Over the past year and a half, Glavgosexpertiza has issued 25 positive conclusions for the construction and reconstruction of museum facilities, as of mid-June, 15 more sets of documents were under consideration. Industrial corporations, specialized associations, and private investors are interested in creating new museums. And for the first time in many decades, the state has engaged in museum construction in a substantive way
If everything works out as planned, a unique tourist attraction — the underwater wine museum – will appear in Sochi in the foreseeable future. The author of the idea, a professional technologist, oenologist, head of the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Sochi Maria Chumak, in an interview with BFM.ru She stressed that she pinned her hopes primarily on the construction of the Sochi Grand Marina and Sochi marinas in general, which are being created within the framework of the federal concept for the development of yacht infrastructure in the Azov-Black Sea region.
According to the expert, the idea of putting wine under water is not new. For example, such an object already exists in Greece, although it is not positioned as a museum: there are simply cubes of wine in the water there. “There was a scuba diving club next to my house, and I suddenly thought: The Black Sea, of course, is not very rich compared to, say, the Red Sea, but people here are actively diving, watching marine nature, exploring the bottom. And I imagined that it would probably be interesting to lay down such a museum, which would become both a point of tourist attraction and a place to study the storage of wine on the Black Sea and the effects of natural and temperature sea regimes on the quality of its wine, maturation,” says Maria Chumak.
And she remembers that she once saw beautiful bottles covered with small shells in the collection of the Berdyaev Winery. “It turns out, yes — they put their wine in “marine” storage in Crimea, when the Association of Crimean Winemakers conducted such an experiment. By the way, it turned out to be successful, because the water temperature plus 12 degrees, and the slight rocking of the bottles at the bottom of the sea, and the absence of direct sunlight — all this has a positive effect on the aging of wine. In this regard, I decided: let’s repeat the Crimean history — we will make an interesting author’s project in Sochi. And I started researching whether this is possible,” says Maria Chumak.
Maria Chumak, head of the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Sochi, “I wrote letters, it seems, to everyone who can: border guards, to our Central Seaport, to the Administration of Seaports of the Black Sea, to the administration of Sochi, in my opinion, even to customs. In general, to all the authorities that could give at least some specifics: how can we organize all this business with us. Unfortunately, many replied that it was not in their competence and they were not ready to do it. But in one place I was told that such a museum would encounter a serious problem associated with the 40 meter mark: higher — our wine will unwind the first storm, no matter how we fix it; even higher — the temperature regime no longer suits us, because in summer the water warms up to plus 28 degrees, the penetration of solar is great rays, plus fishing and all other vessels go there; there are no storms and swaying at 40 meters; below — everything is occupied by a layer of hydrogen sulfide, and if we put wine there, then, firstly, we will have to forget about the museum, because no scuba divers go down there, and secondly, hydrogen sulfide will be to influence traffic jams and muslels. In short, chemists and physicists should be involved in the work, so we temporarily suspended the project — we waited until the story of the construction of marinas started. It seems that everything has already been officially signed this year. And now we need to wait a little longer and understand with whom we will have to conduct further negotiations. I really hope that such a museum will still be able to appear as part of the marina, but, of course, we would like to go there under some kind of administrative wing and become members of some kind of museum association. Because then we would have a completely different project economy: if we were just allocated an area in the marina at standard rental rates, I’m afraid the museum would turn out to be extremely expensive.”
Here is such a story, which, of course, gives an excellent reason to think: how many museums appear annually in our country? Who is the main initiator of their appearance and at whose expense, the state or investors, are museum buildings being built and reconstructed? And is it difficult in principle to design and build a new museum facility?
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According to Glavgosexpertiza, in 2023 and the first six months of 2024, 25 positive conclusions were issued based on the results of the state examination of design estimates for the construction or reconstruction of museum facilities. With the active participation of Glavgosexpertiza experts, such important projects are being implemented as the reconstruction of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) in St. Petersburg, the construction and reconstruction of objects of the Solovetsky State Historical, Architectural and Natural Museum-Reserve in the Arkhangelsk region, the construction of a new building of the Museum of the World Ocean in Kaliningrad and others.
