Open Democracy – 30th March 2012 – The tragedy of Russia’s abandoned wooden churches – Alexander Mozhayev
Church of St Nicholas (1727), Ratonavolok, Archangel region, 27th February 2006
‘The Russian mentality has developed to understand “old” as something that is out of date… Some years ago, the abbot of a monastery was asked why he had knocked down the porch of his 300-year-old church, and he replied as honestly as he could: “Because it was old!”’