Red Banner Factory, St. Petersburg, Russia - Open letter
Expert ICOMOS members from Russia and Germany have expressed their concern about the fate of the "Red Banner" Factory in St. Petersburg, Russia - in an open letter.
This architectural monument of the Leningrad avant-garde is the only major work in Russia of the outstanding German Architect Erich Mendelsohn, who was forced to emigrate from Nazi-Germany in 1933 and whose innovative buildings are recognized as the best works of the avant-garde period in Germany, Great Britain, Israel and America. Today, both its building fabric and its visual integrity are endangered.
Taking into account the value and significance of the building, the signatories call on those responsible for the building, to revise the existing project, to elaborate a concept for the rehabilitation and re-use of the entire ensemble, to place priority on the restauration and conservation of the historic buildings and to ensure protection at federal level. The Russian and German experts, members of ICOMOS, are ready to participate in finding a solution.
Read the open letter