital building objects in these zones;
decide the order of elaboration of maps (diagrams) of the boundaries of territories of cultural heritage properties.

8. Establish the order of attribution of lands to the class of lands of historic and cultural purpose of regional significance.

Organisational and administrative measures

Inclusion of the built-in coverage of energetic cultural heritage preservation as a component of all elements of city planning. Decisions being made by St. Petersburg state authorities within the spheres of metropolis financial system, construction and territory enchancment shall be taken with the account of necessity of preservation of the St. Petersburg cultural heritage.

Improvement of heritage management system in accordance with worldwide agreements and legislation of the Russian Federation.

Retention of the efficiency of part of powers of a federal state safety company with the Committee for the state inspection and protection of historic monuments (hereinafter referred to as KGIOP), establishment of a special service inside its construction for finishing up everlasting monitoring of the cultural heritage.

Introduce into the KGIOP’s practice the preparation of annual reports to the Governor of St. Petersburg about the state of St. Petersburg cultural heritage properties. Establish that a draft annual report about preservation of cultural heritage properties should be brought forward to the review by the Council for cultural heritage preservation on the St. Petersburg Government (Established by Decree of the St. Petersburg Government dated 30.07.2004 No. 1371 in accordance with Article 13 of the St. Petersburg Law dated 30.10.2003 No. “On the St. Petersburg Government” for the purpose of improvement of the exercise of St. Petersburg state authority’s government bodies. Active interplay with the Federal scientific and methodical council for cultural heritage preservation of the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation in addition to with the All-Russian society for preservation of historic and cultural landmarks, with creative and public organisations) and permitted by the Governor of St. Petersburg.

Financial and economic safety

The value of property of the St. Petersburg historic centre with out account of especially valuable cultural heritage properties being unamenable to evaluation equals to 420 billion roubles. The restoration wants are about 60 billion roubles. In 2004, financing over all sources has amounted to 2.4 billion roubles, i.e. 4% of the needs.

The restoration of landmarks, rehabilitation of ramshackle buildings require funding being equal to or exceeding the cost of new development.

One ought to elaborate a system of built-in financing of measures on securing the safekeeping of cultural heritage properties coordinating the budgets at all ranges, extra-budgetary sources in order to use funds with maximum effectiveness.

The trendy expertise of cultural heritage preservation and development of historical cities refutes the obsolete notion on the expenditure nature of maintenance and reconstruction of landmarks. The evaluation of financial advantages of the historical and cultural heritage preservation has revealed a optimistic influence on the economic growth in three areas of metropolis improvement: development and restoration value of real estate and tourism. The world expertise reveals that the means in which of inclusion of the historic heritage into the town improvement plans is the simplest.

The universal rules of cultural heritage preservation are as follows:

Delimitation of powers between state companies at all ranges.
Variety of forms of possession with a transparent encumbrance on the use.
A precept of economic profit during the utilization of a landmark with the cultural value priority.
A principle of payback of the investment in restoration at the expense of worthwhile funding projects, improvement of infrastructure and territory enchancment.
Establishment of a beneficial funding climate.

The program of financial stimulation for preservation of the St. Petersburg cultural heritage ought to present the next:

growth of orders for restoration works from federal and city authorities;
all-round stimulation of restoration and reconstruction with the account of advantages, which they provide in the situations of present conjuncture, specifically: saving of space, infrastructures, raw supplies and vitality;
energetic search of latest sorts of makes use of of old buildings as a half of the housing policy and public welfare improvement schemes, preservation of the social equilibrium within the zones of reconstruction of ramshackle dwelling premises, enchancment of the habitat and living conditions for all strata of population;
restore and restoration on the expense of low-interest loans, grants, tax privileges and circulating funds; two sorts of subsidies: non-return subsidies for unprofitable works (restoration), return subsidies – for works, which give a considerable extra value to the constructing (renewal and reconstruction). Criteria: historic and cultural value of the property, its current value, its social role, accessibility for public, owner’s capability to be liable for its obligations, revenues, which the owner can acquire;
elaboration of versatile mechanisms for the assist of personal initiatives, sponsorship by pure individuals and enterprise organisations producing and promoting oil, alcoholic drinks, these being engaged within the recreation enterprise and different super-profitable firms;
provision of sponsor assist via tax privileges;
establishment of funds with the participation of town of St. Petersburg so as to reconstruct and restore cultural heritage properties on the St. Petersburg territory.

