Preserving Kyiv's Heritage: A City Rebuilding Itself Under the Threat of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her newly installed front door. The restoration team had affectionately dubbed its graceful transom window the “pastry”, a lighthearted tribute to its arched shape. “Personally, I believe it’s more of a showy bird,” she stated, gazing at its branch-like features. The refurbishment initiative at one of Kyiv’s pre-World War I art nouveau houses was funded through residents, who commemorated the work with two neighbourhood pavement parties.

It was also an act of resistance against a foreign power, she clarified: “We strive to live like ordinary people in spite of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the optimal way. We have no fear of living in our homeland. I had the option to depart, starting anew to a foreign land. On the contrary, I’m here. The new entrance shows our commitment to our homeland.”

“Our aim is to live like ordinary people regardless of the war. It’s about arranging our life in the optimal way.”

Safeguarding Kyiv’s historic buildings may appear unusual at a moment when drone attacks frequently hit the capital, bringing death and destruction. Since the beginning of the current year, offensive operations have been dramatically stepped up. After each strike, workers board up blown-out windows with plywood and attempt, where possible, to save residential buildings.

Among the Conflict, a Campaign for Identity

Amid the bombs, a group of activists has been working to conserve the city’s deteriorating mansions, built in a whimsical style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the historic Shevchenkivskyi district. It was erected in 1906 and was originally the home of a wealthy fur dealer. Its outer walls 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 noted. The mansion was designed by a designer of Central European origin. Several other buildings in the vicinity exhibit analogous art nouveau characteristics, including an irregular shape – with a gothic tower on one side and a turret on the other. One beloved 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 profit-driven developers who demolish historically significant buildings, unethical officials and a political leadership indifferent or opposed to the city’s vast architectural history. The harsh winter climate imposes another challenge.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We are missing real political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He claimed the city’s leadership was friends with many of the developers who destroy important houses. Perov stated that the vision for the capital harks back to a previous decade. The mayor rejects these claims, attributing them from political rivals.

Perov said many of the civically minded activists who once protected older properties were now fighting on the frontline or had been lost. The lengthy conflict meant that the entire society was facing monetary strain, he added, including those in the legal system who inexplicably ruled in favour of suspect new-build schemes. “The longer this persists the more we see degradation of our society and governing institutions,” he argued.

Destruction and Neglect

One egregious demolition site is in the historic Podil neighbourhood. The street was the site of classical 19th-century houses. A developer who obtained the plot had pledged to preserve its picturesque brick facade. Shortly following the full-scale invasion, heavy machinery demolished it. Recently, a crane prepared foundations for a new commercial complex, monitored by a surly security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was little optimism for the remaining turquoise-painted houses on the site. Sometimes developers destroyed old properties while claiming they were doing “scientific study”, he said. A former political system also caused immense damage on the capital, redesigning its primary street after the second world war so it could facilitate military vehicles.

Continuing the Work

One of Kyiv’s most prominent champions of historic buildings, a tour guide and blogger, was killed in 2022 while fighting in the frontline. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were carrying on his important preservation work. There were originally 3,500 stone mansions in Kyiv, many constructed for the city’s prosperous industrialists. Only 80 of their original doors remain, she said.

“It was not aerial bombardments that eliminated them. It was us,” she admitted sadly. “The war could continue for another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now not a thing will be left,” she added. Chudna recently helped to restore a characterful vine-clad house built in 1910, which functions as the headquarters of her cultural organization and operates as a film set and museum. The property has a new crimson entrance and period-correct railings; inside is a vintage sanitary facility and antique mirrors.

“The war could last another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now nothing 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 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 civilization,” he said. Previous ways of thinking lingered, with people hesitant to take personal responsibility for their architectural setting, he added.

Hope in Preservation

Some buildings are crumbling because of bureaucratic indifference. Chudna showed a once-magical villa hidden behind a modern hospital. Its roof had fallen; pigeons nested among its broken windows; refuse lay under a fairytale tower. “Often we are unsuccessful,” she conceded. “This activity is a coping mechanism for us. We are striving to save all this history and aesthetic value.”

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