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Sometimes love for the home country and respect for its history predetermines a career path; a good example is the man of the moment who is the first to show up on our new Interviews section. Vyacheslav Fatin, Head of GlavUpDK under the MFA of Russia and President of the Restorers Association of Russia, tells about secrets of ancient buildings, challenges faced by restoration architects and the importance of educating young talents.
How did restoration appear in your professional career and what was it you first tried yourself in this area?
I began to do restoration more than 20 years ago and, despite the fact that this was quite by accident, very soon it became my great passion. As a student at the Institute of Information Technologies, Economics and Management, I was moonlighting at construction sites, which prompted me to continue my studies at the Moscow Academy of Municipal Economy and Construction. At that time I also created a development company, and the chambers of Princess Sophia in the Novodevichy Convent were among our first projects.
In the early 2000s, there were very few firms engaged in restoration as everyone sought to do development projects, build new facilities and earn money rather than doing job for budget money. That’s why we submitted our bid proposal to the Bid Evaluation Committee; we were awarded a contract and happily began to work.
What was interesting to you about this project and, in general, about preserving cultural heritage sites?
Of course, it was not money but rather an opportunity to contribute to restoring the Russian cultural heritage that motivated us so much, because having started, we met both the history of our country and a totally different philosophy – philosophy of creating, preserving and multiplying the grandeur.
When you remove layers of molding to reveal step by step historical periods, when you see re-cut windows or doorways, lost decor elements or read about those who lived in the building or the architect’s intention, you simply cannot but restore the original appearance of the building or its interiors.
This inspires strong patriotic feelings and makes you proud of your ancestors who built to last for centuries and created true artworks. Indeed, in the process, we often find unexpected things, which sometimes open new pages of history and make us look at some events from a different perspective.
For example, when restoring the ground floor in the Saint Basil’s Cathedral, in the debris we found icons that had been hidden there in the 20s of the last century; later, they were added to the holdings of the Historical Museum.
What other professional challenges and finds did you deal with in restoration?
Oh, there are plenty of such stories! For example, when starting site improvements around the Saint Basil’s Cathedral, we saw that the building was inclined relative to Vasilievsky Spusk. The fact is that in the 70s almost the entire southern part was concreted with concrete used in the metro construction. Yes, the structure was stable, but the underlying soil had been washed out for decades, which inevitably caused big sinkholes. During the underpinning, we found foundations of a more ancient white-stone pre-Mongol Monastery of Mary of Egypt and princely graves whose whereabouts had been unknown before. Just imagine, we also revealed a preserved part of the carved decoration, some elements of Slavic white-stone carving...
Or there is another story. When we were restoring the Great Hall of Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory, we found out that originally it was light – pistachio green rather than yellow as we know it now. It was repainted after the Great Patriotic War to become customary for both the Conservatory staff and music connoisseurs. Of course, we had to convince the management and insist that the original color should be returned. By the way, in Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory we found St. Cecilia stained glass window, which was also lost during World War II. A Nazi bomb fell into the Conservatory, damaged the stained glass window, and someone carefully laid its scattered fragments in the separating wall... Using the archival photographs, we managed to restore this stained glass window.
I suppose the New Jerusalem Monastery restoration project was also absorbing, wasn’t it?
At this monastery, we were restoring the Katholikon of the Resurrection, which, in my opinion, was more challenging than the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, in terms of scope and design. We discovered an old bellfounding pit, the only one preserved in Russia. I mean to say that the bellfounding process was quite known, but historians had seen no bellfounding pit before that moment.
And in general, this project was remarkable because of many other interesting professional things. We had to warm the katholikon; to do this, the shape of the tented roof had to be modified, so in the 80s we installed a small metal knob. After long research and consultations, the metal frame was replaced with a wooden one similar to the frame that was there at the time of Elizabeth of Russia. This made it possible to insulate the katholikon, ensure the movement of air and prevent rain water leaks or mold.
In addition, the bell tower, which was once part of the katholikon, destroyed by the Germans in 1941, was also restored. The restoration was complicated by the fact that although part of the 17th-century masonry was preserved, it was not possible to take it apart. To build a high-rise engineering structure near the old brickwork, we had to apply a non-standard solution; we actually pumped special fine cement and turned it into a rock. As a result, the bell tower stands, in fact, on the earth without any foundation.
Did you face any professional challenges when you were feeling overwhelmed? How did you approach the problems?
Probably, such challenges related to management rather than to restoration projects. I’ll explain what it is all about. By the decision of the Minister of Culture, I was appointed the Head of the Central Scientific Restoration Design Workshops (CSRDW), which were then in poor condition. The team was not paid wages. The debt to subcontractors was growing like a snowball. There were other multiple problems as well. The situation was worsened because this happened in the crisis of 2009-2010.
I had to play a role of an anti-crisis manager and work diligently a lot. Nevertheless, during one year we were able to meet the deadlines; the organization overcame the crisis and we managed to maintain the team as they were high-class professionals who had been keeping history and restoration traditions since 1947, the year of CSRDW establishment.
How did the Restorers Association of Russia come into your professional life?
