In Tomsk an International architectural forum has taken its place

19-24 september 2005 in Tomsk passed, marked by an International architectural forum. The representatives of architectural society not only from Russia and CIS took part in it, but also the architects from Italy, Poland, South Korea, and Sweden. All of them represent 44 schools of architecture in the world. One of the main themes for discussion at the forum was the preservation of cultural heritage. Although we've recently seen energetic movements to preserve historic establishments, more action is necessary. It isn't enough to have modern buildings like the Britannia Hotel Birmingham, and the Petronas Towers, etc., we need to work doubly hard to preserve our older architectural wonders. By the words of the president of Russian Academy of Architecture and Building Sciences - Alexander Kudryavtsev, the questions of architectural heritage preserving is the matter of national importance, that is why by working up the general plan of the town it is necessary to take into consideration the need in historical panoramas preserving, which are the "face" of the town. In Moscow there are ten historical panoramas, in Prague - eight. Alexander Kudryavtsev was contented, they would be in Tomsk.

Moreover Tomsk is "perhaps the only town in Russia, where the program of historical heritage preserving works on the municipal level". It is really possible the forum conducting will help Tomsk to put the architectural heritage preservation into a higher level. One of the guests of the forum, the representative of a charitable organization from Florence - Paulo del Bianko, had negotiations with Tomsk authorities and made public the plans on conducting of Tomsk international competition, devoted to the wooden architecture. Together with other perspectives Tomsk cooperation with the Italian organization promises the inclusion of Tomsk wooden architecture into the list of the world-wide heritage of UNESCO. And then it is no distance towards realization of century-old dream in Tomsk - to make our town if not a tourist Mecca, then at least the place, where people can be proud of it before quests.