SAVE Europe Publications

Samara: Endangered City on the Volga

This latest report from the Moscow Architecture Preservation Society (MAPS) and SAVE Europe's Heritage outlines the threats facing the rich architecture of Samara, a great city on the Volga, where the people of Moscow were evacuated during the World War II.

The report is edited by Moscow-based architect Vitaly Stadnikov. Stadnikov is a native of Samara, an author of a book on its 20th-century architecture and an expert on provincial Soviet Constructivism. The report is the work of Russian and foreign experts, drawing on examples of sustainable development from all over the world to point to a way forward for Samara.

Corruption in Samara has led to uncontrolled demolition of huge areas of the city, massive new construction and even the assassination of planners and architects. The book details losses and features the city’s remaining architectural gems, including its beautiful wooden architecture, Art Nouveau, industrial and Constructivist buildings, and presents a plan for the regeneration of the city.

176 pages, fully illustrated, bilingual.

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Silesia: The Land of Dying Country Houses

This report by SAVE Europe's Heritage examines the plight of the country houses of Silesia in western Poland. All but abandoned after the aftermath of WWII, these once grand houses now stand neglected and decaying in almost unimaginable numbers.

Silesia was one of the richest and most fertile provinces in Europe. Almost every village had its own great house and grand set of farm buildings and villages followed every few miles as in the most prosperous parts of England, France or Italy. Many of these remained ancestral homes until 1945 when whole populations fled or were moved on. In the place of the German families who left, Poles arrived from eastern Poland, evicted from Polish provinces seized by the Soviet Union.

The report identifies the scale of the problem, describing over 100 houses, most of which are in desperate need of repair. They include fine examples, large and small, of renaissance, baroque, neo-classical and romantic architecture. The authors, Marcus Binney, Kit Martin and Wojciech Wagner, suggest strategies for rescuing and reusing some of these magnificent buildings.

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