A two-day event will be held on Saturday, March 19, and Sunday, March 20, 2016, in Moscow, Russia, to celebrate the 94th anniversary of the Shukhov Tower and the official launch of a petition to save the Constructivist landmark, which faces a "looming threat of demolition." The tower is on the 2016 World Monuments Watch, as well as the World Monument Fund’s biennial list of at-risk cultural heritage sites worldwide.
Built between 1919 and 1922 by Vladimir Shukhov, the tower is a landmark in the history of structural engineering, and “is an emblem of the creative genius of an entire generation of modernist architects in the years that followed the Russian Revolution.”
Today, the tower suffers from corrosion, which was accelerated due to inappropriate repairs in the 1970s. Moreover, it sits close to the center of Moscow, and the demand for land and its poor condition and lack of public access have led to threats of demolition.
The petition, addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, states:
"Largely thanks to your support, the decision by the Ministry of Communications of the Russian Federation to dismantle the tower was canceled, and furthermore some priority emergency works to strengthen the tower itself have since been conducted.
However, the decision to conduct a full-scale scientific restoration of the tower still has not been undertaken. The metal structure of the tower continues to be exposed to progressive corrosion.
It is necessary to conduct restoration work on the basis of existing international experience and to use the latest advances in this field, and to start them as soon as possible, since the risk of losing this architectural and engineering masterpiece increases with each passing day, while the cost of executing the work is growing rapidly."
A press conference on Saturday, March 19 at 3:00 pm (Moscow Time Zone) will be held to address Shukhov Tower’s current state and the petition to President Vladimir Putin on change.org to help save it. Events also include tours around the tower, a film screening, activities for children, tower reconstruction demonstrations, and more.
News via the World Monuments Fund.
