AALTO IN RUSSIA.

The international architectural community has for a long time been worried about the fate of Aalto's Viipuri library.

A recent visit to Vyborg in Russia (Viipuri in Finnish), showed that the famous town library built by Aalto in 1933-35, has been somewhat saved from its dreadful predicament of having been both restored by the Soviets and then neglected as the economy collapsed. Aalto's building is there because, before the Second World War, the city was the second biggest in Finland, and the capital of Kerula, the lost province. Built to demonstrate the importance of the decency and up-to-dateness of Modernity for newly independent Finland, the library was a showpiece of the new civilization.

Now, by and large, it is ma terrible mess, with water and mould staining walls of the reading rooms, the glazing (often cracked) held together with bizarre foaming mastic and everything terribly shabby (like most of the rest of the city). But there are signs of hope. The big glazed wall of the foyer has been restored - or at least made waterproof and neat. One small part of the famous wave-like acoustic ceiling of the auditorium has been remade in pine as a prototype of the whole projected restoration. Good things are going on, but a vast amount more needs to be done.

The library is on UNESCO's list of the 100 most endangered monuments in the world. If you want to help, or to get more information, contact Friends of the Viipuri Library, Alvar Aalto Foundation, Tilimaki 20, 00330 Helsinki, Finland, Fax [phone].