First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, chairman of the Board of the Charity Foundation for the Reconstruction of the New Jerusalem (Resurrection) Monastery, held the first meeting of the Expert Council set up under the Foundation for the inclusion of the leading reconstruction and restoration experts in the reconstruction of the monastery.

The participants in the meeting approved the format of the Expert Council and elected Andrei Batalov, deputy director general of the Moscow Kremlin State Museum, as head of the Council.

Alexander Kudryavtsev, president of the Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences and president of the Moscow Architectural Institute, and Hegumen Feofilakt, head of the New Jerusalem (Resurrection) Monastery, were elected as Mr Batalov's deputies.

The Expert Council will provide methods of assistance to the Foundation in drafting the concept of the restoration and renovation of the monastery, comprehensive research programmes and project documents, as well as in compiling feasibility studies and carrying out restoration and reconstruction work.

In consideration of these aims, the meeting participants decided to set up several working groups to cover the Expert Council's spheres of operation. They also discussed the possibility of conducting emergency work at the Resurrection Cathedral of the monastery and monitoring its progress.