Safeguarding Kyiv's Heritage: An Urban Center Reconstructing Its Foundations in the Shadow of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her recently completed front door. The restoration team had playfully nicknamed its elegant transom window the “pastry”, a playful reference to its curved shape. “I think it’s more of a peafowl,” she remarked, appreciating its tree limb-inspired details. The renovation effort at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was supported by residents, who marked the occasion with several neighbourhood pavement parties.

It was also an act of defiance towards a neighboring state, she clarified: “We are trying to live like everyday people regardless of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the best possible way. We have no fear of remaining in our homeland. I could have left, moving away to Italy. On the contrary, I’m here. The new entrance shows our dedication to our homeland.”

“We are trying to live like normal people in spite of the war. It’s about arranging our life in the best possible way.”

Protecting Kyiv’s historic buildings could be considered strange at a time when missile strikes frequently hit the capital, causing death and destruction. Since the onset of the current year, bombing campaigns have been significantly intensified. After each assault, workers board up broken windows with plywood and try, where possible, to salvage residential buildings.

Within the Bombs, a Campaign for Identity

Despite the violence, a group of activists has been striving to save 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 constructed in 1906 and was originally the home of a affluent fur dealer. Its facade is adorned with horse chestnut leaves and fine camomile flowers.

“They are symbols of Kyiv. These properties are increasingly scarce nowadays,” Danylenko stated. The building was designed by an architect of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings close by display analogous art nouveau features, including asymmetry – with a pointed turret on one side and a turret on the other. One beloved house in the area displays two unhappy white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Dual Challenges to Legacy

But military aggression is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unscrupulous developers who demolish listed buildings, dishonest officials and a governing class unconcerned or hostile to the city’s profound architectural history. The severe winter climate presents another burden.

“Kyiv is a city where money wins. We are missing real political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He claimed the city’s mayor was friends with many of the developers who destroy important houses. Perov added that the plan for the capital harks back to a different time. The mayor denies these claims, saying they originate from political rivals.

Perov said many of the community-oriented activists who once protected older properties were now engaged in combat or had been lost. The ongoing conflict meant that all citizens was facing monetary strain, he added, including those in the legal system who mysteriously ruled in favour of dubious new-build schemes. “The longer this continues the more we see degradation of our society and state bodies,” he argued.

Demolition and Disregard

One egregious demolition site is in the riverside Podil neighbourhood. The street was lined with classical 19th-century houses. A developer who acquired the plot had committed to preserve its picturesque brick facade. Shortly following the 2022 invasion, diggers razed it to the ground. Recently, a crane excavated foundations for a new shopping and business centre, observed by a unfriendly security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was little optimism for the remaining blue-green houses on the site. Sometimes developers levelled old properties while claiming they were doing “historical excavation”, he said. A former political system also wrought immense damage on the capital, rebuilding its main thoroughfare after the second world war so it could allow for large-scale parades.

Upholding the Legacy

One of Kyiv’s most prominent advocates of historic buildings, a cultural activist, was fell in 2022 while serving in a eastern city. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were continuing his crucial preservation work. There were originally 3,500 brick-built mansions in Kyiv, many constructed for the city’s prosperous business magnates. Only 80 of their authentic doors survived, she said.

“It was not external attacks that destroyed them. It was us,” she admitted sadly. “The war could last another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now nothing will be left,” she added. Chudna recently helped to restore a characterful vine-clad house built in 1910, which acts as the headquarters of her cultural organization and doubles as a film set and museum. The property has a new red door and period-correct railings; inside is a historic washroom and antique mirrors.

“The war could continue for another 20 years. If we don’t defend 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 value the past? “Unfortunately they are without education and taste. It’s all about business. We are trying as a country to integrate with the west. But we are still a way off from civilization,” he said. Previous ways of thinking persisted, with people unwilling to take personal responsibility for their architectural setting, he added.

Therapy in Preservation

Some buildings are falling apart because of official neglect. Chudna showed a once-magical villa hidden behind a modern hospital. Its roof had collapsed; pigeons nested among its smashed windows; rubbish lay under a whimsical tower. “Many times we lose the battle,” she acknowledged. “Preservation work is a coping mechanism for us. We are attempting to save all this past and aesthetic value.”

In the face of destruction and development pressures, these citizens continue their work, one facade at a time, stating that to save a city’s identity, you must first save its history.