The Ufa City Hall is asked to ban the construction of the Church of All Saints on the site of the historic settlement

A court in Ufa will consider a lawsuit filed by media manager Raufa Rakhimova and archaeologists Flarit Sungatov and Alfiya Sultanova against the Ufa diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church with a demand to ban the construction of the Church of All Saints on the site of the Ufa II Settlement Site of federal cultural heritage as illegal. The plaintiffs refer to the constitutional norms for the preservation of historical monuments and ask to invalidate the permit issued by the mayor’s office in May. The Ufa diocese did not respond to Kommersant’s request, while the Ufa administration promised to formulate its legal position later.

The historical settlement, the territory of which became the subject of a legal dispute, was discovered by scientists in the Bashkir capital in 1953, and since 1961 it has been a historical and archaeological monument. Archaeologists attribute the foundation of the settlement to the 4th century. At the excavation site, elements of houses, household utensils, bone, clay and metal tools, women’s jewelry, silver coins and animal bones were found.

The issue of building a tourist facility near the settlement has been discussed in Bashkiria since 2006.

The location next to the monument has long been the subject of disputes with developers, including the Housing Development Fund (HCF). In 2014, social activists succeeded in getting the FZhS to exclude the settlement zone from economic development. In 2019, the government of Bashkiria planned to build a tourist and entertainment facility with a recreation park and an “archaeological window” — a pit of 25 sq. m and a depth of 4 m, where you can see the excavation site and the layout of the medieval city.

However, later the authorities determined a new purpose for this territory. In May 2023, according to a lawsuit filed by media manager Raufa Rakhimova and archaeologists, candidates of historical sciences Flarit Sungatov and Alfiya Sultanova, the Ufa Diocese Department of Urban Planning Control of the city administration issued a permit for the construction of the Church of All Saints. The construction, the plaintiffs emphasize, is planned near Ufa II Settlement: the developer managed to build a pile foundation there.

“In our opinion, the construction of not only the building of the temple, but any other capital construction projects on the territory of the Ufa II Settlement is prohibited by law,” the statement says.

Therefore, according to the plaintiffs, the permission to build the temple is illegal. The state protection of cultural heritage sites is one of the priority tasks of the state, they remind, and the lawsuit itself is aimed at realizing the constitutional duty to preserve historical and cultural monuments. Since the object of cultural heritage can be destroyed before the court makes a decision, the plaintiffs proposed to take interim measures, prohibiting the work from being carried out until the decision of the court.

In early August, the Oktyabrsky District Court, which received an administrative claim, came to the conclusion that the Kirovsky District Court should consider the case, since the disputed territory is located in the Kirovsky District of Ufa. This decision was challenged in the Supreme Court, which on Wednesday ordered the Oktyabrsky District Court to start considering the application of Rauf Rakhimova, Flarit Sungatov and Alfiya Sultanova. The authors of the statement also ask to invalidate the permit issued by the mayor’s office for the construction of the temple.

The Ufa diocese did not respond to Kommersant’s request. The press service of the Ufa administration reported that the mayor’s office “will formulate its legal position on this issue” after the lawsuit is accepted for proceedings.

The construction of any objects within the protected zones is possible only after the state historical and cultural expertise and the coordination of its results with a special department, recalled the lawyer of the law firm Rustam Kurmaev and Partners, Yaroslav Shitsle. “If such an examination is carried out and agreed upon, then the temple can be built subject to the conditions for the protection of cultural monuments. Thus, the prospects for a claim will depend on whether such an examination was carried out, ”he believes.

Venera Khisamova, Ufa