Cosmos Pavilion wins vote in Moscow Renovation competition

The city of Moscow has announced the results of the Moscow Renovation competition. The award ceremony will take place at the Mossovet Theatre on 6 December. In addition to the winners chosen by a professional jury, the winner of the people’s vote, held on the Active Citizen website, will receive the certificate of recognition.

Muscovites have chosen the best of seven renovated sites:

— The Maly Theatre, 1824

— The cast-iron tram stop (the first quarter of the 20^th century)

— Old Court (Znamensky Monastery)

— The 16^th–17^th century Romanov Chambers

— The 1907 revenue house

— Pavilion No 34, Cosmos, at VDNKh

— Agriculture Pavilion at VDNKh

— Kekusheva House on Ostozhenka Street.

In total, 180,620 people cast their votes on the Active Citizen site. VDNKh Pavilion No 34, Cosmos, was the winner: 18.04 percent of the voters chose it for the special prize.

The pavilion was built in 1939 as a hangar to exhibit agricultural equipment, plants, various processing units and metallurgy equipment. In 1967, rockets and manmade satellites were added to the exhibition, and the pavilion was named Cosmos.

During the renovation project, the building’s structure, bas-reliefs on the corner turrets, stuccos, sculptures, stained-glass windows, mosaics and marble floors, staircases and the design elements on the white-marble walls and doors were all restored. It is noteworthy that a star-shaped chandelier lost in the 1970s was also restored; it stood above Troitskaya Tower at the Moscow Kremlin in 1935–1937, and later could be seen on the 67-metre-high pavilion dome for almost 20 years. Last year, the unique four-metre-high star was rebuilt from the original blueprints and returned to its historical place.

Second place was given to another VDNKh pavilion – Agriculture, with 16.86 percent of vote.

The renovation of the cast-iron tram stop on Krasnostudenchesky Proyezd took third place with 14.23 percent of vote.

Another 11.1 percent voted for the Old Court (Znamensky Monastery).

The renovation of the Maly Theatre received 9.63 percent of vote, and 8.06 percent voted for the renovated Kekusheva House on Ostozhenka Street. Only 1.48 voted for the renovation of the revenue house on Plotnikov Pereulok.

About 11 percent of Active Citizens voters abstained, and 6.43 said experts should decide. A small percentage of voters (3.52 percent) found the topic uninteresting.

Moscow Renovation is a professional competition for design and restoration organisations. The goal is to find the most notable projects in the preservation, use and popularisation of Moscow’s historical and cultural sites. It has been held annually since 2011. An expert commission comprised of renovators, art experts, historians, officials and representatives of public and noncommercial organisations reviews the competing projects.