Preserved in its original form: model of a wooden architecture monument at the National Centre RUSSIA

A model of the only surviving wooden tent-roof church in Siberia is on display at the "The Birth of Scale" exposition at the National Centre RUSSIA. It is the Spasskaya Church from the now-vanished Arctic town of Zashiversk in Yakutia. The church was dismantled and transported to the Open-Air Museum of History and Architecture in Novosibirsk region in 1971.

The unique monument of wooden architecture was built in 1700, said Alexander Gayneyev, a guide at the National Centre RUSSIA.

"The taller the buildings were, the lighter the structural elements needed to be. Our exposition features mostly northern churches. They have been better preserved for several reasons. First, because they were not replaced with stone ones, as happened from the mid-16th to 17th centuries in the Moscow area, which was a wealthy city unlike the northern regions. Second, because of the climate and the absence of fires," noted Alexander Gayneyev.

Photo: Press Office of the National Centre RUSSIA

The guide added that the Spasskaya Church was built into the walls of a fort and remained nearly in its original form thanks to the durability of larch logs.

"The Birth of Scale" exposition at the National Centre RUSSIA showcases completed architectural projects as well as ideas that remain only as concepts. The exposition consists of both the National Centre RUSSIA's own display items and those provided by museums and private collectors across the country.

Partners of the exposition "The Birth of Scale" include DOM.RF, the Ministry of Construction of Russia, Gazprom, the State Research Museum of Architecture named after A. V. Shchusev, the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, the Yakov Chernikhov Charitable Architectural Foundation, and the HSE School of Design.