In the near future the State Duma will consider amendments to the law "On Objects of Cultural Heritage (Monuments of History and Culture) of the Peoples of the Russian Federation"

In the near future the State Duma will consider amendments to the law "On Objects of Cultural Heritage (Monuments of History and Culture) of the Peoples of the Russian Federation". It is evident that the modification of Federal Law No. 73 in respect of abolishing the mandatory State historical and cultural assessment of land plots is being lobbied for by developers.

What does the abolition of the State historical and cultural assessment mean? It means that building work will proceed without any hindrance on top of archaeological sites not yet discovered; shopping centres and new housing blocks will rise on ancient burial grounds and settlement sites; roads will be laid across old churchyards; priceless historical sources will perish beneath the buckets of excavators, and their traces will be rolled into concrete. Only those plots where the presence of a historical and cultural object has already been established at the time of construction will remain protected. Such generosity!

In Russia monuments have for many years been left unprotected and even unregistered, and an enormous number of potential finds remain undiscovered. Scholars are sounding the alarm: Russia has no complete archaeological map! Permission to build without assessment will destroy the chances of future discoveries!

Needless to say, the amendments flatly contradict the provisions of the European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage, to which Russia acceded in the 1990s. Throughout the world it is an accepted obligation that any construction work must be accompanied by consultation with archaeologists. Yet the initiator of the amendment has resolved to "simplify" life for developers and builders. And this when Stone Age settlement sites, the remains of ancient hillforts and groups of burial mounds have already been found in the Moscow region, and many more monuments may lie in territories not yet explored.

Colleagues are signing a petition against the abolition of the historical and cultural assessment. It is hard to believe that it can help in any way, but all the same, do join in: https://bit.ly/2IgpbZC