We saved Leningrad, we restored the hero city!

Striving for winning the battles,
The siege has enforced evermore,
It stands all anew on the Neva,
Our city, creation of Peter the Great.

V.V. Inchik

The restoration of Leningrad began right after the liberation of the city from the enemy siege. One of the first buildings to be restored was a residential building at the intersection of Gogol Street (Malaya Morskaya) and Brick Lane. This house was destroyed in late 1941 due to a high-explosive bomb of 250 kg caliber fallen into the ground two meters away from the foundation. The explosion tore part of the masonry from the wall and formed a deep funnel into which the corner of the building fell.

The restoration of the house was managed by a group of masons under command of an experienced craftsman Alexei Kulikov. Using rationalization methods, Alexey exceeded the daily norm by eight to ten times, laying up from eight to ten thousand bricks per shift. The high-powered work of mason Alexei Kulikov was awarded the Stalin Prize of the third degree.

The reconstruction work on Nevsky Prospekt was especially intensive, where Gostiny Dvor, houses under numbers 30/16, 68/40, 35/17 and others were recreated.

In the first months after the siege, the restoration of the buildings was carried out using bricks, which were collected on the grounds of the destroyed houses.

The head of the LISI (now SPbGASU) Department of Building Materials, Professor P. I. Bozhenov, Dr. of Engineering, has developed a technology for the production of nepheline cement, effectively replacing Portland cement, which was urgently needed for construction production and restoration work.

In addition to specialists and experienced craftsmen, young people from among students and schoolchildren were sent for restoration work. At this time, all over all Leningrad districts, numerous vocational schools opened, where they taught various construction specialities. To improve the skills of young builders, the Leningrad publishing house "Lenizdat" published a series of brochures: B.D. Amenitsky, To help a novice painter; B. D. Amenitsky, To help a novice glazie”, 1944; V.I. Makarov, To help a novice roofer and plasterer”, 1944; M. M. Sapozhnikov, To help a novice plumber, 1944; V. I. Shevtsov, To Help a novice Electrician, 1944; V. V Maksimov, S. P. Mayzel, From the Experience of Restoring Buildings in the City of Leningrad, 1947.

In addition to books and numerous instructions, the builders were enthused by posters that hung throughout Leningrad.

The building of the Main Admiralty, was repaired and restored even during the days of war and the siege, after each raid and shelling, to the extent possible. This critical work was led by architect Vladimir Pilyavsky, later professor at LISI (SPbGASU).

Five high-explosive bombs with caliber from 250 to 500 kg were dropped on the Admiralty; it was fired at from long-range guns twelve times. But back in the autumn of 1942, thousands of small holes in the Admiralty’s roof were covered with rags and red putty, and patches of iron and roofing were applied in the area with large holes. Immediately after the end of the war, the restoration of the Admiralty began by the capacities of military construction organizations that repaired the roofs and facades of buildings.

One of the authors of this article, working in the Admiralty from 1954 to 1964, at his own initiative examined the brickwork of the tower and basements, established their condition and selected samples of historical ceramics for demonstration first at lectures at SPbGASU (where he began working in 1964), and then at the University's Museum of Brick.

During the restoration work in Leningrad, paramount importance was focused on the objects associated with the memory of V.I. Lenin. In the siege years, the Smolny architectural ensemble got seriously damaged. Therefore, starting in 1946, systematic restoration works were carried out in its entire complex. In 1953, the destroyed southwestern building of the architectural ensemble was completely restored according to the architect I.N. Benois’s design.

Restoration work had been carried out in the building of the Smolny Institute in 1974-1982. During this time, its facades, the main staircase and many rooms were restored.

St. Isaac's Cathedral was seriously damaged during the siege. Already on October 29, 1941, a shell exploded near the cathedral; On May 14, 1942, a second shell hit the southwestern corner of the cathedral, and on January 23, 1943, a bomb exploded close to the cathedral knocking out stained glass windows with the blast wave, thus allowing atmospheric precipitation to penetrate through the holes in the roof of the building. From damp and cold conditions, decoration of the cathedral began to collapse. In addition, the adhesion between the plaster and the masonry of brick walls got broken inside the cathedral.

