About 1 billion rubles will be spent on celebrating the 1000th anniversary of the death of Prince Vladimir, during which the baptism of Russia took place, RBC reported on Thursday, May 21, citing data specified in a government order dated September 2014.

The largest expenditure - almost 405 million rubles - will go to the installation of a monument to Prince Vladimir on the Sparrow Hills, the agency notes. These funds will, in particular, be spent on strengthening the slope of the Sparrow Hills and carrying out work to preserve the observation deck.

The grand opening of the monument is scheduled for November 4. According to the government order, the ceremony will cost the Moscow budget another 20 million rubles, another 25 million will be raised from extra-budgetary sources.

There are 76 points in total, the total cost of which is 530 million rubles. Of these, 113.2 million will be allocated from the federal budget, 50 million from the regional budget. 365.7 million rubles must be provided from extrabudgetary sources.

A representative of the Ministry of Finance, when asked by RBC about the expenses already incurred, replied that allocations for anniversary celebrations “are included in the expenses of the interested federal executive authorities.”

At the same time, a study conducted by RBC showed that for the installation of monuments to Vladimir and the repair of churches, regional authorities and sponsors will allocate commensurate amounts that were not indicated in the government order. In addition to Moscow, celebrations on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the death of Prince Vladimir, which will continue until the end of 2015, will be held in Crimea, St. Petersburg, Smolensk, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Rostov-on-Don and other cities.

According to RBC, the events are also sponsored by Russian billionaires. The agency, in particular, notes that the government has a section “Repair and restoration work”, which is financed mainly from extra-budgetary sources. This section identifies churches that are subject to restoration and bear the name of St. Prince Vladimir. According to RBC, 20 million rubles have been allocated from the budget of Moscow and the Ministry of Culture for the restoration of one of the main objects - the Moscow Diocesan House, and the main assistance in the amount of 680 million rubles comes from private sponsors.

donated 500 million rubles for the restoration In particular, Arkady Rotenberg , 100 million rubles - Vasily Anisimov , 80 million rubles - the permanent trustee of the St. Tikhon Humanitarian University located on the territory of the diocesan house, the head of the Aton investment company, Evgeniy Yuryev.

The fact that the restoration became possible thanks to their help is indicated in the booklet issued by the leadership of the Moscow Diocesan House. The size of the donations to RBC was reported by an interlocutor close to the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, and confirmed by a person close to one of the donors. The businessmen themselves declined to comment.

Celebrations in honor of Vladimir the Baptist were estimated at 1 billion rubles