Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow

a) Erection of a monument in honour of Marshal G. Zhukov

b) Ongoing and accelerated urban development pressures 

At its 34th session (Brasilia, 2010), the World Heritage Committee expressed its utmost concern regarding the lack of response to previous requests made by the Committee at its 32nd (Quebec City, 2008) and 33rd (Seville, 2009) sessions. The World Heritage Committee reiterated its requests concerning the submission of a state of conservation report for the property, in addition to the management plan, approved buffer zones, improved legal and institutional mechanisms, a draft Statement of Outstanding Universal Value and information and studies related to ongoing developments. On 31 January 2011, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report providing information on the following:

a) Buffer zone and control regulations

The State Party report provides information on the protection of the immediate setting of the property by two mechanisms:

- Protected zone

- Reserved zone

The Protected zone was declared by a decree in 1997 and is regarded as the equivalent to a buffer zone. This is an area directly adjacent to the Kremlin and is intended to “protect the monument, maintenance and restoration of the valuable urban environment and holistic perception of the facility”. A map was also provided.

Within the zone, there are three levels of interventions/controls, namely: i) restoration mode; ii) regeneration mode; iii) renovation mode, which are applicable to monuments as well as to the urban environment. The regeneration zone includes Somoinovsky avenue, Volkhonka street, Borovitskaya square, Mokhovaya street, Vozdvizhenka street, Manezhnaya street, B. Kamenni bridge and Prechistenskaya embankment, Varvarka street, Kitaigorodskoi avenue, Moskvoretskaya embankment and the building of the "Russia" hotel, Sofiski embankment, B. Moskvoretsky bridge, Kadashevsky embankment and B. Kamenni and M. Kamenni bridges, as well as urban spaces in areas within direct line of sight of the Kremlin.

The Reserved zone is a “Zone of a high security of regulation of building-reserved territory” meant for the ‘preservation and restoration of character of a historical planning, spatial structure, an originality of view of the central part of a city, for maintenance of architectural unity of new constructions with historically developed environment’. No map was provided.

b) Institutional issues

The report provides details concerning various legal instruments for the protection of monuments and funding sources. It refers to several institutions responsible for the management of different components of the property but provides no indication whether or not an overall coordinating body has been established.

c) Management plan

The State Party reports that the 2004-2013 programmes for the development of the State Museums of Moscow Kremlin are currently being implemented.

Whilst this could be considered part of a management plan for the property, no details are provided as to the existence, or development, of such a plan, despite World Heritage Committee requests at previous sessions to be provided with information concerning the management plan.

d) Statement of Outstanding Universal Value

The State Party report includes a chapter entitled “Justification of Outstanding Universal Value” but no Statement of Outstanding Universal Value as such has been provided.

The World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies note that the information provided with regard to the buffer zone and regulatory mechanisms do not sufficiently reflect the requirement to protect the immediate setting of the property and to control development in the overall setting that might impact on the Outstanding Universal Value of the property. The visual impact studies requested by the Committee for all new development projects have not been provided.

The World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies also note that no Special Coordinating Board for the property has been established, as requested by the Committee. The purpose of such board will be to bring together all the relevant stakeholders including ecclesiastical authorities, urban planning authorities, and municipal agencies which exercise planning control in the immediate surroundings.

The State Party report provides detailed information about the restoration work carried out between 2000 and 2010, and emphasizes the activities of the State Museums of the Moscow Kremlin. The involvement, if any, of other stakeholders in the protection and management of the property and its buffer zone, including municipality authorities, is insufficiently addressed.

The World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies consider that the challenge of ensuring adequate protection and management for the property and its setting, in the face of strong urban development pressures, needs to be addressed urgently.

The World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies are of the view that the 2004-2013 programme prepared by the Kremlin Museum is far from fulfilling the requirements for protection and management as outlined in the Operational Guidelines in order to ensure that the Outstanding Universal Value of the property is sustained. They consider that there is a need to develop a specific Management plan based on a Statement of Outstanding Universal Value, as previously requested by the Committee, and to establish a Special Coordination Board for all key stakeholders, including municipal authorities and a representative of theMoscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, also as previously requested by the World Heritage Committee.

The World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies underscore that the studies requested by the Committee in relation to development activities on ‘Middle Trading Tows” have not been provided.

In addition, the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies have been informed about major construction projects on Borovitskaya Square near the Kremlin Wall, in the regeneration part of the Protected zone, that have apparently received approval from the relevant authorities without consultation with the World Heritage Centre. 

On 13 April 2011, the State Party provided the following information:

- the former hotel “Russia” demolished in 2007 is outside of the buffer zone of the property and there are currently no construction plans for that territory;

- the construction project of a depositary and restoration complex of the Museum-Reserve in the vicinity of the property was performed by the order of the Ministry of Culture and the Government of Moscow and approved by all relevant federal bodies. Since then, the Government of the Russian Federation cancelled this project. The construction of this complex will be relocated.   

Taking into account that no information has been provided in compliance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, and in order to prevent any inappropriate construction developments which may affect the Outstanding Universal Value of the property, the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies recall that the State Party should inform the World Heritage Centre of any intention to undertake, or authorize, major restoration or new construction projects. Notice should be given to the World Heritage Centre as soon as possible (for instance, before drafting basic documents for specific projects) and before taking decisions that would be difficult to reverse, so that appropriate solutions could be found to ensure that the Outstanding Universal Value of the property is fully preserved.