After publications by Novaya Gazeta, the 32nd session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO, held in Canadian Quebec, demanded that any construction be stopped on the Red Square. The matter is about an elite shopping mall and a hotel with the views to the main square in the country, that were to appear instead of the demolished Srednie Torgovye Ryady (fittingly, Middle Trade Rows).  

This building complex is a special topic for Novaya Gazeta. We have been saying about inadmissibility of destruction of the unique architectural ensemble since 2006, as the Affairs Management Department of the President’s Administration (AMDPA) got to have an eye on it.  Later, after the buildings were anyway demolished, Novaya Gazeta was the first to publish the photos of the destructed complex. We placed repeated requests so that tendered were the documents sanctioning that demolition, and we failed to receive it. However, UNESCO got interested in our publications, as the Red Square is an object from the World Heritage list.    

At the time being, construction is suspended at the site of the demolished complex. The contractor has stopped all the works after the scandal got the international response.  

AMDPA is expressing its intention to restore what it destroyed before.

Considering this unpleasant precedent of gross interference in the zone of urban nucleus, UNESCO is expecting now that Russian government adopts a plan of buffer zone in the Red Square area. UNESCO also has required that the Russian side presents the documentation relating to construction at the site of the Srednie Torgovye Ryady and also the demolished Russia Hotel. The directions contain another recommendation for carrying out an examination of the soil under the Red Square, St Basil’s Cathedral, Kremlin’s walls and demolished Srednie Torgovye Ryady. Examination should include checking of the groundwater line in order to minimize the effect of future construction inside the territory of the Srednie Torgovye Ryady on the World Heritage objects.   

The Russian Federation has been allowed time till 1 February 2009.

Reminding, the four inner buildings of the architectural ensemble were demolished secretly in September 2006. Whole was left only the perimeter building looking to the Spasskaya Tower. 

The plans of further works were clear: it was planned to build an A1 hotel, diamond exchange and amusement center with subterranean parking facilities. According to preliminary estimation by the builders, the body of the hotel was to tower over the Red Square, while the underground garages were to be built under the St Basil’s Cathedral.    

By that time, Srednie Torgovye Ryady, the work by Roman Klein that appeared in the end of 19th century, had been miraculously taken away its status of an architectural memorial. Avoiding contacts with numerous organizations defining the value of historical heritage, the Russian government withdrew the status of being protected from the four inner buildings mentioned above, which was the only justification by the Kremlin’s logistics managers for demolition done. We got possession of a copy of the order issued for dismantling to be executed. The order was issued not by Moscomnasledie (Moscow Heritage Committee) and not by ministry of culture. The document bears the stamp and all the details of Vladimir Kozhin, the head of AMDPA.