Twelve Collegia welcome the Golden Trezzini: Memory and Progress exhibition opens at SPbU

On February 17, the grand opening of the Memory and Progress exhibition took place in the exhibition hall of the Twelve Collegia building at Saint Petersburg State University. The exposition was organized by SPbU, the Worldwide St Petersburg Club, and the organizing committee of the International Golden Trezzini Awards. It is symbolic that for the first time in the history of the Golden Trezzini Awards, an exhibition of its laureates' works is being held in a building constructed according to the design of Domenico Trezzini himself (1670–1734), in whose honor the award was established.

The opening ceremony was attended by the first vice-rector for academic affairs of SPbU, Anastasia Yarmosh, the chairman of the Golden Trezzini Awards organizing committee, Pavel Chernyakov, the artistic director of the Sergey Kuryokhin Modern Art Center, Anastasia Kuryokhina, the general director of PSB ZhilStroy LLC, Alexander Zheliostov, as well as university students who were direct participants in the exhibition.

The exposition is dedicated to projects in the field of restoration, reconstruction, and adaptation of architectural monuments and cultural heritage sites in Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad region. Particular attention is paid to the work of SPbU students, whose initiatives were highly praised by international experts from 35 countries. In contrast to the main program of the awards, which covers more than 20 international nominations, this exhibition focuses exclusively on preserving the architectural appearance of our region. The foundation consists of a thematic selection of projects by the laureates of the 8th International Golden Trezzini Awards (2025) aimed at the careful adaptation of cultural heritage sites in Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad region to modern conditions.

Opening the exhibition, Anastasia Yarmosh thanked the co-organizers for holding the exhibition within the walls of SPbU and recalled an interesting rhyme: a year ago, in this same Twelve Collegia building, the exhibition Architectural Palimpsest: Saint Petersburg University was held. Timed to coincide with the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the university, that exposition showed a wide range of scenarios for adapting historical monuments for new functions using the example of numerous SPbU buildings. It happened naturally that the current Golden Trezzini exhibition picks up the conversation started a year earlier.

Pavel Chernyakov drew the attention of the guests gathered in the Twelve Collegia building to the fact that the word collegia itself came into the Russian language in the time of Peter the Great. Like the related word colleague, it originates from the Latin verb legere (to choose, appoint) and the prefix cum- with the meaning of togetherness. The chairman of the Golden Trezzini organizing committee urged everyone to remember the values Peter introduced through language and to preserve the spirit of collegiality and readiness for interaction.

Anastasia Kuryokhina spoke briefly about the history of the creation of the Sergey Kuryokhin Modern Art Center, which in 2025 received the Golden Trezzini Award in the category of Best Implemented Reconstruction Project and became one of the subjects of the exposition. In her opinion, the center fully embodies the idea of the exhibition title Memory and Progress, as the project managed to preserve the spirit of the place—the legendary Priboy cinema—and simultaneously achieve the most modern level of technical equipment.

The project to reconstruct the Priboy cinema building into the Sergey Kuryokhin Center, like several other projects presented at the exhibition, was implemented by PSB ZhilStroy LLC. The head of the company, Alexander Zheliostov, expressed hope that holding the exhibition would contribute to the popularization of the restoration craft. In his opinion, now, while the heirs of the unique Leningrad school of restoration are still present on the professional scene, it is necessary to work on attracting new personnel to this field.

The Memory and Progress exhibition is an opportunity to see a St. Petersburg cross-section of the Golden Trezzini Awards. Among the projects demonstrated at the exhibition are iconic museum spaces such as the private chambers of Catherine the Great in the Catherine Palace and the chapel of St. Alexander Nevsky in Saint Isaac's Cathedral, large-scale objects like the Moscow Triumphal Arch and Olaf's Tower in Vyborg, as well as examples of adapting historical buildings for current commercial functions, such as the SENO public space and the Pavlovsk City Power Station building.

Information for visitors: according to information from SPbU, the exhibition will run until March 2, 2026. Free entry by sessions is organized for guests, provided they register in advance at the link: https://spbu.tn-cloud.ru/event/89FAA7C35D37CC23AB75E8C3A42ABF230C72AFBE/2026-02-27

About the awards

The Golden Trezzini Awards were established in 2018 and are held under the motto Architecture as Art. Their key goal is to identify and museumize the most valuable projects. The organizer is the Worldwide St Petersburg Club under the leadership of General Director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky. The Golden Trezzini is the only award in the world whose winning projects acquire the status of museum exhibits: the works of the laureates enter the collections of the State Museum of the History of Saint Petersburg.

Applications for the 9th International Golden Trezzini Awards for Architecture and Design are being accepted until September 15. There are no geographic restrictions on project submissions, and participation is free of charge. The winners will be announced on November 20, 2026, at the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.

The organizing committee of the awards expresses deep gratitude to SPbU and personally to the first vice-rector for academic affairs, Anastasia Sergeyevna Yarmosh, as well as to the head of the Diaghilev Museum of Modern Arts at SPbU, Ekaterina Yuryevna Stanyukovich-Denisova, for their assistance in organizing the exhibition and the opening ceremony.

Photo: Elik Yafarov