The reconstruction of the Manege is now nearing completion
The reconstruction of the Manege, Moscow's largest exhibition center partially destroyed in a fire last year, is now nearing completion, Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has said. This neo-classical building, near the Kremlin, will reopen its doors on April 18, established by UNESCO as World Heritage Day. And the scaffolding is to be taken off before March 25.
As the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper reports, the first show to be staged in the reconstructed Manege will feature watercolors by the contemporary Russian painter Sergei Andriyaka. This display was due last year, but had to be cancelled after the March 14 blaze.
The fire broke out in the wooden rafters and beams of the Manege's roof, causing it to cave in, but the walls withstood the flames. Now the fire-gutted building has been restored to its former glory: the original stucco has been recreated, the walls resurfaced, and a suspension ceiling installed. Augustin Betancourt's original ceiling structure of exposed wooden beams is visible now, just as it was when the building got unveiled in 1817, said Alexander Kuzmin, chair of Moscow's Architectural Committee. But there is a possibility that the beams will get covered up some time in the future, he added
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