Head of US Commission of Fine Arts and Golden Trezzini International Council Member Rodney Mims Cook Jr. Visiting St. Petersburg for SPIEF

Rodney Mims Cook Jr., Chairman of the US Commission of Fine Arts, President of the National Monuments Foundation, and CEO of the Millennium Gate Museum in Atlanta, has arrived in St. Petersburg. Mr. Cook heads the US federal agency responsible for preserving historical heritage and overseeing the architectural and artistic design of key government properties and monuments in the United States—a position comparable in status to a minister of culture. Since 2020, he has also served as an expert on the International Council of the prestigious Golden Trezzini Awards for Architecture and Design.

On June 3, at the cultural center of the Franciscan Monastery of St. Anthony the Miracle-Worker, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., alongside St. Petersburg architect Anton Glikin, delivered a lecture titled "The Revival of the Monumental Tradition." The speakers presented notable joint projects in Atlanta, including the World Athletes Monument, dedicated to the centennial of the Olympic movement, and the Millennium Gate Arch. The authors demonstrated how inspiring classical architecture stands in contrast to the modernism that has dominated the West in recent decades.

On the sidelines of the event, talks were held between Rodney Mims Cook Jr. and Pavel Chernyakov, Chairman of the Golden Trezzini Organizing Committee, and Maria Borisova, Deputy Chairwoman of the Organizing Committee, with the participation of Anton Glikin. During the meeting, the parties focused on expanding professional ties between the architectural communities of Russia and the United States under the auspices of the Awards, which are permanently held under the motto "Architecture as Art." The talks took place in an exceptionally warm and constructive atmosphere; the interlocutors outlined strategic vectors for interaction, expressed mutual interest in implementing joint educational initiatives, and agreed that ongoing creative dialogue can effectively bridge any geopolitical divides.

The evening continued with a friendly reception, where Mr. Cook socialized in an informal setting with his colleagues from the Golden Trezzini International Council: Natalia Sidorkevich, Chair of the Board of the Worldwide St. Petersburg Club, and Alexey Mikhailov, Chairman of the St. Petersburg Committee for State Control, Utilization and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments (KGIOP).

Today, June 4, Rodney Mims Cook Jr. will participate in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2026), marking the first official return of a US delegation to the forum since 2018. Within the forum's framework, he will speak at a key roundtable titled "Russia and the USA: Dialogue of Cultures," alongside Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director General of the State Hermitage Museum, and Valery Gergiev, Artistic and General Director of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theatres.

The Organizing Committee of the Golden Trezzini Awards expresses its sincere gratitude to architect Anton Glikin for his flawless organization of the lecture and his vital assistance in preparing and conducting the bilateral talks.

Reference
The Honorable Rodney Mims Cook Jr. is the founder and president of the National Monuments Foundation, an organization involved in the development of new civic and historical projects worldwide, new construction, restoration, and especially national iconography. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University, a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and a founding trustee of The Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture.

Cook overseen the design and construction of the Millennium Gate Museum in Atlanta and coordinated the design competition and construction of the Prince of Wales World Athletes Monument for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta. He designed the neo-Italianate Newington-Cropsey Museum of Art in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York; co-authored the winning scheme in the National Civic Art Society competition for the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Memorial; curated the Handshouse Studio collaboration with the French government to rebuild the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral; and, with WWI Centennial Commissioner Monique Seefried, sponsored Sabin Howard to create the monumental bas-relief for the National World War I Memorial in Washington. Among his current projects are 18 monuments honoring Georgia peace builders over the last 300 years for the now completed Rodney Cook Sr. Park in Peace, Atlanta. Cook is currently advising the Adams Family Memorial Commission on the site selection and design of the memorial library in Washington, DC, dedicated to Presidents John and John Quincy Adams and their families.

Cook lectures frequently on urban design. He is a founding board member of the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art and a charter signatory of the Congress for the New Urbanism. He currently serves on the boards of the Hearst Castle Preservation Foundation, the Massachusetts Historical Society (Adams Family Papers), Atomic6 Technology, the National Monuments Foundation, and the Shin Dae-yong Global Peace Institute. He was a member of the US Commission of Fine Arts from 2021 to 2022, serving as vice chairman in 2021. More at: https://clck.ru/3TyPts