Demolition of historic buildings in the Kazan must not be unpunished

(KZN.RU, January 12, Olga Gertseva). On holidays three historic buildings were demolished in Kazan: the Potekhin house on the Chernyshevskiy Street, the Banartsev house on the Black Lake, and one of the houses of a clergy of the parish of the Bogoyavlenskaya Church.

Today the Mayor of Kazan has had an urgent meeting with Ildus Nafikov, the city prosecutor, Tatiana Prokofieva, the chief architect of Kazan, Vladimir Fomin, the Head of Architecture and Town Planning Department.

According to the information provided by the Head of the City, all the demolished buildings were the objects of national importance and had owners who had formalized all the necessary permits for the buildings demolition. However as Ilsur Metshin declared, "everything that happens and is located in the city regardless of ownership and departmental affiliation must be the subject of our attention and constant work". According to the Mayor, the Prosecutor’s Office of Kazan must deal with the legal side of the issue and appraise what’s happened. (The owners of the Potekhin house (Chernyshevskiy Street, 10 / 6) and the Banartsev house (Dzerzhinskiy Street, 13) is LLC Ershovskiy Many Functional Complex. The building located on the Ostrovskiy Street, 37 / 5 owned by LLC Strela).

The Mayor of Kazan stressed that the primary objective is to achieve the restoration of the historic heritage to the possible extent possible at the moment. All private property owners who have rights to the building, protected by the state must act in accordance with its commitments, that is to restore the building, engaged in their conservation and reconstruction.

At the meeting it was decided to establish a public council on the protection of city monuments. It will include representatives for both the state and public figures.