Article about the possible 'restoration'
Historical Falsification
Natalya Davydova Moscow News
City fathers have a new idee fixe: to build a historical decoration in the Petrine style - a Peterhof of their own, no more, no less, with canals, embankments, ponds, fountains, and sculptures. The area for translating these splendid concepts into reality is 28 hectares of Moscows Lefortovo Park. The price tag, $77 million.
Furthermore, chances are that the project will assume an even more breathtaking scale (naturally, at extra cost). Early in October, big shots from the Moscow city government paid a visit to the park and decided there and then to add two palaces to the historical embankments and fountains that are currently under restoration.
Tree Felling
In the 1990s, when the Third Transport Beltway approached the Lefortovo area, city residents put up a stubborn defense of the park. As a result, it was decided to build an underground tunnel. A portion of the funds earmarked for the project was to be spent on restoring the parks water system - in case the federal landmark was damaged. The tunnel did it no harm. But today the project threatens the park no less than did the Beltway because it is planned to force the park back into the 1840s even though we are now in the 21st century.
The fact that the main contracting agency for the historical restoration project is OOO Organizator - the company that is building the Third Transport Beltway - defies all logic and common sense. It is equally inexplicable why the contract was awarded not to leaders of the historical restoration market but to some obscure company, TsentrRestavratsia PIK, in tandem with the unpronounceable OOO NPRP Simargl, which proposed recreating the Petrine era in the park.
This past spring the project, with an estimated budget of $77 million, was submitted for appraisal to the Moscow City Main Administration for Expert Review of Designs and Budget Estimates for Construction Work. Had it said "yes," construction work could have begun the following day. But the administration said "no."
According to Yuri Pirogov, the administrations deputy chief, there were two main problems with the project. First, the prospect of removing the surface layer of soil as the ponds and sites for the long lost fountains would have to be dug anew. Second, the destruction of trees: Under the project, 1,900 are to be cut.
Ahead of St. Pete
Neither could the projects independent expert - Professor Arkady Vergunov of the Moscow Architecture and Town Planning Institute Urban Landscaping Department, D.Sc. (Archit.)- say "yes."
Admittedly, there are no Petrine parks in Moscow, and this is all the more unfair given that the world famous beautiful suburbs of St. Petersburg originated from Lefortovo. It is enough to visit the park once to see that not only the enormous Catherine palace, designed by Giacomo Quarenghi, but also other magnificent specimens represent various lines of Classicism. Not a single Baroque fountain or bridge or rotunda has survived. Yet it is proposed to restore them. Moreover, the park will have to be closed and for years turned into a construction site. Would it not be a better idea to restore history step by step, cleaning the rest of the territory, trimming lawns, and planting new trees?
Royal Plans
The Catherine palace stands on the site where the Summer Annenhof palace stood once. It was designed for Empress Anna Ioannovna by the Rastrellis, father and son (Rastrelli Senior, Carlo Bartolomeo, is known in Russia more as a great sculptor, while his son Francesco, as the designer of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg). In front of the summer palace, the Annenhof Canal was dug: The imperial family liked taking trips there in pleasure boats. The projects authors propose restoring the canal - together with two arch bridges and a white-stone embankment (with a balustrade and flower-pots on top) - that were also designed by Rastrelli.
Yet the project materials contain not one description of these facilities, to say nothing of facade plans signed by Rastrelli, and the experts have not been shown a single draft of any of the 18th-century structures to be restored.
Tsereteli or Rastrelli - What Difference Does It Make?
Behind the canal, close to the Annenhof Palace there once stood a huge "cascade" - a 380-meter support terrace wall, likewise designed by Rastrelli. Inside it was a gallery. Its facade had semicircular niches adorned by mascarones (grotesque stone carved faces) while the parapet was decorated with statues.
Now all of this Baroque work is to be rebuilt right in front of the Catherine Palace - a Classicist building. According to experts, the surviving drawings of the ancient cascade at the History Museum are too tattered and faded to be of much use. Meanwhile, it was a model sculptural work, similar to Lorenzo Bernini creations in Rome. How can it possibly be recreated? It will be just an imitation. And then who will dare "rebuild" Rastrelli?
It seems that there is a likely aspirant. With a like-sounding name, too (reference is to Zurab Tsereteli, a controversial sculptor strongly backed by the Moscow mayor but thoroughly hated by the populace. - Ed.) Nor is he unfamiliar with the great Italians style: At any rate, the cuirass on his outrageous monument to Peter the Great on the Moskva River was clearly borrowed from the famous bust by Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli. The only snag is that Muscovites, already traumatized by the masters previous endeavors, may find this the last straw.
