With love for the city

Priority to science, culture, history

The integration of JINR into the urban environment was the subject of a joint meeting of the JINR Public Council for Cooperation with Local Government Bodies of Dubna and the Council for the JINR Social and Infrastructure Development Projects Programme.

JINR Director Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Grigory Trubnikov, Deputy Head of the City for Urban Development Alexey Stepanenko and Deputy Head for Culture, Education and Sports Nikolay Madfes took part in the meeting. The following issues were discussed: the current status of the implementation of the project "Ratmino", the reconstruction of the second floor of the JINR International Conference Centre and the project to establish a museum complex in the building on Mir Square.

The Resort Hotel "Ratmino" has long been in need of reconstruction and further development. The construction department has worked through all the fundamental issues and outlined plans for the construction of a new building and the renovation of two old ones. Focus was on the compliance with the status of Ratmino as a territory of historical and cultural heritage. When discussing this issue, Director asked Alexey Stepanenko how the bike path would go through the territory of Ratmino. Alexey Stepanenko told about the route: it is laid along the Ratminskaya spit and at the next stage, will go along the bank of the Dubna, which funds have already been allocated in the budget for. However, it is difficult to imagine how a route more than 6 m wide, called a bike path, can be laid along the bank of the Dubna River and the edge of the Resort Hotel without violating the very historical and cultural heritage which the citizens of Dubna have been fighting for many years for. But they did not develop the topic, since the bike route project requires separate discussion.

The next issue concerned the renovation of the JINR International Conference Centre that was already underway. I found the idea of breathing new life into this building by slightly changing its ideology quite interesting. The architects proposed to finally turn the former restaurant into a cultural centre, uniting science with culture and opening its doors to the general public. On the second floor, instead of a cafe, it was proposed to arrange an art gallery and rooms for communication (artists, we are waiting for initiatives from you!). Nikolay Madfes supported this idea (with which I had previously addressed the Administration at the request of an initiative group of Dubna artists). Working in the service of the chief engineer of the JINR RSD in the early 1980s of the last century, I supervised the construction of this complex building and I admit, I was disappointed when the already constructed and hard-won commissioned building was re-profiled into the International Conference Centre by order of the Administrative Director of the Institute. However, practice has proven the expediency of such a decision. JINR Director called for replenishing the International Conference Hall with new cultural objects, without infringing on the interests of the scientific community.

The last issue, as it seemed to me, was the most relevant, I would even say revolutionary. The Institute at one time took an important step by acquiring a historical building on Mir Square that in Soviet times, housed the executive committee of the Council of People's Deputies and later, the mayor's office of Dubna. Today, it has been decided to house a museum of the history of JINR in it with a rather interesting exposition, including devices and even entire units of equipment of physical facilities, which the first scientific experiments were carried out on (14 December marks 75 years since the commissioning of the synchrocyclotron). I will not hide the emotions inspired in me by one of these exhibits: the synchrocyclotron control panel was my workplace for many years. In 1985, I began working in the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems in my profile specialty on the accelerator as a senior electrical engineer. At that time, reconstruction was underway, after which the accelerator obtained a new name "phasotron".

Grigory Trubnikov developed the topic of the museum, emphasizing the need to preserve the historical institute part of the city, the centre of which is Mir Square. He appealed to the city authorities with a request to take into account the historical factor and the position of the Institute when scheduling any work that changes the historical image of the old part of the city. In this regard, it would not be superfluous to mention the proposal made at the past public hearings on amendments to the General Plan of the city: "To return the status of the historically established buildings for Flerov, Joliot-Curie, Meshcheryakov, Mir Streets, since demolition, violation of the stylistic unity of the current buildings and changes to their functional significance are not allowed in this area".

In general, we would like to hope that JINR will regain its former influence on the most important aspects of city life, including housing construction, urban development and personnel policy. For example, recently, unfortunately, the scientific community has not agreed on projects that would change the historical appearance of Komsomolskaya Embankment. The most recent example: the decision to build a seasonal skating rink on Molodezhnaya Polyana that is an integral part of the old embankment, was not discussed or agreed upon. The citizens of nearby houses, where the scientific community lives, including foreign specialists, addressed a collective letter to the Governor of the Moscow Region against the implementation of this ill-conceived project that threatens to destroy the green meadow and violate the rights of citizens of nearby houses to a comfortable environment due to loud music and noise. And what will business meetings and scientific seminars in the JINR International Conference Centre turn into if music blares from morning until night? Unfortunately, the citizens' questions on this issue are still unanswered...

Boris SHESTOV, Member of the JINR Public Council for
Cooperation with Local Government Bodies of Dubna