The first Kuzbass sound cinema: a modernist era object preservation history

The relevance of the modernism era cultural heritage objects preservation for the traditions continuity and generations communication , especially in the time of mass communications digitalization. The example of the first Kuzbass sound cinema shows the history of its formation, change and evolution, which is inextricably linked with the history of Soviet and post-Soviet Russia in peacetime, wartime and global upheavals. Based on the results of the historical data analysis, six stages of the cinema development were identified: formation; pre-war and war years; postwar architectural modernism; socialistic development; perestroika of the 1990s; modern cinema restoration. The functional transformations of the modernism era object at the present reconstruction stage from the cinema to the puppet theater, related to the functionality expansion, are given. Restored fragments of the unique stained-glass cinema windows, which are a piece of decorative art, are considered. The urban value of the cinema “Kommunar,” which has retained its significance in the historical center of the city of Novokuznetsk as the modernism era cultural heritage object, is indicated.