Notebook

The British company Event Communications won a tender to revamp Moscow’s Polytechnical Museum, a famous institution built in the 1870s and standing on Lubyanka square. Once a national and international marvel, today the museum’s science exhibits are severely outdated. 

The country’s largest museum of technology will be closed for reconstruction, and its entire modernization program, overseen by a foundation with multiple government representatives, will be completed by the end of 2016. The Russian government has budgeted R7.5 billion for the project, gazeta.ru reported. 

While a top-notch renovation by a company that is responsible for award-winning museums in Glasgow sounds like excellent news, some have expressed fears that the result may be far from what many expect. In particular, former museum director Gurgen Grigoryan, who was fired in July, said the renovation may well turn the massive downtown building into a conference hall and move exhibitions and 170,000 items to a different venue, on the outskirts of Moscow.