It is critical to systematically explain to city dwellers the value of public and private funding in the cultural heritage in order that the financial teams and town group ought to realise the productiveness and prestigious character of funding in the cultural and historic heritage. One ought to show the difference between the evident and precise values of preservation in addition to between direct and indirect benefits resulting from such exercise.

Right of possession for cultural heritage properties

The absolute majority of architectural heritage properties belong to the state. With the presence of a big selection of economic entities, various kinds of possession within the sphere of real estate, the exclusion of historic actual property from the enterprise turnover are void of frequent sense. The moratorium for the acquisition of cultural heritage properties has stopped the inflow of funding in historical real estate.

The state as a guarantor of the cultural heritage preservation and everybody’s constitutional rights for the access to cultural values is obliged to remove all legislative obstacles for the event of this particular kind of actual estate. Nobody within the Russian Federation is entitled to do with historic real property something that he fancies. The owner shall be obliged to maintain, protect, restore landmarks and supply the accessibility of its sightseeing.

Special cultural heritage properties, landmarks and ensembles included into the World Heritage List, historical and cultural preserves, archaeological heritage sites shall not be topic to alienation from the state possession.

In St. Petersburg, there is a positive expertise of funding project implementation. One should elaborate more practical mechanisms for mobilising traders, stimulating repeated investment and profit in new operations on the cultural heritage preservation, thus allowing the launch of restoration packages. The stimulus policy should be supported till the funding is insufficient and unproductive. The tax exemptions ought to rely upon the character of property being restored:

landmarks having a low potential for gaining profits and getting used for cultural function;
landmarks being used for cultural function however having a possible for gaining earnings;
landmarks, which uses are mainly financial and which restoration can turn out to be a profitable operation.

Scientific and technical measures

The built-in research previous measures on preservation of the St. Petersburg historical centre and its suburbs together with the evaluation of geological, hydrological, ecological, archaeological, historic, technical, sociological and economical information.

Determination of the city planning protection topics being priceless and steady planning construction components, city territory zoning. Measures on the completion of improvement of non-ordered metropolis surroundings fragments.

The detection of protection subjects of cultural heritage properties reflecting the peculiarities of architectural look of facades, configuration and total dimensions of buildings, historical interiors, constructions, components being the carriers of memorial significance of the constructing.

Correction of the landmark register, continuation of their accounting and inventory control.

Permanent monitoring of all destruction processes, learning of methods for the suspension and causes of the destruction course of, reduction of the number of pollution.

Forming of a single database on the historic and cultural heritage providing administration and correction of the landmark register, their learning, accounting and inventory management. The database administration from the informational viewpoint supports measures on detecting safety subjects, offers monitoring of the use and technical condition of cultural heritage properties, the history of their restoration with a photo fixation of the method.

Provision of hyperlinks between the database on historical and cultural heritage and the database on geology, hydrology and ecology being supported by profiled city providers in addition to with the on-line map of St. Petersburg.

Cultural tourism

St. Petersburg has a strong potential for the development of tourism, which should turn out to be an important department of its financial system. Tourism contributes to the popularization of historic and cultural landmarks, strengthens a high authority of St. Petersburg within the country and overseas, can improve the quality of city dwellers’ life. The target allocation of part of vacationer revenues gives considerable sources for maintenance and preservation of the cultural heritage.

Tourism supplies a broad access to the cultural heritage but one ought to keep away from an extreme operation of tourist route objects. Visiting of sightseeing objects mustn't exceed the permissible norms established relying upon their peculiarities and degree of protectiveness.

It is necessary to elaborate a cultural tourism model being different from normal sorts of mass tourism to be able to avoid any extreme stress on cultural heritage properties. This model primarily based on the usage of cultural heritage advantages for the event of tourism must be directed to the revival of forgotten traditions and sorts of artwork, institution of new centres of vacationer curiosity, association of particular kinds of routes.

The vacationer and excursion exercise can use the entire potential of the St. Petersburg cultural heritage. A particular task is to supply a uniform distribution of vacationer flows as properly as create comfy situations for dwelling and travelling.

Social and educational significance of the cultural heritage

The devotion to cultural heritage is a particular characteristic of the St. Petersburgians’ tradition. It is being shaped in the middle of interpenetration between the new and the old, introduction of everlasting values into the current cultural routine. Every technology seeks its interpretation of the past and retrieves new ideas from it.

The academic programs ought to use the historic, creative and ethical values embodied in the cultural heritage to have the ability to bring up worthy citizens of the modern society. The pressing present task is to domesticate in youth a respect for the number of cultural traditions and a sense of tolerance, capacity to resist the manifestations of xenophobia and national exclusiveness. The high quality and objectiveness of this academic idea are important each for preservation of the cultural heritage itself and for the assist of public order in St. Petersburg.

It is critical to elaborate the next effective types of opposition to the manifestations of vandalism and unmotivated aggressiveness of some teams of inhabitants:

strengthening of the tutorial and elucidative exercise together with a complex of law-enforcement measures (militia posts, patrol routes, video surveillance);
development of voluntary societies of friends of well-known landmarks, unification of youth around heritage preservation programs, establishment of youthful restoration groups;
conduction of jubilees of landmarks, ensembles and sites;
broad info of the common public about risks threatening the heritage in addition to about measures being taken for its preservation.

An important condition of success within the area of cultural heritage preservation is the active and creative participation of all metropolis dwellers, forming of the common public consciousness in the spirit of understanding of the historical city space value. The use of contemporary mass media, audio and visual facilities and promoting methods, stimulation of personal and public initiatives should be aimed at lively involving of enterprise representatives, intelligentsia, youth and veterans on this exercise. The effective cultural heritage preservation is impossible with out public participation.

The access to information, joy of communication with the cultural heritage ought to be stimulated as a factor being vitally needed for the creative self-realisation of particular person personalities and complete collectives. One should use all potentialities for combining the landmark preservation with the event of cultural traditions associated thereto.

One ought to enlist the public assist when taking protection measures for cultural heritage properties:

against demolition and unlawful alteration of buildings and destruction of the archaeological heritage;
in opposition to atmospheric air pollution by industrial enterprises;
when appreciable fines are imposed for a violation of the protection laws so as to deprive violators of any profit, which has arisen on account of their unlawful actions;
when forcing the users and owners to hold up the historical actual estate in the correct condition;
with limitations on the outdoor advertising and control over the sales design in protection zones;
with a prohibition of planning of latest roads within the historical part or within the close to vicinity of historical buildings;
with a prohibition of a new development being incompatible with places being of the historical interest;
with motorized vehicle branching and limitation of automotive parking, institution of footpath zones, movement of surface communications in protection zones.

It is critical to arouse the activity of city dwellers, skilled community in the acquisition and transmission of knowledge; help public initiatives on the registration of recent cultural heritage properties, conduction of historic and cultural skilled examinations. The built-in approach to the cultural heritage popularization included a broad spectrum of types, i.e. publication of an inventory of landmarks fixing the current level of data about them; various scientific, scientific-popular and reference-information publications; public hearings; articles in mass media; conduction of mass measures and actions associated to the International Day of landmark safety and the City Day; arrangement of scientific and practical conferences in any respect levels; set up of memorial and protection boards, establishment of data stands on the historical past of cultural heritage properties in landmark buildings; association of topical exhibitions; improvement of a network of small municipal, departmental and private museums.

