Concept for a Park in Staraya Ladoga

• Address:
  Staraya Ladoga
• Year:
  2026
• Status:
  Concept

Team:
Lyubov Leontyeva, Nekhmat Samedov, Daria Pyatnitskaya, Alina Shaforost, Maria Vorontsova-Buga, Valeria Raina

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Staraya Ladoga is a unique historical and cultural landscape with a millennium-deep cultural layer, encompassing over 130 archaeological, historical, and natural heritage sites. The project site forms part of this living context and calls for a sensitive architectural approach: the key objective is to define a 21st-century intervention that does not disrupt the historic environment, but carefully continues it.

Today, the burial mounds area is perceived mainly as a viewpoint, despite its profound historical and ritual significance. The proposal reveals the site’s potential by preserving its open landscape and panoramic views while introducing educational and research functions. The project creates an environment where visitors not only observe, but engage with and interpret history through experience and practice.

The central element is the “Territory Interpretation Center” — a restrained architectural volume embedded into the terrain. Instead of multiple scattered structures, a single horizontal form is proposed, maintaining the integrity of the landscape. The space remains flexible and open to various scenarios — from archaeological research to cultural events — continuing the site’s historical logic.