No to State Vandalism!
The cultural heritage must be protected!
The protest rally against the eviction of RGIA and VIR from
the buildings in which the reside
On 21 April 2003 at 16:00
On Isaac Square
The President’s Administration has made a gift to St. Petersburgs’s
300 Anniversary – The Russian Federal Historical Archive (RGIA) and the All-Russian
N. Vavilov Institute of Plant-Growing (VIR) are to be evicted from the buildings
in which they reside. The destruction of the Archive of Russian statehood and
of the worldwide unique genetic fund of plant seeds is an act of national genocide,
dictated by the President officials.
The mass protest action is taking place on the initiative
of the Committee of St. Peterburg’s citizens, of the Research and Information
Centre “Memorial”, of the International Club of natives of St. Petersburg and
other human rights, scientific, local lore and ecological organisations, institutes
and political parties. The Administration of St Petersburg is notified about
the rally. In the course of the action the participants will issue a resolution
and the announcement for media and the world public. The documents of civic
protest will be handed over to RGIA and other archives for permanent preservation.
The Archive of Senate is located at the same place since
1758. The building of Senate and Synod was built in 1835 especially for the
Archive, which now counts more than 6 Mio. entities and is known as one of the
symbols of Russian statehood. In the building of the Institute of Plant-Growing
the worldwide greatest collection of plant genes and the most valuable herbarium
are located. The shift of these rarities would require astronomical expenditure
and will inevitably lead to irreplaceable loss of values of national and international
importance! That is why the repeal of the Government decision should be achieved
at all costs.
The aim of the civic action in support of the Archive and
VIR is to express the collective will of the citizens of St. Petersburg and
to work out a strategy of the participation of the city residents in the decisions
concerning the most important issues in the life of the city.
We
urge you to inform anyone who is worried about the fate of our cultural heritage
about the action.
If
you are unable to take part in the rally you can express your opinion in written
form. It can be then read out at the meeting and kept for the future record.
e-mail:
infomem@comset.net
websites
(guest books): www.rgia-sos.narod.ru,
www.rgia.narod.ru
telephone
numbers: (812) 162-58-61, (812) 314-31-16 (telephone/fax) and others (the list
of telephone numbers and addresses can be extended)
Russian Deutsch
Back
| 