"Mayak Academy" (official name: ANO KPTs "Mayak Academy" named after A. D. Sakharov) is a cultural and educational center in Nizhny Novgorod operating under the auspices of the State Corporation Rosatom. It opened in 2023 after the reconstruction of a historic building at 11 Nizhne-Volzhskaya Embankment. The center combines the corporate educational functions of the Rosatom Corporate Academy with citywide venues: a lecture hall and an exhibition hall. It serves as a venue for major public events of city and federal scale and is dedicated to the memory of Academician Andrey Dmitrievich Sakharov. The official website is mayak-academy.ru.[1]

History of the Building

The building for the Rukavishnikov bank was constructed in 1913–1916 to a design by the distinguished architect Fyodor Shekhtel. The structure is built in the Neo-Gothic style and is recognized as an architectural monument of the Art Nouveau era in Nizhny Novgorod. The façades are decorated with framed pilasters topped with pinnacles, polychrome ceramic tiles, and glazed surfaces.[1]

In the Soviet era the bank was closed, and the building housed the Mayak garment factory. Light manufacturing made it possible to preserve most of the historic interiors. After the collapse of the USSR, the factory fell into decline and ceased operations in 2015, after which the building stood empty.[1]

In 2020, the regional government signed a concession agreement with Rosatom and handed the building over for the creation of a continuing education center of the Sakharov Rosatom Corporate Academy.[1]

Reconstruction and Interior Architecture

The reconstruction project was developed in 2022 and implemented in 2023. The building's total area is 5,720 m². The interior designers are Fruit Design Studio (Alexander Frukht, Sergey Shevlyagin, Lyudmila Sedova). The restoration and engineering work was carried out by the Asgard architectural bureau under the direction of A. S. Shumilkin.[1]

During the reconstruction, all surviving historical elements were preserved. The interior finishing uses Villeroy & Boch Ceramics: floors of solid ceramic in different shades of clay, and custom-made glazed Metlakh tiles for the window and door openings. The main hall is paved with blue tiles with decorative inserts depicting Volga water lilies in the Art Nouveau style. The windows, interior doors, and railings are made of metal using forging and riveting.[1]

Functionally, the building is divided by floor:

  • The first floor (ceiling height: 7 m) is devoted to citywide needs: it houses a lecture hall with a mobile stage and transformable amphitheaters, as well as an open-access exhibition hall with a main reception desk shaped like the word "Mayak" (Lighthouse); on the wall behind the desk is a brick Bas-relief made of the value-words of the Rosatom corporation.[1]
  • The second floor is occupied by the office area and educational halls, which can be reconfigured with glass partitions into four small, two medium, or one large auditorium; a gallery connects the two wings of the building; the historic tile floor, which was in poor condition, has been replaced with carpeting patterned with lighthouse beams.[1]
  • The third floor is a large hall with ceilings more than 12 m high, glazing on both sides of the building, and a balcony around the perimeter; the columns and ceiling are decorated with stucco. The centerpiece of the hall is a light installation, "Starry Sky."[1]

Events

In February 2024, the Mayak Academy hosted the presentation of the Neymark IT Campus project, a university complex based at Lobachevsky University. Participants included Maksut Shadaev, Russia's Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, and the Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region, Gleb Nikitin.

In 2026, the center hosted the 5th International Forum "Sister Cities", during which a sister-city agreement was signed between Nizhny Novgorod and the Chinese city of Wuxi. Delegations attended from Novi Sad, Heihe, Harbin, Sukhumi, East Sarajevo, Bender, Gomel, Luhansk, and other sister cities and partner cities of Nizhny Novgorod.

Links

Sources

  1. prorus.ru — Cultural and Educational Center "Mayak Academy" named after A.D. Sakharov in Nizhny Novgorod