Safeguarding Kyiv's Heritage: A City Reconstructing Itself Under the Threat of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko proudly presented her newly installed front door. The restoration team had affectionately dubbed its graceful transom window the “pastry”, a playful reference to its arched shape. “In my opinion it’s more of a peafowl,” she remarked, appreciating its tree limb-inspired features. The renovation effort at one of Kyiv’s early 20th-century art nouveau houses was funded through residents, who commemorated the work with several neighbourhood pavement parties.

It was also an demonstration of resistance towards a foreign power, she clarified: “We are trying to live like normal people despite the war. It’s about arranging our life in the most positive way. Fear does not drive us of living in our homeland. I could have left, moving away to Italy. On the contrary, I’m here. The new entrance symbolizes our allegiance to our homeland.”

“Our aim is to live like everyday people regardless of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the best possible way.”

Preserving Kyiv’s architectural heritage seems strange at a moment when missile strikes frequently hit the capital, causing death and destruction. Since the beginning of the current year, bombing campaigns have been dramatically stepped up. After each attack, workers seal broken windows with plywood and endeavor, where possible, to save residential buildings.

Amid the Bombs, a Campaign for Beauty

Despite the violence, a band of activists has been working to save the city’s decaying 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 first the home of a prosperous fur dealer. Its exterior is decorated with horse chestnut leaves and fine camomile flowers.

“These structures stand as symbols of Kyiv. These properties are quite rare in the present day,” Danylenko said. The residence was designed by a designer of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings nearby showcase similar art nouveau elements, including a lack of symmetry – with a pointed turret on one side and a small tower on the other. One beloved house in the area features two sullen white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a demonic figure.

Multiple Threats to Heritage

But external attacks is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unscrupulous developers who knock down historically significant buildings, dishonest officials and a governing class apathetic or opposed to the city’s vast architectural history. The severe winter climate imposes another difficulty.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We are missing substantive 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 flatten important houses. Perov further alleged that the concept for the capital harks back to a bygone era. The mayor denies these claims, stating they come 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 lost. The ongoing conflict meant that all citizens was facing economic hardship, he added, including those in the legal system who mysteriously ruled in favour of dubious new-build schemes. “The longer this persists the more we see degradation of our society and governing institutions,” he contended.

Demolition and Neglect

One notorious location of loss is in the riverside Podil neighbourhood. The street was lined with classical 19th-century houses. A developer who purchased the plot had agreed to preserve its picturesque brick facade. A day after the 2022 invasion, diggers 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 faint chance for the remaining coloured houses on the site. Sometimes developers demolished old properties while stating they were doing “archaeological research”, he said. A 20th-century empire also inflicted immense damage on the capital, reconstructing its primary street after the second world war so it could allow for large-scale parades.

Continuing the Work

One of Kyiv’s most notable champions of historic buildings, a tour guide and blogger, was fell in 2022 while engaged 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 brick-built mansions in Kyiv, many constructed for the city’s prosperous entrepreneurs. Only 80 of their period doors remain, she said.

“It was not external attacks that eliminated them. It was us,” she said with regret. “The war could continue for another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now little will be left,” she emphasized. Chudna recently helped to restore a unique 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 red door and authentic railings; inside is a historic washroom and antique mirrors.

“The war could continue for another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now little will be left.”

The building’s resident, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “incredibly atmospheric and a little bit cold”. Why do many locals not value the past? “Regrettably 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 not yet close from that standard,” he said. Previous ways of thinking lingered, with people hesitant to take personal responsibility for their architectural setting, he added.

Therapy in Preservation

Some buildings are crumbling because of institutional abandonment. Chudna pointed to a once-magical villa concealed behind a modern hospital. Its roof had caved in; pigeons nested among its shattered windows; refuse lay under a storybook tower. “Often we don’t win,” she admitted. “This activity is a form of healing for us. We are striving to save all this past and beauty.”

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