Sergei Sobyanin highlights the biggest restoration projects of 2023

The Moscow Government continues to implement a large-scale program for the revival of Moscow antiquity as another 220 heritage sites of different eras were cleaned up and restored in 2023, Sergei Sobyanin writes in his blog.

“This is our contribution to the Culture national project. The revived masterpieces include the famous Variety Theater which is popular with several generations of Moscow audience; the legendary Pioneers Palace on Vorobyovy Gory which taught many talented scientists, engineers, athletes, and artists; historical Pavilion No. 66 at VDNKh, now dedicated to Uzbekistan, like half a century ago; the Monument to the Conquerors of Space near the country’s main exhibition with the famous rocket taking off into the sky; the façades of the New Cathedral and the ancient towers of the Donskoy Monastery which have been restored to look as they originally used to,” wrote the Moscow Mayor.

Panteleev’s House

In total, 2,190 cultural heritage sites have been restored in the capital over the past 13 years, the two thousand meaningful milestone having been reached at the beginning of 2023, with the Panteleev’s House at 56/3 Zemlyanoy Val Street as a turning point. Erected in the middle of the 19 th century, the classicism mansion got its today’s spectacular appearance half a century later, when it was rebuilt by Philip Panteleev, a peasant of the Vladimir Province who made a fortune with baroque stucco.

The façade richly decorated with ornaments and cupids served as outdoor advertising for its owner’s business. However, its beauty has faded greatly over the past decades, the interiors and utilities also requiring renovation, so it was decided to restore the building — for the first time ever in its history. The restoration was preceded by a lot of research. In particular, experts found out and then restored the original soft peach color of the façade.

They also cleaned and fixed the basement, windows, doors and roof and, using archival files, they managed to recreate the inter-floor cornice and the pediment with a cupid figurine. The stucco molding was removed and restored in the workshop, since the plaster layer was in a bad condition.

Inside the building, the dismantling uncovered the second-floor enfilade rooms; the touchstone marble wall decorations of two front rooms, the amazing parquet and mosaics in the hall of the first floor were also cleaned up.

Architects recreated the parquet, covered the mosaic and touchstone marble with wax to preserve them very well and also renovated the main staircase and plaster moldings in all of the rooms. After the restoration, the Panteleev’s House was set up to accommodate a 12-room boutique hotel.

Moscow’s theaters

One of the most striking restoration projects of 2023 was the Variety Theater. For more than half a century, the famous cultural venue in the House on the Embankment has been attracting art lovers as it used to be a venue for superstar singers and performers and also promoted new talents, so that its wonderful concerts were the stuff of legend for the entire musical community of Moscow.

“But stages, like people, also get tired and need to be rebooted. The comprehensive restoration of the historic Variety Theater building required four years of painstaking work. First of all, experts fixed the load bearing capacity of the structures and the façades. Based on archival data, the panoramic stained glass windows, previously installed in the area of open marble staircases and a courtyard avant-corps, have been uncovered,” Sergei Sobyanin said.

They have restored the original layout, the theater interiors, including plaster moldings and plaster layers of the walls and the ceilings. The hardwood parquet has been recreated in the auditorium and the lobby; the administrative, utility and technical facilities, buffets for audience and theater employees have been renovated, too.

In the first-floor lobby, while cleaning the old plaster layer, architects discovered a floral and diamond ornament, which was a really great find since the painting had been unknown before. Experts also restored the decoration on the ceiling. “The blend of warm and cool colors makes it voluminous visually deepening the dome although it is almost flat.

Moreover, the panel with the heraldic symbols of the USSR, such as the coat of arms, flags and the slogan “Glory to the Great Soviet People” decorating the stage has been restored, involving painstaking efforts. The monumental work of art graces the stage once again.

The auditorium has been changed as they installed new seats and separate sound systems for the stalls and mezzanine. The state-of-the-art stage equipment gives directors of plays and concerts new opportunities to realize creative ideas. The renovated Variety Theater has once again opened its doors to delight fans with vibrant performances, concerts and creative meetings.

A new location on the cultural map of Moscow is 36/71 Serpukhovskaya Square, bldg 1, where the one before last century former revenue house with shops now accommodates a branch of the Maly Theater.

“The restoration made it possible for the building, which was in unsatisfactory condition, to find a second wind. Experts strengthened its foundation, restored the brickwork, roof, window and door openings, removed the old partitions and renovated the stoves, stairs and parquet,” said the Moscow Mayor.

The architects also restored the plaster moldings. Today it is the theater’s office building with a small auditorium.

The Pioneers Palace on Vorobyovy Gory

A major mark of 2023 is the revival of the Pioneers Palace on Vorobyovy Gory. Built in 1958–1962, the children’s city is still the largest institution of additional education in Russia.

