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Students of St. Petersburg Mining University became winners of a prestigious competition

студенты
© Форпост Северо-Запад / Павел Долганов

The Moscow Victory Museum hosted the award ceremony for the winners and runners-up of the All-Russian architectural competition "Without a Statute of Limitations. One Minute of Silence". In its final stage 100 authors or creative teams, whose works were united by the theme of genocide of peaceful population of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War, took part.

In the category "Temporary Art Objects" the second place was taken by the project "Hope for Light" of the 4th year students of the Mining University Valeria Chueva, Natalia Boiko and Polina Kalinina. Irina Poteshkovskaya, head of the Architecture Department, and Maksim Andreev, senior lecturer, acted as their research supervisors.

"Before embarking on our idea, we became acquainted with historical documents that told us about the atrocities of the Nazis on the territory of Gatchina. There were four concentration camps within the boundaries of the city, where not only prisoners of war, but also civilians - women and children - were held. They existed in inhuman conditions. Hunger, cold and unsanitary conditions led to colossal mortality. Thus, one of the reports of the head of transit camp #154, which was made in the summer of 1942, stated that there were 11 and a half thousand people, but more than 7,000 had already died by that time. The only thing that kept the weakened and exhausted people alive was hope. This is what our work is all about," explained Valeria Chueva.

The project, the 3D model of which was presented to the court of experts, is a huge hollow cube, permeable with light. Thin metal rods support the structure, and there is a bench inside. As noted by the organizers of the competition, they will recommend this art object, as well as other solutions of winners and runners-up, to the local authorities (in this case, the administration of Gatchina district) for further implementation.

As for the other representatives of the Mining University, the third place in the same nomination "Temporary Art Objects" was taken by the work of Elizaveta Istrofilova "To the Victims of the concentration camp in Maikop". Her classmate Alisa Nosacheva won a similar achievement in the "Small Memorial Architectural Forms" category. She dedicated her project to the memory of the Bagerovsky Ditch. This anti-tank defensive construction was used by the Nazis for the mass extermination of Kerch residents during its occupation in 1941. The number of Crimeans shot there was so high, that the Gestapo had no time to check if they were all dead. This saved the lives of several dozens of people who managed to get out of the pit and tell the terrible truth about the atrocities of the occupiers.

A total of ten projects won prizes in the three nominations of the competition. Their authors were congratulated during the awarding ceremony by Elena Tsunayeva, the deputy of the State Duma, co-chair of the Central Headquarters of the "Immortal Regiment of Russia" movement, and Dmitry Shvidkovsky, president of the Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences.