Novosibirsk: turning the city into museum

Context

Novosibirsk is a city in Russia, Western Siberia. It is the administrative centre of the Novosibirsk Region and Siberia Federal District, as well as a large industrial, transport, scientific and cultural centre, and the third most populous city in Russia. It also hosts the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, the world-famous scientific centre - Akademgorodok.

Novosibirsk was established in 1893 to accommodate workers hired on the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and bridge crossing the Ob River. It turned 125 years old in 2018, and underwent rapid growth, reaching a million inhabitants 69 years only after its foundation.

Novosibirsk and culture

About half of Novosibirsk's inhabitants are first or second generation migrants from other parts of Russia, who moved to the city to study or work. Some of these residents later go to Moscow or St. Petersburg so they do not consider the city as their home, nor as the place where their children will live, and show little interest in improving and preserving the city. In addition, Novosibirsk is a very young city, which makes people assume that it does not have a rich history.

That is why the city has launched a programme to involve all its inhabitants into the promotion of the city’s history, by bringing culture and museums outdoor, onto the streets and in social networks.

A city like Novosibirsk that has grown from a workers' settlement into a large megacity and scientific centre within 69 years has a unique and rich history that no other city in the world can match.

Goals and project implementation

Main aim and specific goals

The goal of the project is to infuse culture into the urban environment as a whole, to promote local historical heritage and to attract young professionals in the city on the long-term.

A more specific goal is to have one citizen out of five knowing at least three different historical facts about Novosibirsk by 2020, so that he can share them with others.

Development of the project

Main actions carried out

The project “Novosibirsk: turning the city into museum” was launched by Novosibirsk City Museum in 2012, to last until 2020. It consists in taking the museum out of its edifice by turning the city’s streets into museums galleries, buildings into exhibits, and citizens into listeners and storytellers.

The project’s activities are targeted at people from a wide range of ages, social status and levels of education. The budget is derived from the municipal and regional funds, the Museum's own funds, grants, and funds from sponsors.

The project is divided into 4 main development areas:

1. Thematic Street Photo Exhibitions
   Photo exhibitions are displayed all year-round in the city’s underground and the streets of five districts. From 2012 to 2017, 32 street exhibitions and 21 exhibitions in metro stations and subway trains were displayed.
    
2. Public Historical Projects
   A series of projects are related to the history of the local area, music and modern information technologies. Each project takes place in a historical venue of the city.

Most outstanding projects include:

• The unveiling of the monument to the Russian Emperor Alexander III, which took place in the Park "City Origin" in 2012. An historical video was shown on two panoramic screens, consisting of a historical background of Novosibirsk and a description about the personality of the Emperor. A symphonic orchestra and choir performed works by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Musorgsky and Beethoven. At midnight, a white cloth fell from the bronze 5-meter monument, accompanied by the music of M. Glinka and bells chimes.
• 3D mapping shows on historical monuments’ facades. The first show, "History of the House", was shown in 2013 on the building of the Novosibirsk City Museum, where the Russian scientist and cosmonautics theorist Yuri Kondratyuk used to work. It was followed by the historical shows "90 Years of the House of Kondratyuk" (2014) and "Streets of the Revolutions" (2017). «Streets of the Revolutions” was showed on the facade of the «Red torch» theatre, accompanied by a concert given by honoured Russian artists singing Revolution songs in Russian and foreign languages.
• In the framework of the International "Night of Museums", two projects, "The Bridge of Time" (2016) and "Constellation Novosibirsk” (2017), took place successively in the park "City Origin”, where the first railway bridge used to pass over the river. A screen of 120 sq. meters and a stage were set up, and the shows focused on different periods of the city history. At one moment during the show, a genuine locomotive passed over the bridge, giving a welcoming whistle to all spectators.
• The Patriotic event "Music of The Victory" (2013) was organised in the State Public Science and Technology Library Park, based on letters written by Russian soldiers who were on the front lines in 1941-1945, and on wartime songs
• The "Candle of Memory" initiative (2016, 2017) is a memorial event dedicated to citizens who died in the fight against fascism during the Great Patriotic War. It is held annually on May 8, the eve of Victory day, in the evening. Thousands of people bring candles to the Memorial of Glory, where a historical war video is broadcast. At the end of the event, everyone puts a candle near the Eternal Flame while the "Requiem" by Mozart is playing.
• Monthly musical evenings "Songs with fountains" have been held on the embankment of the Ob River since 2016, in the summer. These events include the narration of historical tales of the city, the performing of popular songs, and a show with the coloured music fountains.

Over the period 2012-2017, the above-listed events had been attended by more than 38 000 people.

