Tomsk Medical Military Institute. Source: Change.org.In the very centre of Tomsk stands a brick building, a listed monument in the late Russian style, with a cupola, arches and lateral porches. In 2010, the Tomsk Military Medical Institute that was based here, the only one in the country to train military chemists, closed down, and responsibility for the building was then transferred from the Ministry of Defence to the city. Over the years, the Tomsk authorities have changed their plans for this building a number of times: it was going to be an education park, an inter-university lycée for gifted children, a presidential military academy, a campus for a specialist high school and a museum.
Another of Tomsk’s listed monument, a second building belonging to the military medical institute on Nikitin Street, is in the same situation: at various times, this building was slated to be the district administrative centre, a sports and a cultural centre. However, in autumn 2017, the Tomsk diocese demanded it become church property – and this has not been a popular move with the city’s residents.
Restitution
“Under Federal Law, there should be a restitution of these buildings to the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), since they have a religious purpose,” the diocesan chief press officer told journalists in May 2017. “Metropolitan Rostislav, the archbishop of Tomsk and Asinovo, has made this position clear on numerous occasions.”
