Safeguarding Kyiv's Heritage: A City Rebuilding Its Foundations in the Shadow of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko beamed with pride as she displayed her recently completed front door. The restoration team had given the moniker its elegant transom window the “croissant”, a playful reference to its bowed shape. “In my opinion it’s more of a showy bird,” she stated, gazing at its branch-like ornamentation. The restoration project at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was made possible by residents, who celebrated with several lively pavement parties.

It was also an act of resistance against a neighboring state, she clarified: “Our aim is to live like ordinary people regardless of the war. It’s about arranging our life in the optimal way. Fear does not drive us of remaining in Ukraine. I had the option to depart, relocating to another European nation. Conversely, I’m here. The new entrance represents our dedication to our homeland.”

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

Preserving Kyiv’s architectural heritage could be considered strange at a time when drone attacks frequently hit the capital, bringing death and destruction. Since the onset of the current year, offensive operations have been notably increased. After each assault, workers board up broken windows with plywood and attempt, where possible, to secure residential buildings.

Amid the Explosions, a Fight for History

In the midst of war, a group of activists has been attempting to preserve the city’s decaying mansions, built in a playful style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the historic Shevchenkivskyi district. It was constructed in 1906 and was first the home of a affluent fur dealer. Its facade is embellished with horse chestnut leaves and fine camomile flowers.

“These buildings represent symbols of Kyiv. These properties are quite rare in the present day,” Danylenko noted. The building was designed by an architect of Central European origin. Several other buildings nearby display comparable art nouveau features, including a lack of symmetry – with a pointed turret on one side and a projection on the other. One popular house in the area boasts two sullen white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Dual Challenges to Heritage

But external attacks is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unprincipled developers who demolish historically significant buildings, corrupt officials and a governing class apathetic or opposed to the city’s profound architectural history. The severe winter climate imposes another challenge.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We don’t have real political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He asserted the city’s leadership was friends with many of the developers who destroy important houses. Perov further alleged that the plan for the capital comes straight out of a previous decade. The mayor has refuted these claims, saying they originate from political rivals.

Perov said many of the public-spirited activists who once defended older properties were now fighting on the frontline or had been killed. The ongoing conflict meant that all citizens was facing financial problems, he added, including judicial figures who curiously ruled in favour of questionable new-build schemes. “The longer this persists the more we see decline of our society and state bodies,” he argued.

Demolition and Neglect

One notorious location of loss is in the historic Podil neighbourhood. The street was home to classical 19th-century houses. A developer who obtained the plot had agreed to preserve its charming brick facade. Shortly following the onset of major hostilities, heavy machinery razed it to the ground. Recently, a crane excavated foundations for a new shopping and business centre, watched by a unfriendly security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was faint chance for the remaining coloured houses on the site. Sometimes developers levelled old properties while stating they were doing “scientific study”, he said. A former political system also inflicted immense damage on the capital, redesigning its main thoroughfare after the second world war so it could allow for military vehicles.

Upholding the Legacy

One of Kyiv’s most notable defenders of historic buildings, a tour guide and blogger, was fell in 2022 while serving in a contested area. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were carrying on his vital preservation work. There were originally 3,500 brick-built mansions in Kyiv, many constructed for the city’s prosperous entrepreneurs. Only 80 of their period doors survived, she said.

“It was not external attacks that destroyed them. It was us,” she said with regret. “The war could go on for another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now nothing will be left,” she continued. Chudna recently helped to restore a full of character creeper-covered house built in 1910, which acts as the headquarters of her cultural organization and also serves as a film set and museum. The property has a new crimson entrance and authentic railings; inside is a period bathroom and antique mirrors.

“The war could go on for another 20 years. If we don’t defend architecture now little will be left.”

The building’s tenant, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “quite special and a little bit cold”. Why do many residents not appreciate the past? “Regrettably they are without education and taste. It’s all about business. We are attempting as a country to move towards the west. But we are still some distance away from such cultural awareness,” he said. Previous ways of thinking persisted, with people reluctant to take personal responsibility for their urban environment, he added.

Hope in Action

Some buildings are falling apart because of institutional abandonment. Chudna showed a once-magical villa concealed behind a modern hospital. Its roof had collapsed; pigeons made their home among its smashed windows; rubbish lay under a storybook tower. “Often we lose the battle,” she admitted. “This activity is a form of healing for us. We are trying to save all this heritage and beauty.”

In the face of war and development pressures, these volunteers continue their work, one building at a time, stating that to save a city’s identity, you must first protect its stones.