3. Virtual History

• Since 2015, Novosibirsk City Museum and Mobile TeleSystems PJSC jointly produce a series of innovative information plates with QR-codes providing information on Novosibirsk historic buildings.
• In the same year, the Novosibirsk city Museum together with 2gis LLC started to develop a "map of Chronicles" - an electronic map of the city with fragments of old documentaries associated with historical objects. Users can access some background information about past events and see what Novosibirsk looked like 50, 60 or 70 years ago.
• Since 2016, a series of videos «Video tours around the city» are produced annually and posted on YouTube. Composed of four authors’ video films lasting from 10 to 12 minutes, they recount little-known incredible tales about Novosibirsk.

4. City tours

Since 2012, employees of the Novosibirsk City Museum have started creating original authors’ excursions around Novosibirsk. The existing excursion series include “The Alhambra Garden”, “Batman in Siberian Chicago”, and “A hooligan excursion”.

Since 2016 there also exist “warm winter excursions”, that are short street walks combined with visits of places of particular interest: Novosibirsk hydroelectric power station, Novosibirsk City Hall, old clothing factory. There also are river excursions, which combine a cruise along the Ob, longest river in Eurasia, and tales about historical settlements on its banks. Over the period 2012-2017, more than 27 000 people went on excursions with Novosibirsk City Museum.

Novosibirsk Tours' narratives are based on recollections of old-timers, fragments from old newspapers and little-known historical facts of everyday city-life. The Tours explore the city landmarks, quiet streets and merchant quarters, at the opposite of the traditional perception of boring and predictable excursions.

Impacts

Direct impacts

Impact on the local governments

In 2017, in view of the project success and despite the lack of funding, the Mayor’s Office made the unprecedented decision to fully restore several historical monuments of the city: the House of engineer Grigory Budagov (the oldest city building being restored); the Clocks on the world-famous House with The Clocks; the City Museum House of the scientist-theorist of the world cosmonautics Yuri Kondratyuk.

Impact on culture and local cultural actors

The Novosibirsk City Museum actively provides archive and photographic materials for publications as part of its educational activities. In 2017, 300 articles on Novosibirsk history were released on local mass media, with the help of the Museum employees.

Impact on the territory and population

Novosibirsk City Museum social network groups has now reached 14 000 members. It is estimated that the involvement of the local communities will have grown by 100% by 2020.
Owing to the work of City Museum’s branches in different city districts, some active local lore communities emerged close to Bogdana Khmelnitskogo St. and in Akademgorodok, and helped those territories to obtain a special landmark status, forbidding buildings’ demolishing and major construction works on-site.

Evaluation

Novosibirsk Museum historical shows have won prestigious awards:

• The all-Russian award for achievements in the field of mass theatrical art «Verges of the mass theatre», for the unveiling of the monument to the Russian Emperor Alexander III;
• «Best arts project» for a historical performance in 2017 «The Bridge of time»

Key factors

Successful implementation of the project activities has been possible through the support of the Mayor’s Office of Novosibirsk, the Government of the Novosibirsk Region and the participation of partner organizations (usually at least 4 partners for each project), in addition to work with volunteers. Partners include Russian Railways, Tolmachevo Airport, Novosibirsk headquarters of student construction brigades, Alfa Bank JSC, Novosibirsk Philharmonic Hall, “Video Date” LLC and others.

Since 2012 Novosibirsk City Museum media office fully supports journalists who write about Novosibirsk by providing them with archive materials and detailed specialists’ comments. No less than 15 specific events are organised for mass media, such as exclusive excursions, press tours and press shows of the exhibitions. Most events are also promoted on social networks, which help expanding the public audience.

Continuity

The year 2018 is marked Novosibirsk’s 125th anniversary. Given the projects’ popularity, Novosibirsk City Museum activities are planned to continue in the future in the following main areas:

• Novosibirsk Mayor’s Office is going to open another branch of the Novosibirsk Museum in the “City Origin” Park, and to start a new project, “Came to life history” , aiming to recreate local historical events while celebrating the Novosibirsk City Day. New equipment will also be purchased for guides.
• The Novosibirsk region Government granted a subvention for the “The Candle of Memory” initiative, based on the paintings of Novosibirsk artists.
• Alfa Bank JSC became the sponsor of a presentation of the restored “Bureau of Altai Region”. The show will revive 120 years of the building’s history on its façade, and 12 additional lanterns were placed around the building.
• A new photography exhibition and new city tours for families and disabled people are under preparation.
• A new project of “cultural volunteers” is to be launched.
• An on-going work on the creation of Novosibirsk cinematics aims at collecting all newsreels about Novosibirsk in national and foreign archives, and then digitize them to make them accessible to a wider audience.

Further information

Novosibirsk is a candidate for the third "UCLG Mexico City – Culture 21 International Award" (November 2017 – May 2018). The jury for the award drew up its final report in June of 2016, and requested that the Committee on Culture promote this project as one of the good practices to be implemented through Agenda 21 for culture.

This article was written by Elena Shchukina, Director of the Novosibirsk City Museum, Novosibirsk region, Russian Federation

Contact: eschukina@admnsk.ru

Website: http://novo-sibirsk.ru/