Safeguarding Kyiv's Heritage: An Urban Center Reconstructing Itself Under the Threat of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko proudly presented her recently completed front door. Local helpers had playfully nicknamed its elegant transom window the “croissant”, a playful reference to its bowed shape. “Personally, I believe it’s more of a peafowl,” she remarked, admiring its tree limb-inspired features. The restoration project at one of Kyiv’s early 20th-century art nouveau houses was made possible by residents, who celebrated with a couple of lively pavement parties.

It was also an demonstration of resistance towards a neighboring state, she explained: “We strive to live like normal people despite the war. It’s about shaping our life in the optimal way. We’re not afraid of remaining in our country. I had the option to depart, moving away to a foreign land. Instead, I’m here. The new entrance shows our commitment to our homeland.”

“We are trying to live like normal people regardless of the war. It’s about shaping our life in the best possible way.”

Protecting Kyiv’s built legacy may appear unusual at a period when aerial assaults frequently hit the capital, resulting in death and destruction. Since the onset of the current year, aerial raids have been significantly intensified. After each assault, workers seal shattered windows with plywood and try, where possible, to secure residential buildings.

Amid the Explosions, a Fight for History

Despite the violence, a band of activists has been striving to save the city’s crumbling mansions, built in a playful style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the downtown Shevchenkivskyi district. It was erected in 1906 and was first the home of a prosperous fur dealer. Its exterior is adorned with horse chestnut leaves and delicate camomile flowers.

“These structures stand as symbols of Kyiv. These properties are quite rare today,” Danylenko stated. The mansion was designed by an architect of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings in the vicinity exhibit analogous art nouveau features, including asymmetry – with a pointed turret on one side and a turret on the other. One popular house in the area displays two sullen white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Multiple Dangers to History

But military aggression is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face profit-driven developers who demolish protected buildings, dishonest officials and a governing class apathetic or opposed to the city’s vast architectural history. The severe winter climate adds another difficulty.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We are missing genuine 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 bulldoze important houses. Perov further alleged 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 fallen. The ongoing conflict meant that everyone was facing monetary strain, he added, including judicial figures who curiously ruled in favour of suspect new-build schemes. “The longer this persists the more we see deterioration of our society and public institutions,” he remarked.

Demolition and Disregard

One notorious example of destruction is in the waterside Podil neighbourhood. The street was the site of classical 19th-century houses. A developer who purchased the plot had committed to preserve its picturesque brick facade. A day after the 2022 invasion, diggers demolished it. Recently, a crane excavated foundations for a new retail and office development, monitored by a stern security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was faint chance for the remaining blue-green houses on the site. Sometimes developers demolished old properties while claiming they were doing “historical excavation”, he said. A previous regime also caused immense damage on the capital, rebuilding its main thoroughfare after the second world war so it could facilitate large-scale parades.

Upholding the Legacy

One of Kyiv’s most notable advocates of historic buildings, a heritage expert, was lost his life in 2022 while engaged in the frontline. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were carrying on his vital preservation work. There were initially 3,500 brick-built mansions in Kyiv, many built for the city’s wealthy business magnates. Only 80 of their authentic doors survived, she said.

“It wasn’t foreign rockets that destroyed them. It was us,” she said with regret. “The war could last another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now little will be left,” she continued. Chudna recently helped to restore a unique creeper-covered house built in 1910, which serves as the headquarters of her cultural organization and doubles as a film set and museum. The property has a new crimson entrance and original-style railings; inside is a period bathroom and antique mirrors.

“The war could last another 20 years. If we don’t defend architecture now nothing will be left.”

The building’s occupant, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “very cool and a little bit cold”. Why do many residents not value the past? “Sadly they do not have 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 such cultural awareness,” he said. Outdated ways of thinking persisted, with people hesitant to take personal responsibility for their urban environment, he added.

Hope in Action

Some buildings are collapsing because of institutional abandonment. Chudna indicated a once-magical villa hidden behind a modern hospital. Its roof had caved in; pigeons roosted among its broken windows; debris lay under a whimsical tower. “Frequently we are unsuccessful,” she conceded. “Preservation work is a form of healing for us. We are trying to save all this past and aesthetic value.”

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