The first meeting of the Public Council of the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve took place yesterday, on February 12. O.A. Vasiliev, Deputy Governor of the Vologda Oblast; A.P. Badanina, chairperson of the Committee on Education, Culture and Public Health in the Vologda Region Legislative Assembly; M.N. Sharomazov, director of the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve; I.A. Smirnov, deputy director of the museum; S.N. Smirnova, scientific secretary of the museum; V.A. Osipovsky, head of the Department of Culture, Tourism and Cultural Heritage Preservation in the Vologda region; A.L. Kuznetsov, director of the National Park “Russian North”; S.V. Usov, head of the Kirillov district; A.Y. Kotov, Mayor of Kirillov; A.N. Tyulyandin, head of the Ferapontovo rural settlement; Father Superior of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery Ignaty; N.I. Mishusta, chairman of the Vologda Regional Branch of the Union of Russian Artists; E.M. Kaparulina, principal of the Vologda Regional Training School of Culture; A.N. Mazuev, executive officer of the Association “Council of Municipal Formations of the Vologda Region”, participated in the event.
At the beginning, they considered some organizational issues: approved the regulations of the Public Council and the plan of its further work. O.A. Vasiliev was elected chairman and A.P. Badanina and M.N. Sharomazov – his deputies.
Then the participants of the meeting got acquainted with the Master Development Plan of the Ground of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery and Protective Zones. It was presented by N.S. Pyankova, chief architect of projects in the Valbek-Ru Company (Vologda), who was invited to take part in the meeting. To elaborate this document, they carried out long and laborious work, including archival and bibliographical and archeological researches.
According to the draft, construction of a modern parking area can become one of the near-term prospects. It will be made at the north side of the ensemble of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. One more entrance to the monastery - through the Kosaya Tower - will be opened for visitors’ convenience – it is quite right from the historical point of view. Such measures will solve the problem of overload of tourist flows in the summer season when up to 30 groups on the average come to the monastery every day. Besides, there are a lot of individual visitors. The Kazan Tower that has been the main entrance to the monastery for several centuries will be still open.
Special attention in the Master Plan is paid to the bank protection zone. The problem of stream bank erosion is not a secret for anybody and is rather topical now. The draft suggests methods of coastal reinforcement. However, it was not the only issue of the development of this zone. From present-day problems to the historical moments: the participants of the meeting discussed reconstruction of a dam on the artificial bed of the Sviyaga River in that place where it flew into Lake Siverskoye and two milldams.
“There is a functional monastery on the grounds of the ensemble. Has the draft been coordinated with the eparchy?” asked A.P. Badanina. A similar question emerged regarding the district and town administration because the parking zone will be located within the town.
“Beginning to work on the draft, we aimed at the improvement of conditions of visitors’ reception. Neither the museum nor the town authorities like the present situation with reception of the tourist flow. I want to note that the district and town administration completely understood and supported us when we applied to them. We got a positive answer asking for allocation of free plots of land. Having started to work on the draft, we certainly spoke many times with Father Ignaty about things that should be taken into account when elaborating the Master Plan. All suggestions of the monastery were included into it”, answered M.N. Sharomazov.
After the discussion, the project was approved by the Public Council. Now the museum will have to prepare an investment proposal.
One more Master Plan presented by N.S. Pyankova concerned establishment of the museum complex at Tsypino (the Ferapontovo rural settlement). Now there is one only object for visitors - the wooden Church of St. Prophet Elijah (1775) restored in 2009.
The project proposes to make a whole open-air museum of wooden architecture there. Its main monuments will be: the Church of the Deposition of the Virgin’s Robe from the Borodava village (the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery), the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian from the Lezhdoma village (the Gryazovets district), a chapel from the Nikolskoye village (the Kirillov district).
An even bolder suggestion was also made at the meeting – to establish a museum of the rural priest. It will be directly connected with the famous representatives of the local clergy – the Brilliantovs. They lived at Tsypino from the late 18th century to the 1930s. Reconstruction of the family estate, including a house and a garden, will become the basis of the future memorial exposition.
This project was also approved by the Public Council. But there are some problems connected with landholding of the area destined for the complex. For this reason, they will be able to discuss museum exhibitions at Tsypino in detail only after their resolution.
The final subject that was considered at the meeting was the Management Plan of the UNESCO Site introduced by O.V. Voronicheva, deputy director of the museum on restoration. At present only two World Heritage Sites in Russia have such a document – the ensembles of Kizhi and the Ferapontov Monastery.
The goal of the plan is simple and clear – to preserve the site. It is necessary to protect it from real and potential threats. But along with the measures aimed at the preservation of the unique Dionisy’s frescoes in the Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral and the monastery ensemble itself, it is also necessary to pay great attention to the adjacent area.
All members of the Public Council unanimously approved the Management Plan of the UNESCO Site. Thus the agenda was exhausted. Summing up the event, O.A. Vasiliev noted, “I think that the first meeting was efficient, I see interest of the participants. We will continue working in the same format. The next meeting of the Public Council is scheduled for the second quarter of 2015”.
