Visitors to exhibition "Images of Old and New Sochi" state loss of historic look by resort city

The exhibition "Images of Old and New Sochi" has made its debut at the city local history museum. It presents photos depicting the city of different historical times. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that during the first two days the exhibition was visited by about a thousand people.

The idea to show Sochi of the past and the present belongs to the museum staff, Elena Galischeva, the deputy director for scientific work, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to her story, they organized "the exposition so that photos of the old and the new Sochi are opposite each other for comparison."

"The old-timers do not always recognize these places, while newcomers cannot always believe that Sochi was once such a green garden city. For example, the Mayor of Sochi, after visiting the exposition, acknowledged that 'green areas of the city should be restored after the Olympics'," said Galischeva.

The city has problems of preserving monuments of history, culture and nature, caused by change of the funding system, Alla Guseva, the museum director, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, stressing: "If before all the monuments of history, culture and nature were funded by the state and were maintained, respectively, for money from the state budget, now they are all in private hands. But private entrepreneurs can't always properly keep these monuments; they don't always understand the difference between restoration and renovation."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.