Preserving Kyiv's Heritage: A City Reconstructing Itself Amidst the Onslaught of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her freshly fitted front door. The restoration team had playfully nicknamed its ornate transom window the “pastry”, a playful reference to its curved shape. “Personally, I believe it’s more of a peafowl,” she remarked, gazing at its tree limb-inspired features. The refurbishment initiative at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was made possible by residents, who marked the occasion with a couple of neighbourhood pavement parties.

It was also an act of defiance in the face of a neighboring state, she clarified: “Our aim is to live like normal people in spite of the war. It’s about arranging our life in the optimal way. Fear does not drive us of staying in Ukraine. I could have left, starting anew to Italy. Conversely, I’m here. The new entrance symbolizes our commitment to our homeland.”

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

Preserving Kyiv’s historic buildings seems paradoxical at a time when aerial assaults regularly target the capital, bringing death and destruction. Since the start of the current year, bombing campaigns have been significantly intensified. After each strike, workers board up broken windows with plywood and attempt, where possible, to save residential buildings.

Within the Explosions, a Fight for Beauty

Despite the violence, a band of activists has been striving to preserve the city’s decaying mansions, built in a distinctive style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the historic Shevchenkivskyi district. It was built in 1906 and was originally the home of a wealthy fur dealer. Its outer walls is decorated with horse chestnut leaves and fine camomile flowers.

“They are symbols of Kyiv. These properties are increasingly scarce today,” Danylenko said. The mansion was designed by a designer of Central European origin. Several other buildings nearby showcase comparable art nouveau elements, including asymmetry – with a pointed turret on one side and a projection on the other. One much-loved house in the area boasts two sullen white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a imp.

Several Challenges to Legacy

But external attacks is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face profit-driven developers who knock down historically significant buildings, dishonest officials and a political leadership apathetic or opposed to the city’s vast architectural history. The bitter winter climate adds another burden.

“Kyiv is a city where capital prevails. We lack genuine political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He alleged the city’s leadership was friends with many of the developers who flatten important houses. Perov stated that the concept for the capital comes straight out of a previous decade. The mayor denies these claims, saying they originate from political rivals.

Perov said many of the public-spirited activists who once championed older properties were now serving in the military or had been killed. The lengthy conflict meant that everyone was facing economic hardship, he added, including those in the legal system who curiously ruled in favour of suspect new-build schemes. “The longer this persists the more we see degradation of our society and governing institutions,” he remarked.

Destruction and Abandonment

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 committed to preserve its charming brick facade. In the immediate aftermath of the full-scale invasion, heavy machinery razed it to the ground. Recently, a crane excavated foundations for a new retail and office development, observed by a stern security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was little optimism for the remaining coloured houses on the site. Sometimes developers demolished old properties while asserting they were doing “archaeological research”, he said. A former political system also inflicted immense damage on the capital, rebuilding its primary street after the second world war so it could facilitate large-scale parades.

Carrying the Torch

One of Kyiv’s most renowned defenders of historic buildings, a heritage expert, was killed in 2022 while fighting in the frontline. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were persevering in his vital preservation work. There were at one time 3,500 stone mansions in Kyiv, many erected for the city’s wealthy industrialists. Only 80 of their period doors remain, she said.

“It was not aerial bombardments that destroyed them. It was us,” she said with regret. “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 unique ivy-draped house built in 1910, which acts as the headquarters of her cultural organization and operates as a film set and museum. The property has a new red door and original-style railings; inside is a historic washroom and antique mirrors.

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

The building’s resident, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “quite special and a little bit cold”. Why do many locals not cherish the past? “Sadly they lack education and taste. It’s all about business. We are trying as a country to integrate with the west. But we are still a way off from such cultural awareness,” he said. Previous ways of thinking lingered, with people unwilling to take personal responsibility for their architectural setting, he added.

Hope in Restoration

Some buildings are falling apart because of institutional abandonment. Chudna indicated a once-magical villa hidden behind a modern hospital. Its roof had caved in; pigeons roosted among its shattered windows; refuse lay under a whimsical tower. “Many times we lose the battle,” she acknowledged. “Preservation work is a form of healing for us. We are trying to save all this heritage and beauty.”

In the face of destruction and neglect, these volunteers continue their work, one door at a time, stating that to rebuild a city’s identity, you must first cherish its stones.