One of the main goals of the Committee for the state preservation of historical and cultural monuments is to popularize cultural heritage sites of Saint Petersburg.
KGIOP works in several areas to popularize the cultural heritage of the city. The Committee holds seminars, conferences, roundtable discussions and exhibitions, organizes cultural and educational projects, competitions, tours across cultural heritage sites of the city, lectures, publishing activities, and much more.
Some events aimed at popularization of cultural heritage of Saint Petersburg have turned into traditions:
International Day for Monument and Sites (April 18)
Every year in April the Committee organizes the Heritage Week, which includes tours across cultural heritage sites, press conferences, lectures and other events. These events are organized by the Committee in cooperation with the Open City project and the Union of Restorers of Saint Petersburg.
Restorer’s Day (July 1)
This day the ceremony of presenting Badges of Honorary Restorer of Saint Petersburg takes place and the Award For a Contribution to the Development of the Restoration Field in Saint Petersburg is presented annually. The celebration is conventionally preceded by an entire program of events under the title Week of Restoration (conferences, seminars, tours, workshops, etc.). The program is organized in close cooperation with the Union of Restorers of Saint Petersburg.
Saint Petersburg International Cultural Forum (December)
Since 2014 KGIOP has been involved into arranging events in the framework and under the auspices of the Saint Petersburg International Cultural Forum.
Conferences, roundtable discussions, and seminars held by the Committee, cover a broad range of issues on preservation, restoration and popularization of the cultural heritage. Both Russian and foreign specialists are invited to take part in the events. Also, extensive programs that include tours across cultural heritage sites, meetings with various specialists from Saint Petersburg, ceremonial and other events, are organized for participants of the Forum.
The Open City Cultural and Educational Project
Open City is a cultural and educational project that has been implemented in Saint Petersburg since 2016. This is a long-term program of free tours to various historic locations of Saint Petersburg, with visits to cultural heritage sites that are usually not accessible for the general public.
The project is implemented by the Saint Petersburg City Office of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of History and Culture Monuments and the Committee for State Inspection and Protection of Historic and Cultural Monuments.
KGIOP is vastly involved in publishing.
Since the 1950s KGIOP employees have worked on creating annotated lists of monuments, published tourist guides, collections of research articles, books on history and restoration of certain landmarks.
Numerous publications summarize the results of archival surveys, expert assessments, registration and passportization of monuments, materials of original researches based on archival surveys and on-site inspections of both famous and less known complexes, groups of buildings and separate buildings. Published materials are dedicated not only to monuments of architecture and history, or landscaping sites only, but also to architects and artists who worked in Saint Petersburg – Leningrad.
KGIOP also pays considerable attention to international and interregional cooperation, including projects aimed at popularization of the cultural heritage of Saint Petersburg and the experience of its preservation.
Since 2000 KGIOP has been the organizer of the Saint Petersburg stand at Denkmal (Monument), the European Specialized Exhibition, which is held every other year in Leipzig (Germany) as the world’s largest international forum on restoration, protection of monuments and renewal of cities. The Saint Petersburg stand is always of great interest for participants and visitors of the exhibition. In recognition of achievements of Saint Petersburg restorers, the International Jury of Denkmal Exhibitions awarded the city five gold medals for distinguished merits in the field of monument protection in Europe.
KGIOP has also become a regular participant of the business program of the DENKMAL – Moscow Biennale, a specialized event held in Russia that serves as a venue for experience exchange between Russian and international specialists, representatives of monument protection bodies, state and commercial organizations in the field of preservation, restoration and popularization of historic and cultural monuments.
The range of popularization events organized by KGIOP has been growing continuously. On the website you can read about certain areas of this work, and learn about the current events in the News section.