Already today, archaeologist, architect, employee of the KGIOP and member of the “Old Petersburg” society Victor Korentsvit invites to the Izmailovskaya library for a lecture devoted to the glorious and sad history of the granite embankments of the Neva, rivers and canals of St. Petersburg. The main concern of the researcher is that repair works on embankments should not distort their classic appearance.

Everyone is well aware of the House of the Emir of Bukhara in St. Petersburg, on the Petrograd side.

And what do you know about the Palace of the Emir of Bukhara in Zheleznovodsk?

Last week volunteers of the Piatigorsk “Tom Soeyer Fest” carried out work on the majolica created in 1909 in the workshop of Geldwein-Vaulin in St. Petersburg, cleaned and restored the entrance portal in this palace.

As told in the social networks of the festival, the wicket was made from two sheets of iron, and the historical pattern was laser-cut. In addition, volunteers plan to create replicas of lost tiles (ceramic tiles used to cover stoves, walls and fireplaces).

The palace of the Emir of Bukhara is also being restored. They promise to complete the work at the end of October 2025.

At present, the talk about the complete absence of any mortars in the construction of tower complexes in the North Caucasus is actively continuing.

The other day, specialists from ACM Group visited another tower complex in the mountains of Ingushetia untouched by restoration - “Gyagi G1alash” (probably not the historical name), where one of the research questions was about the historical use of mortars. It was recorded that every surviving structure of the complex has not just remnants of historical lime mortar, but its extensive presence.

Two bridges over the Fontanka River will be restored in St. Petersburg: the Lomonosov Bridge and the Obukhovsky Bridge will be repaired. Project documentation should be prepared by the end of May 2026.

It will be necessary to provide for the restoration of the bridge vault, intermediate piers and decorative elements, railings, metal span structures, as well as the repair of the road and sidewalks.

The Russian Museum presented watercolor works of Vasily Sadovnikov, a Pushkin-era artist with views of St. Petersburg, at the Mikhailovsky Castle.

This year marks the 225th anniversary of the outstanding Russian watercolorist Vasily Sadovnikov ( 1800-1879 ). One of the most famous creations of the master is the “Panorama of Nevsky Prospekt” - a work that has not only not lost its artistic value, but also acquired a huge historical and cultural heritage, remaining one of the sources of historians and restorers when working on the buildings of Nevsky Prospekt.

The jubilee exhibition includes about 140 works by the master and is mainly composed of exhibits from the Russian Museum, but is also supplemented by 13 works from the State Hermitage Museum, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, and the Tsarskoye Selo and Peterhof Museum Reserves.

Thousands of old estates in Russia are slowly disappearing. But there are those who are saving them - without high-profile budgets, but by the efforts of volunteers, patrons of the arts and simply romantics.

The reminder movie “Dreams of estates” is dedicated to this topical theme. Unique shots of Russian architecture that you won't see anywhere else, as well as people whose devotion to history inspires respect - artists, photographers, enthusiasts.

While exploring tower complexes in the mountainous Ingushetia, ACM Group specialists periodically come across fresh paw prints and footprints of bears, which are quite abundant in the gorges and mountains. The size of the paw prints is impressive and gives additional caution when visiting the complexes. Photo from the gorge along the Assa River when approaching the Gyagi G1alash Tower Complex.

From July 10 to 12 in the ancient Russian city of Rybinsk in the north-west of the Yaroslavl region will be held VI International Forum of wooden construction “Wood in Architecture”. Participants and guests of the forum will be welcomed by a unique architectural space, where centuries-old traditions of wooden architecture will meet with advanced technologies of the present.

Carlo Ratti, curator of the XIX International Architecture Biennale, came up with an interesting theme: "Intellectuals. Natural. Artificial. Collective." Behind the play of words, where the mind is fused with genes, there is a decisive proposal: to equalize artificial intelligence and nature in human rights.

Each of the three sections of the main exposition is conceived as a fractal space - an organism that connects different projects, creating a dialog of natural (natural), artificial (technological) and collective (social, human) intelligences. Global issues such as rising temperatures and demographic shifts are touched upon here.

Ratti comes to the conclusion that space exploration is not the answer - we need to “build a world with intelligence here on Earth, listening to the intelligence of the world”.

Photo: Elephant Chapel installation project by Thai architect Boonserm Premtada.

A Japanese anime set in St. Petersburg has been released. The thriller from Geno Studio “Your Form” is about an alternative future with cyberpunk elements and with “smart threads” for recording memories. St. Petersburg is at least in the first episode, which shows the subway, the Griboedov Canal, the Galereya shopping mall, Palace Square and other places in the city.

Great news from fellow restorers. UNESCO has completed the restoration of Mosul's cultural heritage sites damaged by ISIL.

Al Sa'a Monastery, founded in 1870 after the first papal mission sent to Mesopotamia, received new bells as part of extensive work to bring it back to life. The Dominican institution has historically served a variety of functions, housing a church, schools, seminary, hospital and more.

The monastery was home to an archive of ancient religious manuscripts that was narrowly saved shortly before the building was turned into an ISIL prison and smuggled out of the city. The monastery's priest - Najib Michael, now Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul - and his team, members of the community, managed to do so.

On the left: Al Sa'a Monastery under restoration. On the right: after the work is completed.

On April 17, the International Restoration Center in Rozhdestvenskoe will open the exhibition “Fortresses of the Leningrad Region”, which will tell about 10 fortresses - the Annensky fortifications, Ivangorod, Koporsk, Lyubshanskaya, Staroladozhskaya, Tiverskaya, Yamgorodskaya, Oreshk, Trongzund and Korela.

It is Korela, located in Priozersk, that will be the center of attention. The fortress has preserved a unique symbol of Peter the Great's victories in the Northern War - the gates upholstered with Swedish lats. The restorers of the International Center have already completed the preservation of one of the gates and visitors will be able to examine it in detail and learn about the past works.

The famous St. Michael's Church on the Middle Prospect of Vasilievsky Island will be restored and lost elements and details will be returned.

According to Committee for State Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments, the facades of the Lutheran church are dirty, and some fragments of the walls differ in color from the historical ones. There are cracks and destruction of the plaster layer.

The church was built in 1874-1876 in neo-Gothic style according to the project of engineer Bulmering.

A unique historical photograph depicting the repair of the flat roof of a dwelling tower in the North Caucasus. The roof, which probably needed replacement of the clay roofing, was repaired by the inhabitants in an economic way and as it appears had no stone parapet.

On April 24, the St. Petersburg State Academy of Arts and Industry named after A.L. Stieglitz will be the center of discussion of current redevelopment issues. A.L. Stieglitz Academy will become the center of discussion of current redevelopment issues. On this day in the Youth Hall of the Academy will be held the second conference "Architectural Heritage. Preservation for Development“, organized jointly with the World Club of Petersburgers and the organizing committee of the International Award ”Golden Trezzini".

The event is intended to become a platform for dialog on methods of preservation and integration of cultural heritage objects into the modern urban fabric through redevelopment projects.

The Agency for Management and Use of Historical and Cultural Monuments and the A.V. Shchusev State Research Museum of Architecture will open an exposition of architectural projects for adapting cultural heritage objects to modern use, prepared within the framework of the student competition “Patrimony”.

The exhibition will be held at the A.V. Shchusev State Research Museum of Architecture in Moscow, 5/25 Vozdvizhenka Street, April 11-30, 2025.

The exposition will present innovative solutions for adapting architectural monuments for modern use.

Visitors will be able to see how historical buildings are transformed into modern cultural spaces: museums, community centers and recreational areas.

The Committee for State Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments includes the Marine Station on Vasilievsky Island in the list of newly identified objects of cultural heritage. This is a continuation of the joint work of the Committee and the St. Petersburg Union of Architects to identify the best examples of Soviet architecture of the 1950-1980 period.

The station was built in 1984 according to the project of the 12th workshop of the LenNIIproject under the direction of Vitaly Sokhin.

The Nikolsky Market building on Sadovaya Street in St. Petersburg before and after restoration. For several years, ACM researched and developed a restoration project for the former market building, which today houses hotels and restaurants. The project was finalized by Foundry Part 91.

“ACM Group” will take part in the International Forum “REBUS” in the IT-park named after B. Rameyev. B. Rameyev IT Park in Kazan in early July 2025.

One of the main topics of the forum will be the topic of heritage preservation, where the following issues will be touched upon:

- digital technologies for memory protection: how to preserve historical heritage in the era of global change.

- Digital twins of historic cities: new opportunities for research and restoration of cultural heritage.

- New Challenges: a preservation program for cultural heritage sites.

- Cultural heritage sites outside major cities: problems of preservation and restoration.

- Digital Bridges to History: modern approaches to the promotion of historical, cultural and architectural heritage.

- Digital technologies in the protection of cultural heritage: integrated solutions on the example of modernist sites and mosaic panels.

The Committee for State Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments refused to include the Oktyabrsky Grand Concert Hall on Ligovsky Prospekt and the Nekrasovsky Market on Nekrasova Street, 52 in the list of cultural heritage objects.

The Grand Concert Hall “Oktyabrsky” was built in 1967 specially for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, on the site of the demolished Greek church of St. Great Martyr Dmitry Solunsky. Nekrasovsky Market was built in 1956 on the site of the market of the early twentieth century.

Restoration work on Ingushetia's tower complexes will resume soon.

We hope that all contractors will install normal scaffolding this year so that ACM Group specialists can safely carry out author's supervision!