Main duties: forming of the code of metropolis dwellers’ behaviour in the spirit of the “St. Petersburg idea”, training of a cultural mentality with the city group, management of domestic vandalism.

International cooperation

The cultural heritage protection is a global downside of the modern time along with the ecological, power, uncooked supplies, demographical and other issues. In order to solve it, one needs to have the efforts of the whole world group on the whole. Being guided by the norms of Convention regarding the safety of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (UNESCO, 16.eleven.1972), one should activate the worldwide cooperation.

Exchange of scientific and technical info and publications with international organisations functioning in the sphere of landmark safety.

Participation in worldwide exhibitions, conferences and workshops.

Attraction of overseas experts for the participation in fixing the most important matters of preservation of the St. Petersburg cultural heritage.

Establishment of a St. Petersburg division of the World Heritage Centre.

Establishment in St. Petersburg of divisions of the International council for landmarks and sightseeing locations, Roman restoration centre.

For St. Petersburg, the worldwide cooperation in the preservation of heritage is an particularly important strategic useful resource. It should be realised in all directions – from the change of experience in the legislative sphere, within the theory and follow of protection and restoration to the involvement of the public and growth of youth packages within the field of saving and popularization of the cultural heritage. St. Petersburg being a unique World Heritage site should also be supported in the future both by its own experience and by achievements of the world community within the preservation of historic cities, sightseeing places and improvement of the habitat.

Appendix

to the St. Petersburg strategy

of cultural heritage preservation

Basic provisions of the “St. Petersburg facades” city restoration program

Building facades impart a special expressiveness to the St. Petersburg look. In this connection, an built-in program for his or her restoration has been elaborated for the primary time.

St. Petersburg facades constitutes an encyclopaedia of architectural forms, ending methods and supplies. Their architectural and plastic splendour create compositions of the order system, bay home windows, towers, spikes and cupolas, varied roofs, a sculpture modelled and metallic décor. The expressive Petrine baroque with a distinction portray of facades in two colours is adopted by a polyphony of colour and sculpture of the Elizabethan baroque. The facades acquired their “strict, well-proportioned look” [view of stern and beauty; stern Harmonious look] within the epoch of classicism and empire type. The ornamental number of forms have left retrospective neostyles (variations on the matters of Egypt and East, Gothic and Renaissance, baroque and neo-Greek), refined plastics - trendy. The following materials have been used within the architectural finishing: lime-stones (putilovsky, gatchinskiy, pudostskiy, Polish and German), granites (from the Vyborg massif, from Valaam, Finnish rapakivi, and so on.), marbles (tivdiysky, Italian, ruskolsky, etc.), solid, hammered patinised bronzes, ferrous metals, solid and forged iron, shpiatr, gilding – “through fire”, gluing and galvanoplastic; ceramics and mosaic.

In their majority, St. Petersburg facades are made by plastering. Plastering allowed to make use of any stylistic varieties, apply varied portray, the stone dealing with was simulated in it.

The true “splendid St. Petersburg” conceals the current poor condition of facades (pollution, numerous losses of the décor). With the exception of especially useful objects, the facades have not been professionally restored. Old plastering layers were “re-beaten”, various strategies of short-lived and harmful “renewals” have been used (mortars with a excessive content material of cement, painting coatings primarily based on artificial bonding supplies destructed the plastering layers and the brickwork).

The objective of this restoration is to supply the longevity of the results. It is achieved by the use of special applied sciences and materials (over facades: silicate and lime portray materials, plastering mortars based on lime, dyes on the mineral foundation, seasonable character of works: on the temperature being not lower than +8°С), which are not used in regular construction follow.

The average price of a facade restoration is about 5 million roubles, the worth of 1 sq.m is three thousand roubles and over. The observance of know-how and subsequent literate maintenance of historic buildings (regular washing of facades – once in every 2-3 years, checks of the situation of networks, roofs, structures, décor fixations and immediate elimination of defects) will lengthen the post-restoration time as a lot as years.

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