The idea to create the Association was proposed in 2013. The fact is that our country is one of the richest in the world by the number of unique cultural assets. Let’s see. It boasts 140,000 cultural heritage sites, including 25,000 of federal significance and 26 sites included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. It became obvious that the study and care of this heritage should involve a partnership between the authorities and the expert community. That’s why it was decided to establish the Association. In 2014, I was elected as its President. Of course, raising finance and developing the organization required effort. Today, the Association unites 600 restoration architects from 45 regions nationwide.
We contribute to developing restoration bills, rules and regulations and improving the staff certification scheme. We oversee the observance of the scientific restoration standards, protect and promote the interests of organizations and experts, develop private-state partnerships in the field of restoration, etc.
Our mission is to create mechanisms enabling cooperation between stakeholders who impact on and are interested in the development of restoration in Russia, but we do this with respect for traditions and those experts whose names have rightfully been included in the world history of restoration. And needless to say, we pay great attention to dealing with youth, instilling love of the profession and assisting in developing highly skilled professionals.
What was it that caused such an interest of the Association towards training the young talent pool?
As I have already said, restoration is a specific occupation as it does not promise untold riches. So, young people do not seek to choose it as a professional career and only 10 to 15 percent of restoration graduates remain in the profession, while the rest who wish to create rather than to follow original architectural/artistic concepts engage in design or other related sectors.
In this regard, we actively deal with students, bring them to the regions, tell about architecture and traditions, organize meetings and educational events, including workshops, for them to gain relevant skills and develop themselves professionally. They can join the Young Restoration Architects club. We also offer field classes in Russian cities for the guys to do real projects, run congresses and festivals to involve graduates and beginner restorers in our common, exciting pursuit.
By the way, recently we have successfully held the 2nd Interdisciplinary Colloquium for students in construction and arts in the new regions of the Russian Federation, with 45 boys and girls from Donetsk and Lugansk having attended the events, in total. Together with our partners, we also organize special educational programs for them to restore the destroyed cultural heritage sites very soon.
The Restorers Association is active not only in Moscow. What about restorations in the regions?
As I’ve already said, the Association consists of representatives from 45 regions, and has a strong presence countrywide with existing and new regional branches. For example, at the end of the last year, we launched a branch in the Donetsk People’s Republic. And we, of course, provide comprehensive methodological support to our colleagues.
What emotions did you feel after you agreed to work for GlavUpDK under the MFA of Russia? Was there something that especially impressed you in your new career?
It’s no secret to say that I had had professional contacts with GlavUpDK before I began to work here. They certainly related to restorations, because the organization is in charge of, perhaps, Moscow’s broadest range of historical mansions. Frankly speaking, it’s an honor to deal with such artworks, and even used for such a great mission of accommodating foreign embassies and residences.
Then I had to get to know about GlavUpDK unique assets, including not only cultural heritage sites, but also its own residential and office buildings, multifunctional centers, leased premises, a clinic with an inpatient hospital, two suburban recreation facilities, a golf club, etc. In fact, it runs a wide spectrum of businesses to cover almost everything the diplomatic corps does in Moscow. In addition, we provide services to Russian individuals and legal entities.
However, most of all I was impressed by the GlavUpDK team; the respect that they pay to the traditions laid down by past generations, their care and attention towards the needs of customers, and commitment to today’s best practices are amazing, indeed.
What can you say about the restoration industry in Russia?
Nowadays the situation in the sector is definitely as unstable as it is in construction due to existing macroeconomic factors and some external circumstances. For instance, restoration is still not viewed as a separate matter. It is subject to construction standards, although it is actually a standalone industry. There are also issues related to pricing, for example, artist salaries, and continuously growing costs of materials, while import substitution also imposes some restrictions.
Nevertheless, I am convinced that restoration is now rapidly gaining momentum, developing as an industry; moreover, preservation of cultural heritage sites is given more and more focus at the government level. Take at least the Moscow Restoration contest annually held in the capital; what its participants do is ever incredible. And, of course, I’m proud that GlavUpDK is regularly among the best restorers. In 2022 alone, three of the facilities we had restored received awards, these including Markin’s and Lodyzhensky-Zagryazhsky-Rukavishnikov’s town mansions, plus an annex of Morozov’s estate.
To close our interview, let me ask you which of the old metropolitan buildings do you like the most?
It is of course difficult to highlight a single building, especially when you have a professional attitude to many of the historical mansions! However, I cannot but mention Pertsova House at 1, Kursovoy Lane. For me, this Russian-style tower house is an outstanding example of the unique national arts, a building whose façades are telling fairy tales, which I’d like to contemplate and explore again and again!
It’s not only its architectural shapes that are, without exaggeration, amazing, but also its stunning decorations. By the way, it was based on the drawings by remarkable artist Sergey Malyutin who painted the first Russian nested doll set. The façades are decorated with amazing tin-glazed ceramic tiles featuring epic and fabulous details, such as hares, fish, fantastic flowers, berries, or a bear and bull fight. One of the balconies is supported by mythical creatures, either by snakes or by dragons; that is why the building is known among locals as the Crocodile House.
It is not surprising that this expressive building attracted creative minds; it was home to artistic workshops and the famous Bat Cabaret Theater visited by Stanislavsky, Nemirovich-Danchenko and other grand men of Russian culture.
The story of its owner is also intriguing. Pyotr Pertsov was, among other things, a treasurer of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior located directly opposite the house at 1, Kursovoy Lane. But this is a different story...
