Moscow, February 8, 2018
Photo: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com Quotas for tourists visiting St. Basil’s Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow could be introduced after 2019 due to the high anthropogenic strain, director of State Historical Museums Alexei Levykin told journalists, Interfax-Religion reports.
“St. Basil’s Cathedral is the most popular landmark in Moscow for foreign tourists. The limit for the anthropogenic load has already been reached according to data for last year. If the situation repeats this year, in 2019 we will think about a quota for visitations,” Levykin stated.
A quota would help facilitate peaceful restoration work in the cathedral, he added.
The Moscow City Duma considers the introduction of quotas to be justified, according to head of the Moscow City Commission for Culture Evgeny Gerasimov, reports RIA-Novosti.
The issue of introducing quotas is not easy, however, Levykin stated, in particular because the church is half-owned by the Russian Orthodox Church. “We cannot just take and limit the entrances there, because the faithful should have the right to go to the cathedral at any time,” the director noted.
He stressed that the decision to implement a quota would be decided together with major players in the tourist market. “First of all, we will work out the interests of those tourist companies that work with our museum,” Levykin stated.
