Preserving Kyiv's Heritage: An Urban Center Reconstructing Itself Amidst the Onslaught of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her newly installed front door. The restoration team had affectionately dubbed its elegant transom window the “crescent roll”, a whimsical nod to its curved shape. “I think it’s more of a showy bird,” she remarked, appreciating its tree limb-inspired details. The refurbishment initiative at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was funded through residents, who celebrated with a couple of impromptu pavement parties.

It was also an act of defiance against a foreign power, she clarified: “We are trying to live like everyday people in spite of the war. It’s about shaping our life in the most positive way. Fear does not drive us of staying in our country. The possibility to emigrate existed, starting anew to Italy. Conversely, I’m here. The new entrance shows our allegiance to our homeland.”

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

Safeguarding Kyiv’s built legacy may appear paradoxical at a period when aerial assaults routinely fall the capital, causing death and destruction. Since the onset of the current year, bombing campaigns have been dramatically stepped up. After each attack, workers seal shattered windows with plywood and attempt, where possible, to salvage residential buildings.

Within the Conflict, a Battle for Beauty

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

“These buildings represent symbols of Kyiv. These properties are quite rare in the present day,” Danylenko said. The mansion was designed by an architect of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings close by showcase analogous art nouveau elements, including asymmetry – with a gothic tower on one side and a small tower on the other. One popular house in the area features two sullen white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Several Dangers to Legacy

But armed conflict is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unprincipled developers who knock down historically significant buildings, unethical officials and a governing class apathetic or opposed to the city’s rich architectural history. The bitter winter climate imposes another burden.

“Kyiv is a city where money wins. We don’t have genuine political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He asserted the city’s leadership was allied with many of the developers who flatten important houses. Perov further alleged that the concept for the capital is reminiscent of a different time. 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 fighting on the frontline or had been fallen. The ongoing conflict meant that everyone was facing economic hardship, he added, including judicial figures who inexplicably ruled in favour of suspect new-build schemes. “The longer this persists the more we see deterioration of our society and governing institutions,” he argued.

Demolition and Abandonment

One egregious demolition site is in the historic Podil neighbourhood. The street was home to classical 19th-century houses. A developer who acquired the plot had committed to preserve its picturesque brick facade. A day after the onset of major hostilities, heavy machinery demolished it. Recently, a crane excavated foundations for a new retail and office development, watched by a unfriendly security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was not much hope for the remaining blue-green houses on the site. Sometimes developers destroyed old properties while claiming they were doing “scientific study”, he said. A previous regime also wrought immense damage on the capital, reconstructing its main thoroughfare after the second world war so it could facilitate large-scale parades.

Carrying the Torch

One of Kyiv’s most notable champions of historic buildings, a tour guide and blogger, was fell in 2022 while fighting in a eastern city. 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 erected for the city’s wealthy industrialists. Only 80 of their period doors survived, she said.

“It was not foreign rockets that got rid of them. It was us,” she said with regret. “The war could last another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now not a thing will be left,” she added. Chudna recently helped to restore a characterful creeper-covered house built in 1910, which serves as the headquarters of her cultural organization and also serves 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 fail to protect 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 value the past? “Sadly 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 not yet close from that standard,” he said. Previous ways of thinking lingered, with people reluctant to take personal responsibility for their urban environment, he added.

Hope in Preservation

Some buildings are collapsing because of institutional abandonment. Chudna showed a once-magical villa tucked away behind a modern hospital. Its roof had collapsed; pigeons roosted among its smashed windows; rubbish lay under a storybook tower. “Often we don’t win,” she admitted. “Restoration is a form of healing for us. We are striving to save all this past and splendour.”

In the face of conflict and development pressures, these activists continue their work, one door at a time, believing that to save a city’s soul, you must first protect its stones.