Protecting Kyiv's Heritage: A City Rebuilding Its Foundations Amidst the Onslaught of War.

Lesia Danylenko proudly presented her recently completed front door. The restoration team had affectionately dubbed its elegant transom window the “croissant”, a whimsical nod to its arched 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 pre-World War I art nouveau houses was made possible by residents, who celebrated with a couple of impromptu pavement parties.

It was also an demonstration of resistance in the face of a neighboring state, she elaborated: “We strive to live like ordinary people regardless of the war. It’s about shaping our life in the most positive way. We have no fear of remaining in our country. I could have left, moving away to a foreign land. On the contrary, I’m here. The new entrance represents our allegiance to our homeland.”

“We strive to live like everyday people in spite of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the best possible way.”

Protecting Kyiv’s built legacy seems paradoxical at a moment when drone attacks routinely fall the capital, bringing death and destruction. Since the beginning of the current year, offensive operations have been significantly intensified. After each attack, workers cover broken windows with plywood and attempt, where possible, to secure residential buildings.

Amid the Bombs, a Fight for History

Despite the violence, a collective of activists has been working to save 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 erected in 1906 and was originally the home of a affluent fur dealer. Its exterior is embellished with horse chestnut leaves and fine camomile flowers.

“They are symbols of Kyiv. These properties are quite rare in the present day,” Danylenko said. The residence was designed by an architect of Central European origin. Several other buildings in the vicinity display comparable art nouveau characteristics, including a lack of symmetry – with a gothic tower on one side and a projection on the other. One beloved house in the area features two sullen white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a imp.

Several Challenges to History

But armed conflict is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unscrupulous developers who knock down historically significant buildings, corrupt officials and a governing class unconcerned or hostile to the city’s profound architectural history. The severe winter climate adds another difficulty.

“Kyiv is a city where capital prevails. We are missing genuine political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He asserted the city’s leadership was closely associated with many of the developers who destroy important houses. Perov stated that the concept for the capital comes straight out of a different time. The mayor rejects these claims, attributing them from political rivals.

Perov said many of the civically minded activists who once championed older properties were now engaged in combat or had been killed. The ongoing conflict meant that everyone was facing financial problems, he added, including those in the legal system who mysteriously ruled in favour of suspect new-build schemes. “The longer this persists the more we see decline of our society and public institutions,” he argued.

Demolition and Abandonment

One egregious location of loss is in the historic Podil neighbourhood. The street was lined with classical 19th-century houses. A developer who purchased the plot had committed to preserve its picturesque brick facade. A day after the full-scale invasion, excavators razed it to the ground. Recently, a crane dug foundations for a new shopping and business centre, watched 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 destroyed old properties while asserting 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 official processions.

Continuing the Work

One of Kyiv’s most prominent advocates of historic buildings, a heritage expert, was lost his life in 2022 while fighting in the frontline. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were persevering in his important preservation work. There were at one time 3,500 masonry mansions in Kyiv, many erected for the city’s prosperous entrepreneurs. Only 80 of their period doors remain, she said.

“It wasn’t foreign rockets that got rid of them. It was us,” she said with regret. “The war could continue for another 20 years. If we don’t defend architecture now nothing will be left,” she emphasized. Chudna recently helped to restore a unique vine-clad house built in 1910, which functions as the headquarters of her cultural organization and also serves as a film set and museum. The property has a new crimson entrance and original-style railings; inside is a vintage sanitary facility and antique mirrors.

“The war could last another 20 years. If we don’t defend architecture now not a thing will be left.”

The building’s resident, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “very cool and a little bit cold”. Why do many locals not value the past? “Sadly they lack education and taste. It’s all about business. We are trying as a country to go to the west. But we are still a way off from that standard,” he said. Outdated ways of thinking remained, with people unwilling to take personal responsibility for their built surroundings, he added.

Therapy in Preservation

Some buildings are crumbling because of official neglect. Chudna indicated a once-magical villa hidden behind a modern hospital. Its roof had collapsed; pigeons nested among its shattered windows; rubbish lay under a fairytale tower. “Often we don’t win,” she acknowledged. “Restoration is a coping mechanism for us. We are attempting to save all this heritage and aesthetic value.”

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