I continue the story of Moscow Triumph Gates at St.Petersburg.
(Here are: part 1 .:. part 2).
Having stood for almost a hundred years, in 1929 and 1935 the monument was thoroughly restored: small parts lost due to corrosion were restored, the painting was renewed. However, here's the irony: the renovated monument only stood for one year. In June 1936, Deputy Chairman of the Leningrad City Executive Committee L.R. Edelson made a proposal to demolish the Gate as a structure that 'blocks' the avenue and glorifies the victories of the tsarist army (recall that the commemorative plaque indicating in honor of which victories the Arch was erected was removed back in 1918 year). The architect M. Goldberg was especially zealous for the proposal. After the chairman of the Executive Committee I.F.Kodatsky and the chief architect of the city A.A.Ilyin inclined to demolition, such a decision was made.
In August 1936, under the pretext of reconstructing the roadway of the International Avenue, the builders began to dismantle the objectionable monument. The gate was protected by the state as an important monument of national importance, any repair and restoration work should have been carried out only with the written permission of the Inspectorate for the Protection of Monuments of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (today this institution is called KGIOP). The inspection discovered what was happening on August 22, 1936, six days later, when the dismantling was already in full swing. The same evening, a request was sent to the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Committee for the Protection of Monuments ... which remained without an official response.
N. Belekhov, the chief architect of the Security Inspectorate, out of despair with a tape measure in his hands, tried on the spot to prove to the leadership of the Leningrad City Council that the throughput of the avenue corresponds to the section of the gate and allows them to be left. (Retreat: tram tracks ran through the central arch of the Arch, two adjacent spans passed 1 row of vehicles, and the extreme side spans were pedestrian. A detour around the Gate, as we know it today, was impossible in the urban planning situation at that time: The Gate was not a single structure, and part of the ensemble of the former city outpost). Alas, an appeal to the city authorities did not stop the dismantling either. There remained an extreme measure - to appeal to the Central Committee or personally to Stalin, but the Inspectorate did not dare to “discredit the local authorities” in such a way.
The Union of Soviet Architects (I shouldnt but mention it) raised its voice in defense of the Gates, but failed to convince the city authorities.
After many complaints and reminders from the Monuments Protection Inspectorate about the illegality and inadmissibility of the committed lawlessness, four days later, on August 26, an oral order from the City Council's chairman Kadatsky followed. He ordered to replace the demolition with a neat disassembly, accompanied by creating all the measurements - implying the possibility of subsequent installation of the Gates in a new location. (Obviously, this decision was made by A. Zhdanov, the main representative of the city supreme power, the Bolshevik Party. See below his resolution on the letter of Professor Katonin: "Refuse! But save and pass to any museum any important shit, if there is something out there".
Some of the characters. Left: N. Belekhov, head of the Monuments Protection Inspectorate, the main protecting force for the Gates. On the right - I.Kadatsky, chairman of the Leningrad City Council (i.e. head of the city's executive power).
Dismantling work went on non-stop even at the night time. Its a usual practice to bring it to such a point when it will be impossible to win back, the only way that will remain is only forward ...
Dismantling can go in different ways. And while the Inspectorate for the Protection of Monuments did not get involved in the process, the damage was substantial: during the first week, the workers treated the disassembled parts as metal scrap for subsequent remelting, and not as a work of art: they were simply thrown down without any extra effort. Dents, fragment losses, broken fingers and the like - imagine all this for yourself. So, subsequently, out of eight fittings (!), Only one turned out to be intact.
The ongoing lawlessness gained legitimacy a month after the start of work: on September 16, 1936, when emptiness was already gaping at the site of the Gates, a resolution of the Leningrad City Council was issued: "In connection with the reconstruction of Mezhdunarodny Avenue and the settlement of the adjacent Ligovskaya Street, it is necessary to demolish the Moscow Gate", and the expiration date work was listed on September 20 - as if dismantling was supposed to take only four days. All the promises melted into thin air, there was not a single line in the resolution about the reconstruction of the Gates.
The gate defenders had to obey and as soon as possible a) organize the drawing up of measurement drawings, b) ensure the preservation of all the details of the gate. Students were mobilized for measurements under the guidance of architect P.D.Bunkin. They decided to scatter more valuable artistic details for temporary storage in museums; for less valuable cast-iron metal structures, they found a site nearby on Ligovskaya Street. Seven figures of geniuses from the frieze, which were in the best condition, ended up in the State Russian Museum. Eight figures of geniuses left for the Museum of the Academy of Arts, one disassembled fittings and fragments of the portico of one of the guardrooms. In the Artillery Museum there were two figures of geniuses and seven fittings, of which only one in its entirety. The scattered and most affected parts were transported to a warehouse, in the documents referred to as 'the barn at the Novodevichy cemetery'. At the same time, a draft order of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was prepared, obliging the Leningrad City Council to restore the Gate in a new place during 1937.
All the time while the dismantling was going on, the tram curriculum wasnt put at a pause (except for one day, when both guardrooms houses were blown up). After the rubbish was taken out, the road was asphalted.
On April 10, 1937, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee finally took part in the monument's life: it issued an instruction ' to remove the gates from the index of protected monuments due to the fact of its demolition'.
To be continued.