Cultural Heritage Preservation in Historical Settlements in Russia: History and Modern Problems
The article is devoted to the investigation of the cultural heritage preservation in historical settlements in Russia. The author compares the modern situation with the USSR's experience of the preservation of historical and cultural monuments, analyses the rules of law regulating some questions of the protection of cultural and architectural heritage in historical settlements. The reduction of the number of historical settlements in 2010 is of particular interest. The author uses comparative analysis to investigate the problems concerning this reduction in detail. The list of historical settlements approved in 2010 includes 44 Russian cities. It is shorter than the list approved in 1990, which included about 500 historical settlements. For example, the list of 2010 does not include Veliky Novgorod, Pskov, Tver, Murom, Uglich, Tula, Mozhaisk, Rzhev, Vologda, Nizhny Novgorod, Sergiyev Posad, Kazan, etc. The author draws a conclusion concerning the possible consequences of such reduction. Among these consequences, there is a possibility of loss of historical building and landscapes, damage of objects of cultural heritage, etc. That is the reason why the existing list demands revision. In addition, the rules of law regulating an application for the status of a historical settlement demand change. The author also analyses other legal and economic problems connected with cultural heritage preservation in historical cities. Among them are the shortage of financial resources for the support of historical settlements, the imperfection of the system of privileges for the investors restoring objects of cultural heritage, the difficulty of establishing the borders of historical settlements, the lack of comprehensive plans of historical settlements' development, the insufficiency of budgetary appropriations for cultural heritage restoration, etc. The article formulates a number of suggestions for the improvement of the work aimed at preservation of cultural heritage in historical settlements. To preserve cultural heritage, it is necessary to accelerate the establishment of borders of historical settlements, to introduce a cluster approach to their development, to create a funding mechanism for projects of cultural heritage preservation, to develop a system of privileges and preferences for private investors, to establish an order of the state assessment of the regional and local efforts directed to cultural heritage preservation, etc. The author considers the establishment of historical settlement borders and development of an effective financial support system for maintaining cultural heritage as the main aims of the modern cultural policy.