The new building of the Tretyakov Gallery on Kadashevskaya embankment. Photo: Vasily Kuzmichenok/AGN “Moscow”
“As of the first half of June 2024, Glavgosexpertiza is considering design estimates for another 15 museums. Among them are four cultural and educational complexes in Kaliningrad, Vladivostok, Kemerovo and Sevastopol, which are being built on behalf of the President of the country. At the moment, experts are conducting an expert examination of projects of various stages of construction of these facilities. In addition, the construction of the new building of the Tretyakov Gallery on Kadashevskaya Embankment in Moscow was completed in May. Glavgosexpertiza considered in detail every stage and every section of the design documentation so that the future building would not only be beautiful and modern, but also safe, efficient and reliable,” they explained BFM.ru in the department.
Svetlana Balashova, Deputy Head of the Glavgosexpertiza of Russia, “Today, approaches to the organization of museum spaces and their reconstruction are undergoing significant changes. Increasingly, multifunctional spaces with the most modern equipment are being created in museums. Of course, when considering design estimates for such facilities, our experts need to find a balance between preserving the historical appearance and modern requirements of design norms and rules, including those related to compliance with fire safety requirements, engineering issues, movement of large human flows, accessibility for low-mobility groups of the population, and so on. Since many museums are historically located in cultural heritage sites and architectural monuments, it is difficult to maintain this balance when designing: on the one hand, it is necessary to preserve the original appearance of the building, on the other, to make the stay of visitors in the museum comfortable, as well as to ensure the safety of museum exhibits. Therefore, the work of Glavgosexpertiza experts is aimed not only at evaluating modern solutions introduced into ancient buildings, but also at not violating the subject of historical and cultural protection – from monograms on facades to beams and ceilings, and so on.”
Of course, not all museums being created in the country have the scale of the new buildings of the Tretyakov Gallery or the Museum of the World Ocean. Not all are under the close attention of Glavgosexpertiza and other regulatory authorities. And in general, not everyone is known outside of a certain circle of interested parties. For example, how many people know that there is a Corporate Museum award in Russia? In the first competition, which took place in 2018 in Perm, only 16 museums participated, in the sixth award season there were more than 80 participants, and more than 200 corporate museums from all over the country are listed in the register, which is maintained on the award website.
Natalia Nechaeva, Director of the national award “Corporate Museum” “Of course, a corporate museum is a relative concept. Such structural units can be called (and, in fact, be) exhibition halls, halls of labor glory, career guidance centers — in absolutely different ways. But what distinguishes them from other museums is that they are always structural divisions of enterprises, companies, state corporations and work for their tasks. If you look at the context of the whole country, then for the most part corporate museums are small indoor spaces, not buildings, namely premises. But lately (and this is a clear trend!) enterprises began to think about the fact that the history of their lives and their achievements can and should more actively perform career guidance functions and that modern interactive museum technologies should be used in expositions for this purpose. Therefore, funds are increasingly being allocated for the construction of a separate museum building. Although, of course, not everyone still understands how important this is, and not everyone can afford a separate museum complex.”
Natalia Nechaeva names the Museum of Railways of Russia and the Goznak Museum in St. Petersburg among the most impressive, most memorable corporate museum objects, in the city of Kirovsk, Murmansk Region, the Phosagro Museum located in an ancient tower (a branch of Apatit JSC), as well as the museum of the legend of the domestic automotive industry – GAZ — v, which opened after reconstruction Nizhny Novgorod. In the city of Polevsky, Sverdlovsk region, the Museum of the Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) operates in a building with the status of an architectural monument of federal significance. And another building, which TMK restored and opened its corporate museum in, is located in the city of Pervouralsk, Sverdlovsk region, and it just so happens that this is the only museum in the whole city.
The Museum of Railways of Russia in St. Petersburg. Photo: rzd-museum.ru
“Unfortunately, in our country there are many excellent corporate museums (for example, the Admiralty Shipyards shipbuilding company or the Zvezdochka ship repair center) that are located inside, and access there, like most defense industrial enterprises, is impossible. Therefore, today we are increasingly talking about creating museum complexes outside the gates of enterprises. I would really like this call to be heard by many “closed” industries: For example, you can’t just get into the museum of the Perm Motors plant, but the museum is wonderful! And there are so many such stories all over the country!” — Natalia Nechaeva emphasizes.
But let’s return to the “ordinary” museums. How often do newcomers appear in their environment? Are they mainly due to government programs or private initiatives? How difficult is it for a new museum to get a finished building or land for construction? And do the state and society really need new museum facilities today? About this BFM.ru I had a conversation with Elizaveta Likhacheva, an art critic, architectural historian, and director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.
— It is difficult to say how often museums appear, because any new museum is primarily a collection. Sometimes, after all, a museum is called a gallery-type object, although “other people’s” things are shown there and such an institution does not have its own collection. Is it difficult to get land, a building for a museum? Also in different ways. If it is a private institution, then, as a rule, there are certain difficulties. Although there is a legal form called a “private cultural institution”, and in principle, the owner can simply build a museum building on the territory of his large space — for example, the Museum of Russian Impressionism was created. And he is still active, despite the fact that he has not had his own collection in Russia for a long time. If we are talking about museums that arise, let’s say, on the initiative of public organizations, everything is a little more complicated there, because, as a rule, public organizations themselves are not ready to bear the costs associated with the museum — it is quite expensive. If we talk about new buildings at old museums, for old museums (when, for example, the museum moves to Perm from the city cathedral, where it has been located for a long time, the cathedral returns to the Church, and a new building is being built for the museum), then here, as with any state construction site, how will it go: it happens, they build very quickly sometimes very slowly. Well, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts building has been under construction for a very long time, and there are examples when beautiful complexes are being built in just a few years, as in Sevastopol or as it is being completed in Kemerovo right now. That is, there is no general rule.
— Of course, it’s different for everyone. But do the state, society, or at least a narrow circle of interested people need new museums themselves?
— It is difficult to say how many museums are needed, because museums are different. If we are talking about fine art museums, then, in my opinion … not that the more the better — this is not quite right, because the museum is an institution that is timeless. Sometimes their appearance is associated with a whim of some kind, and there are such examples in Moscow. This is, for example, the gallery of the artist Alexander Shilov, which exists with regional money, Moscow pays for it, but I do not know how relevant this will be in 10, 20, 30 years, it is difficult for me to say. I believe that there will be some problems with the content of this institution. As for all other museums, everything is different. For example, there is a private museum of Vadim Zadorozhny. Vadim is a collector of military and automotive equipment, he created the museum himself, built himself a building, and this is one of the most interesting museums in the Moscow region. That is, once again, it is impossible to single out any general rules.
— But does the state support the creation of museums? In general, does he have a clear museum policy today?
— Yes, and for the first time in a very, very long time – in fact, in almost 30 years! This trend began about five years ago, and now the state is actively paying attention to museums, trying to repay debts, as they say, to complete everything that has not been completed for decades. Because in the end it turned out that museums are one of the cornerstones of the cultural landscape. Theaters — everything happens to them in periods: a good artistic director and a troupe — the theater shines, then something happens to the hood or to the troupe – and the theater slides down, turns into an ordinary one. It’s the same with concert halls and other institutions. And libraries and museums — they have a collection, and she keeps them. For a very long time, the state did not react at all to the museum’s needs, and we were periodically told that no one needed you, and only the costs were from you. Now it is becoming clear that the cultural landscape, culture in general, is what unites the country, among other things. And now the state is spending significant resources on this, which, of course, makes me personally very happy as a museum worker.
Recently, in his blog, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin noted: “In terms of the number of museums and exhibition halls, Moscow occupies one of the first places in the world — there are more than 450 in our city. Over the past few years, including thanks to the national project “Culture”, many of them have been experiencing a rebirth. Since 2011, 13 new museum sites have been opened in Moscow and 13 expositions have been completely renovated.” About the new museum prospects of the capital — next time.
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