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PHJ № 4 (48) 2025 — V. A. Orav. RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS OF THE HISTORICAL CENTER OF LENINGRAD IN 1949 — LATE 1980S AS AN OBJECT OF URBAN PLANNING POLICY

The historical center of St. Petersburg and its associated group of suburbs were recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990. Well-preserved, despite the revolution, the Great Patriotic War and the siege, the city’s ordinary buildings became a significant factor in the designation of St. Petersburg as a major site of cultural heritage of humanity. Nevertheless, the old St. Petersburg was given to us in a changed form. The pre-revolutionary dwelling houses were demolished or rebuilt. A significant factor in these changes was comprehensive capital repair (CCR). The essence of the CCR was the replacement of all structural elements of the building (roof, ceilings, etc.) apart from brick walls only. In order to assess the degree of the impact on the historical center of Leningrad — St. Petersburg preservation, it is necessary to calculate the number of repaired and demolished houses. In this article (without claiming to finalize the conclusions) the calculation attempt is done. In the historiography this problem has not yet received coverage. From the early 1950s until 1981, the CCR was undergone 4.5 million square meters of residential space. Between 1950 and 1969, 3,113 houses were renovated. For the next two decades there is no data on the number of houses repaired, but a rough estimate is about another 1,420 houses. The total amount is about 4,533 houses, which is close to the data of the Housing Department of the Leningrad City Executive Committee of the early 1980s. During the 1980s, about 1.2 million square meters of total area (727 thousand residential, respectively) were subjected to CCR, and, therefore, about 625 houses. The total, according to preliminary calculations, is about 5158 houses for the whole Soviet period, but taking into account selective capital repairs. If we exclude the results of selective repairs, we can consider that about one third of the buildings was undergone comprehensive repair. To this we should also add that since the late 1970s about 30 houses have been demolished in the center. From the early 1960s to 1980, the number of pre-revolutionary houses in the center decreased from 7,619 to 7,411. Thus, the extent of the CCR impact on the preservation of the historic center should be recognized as significant.

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PHJ №1 (45) 2025 — L. A. Gerd. PAUL ANDERSON AND HIS VISIT TO PALESTINE IN 1923

The properties of the Russian institutions in the Holy Land before the First World War belonged to the Russian Government, The Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society and the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission. During the British administration of Palestine (1917–1948) they were a subject of endless discussions. Both the Russian emigrant organizations (the Palestine Society abroad and the Ecclesiastical Mission, subject to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad) on one side, and the Soviet Government on the other side pretended to be legal owners of the properties. The administration of the mandate took the responsibility over the Russian properties, rented them out and used the money for supporting the Russians in Jerusalem and for maintenance of the buildings. The British authorities put the issue on a solid law base and did not admit to the administration either the Soviet representatives, or the Russian emigrants. The correspondence about the visit to Palestine in Summer 1923 of Paul Anderson, member of the Young Christian men’s organization, famous for his activities among the Russian emigrants, contributes to the picture of the complicated relations between the Palestine Society and the British administration. The documents on Anderson’s visit are of primary importance for the history of the Palestine Society abroad and its contacts in the 1920s. They are a logical supplement to the series of attempts of the Society to restore its legal status in Palestine, which it undertook during the whole period of the British Mandate.

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PHJ №1 (45) 2025 – G. S. Tziafetas. OLD PROBLEM, MODERN SOLUTION: FLOODS AND PROTECTION IN ST. PETERSBURG/LENINGRAD (1703–1924)

The article contains a scientific view of environmental management, projects for protecting St. Petersburg from floods, which were proposed by engineers of the 18th and early 20th centuries, as well as a social justification for why flood supports began to be seriously designed only after the catastrophic floods of 1924. Was it a catalyst for the authorities and engineers — or was this design phase more dependent on other (social) processes?

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PHJ № 1 (33) 2022 — M. H. Zakirova. THE TURKMEN OF THE AMU DARYA REGION IN THE STUDIES OF RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY

Turkestan section of the Russian Geographical Society (TO RGS, 1897) at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries had a significant impact on the formation of historical science and ethnography in the Central Asian region. The main purpose of the study is to show the role of the Russian Geographical Society in collecting and processing ethnographic information about the Turkmens inhabiting the territory of Turkestan. The author sets a task to review the reports of M. V. Grulev and H. V. Gelman received during geographical expeditions on the Amu Darya, voiced to the Board of the Russian Geographical Society and published in the News of the Russian Geographical Society for 1900. The author concludes that the received information was necessary for carrying out the consecutive economic and resettlement policy of the Russian government in Central Asia. In particular, to settle the issue of relations of Turkmen tribes with Khiva khan, to solve the problem of land and water use, as well as to study the Amu Darya River for the development of navigation and, if possible, safety for merchant ships.