The Bulldozer Exhibition (Saint Petersburg)

This is no longer a metaphor. What which was awaited for, feared but not believed finally happened – the bulldozers of Gazprom assaulted the ruins of Nyenskans (XVII century) and Landskrona (1300) fortresses. They broke into one of the bastions, leaving a 50 square meters pit where an 1.6 meter ancient earthen wall stood. A hole large enough for an armored regiment to break in. A part of Landskrona moat was destroyed as well. 

This is our first unrecoverable loss. 

A report (with photographs) on what is at stake if Gazprom’s bulldozers finish the job:

Photography is forbidden on the territory of the future Okhta Center. Security men from the Gazprom press office allow only a few chosen to come onto the site—journalists, photographers and cameramen who have been vetted ahead of time. And for some reason these people aren’t interested in archaeology. They record in close-up only the infrequent visits of officials from high or low levels of power. And according to the conditions of an agreement with Gazprom, even archaeologists who have been digging here for three years do not have the right to invite in journalists or to publish their findings.

* Photo courtesy of dryorick on Living City’s community Live Journal.