Safeguarding Kyiv's Heritage: A City Reconstructing Itself Amidst the Onslaught of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko proudly presented her newly installed front door. Volunteers had given the moniker its elegant transom window the “pastry”, a lighthearted tribute to its bowed shape. “Personally, I believe it’s more of a peacock,” she commented, appreciating its branch-like ornamentation. The renovation effort at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was supported by residents, who celebrated with two neighbourhood pavement parties.

It was also an expression of defiance against an invading force, she explained: “We are trying to live like ordinary people regardless of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the optimal way. We’re not afraid of staying in Ukraine. I could have left, starting anew to Italy. Conversely, I’m here. The new entrance represents our commitment to our homeland.”

“We are trying to live like normal people despite the war. It’s about arranging our life in the optimal way.”

Preserving Kyiv’s built legacy may appear unusual at a moment when drone attacks regularly target the capital, resulting in death and destruction. Since the onset of the current year, offensive operations have been dramatically stepped up. After each strike, workers board up broken windows with plywood and endeavor, where possible, to salvage residential buildings.

Within the Explosions, a Campaign for History

In the midst of war, a band of activists has been striving to preserve the city’s crumbling mansions, built in a distinctive style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the downtown Shevchenkivskyi district. It was erected in 1906 and was initially the home of a affluent fur dealer. Its facade is adorned with horse chestnut leaves and fine camomile flowers.

“These buildings represent symbols of Kyiv. These properties are quite rare nowadays,” Danylenko stated. The residence was designed by an architect of Central European origin. Several other buildings nearby display analogous art nouveau features, including an irregular shape – with a pointed turret on one side and a small tower on the other. One beloved house in the area boasts two forlorn white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a demonic figure.

Dual Challenges to History

But external attacks is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face profit-driven developers who raze historically significant buildings, unethical officials and a political leadership unconcerned or opposed to the city’s rich architectural history. The severe winter climate adds another burden.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We don’t have genuine political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He alleged the city’s leadership was friends with many of the developers who destroy important houses. Perov added that the vision for the capital comes straight out of a different time. The mayor has refuted these claims, attributing them from political rivals.

Perov said many of the community-oriented activists who once championed older properties were now fighting on the frontline or had been fallen. The lengthy conflict meant that everyone was facing economic hardship, he added, including judicial figures who mysteriously ruled in favour of suspect new-build schemes. “The longer this continues the more we see decline of our society and public institutions,” he remarked.

Demolition and Disregard

One glaring location of loss is in the riverside Podil neighbourhood. The street was lined with classical 19th-century houses. A developer who purchased the plot had committed to preserve its charming brick facade. A day after the 2022 invasion, excavators tore it down. Recently, a crane prepared foundations for a new retail and office development, watched by a unfriendly security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was little optimism for the remaining coloured houses on the site. Sometimes developers destroyed old properties while stating they were doing “historical excavation”, he said. A 20th-century empire also wrought immense damage on the capital, redesigning its central boulevard after the second world war so it could accommodate military vehicles.

Continuing the Work

One of Kyiv’s most renowned advocates of historic buildings, a heritage expert, was killed in 2022 while engaged in a eastern city. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were continuing his vital preservation work. There were initially 3,500 stone mansions in Kyiv, many constructed for the city’s successful business magnates. Only 80 of their authentic doors survived, she said.

“It was not foreign rockets that got rid of them. It was us,” she lamented. “The war could go on for another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now little will be left,” she continued. Chudna recently helped to restore a full of character vine-clad house built in 1910, which serves as the headquarters of her cultural organization and operates as a film set and museum. The property has a new vermilion portal and original-style railings; inside is a historic washroom and antique mirrors.

“The war could continue for another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now nothing will be left.”

The building’s resident, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “quite special and a little bit cold”. Why do many citizens not appreciate the past? “Sadly they are without education and taste. It’s all about business. We are attempting as a country to go to the west. But we are still not yet close from that standard,” he said. Previous ways of thinking lingered, with people hesitant to take personal responsibility for their urban environment, he added.

Therapy in Preservation

Some buildings are falling apart because of institutional abandonment. Chudna indicated a once-magical villa hidden behind a modern hospital. Its roof had fallen; pigeons made their home among its broken windows; refuse lay under a storybook tower. “Many times we don’t win,” she acknowledged. “This activity is a coping mechanism for us. We are attempting to save all this history and aesthetic value.”

In the face of destruction and neglect, these activists continue their work, one building at a time, stating that to preserve a city’s soul, you must first save its walls.