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

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her newly installed front door. The restoration team had affectionately dubbed its ornate transom window the “croissant”, a lighthearted tribute to its bowed shape. “In my opinion it’s more of a showy bird,” she remarked, admiring its tree limb-inspired features. The refurbishment initiative at one of Kyiv’s early 20th-century art nouveau houses was supported by residents, who marked the occasion with a couple of neighbourhood pavement parties.

It was also an act of opposition in the face of an invading force, she explained: “We strive to live like everyday people regardless of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the most positive way. We have no fear of staying in our homeland. I had the option to depart, relocating to another European nation. On the contrary, I’m here. The new entrance represents our dedication to our homeland.”

“We are trying to live like everyday people regardless of the war. It’s about shaping our life in the best possible way.”

Safeguarding Kyiv’s architectural heritage seems unusual at a time when aerial assaults frequently hit the capital, resulting in death and destruction. Since the onset of the current year, offensive operations have been notably increased. After each attack, workers cover broken windows with plywood and try, where possible, to salvage residential buildings.

Amid the Explosions, a Battle for History

Despite the violence, a band of activists has been striving to preserve the city’s crumbling mansions, built in a whimsical style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the downtown Shevchenkivskyi district. It was constructed in 1906 and was initially the home of a wealthy fur dealer. Its outer walls is embellished with horse chestnut leaves and intricate camomile flowers.

“They are symbols of Kyiv. These properties are quite rare nowadays,” Danylenko said. The residence was designed by a designer of Central European origin. Several other buildings nearby display analogous art nouveau characteristics, including a lack of symmetry – with a medieval spire on one side and a turret on the other. One popular house in the area boasts two forlorn white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a demonic figure.

Multiple Dangers to Heritage

But external attacks is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unscrupulous developers who raze historically significant buildings, unethical officials and a political leadership apathetic or hostile to the city’s vast architectural history. The severe winter climate imposes another challenge.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We lack substantive political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He alleged the city’s mayor was closely associated with many of the developers who destroy important houses. Perov added that the concept for the capital comes straight out of a different time. The mayor rejects these claims, saying they originate from political rivals.

Perov said many of the community-oriented activists who once defended older properties were now serving in the military or had been fallen. The ongoing conflict meant that all citizens was facing financial problems, he added, including judicial figures who mysteriously ruled in favour of questionable new-build schemes. “The longer this continues the more we see decline of our society and state bodies,” he argued.

Destruction and Abandonment

One glaring demolition site is in the riverside Podil neighbourhood. The street was lined with classical 19th-century houses. A developer who obtained the plot had agreed to preserve its charming brick facade. A day after the onset of major hostilities, excavators demolished it. Recently, a crane prepared foundations for a new shopping and business centre, watched by a surly security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was faint chance for the remaining blue-green houses on the site. Sometimes developers demolished old properties while claiming they were doing “historical excavation”, he said. A previous regime also wrought immense damage on the capital, reconstructing its central boulevard after the second world war so it could accommodate official processions.

Upholding the Legacy

One of Kyiv’s most notable advocates of historic buildings, a heritage expert, was fell in 2022 while engaged in the frontline. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were carrying on his important preservation work. There were at one time 3,500 stone mansions in Kyiv, many erected for the city’s wealthy entrepreneurs. Only 80 of their period doors are still in existence, she said.

“It was not aerial bombardments that eliminated them. It was us,” she lamented. “The war could continue for another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now not a thing will be left,” she added. Chudna recently helped to restore a unique ivy-draped 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 vintage sanitary facility 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 “very cool and a little bit cold”. Why do many residents not value the past? “Sadly they do not have education and taste. It’s all about business. We are attempting as a country to move towards the west. But we are still not yet close from such cultural awareness,” he said. Outdated ways of thinking lingered, with people reluctant to take personal responsibility for their urban environment, he added.

Therapy in Restoration

Some buildings are collapsing because of institutional abandonment. Chudna pointed to a once-magical villa tucked away behind a modern hospital. Its roof had collapsed; pigeons roosted among its broken windows; debris lay under a whimsical tower. “Often we are unsuccessful,” she admitted. “This activity is a form of healing for us. We are trying to save all this history and splendour.”

In the face of destruction and commercial interests, these citizens continue their work, one facade at a time, stating that to save a city’s soul, you must first protect its walls.