MORE than 2,000 Russians have launched a campaign to prevent Moscow’s mayor from demolishing one of the city’s best-loved buildings.

The neoclassical Manezh, nestling under the walls of the Kremlin, was built in the ruins of the city after Napoleon’s withdrawal in 1812.

It was damaged by fire in March — on the day of President Putin’s re-election — and an investigation revealed signs of arson.

Iosif Ordzhonikidze, the deputy mayor, said this week that rather than restoring the building, the city authorities were now talking about its “recreation” — condemning it to the same fate as 60 other listed buildings in Moscow which have been destroyed over the past 12 years to make way for new stuctures.

More than one third of the 12,000 fires in Moscow each year are thought to be started deliberately. Buildings damaged by fire are usually demolished.

In the absence of a strong stock market, many Russians invest in property and land, and prices are high. One of Moscow’s biggest construction companies is owned by Russia’s first female billionaire, Elena Baturina, the wife of Moscow’s mayor, Yuri Luzhkov. Yesterday Mr Luzhkov took out a full-page advertisement in the daily newspaper Izvestiya, which published the petition, to quell the growing indignation.

Historians, architects and restorers have joined other Muscovites in petitioning the city and President Putin “to take urgent measures to save the architectural heritage of Moscow and save the country from a cultural catastrophe”.

Alexei Klimenko, chairman of the Russian Artists’ Union Commission on Preservation of Historical and Cultural Heritage, said that the city centre was the most profitable area for development. He added: “These decisions are taken from a purely economic point of view, without a thought for culture and history.”

The Manezh was built as a cavalry training ground between 1817 and 1820 and is one of Moscow’s finest examples of neo-classical architecture. It was used as a garage by the Bolsheviks and for the past few years has been an exhibition centre.

A group of foreigners has formed the Moscow Architecture Preservation Society. Guy Archer, a founding member, said. “I think (Mr) Luzhkov is underestimating public reaction to his plans for the Manezh.”

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