Students and employees of Moscow State University opposed the monument to St. Vladimir

Students, graduate students, employees and graduates of the Lomonosov Moscow State University addressed an open letter to President Vladimir Putin against the construction of a 24-meter monument to St. Vladimir of the Sparrow Mountains in Moscow.

"The planned installation of a 24 -meter monument jeopardizes the safety of the entire slope of the Sparrow Mountains, including the safety of the monument itself in the long run," the text of the petition says.

The authors of the letter note that the observation deck of the Sparrow Mountains is a place with an extremely high level of geological risk, and there you can not lead safe capital construction. In addition, they believe that the installation of the monument will entail the destruction of the current architectural ensemble of Moscow University, which serves as the "visiting card of Russia and the subject of its pride in the international arena."

"This will lead to a violation of the visual perception of the object of cultural heritage in its historical, urban and natural environment," the document says.

Under the letter, more than a thousand people were signed, including professors and researchers of the geological and geographical faculties.

More than 42.4 thousand people signed a similar petition of the Union of the residents of the Gagarinsky district.

The engineering and geological conditions of the sparrow mountains do not allow you to place a heavy structure in this place. That is why at the beginning of the twentieth century it was necessary to abandon the initial project of the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior here. For the same reason, the building of Moscow State University are built at a considerable distance from the slope. In addition, the security zone of the Moscow State University building as a monument of architecture and the territory of the Vorobyovy Gory natural reserve converge here.

On May 20, the head of the commission on monumental art under the Moscow City Duma, Lev Lavrenov said : "No one canceled the installation of the monument. He will stand on the Sparrow Hills." He also noted that there are no technical obstacles to the installation of the monument.

The millennium from the day of the death of Prince Vladimir will be celebrated as a church and state holiday. According to RBC, more than a billion rubles will be spent on the celebrations, including from the budget. The monument on the Vorobyevs Mountains is one of the most expensive projects. The cost of the monument itself is 94 million rubles. This money is collected as donations. To date, about 20 million rubles were raised, and one anonymous donor made almost the entire amount.

At the end of April, a notice appeared on the public procurement website about the competition for the implementation of work to strengthen the slope of the Sparrow Mountains. The price of the contract is 404 million rubles, work will be paid from the Moscow budget. The opening ceremony, scheduled for November 4, will cost the capital of the capital of 20 million rubles, another 25 million will be attracted from extra -budgetary sources.