Closing dates for renovation of the New Tretyakov Gallery have been announced

The State Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val will undergo reconstruction in 2025, when a new building opens on Kadashevskaya Embankment

Most recently, MK wrote about another accident in the New Tretyakov Gallery – during the holidays, the heating in the West Wing turned off due to severe frosts, and smudges appeared on the walls. We had to heat the exhibition halls with heat guns. And this is not the first emergency at the Tretyakov Gallery. Elena Pronicheva responded to the message and stated that the New Tretyakov Gallery will close for reconstruction in 2025 – as soon as the new Tretyakov Gallery building on Kadashevskaya embankment is put into operation.

The long-term construction on Kadashevskaya embankment is almost ready. Now finishing work is being completed there. It is still necessary to obtain a conclusion on the compliance of the new building with all museum standards. This fall, the building with an area of ​​35 thousand square meters, of which more than four thousand are exhibition spaces, is promised to be put into operation. The main exhibition from Krymsky Val, including Malevich’s “Black Square” and other masterpieces of the 20th century, will be transported there.

“By the end of 2025, we will complete the exhibitions on Krymsky Val and close the building for reconstruction and repair work,” said Elena Pronicheva, director of the State Tretyakov Gallery. – At the same time, a gallery building will open in both Kaliningrad and Samara. And the reconstruction of the building on Krymsky Val will complete the development of the Tretyakov Gallery museum complex in the center of Moscow.

Elena Pronicheva did not reveal the details of the reconstruction project of the New Tretyakov Gallery. But it will probably be based on an existing project by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, prepared by him in 2018. Then the areas of the Central House of Artists became part of the Tretyakov Gallery, and Zelfira Tregulova, who at that time headed the museum, stated that the building on Krymsky Val urgently needed major repairs and reconstruction. By that time, communications were already very worn out. Her words are confirmed by regular accidents. So, in 2020, when there were heavy rains in Moscow, the halls of the New Tretyakov Gallery were flooded. Stormwater systems could not cope with the flow of water, as a result of which large puddles formed on the upper floors, and exhibits at the temporary exhibition had to be evacuated. Until it was possible to remove the collection from the Krymsky Val, it was impossible to begin repairs. She will appear very soon. How will the New Tretyakov Gallery be reconstructed?

It will be difficult and expensive to quickly develop a new reconstruction project, and why, when there is already a project by Rem Koolhaas. It is designed to preserve the main structural and decorative elements (like stone railings and modernist chandeliers) of the historical architecture created by the workshop of Ivan Zhotovsky. At the same time, it aims to reveal the potential of the building. Let us remember that the building on Krymsky Val took 20 years to build (from 1965 to 1985) and became an iconic example of early Soviet modernism. And what’s important is that Koolhaas’s project was created in collaboration with the Russian architectural bureau of Vladimir Plotkin, and all the materials are available from domestic specialists.

“We will return the scale to the building and highlight the best original parts, for example, the ceiling, stone railings,” said Rem Koolhaas in 2018. – Half of what is in the interior now was not originally planned. So we remove the partitions and create a different effect. We are not adding anything, we are simply returning to what was lost.

The main idea of ​​Koolhaas’s project is to fill the space with air by removing “blind” walls and partitions. Thus, a panoramic view will open from the windows of the New Tretyakov Gallery. According to the Dutchman’s project, the space of the former Central House of Artists should become a festival area, and the exhibition and educational program will be concentrated in the eastern wing. It was assumed that the building would have open storage and a spacious seating area.