http://www.mnweekly.ru/local/20080208/55308724.htmlNo bride wants to spend her wedding day standing in line on the sidewalk. Unfortunately this was the fate of many Moscow brides last year as a surge in the number of weddings saw over-stretched registry offices across the city come to resemble production lines, churning out happy newlyweds at breakneck speed.
Now the city authorities have revealed plans to ease up congestion and restore the magic of a Moscow wedding by converting a former palace into a specialized venue for weddings.
The red and white classical palace is the former residence of the Gagarin Princes. Built in 1780, it was described by the great French classicist Stendhal as the most splendid palace he had ever seen - shortly before it was burned down during Napoleon's occupation of Moscow in 1812. Fortunately it was rebuilt in the same year and had a procession of prosperous and noble owners, including the exclusive English Club, a group of the richest high-born foreigners in Moscow. "This is a building of great historical and architectural value," Tatiana Yuvakova, deputy department chief of ZAGS Civil registry office told The Moscow News.
"The decision to convert this building was made by the mayor while he was visiting a registry office. At the moment we have a big problem in Moscow because there is a lack of large, detached premises that would be appropriate for use as registry offices," she added.
The former palace now houses city hospital number 24. But officials from the civil registry office, ZAGS, say that the hospital will be relocated by June so that the restoration and conversion of the building into a registry office can begin. There are currently 29 registry offices in Moscow straining to cope with the growing number of weddings in the city. Last year, there were 88,060 weddings in Moscow; 9,300 more than the previous year.
"The problem is that on Fridays and Saturdays there can be as many 40 or 60 marriages in one registry office in one day. So it is impossible to put much soul into the ceremony; the registry office has become like a conveyor belt," Yuvakova explains.
This crush is added to by the increasing number of guests present at registry office ceremonies. According to ZAGS between 20 and 60 people now typically attend a ceremony, whereas in the past only a handful of people would be invited to the registry office, with the majority of guests only attending the reception afterwards. Renovation designs for the former palace will take account of this trend and will include at least two spacious halls to accommodate heavily attended ceremonies.
Moscow authorities cannot yet comment on the timeframe of the palace renovation as a proper assessment cannot be made while the building is still a working hospital. But once work is complete Moscow's sidewalks will be swept clean of loitering brides; instead
a special waiting area is planned in the palace grounds in a garden that will be modeled on Versailles.
Every Russian bride will then have the opportunity to play the fairy tale princess on her special day, rather than the factory chicken.
Does anybody owns pics of that palace?
V
