| The water did not reach the Sistine Madonna Most of the world's famous monuments survived the European floods of the past week, but now need special attention and expensive repairs - these are the most preliminary "cultural" results of the flood. Monstrous photographs of the Zwinger Museum going under water along with the masterpieces of the Dresden Gallery and the flooded medieval Prague made us expect the worst. For several days, the fate of numerous monuments, museums and theaters that went under water in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, and Slovakia remained unknown.
Now the water is gradually receding, and even before the disappointing results are summed up and the multimillion-dollar losses are calculated, it is clear what enormous damage has been caused to one of the most beautiful cities in Europe - Prague. And this is despite the fact that they prepared for the flood in advance, they managed to evacuate many things, and they tried to protect architectural monuments. Still, the medieval buildings located in the lowlands had a hard time. Some houses have been sealed, and residents are still not allowed into them, fearing for the strength of the foundations. It is believed that the historical center suffered less damage. The main damage was caused not by the flood itself, but by the flow of water leaving the city and rising groundwater. Several monuments were damaged. Among them, according to some information, is the famous synagogue of the 13th century. Perhaps the Baroque palaces and gardens of the Lesser Town or Lower Town, the ancient market square of Staro Miasto, the Jewish Quarter with the oldest synagogues and cemetery in Europe were damaged. The foundations of the National Theater, which stands on unstable coastal soil, were flooded. But, it seems, everything worked out, and after the water was pumped out, the building looks good. Looters are also interested in art. In the vicinity of Prague, three works by the famous artist Alphonse Mucha were stolen from a villa whose residents were evacuated.
In long-suffering Dresden, big water came unexpectedly. The pearl of German culture, baroque Dresden was almost completely destroyed by Allied bombing in 1945 and only recently, after the reunification of Germany, the complex and very expensive restoration of its famous buildings was completed. Now a lot will have to start all over again. Just last weekend it seemed like everything would work out. Small pumps worked diligently, pumping out water from the basements of an 18th-century Japanese palace, and tourists who had absolutely nothing to do in a city that was gradually turning into an island were allowed into the museums. The situation changed dramatically on Tuesday. The general director of the Dresden Museums, Martin Roth, admitted that no one expected such a high water level, and they had to act literally at the last minute. The Zwinger Museum's rich collections of old masters were rescued over the course of two days, sometimes standing knee-deep in water, by museum staff, soldiers and volunteers. Well known in Russia as the collection of the Dresden Gallery, the paintings, “saved” by the Soviet government after the end of the war and then returned to the GDR, including Raphael’s Sistine Madonna, were mainly located on the upper floors of the building and were not in immediate danger. It is difficult to say how much the water has changed the building’s carefully observed humidity regime by museum workers around the world. It is known that its serious changes do not have the best effect on the condition of works of art that are accustomed to ideal conditions of storage and movement. If there are many victims and those in need of help, then eliminating the consequences of the flood will be a long and difficult task for museums. We can only hope that both the ancient monuments and the works of the old masters have already survived so many adversities that they will withstand this one too. After water completely flooded the foundations of the building and even the lower floor with restoration workshops, rescuers had to move almost eight thousand works of art. The richest weapons collection and the unique collection of Meissen porcelain, which was only recently opened to the public in the newly restored galleries, were completely evacuated. The preliminary results were briefly summed up by museum representative Tilman Stockhausen: “The works of art are intact, the building is damaged, the water condition is stable.” “Until now, we have been able to save our priceless exhibits on our own,” Martin Roth said at a press conference in Dresden on Monday. “We will inevitably need outside help in the future.” It is surprising that one of the symbols of the city was hardly damaged - the cathedral next to the museum, the restoration of which was completed before the flood. But serious damage was caused to the baroque building of the Semper Opera, located next to the museum. In addition, state-of-the-art stage structures worth DM 15 million were damaged. Contrary to the worst expectations, Albertinum was hardly damaged. Since yesterday, the museum has been open to the public, but its exhibition does not look quite ordinary. In the gallery of New Masters and in the Antique Hall, thousands of sculptures, bas-reliefs, and fragments evacuated from basement storage facilities stand, lie, or simply lie scattered around. In total, museum employees and their volunteer assistants moved about 11 thousand exhibits upstairs. This unique spectacle can be seen completely free of charge until next Sunday.
The staff of the museum in Dassau, where the famous Bauhaus was located, also had to move the collection to the upper floors.
Now the water is moving towards Magdeburg, threatening the ancient city and its famous cathedral, and one of the most beautiful cities in Europe - Budapest. The fate of the less famous, but also more numerous monuments scattered in the small towns of the flooded Czech Republic and Austria is also unknown. In addition to the direct cultural and material damage, analysts are already advising to add the losses that the tourism industry of the center of Europe will suffer. The danger lies in the epidemic
Commentary from the staff of the All-Russian Scientific and Restoration Center named after Academician I.E. Grabar:
— The scale of the disaster cannot yet be assessed. Don’t forget, in Dresden the paintings from the gallery remained dry, but the unique archives and libraries were under water. This is a disaster. Paintings, icons, especially books, parchments react to changes in humidity like an accordion. When it's dry, they shrink. The water evaporates. When wet, they expand and swell with water. As a result, the structure warps and deforms. Anything that has been in water urgently requires the help of “reanimators” - the paper must not only be dried, but also placed under a press. If an icon gets wet, you urgently need to strengthen the soil and draw in the glue using tissue paper. This work requires ideal conditions, constant temperature and humidity conditions. I am afraid that at the moment it is impossible to provide these conditions for many regions of Germany and Austria.
The biggest problem will arise when they even have time to forget about the flood a little. There will be a threat of an epidemic, almost the same as the flu among people. Any ancient painting has an organic basis. If there is a lot of humidity, after a while parasites appear: mold, fungi. They are transferred from a diseased picture to a healthy one. So drying out flooded buildings is still half the battle. The main thing then is to carry out total disinfection, to prevent the recurrence of the spread of any infection. Faina BALAKHOVSKAYA with the participation of Yuri SHPAKOV, Berlin |
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