The historical ensemble of the Pioneers Palace consists of seven buildings, which had never been overhauled, only a few years ago Buildings 4 and 5 were repaired. In 2022, the municipality ran a comprehensive restoration of Buildings 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7, and the revamped Pioneers Palace was re-opened on August 31, 2023, on the eve of the Knowledge Day.

Its planetarium, observatory, large concert and exhibition halls, winter garden, theater block and other premises were also repaired or restored. Moreover, the Pioneers Palace got cutting-edge labs and workshops with high-tech equipment, thus, making it possible to offer some extra additional education programs, including in AI, cryptography, GIS, remote sensing, graphic and motion design, infographics, and spacecraft design.

They also landscaped the surrounding area, including Parade Square to have preserved its unusual path pattern.

“The comprehensive restoration of the Pioneers Palace was an excellent gift for young Muscovites and their parents,” noted Sergei Sobyanin.

VDNKh attractions

VDNKh remains the greatest restoration project, the comprehensive work having been completed at more than 30 sites, including Pavilion No. 66, which was launched in 2023 to house the Exhibition, Cultural and Expo Center of Uzbekistan (former Uzbek SSR Pavilion), Pavilion No. 59 Grain, VDNKh’s third tallest building featuring a gilded spire with a 3.5-meter star on its top, Pavilion No. 51 Meat Industry (former Glavmyaso Pavilion) with its renovated dome, ceramic fountain and touchstone marble on the walls, and restored Naum Kongiser’s famous sculpture known as The Bullfighter, which crowns the four-column portico on the main façade.

Pavilions No. 51 and 59 currently serving as a venue of the Russia International Exhibition and Forum.

Next to VDNKh, they have finished restoration of the Monument to the Conquerors of Space with the Monument to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, which was cleaned up to renovate its titanium plates and repair chips, cracks and seams on the granite pedestals. The high relief sculptures, inscriptions on the monument foundation and the ornamental ventilation grilles were treated with particular care as well.

Religious monuments

Restorers of the ancient Donskoy Monastery did a really great job, indeed. Over the years, the municipality has been reviving the monastery together with the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Ministry of Culture. In 2023, they wrapped up restoration of five authentic towers, namely, Tower 1 (the square one on the western wall), Tower 2 (the round corner one in the north west), Tower 3 (the square tower on the northern wall), Tower 6 (the square one on the eastern wall) and Tower 7 (the square one on the eastern wall), in addition to the façades and domes of the New Cathedral (1684–1689, 1748), including the brickwork, decorations, and the roofing of the upper and lower tiers. The Abbot’s House (1749) was also restored, including the original yellow ocher color of the façades, to look as it originally used to.

Another remarkable project for restoring religious monuments relates to the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fili, which is said to be a crown jewel of the Moscow Baroque of the late 17 th century. Restorers paid special attention to the white stone decoration on the temple façades, including the white stone masonry of the plinth, in addition to bases of the arched pillars and columns.

Natalia Tyulyaeva’s Revenue House

Natalia Tyulyaeva’s Revenue House (3/1 Zabelina Street) is a remarkable restoration project, too.

“It was built in 1900 by architect Sergei Voskresensky in the eclectic style using Art Nouveau motifs. It once housed expensive 11-room apartments. On the ground floor, around the main entrance hall, there were three large halls for reception parties. But over time, the halls were separated by many partitions. The changes also affected other rooms, and the building’s condition opened up a large scope of work for the restorers,” shared the Moscow Mayor.

Experts have restored the mansion’s façades, so today it looks gorgeous both during the day time and in the evening. When architects were recreating the historical layout, they uncovered an entrance of the main façade to re-decorate it with stucco molding, pilasters, openwork platbands and window sills on the windows. Using archival photographs and documents, they also re-set a floral-pattern panel at the lower part of the bay window.

There was a lot of work inside the building, too, from restoring the oak parquet, tiled stoves and dolomite steps to the stucco on the ceilings.

The new evolution in the old house’s lifetime has been driven by creativity as it is to accommodate the Nikolay Rastorguev Foundation for the Support of Cinema, Radio, Television, Multimedia, and Animation.

The coming year 2024 also promises to be very busy and successful as at the moment they are reconstructing more than 500 cultural heritage assets, such as historical Pavilion No. 6 Chemistry and Pavilion No. 67 Soviet Press at VDNKh, the Transfiguration of the Savior Cathedral in the Novospassky Monastery on Krestyanskaya Square, the Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye, the St. Peter and Paul Church on Novaya Basmannaya Street, Melnikov’s House in Krivoarbatsky Lane, the Udarnik Cinema on Serafimovicha Street, and Yuri Gagarin Monument on Gagarinskaya Square.

In 2024, they will continue to restore the ensemble of the Alexandrinsky Palace in the Neskuchnoye Estate and kick off a restoration project at the Kuzminki Estate.

“In Moscow, with its rich heritage of different eras and styles, restoration is an endless process of preserving the memory of past centuries and, at the same time, an invaluable contribution to the present and future of our home city,” said Sergei Sobyanin.