Employees of the Leningrad Institute of Civil Engineering, E. D. Kamusher and L. P. Polevukhina, under the direction of Professor P. I. Bozhenov, suggested tofill the cavities formed between the brickwork and the plaster with a solution of ground quicklime to restore adhesion of the plaster to the masonry; it had a great strength, quick setting and hardening. Restoration of plaster coatings was important, since it was necessary to restore the art painting on the plastered walls.

Work in St. Isaac's Cathedral was continued in the 1970s by the author of this article, who then was examining the condition of the brickwork of the attic. The survey found that the front of the brickwork to a varying degree was destroyed under the influence of external factors, i.e., humidity, temperature and salt corrosion. X-ray phase analysis was used to identify salt corrosion agents, which were water-rich minerals mirabilite and thaumasite, formed when exposed to high humidity and aggressive gases, sulphurous and carbonic. To prevent the further formation of efflorescence on masonry and to preserve it, LISI staff developed a technology that allowed to put the cathedral's attic walls to satisfactory condition.

The fate of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, built in the early 20th century, was dramatic. In 1941, even before the outbreak of war, the temple was subject to demolition by decision of the leadership of Leningrad, for which the appropriate specialists and materials were prepared for blasting. But the start of the war prevented the destruction of an outstanding building.

Unfortunately, the temple was used far from the best way during the siege: at the end of 1941, during the period of high mortality of the townspeople from severe hunger, it was turned into a morgue. As a result of shelling and hitting the dome of the temple, and the lack of heating in the building, serious damage arose.

In the postwar years, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was used as a warehouse for storing the scenery of the Maly Opera and Ballet Theater (Mikhailovsky Theater). Only at the end of the 1970s, restoration works took start at the cathedral began

The work was attended by the staff of LISI (SPbGASU), including one of the authors of this article. The most important task of restorers was the restoration of mosaic panels inside the temple, partially lost smalt and abundantly covered with salt deposits.

I, Vsevolod Inchik, led the group, which was to determine the composition of salts and develop a way to eliminate them. The difficulty was that it was impossible to dissolve the salts with acids, since the cement mortar on which smalt was planted could be destroyed. As a result, the salt coating, which was made of wollastonite, was eliminated manually with the help of rubber bands and a fine emery cloth. After elimination of salt deposits, reconstructed panels from smalt were subjected to hydrophobization treatment developed by specialists of our group.

In 1944, LISI (SPbGASU) scientists participated in other restoration work related to the life support of the city. Professor S. M. Shifrin, Dr. of Engineering, dealt with the problem of building a combined sewage system in the central districts of the city. Wastewater was diverted through a unified system of pipes to collectors along the embankments of rivers and canals. Thanks to this decision, the Fontanka river waters were purified so much that fish soon appeared in them. The Pryazhka and Moika Rivers, Griboedov Canal, Obvodniy and Kryukov Canals were almost completely freed from pollution, and treatment facilities with biological wastewater treatment were built on Belyi Island, near Kanonersky Island.

Professor of LISI N.L. Staskevich, Dr. of Engineering, supervised the construction of shale processing plants near the relevant fields. It became possible to convert gas shale rocks to combustible gas and transport it through pipelines to places of consumption. As a result of his activities in the postwar years, gas began to be supplied to each apartment of Leningrad residents.

In the first post-war five-year period, restoration work in Leningrad was wide in scope and well-planned. Specialists, builders and residents of the city enthusiastically executed this difficult task.

During this period, more than 1.5 million square meters of residential premises were restored; 196 schools, 343 kindergartens, etc. were put into operation. In an unprecedentedly short period, the hero city changed, eliminating the effects of war and the siege.

Text: Professor Vsevolod Inchik, Dr. of Engineering, SPbGASU

In the preparation of the article, Tatyana Inchik, full member of the Petrovsky Academy of Sciences and Arts, took part

Posters from the collection of V.V. Inchik