Monuments

Public attitude to monuments of the past determines the cultural level of such society. Monuments perish even faster than we mange to describe them. Just yesterday everybody saw some monument, e.g. the Eliseevskiy Shop, and today nobody can recollect if there was a chandelier there or not. People’s memory is very short and selective. We remember well only the things which concern us personally, and we remember worse all the rest.

We tried to select for description the monuments which are not the most well-known but very important for the Russian and world culture. Fates of a Greek salesman in antiquities and a Russian grandee, tsar’s queer whims and great poet’s violent Fantasy were intricately interwoven with these monuments. All these monuments are still keeping secrets. That makes them interesting, and we must learn about them as much as possible.

There are lots of such monuments all over the world. Many of them can vanish due to inevitable biospheric processes of stone destruction. Monuments get destroyed with various speed in various climates. They become overgrown with all kinds of biological objects which can essentially change their outward appearance quite differently. We have studied monuments in the north climate of St.Petersburg and the arid climate of Egypt, in the marine climate of the Crimea and the distinctly continental climate of Kazakhstan. This made it possible for us to come to understanding of the fact that the monument for studying, mapping using CONSOLIDATOR_BIO technology and preserving for the next generations should be selected taking into account not only its history, but also climatic conditions. We intend to seek such monuments jointly with the present and future partners in various regions and different natural and climatic conditions. This will make it possible for us to go on improving technologies of documenting, mapping and preserving monuments of cultural heritage.