Safeguarding the Capital's Heritage: A City Reconstructing Itself Under the Threat of War.

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her recently completed front door. Volunteers had affectionately dubbed its graceful transom window the “crescent roll”, a whimsical nod to its arched shape. “I think it’s more of a peafowl,” she remarked, appreciating its twig-detailed features. The renovation effort at one of Kyiv’s early 20th-century art nouveau houses was supported by residents, who commemorated the work with a couple of impromptu pavement parties.

It was also an act of defiance towards a foreign power, she explained: “We are trying to live like everyday people in spite of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the best possible way. Fear does not drive us of living in our country. I had the option to depart, starting anew to another European nation. On the contrary, I’m here. The new entrance shows our allegiance to our homeland.”

“We strive to live like ordinary people in spite 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 missile strikes routinely fall the capital, bringing death and destruction. Since the start of the current year, bombing campaigns have been significantly intensified. After each assault, workers board up broken windows with plywood and endeavor, where possible, to secure residential buildings.

Among the Conflict, a Fight for Identity

Despite the violence, a collective of activists has been working to conserve 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 affluent fur dealer. Its exterior is embellished with horse chestnut leaves and delicate camomile flowers.

“These structures stand as symbols of Kyiv. These properties are increasingly scarce nowadays,” Danylenko stated. The residence was designed by a designer of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings nearby display similar art nouveau features, including an irregular shape – with a medieval spire 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 imp.

Multiple Threats to Heritage

But military aggression is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face profit-driven developers who knock down listed buildings, unethical officials and a political leadership apathetic or hostile to the city’s rich architectural history. The severe winter climate imposes another burden.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We lack real political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He asserted the city’s mayor was allied with many of the developers who destroy important houses. Perov further alleged that the vision for the capital is reminiscent of a bygone era. The mayor has refuted these claims, stating they come from political rivals.

Perov said many of the civically minded activists who once defended older properties were now engaged in combat or had been killed. The protracted conflict meant that all citizens was facing economic hardship, he added, including those in the legal system who curiously ruled in favour of dubious new-build schemes. “The longer this persists the more we see decline of our society and state bodies,” he argued.

Loss and Neglect

One notorious location of loss is in the historic Podil neighbourhood. The street was home to classical 19th-century houses. A developer who obtained the plot had committed to preserve its attractive brick facade. In the immediate aftermath of the onset of major hostilities, diggers tore it down. Recently, a crane dug foundations for a new retail and office development, observed by a surly security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was not much hope for the remaining coloured houses on the site. Sometimes developers demolished old properties while claiming they were doing “scientific study”, he said. A former political system also inflicted immense damage on the capital, rebuilding its main thoroughfare after the second world war so it could accommodate military vehicles.

Carrying the Torch

One of Kyiv’s most renowned defenders of historic buildings, a tour guide and blogger, was lost his life in 2022 while engaged in a eastern city. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were carrying on his important preservation work. There were initially 3,500 masonry mansions in Kyiv, many erected for the city’s prosperous industrialists. Only 80 of their period doors remain, she said.

“It wasn’t foreign rockets that got rid of them. It was us,” she said with regret. “The war could go on for another 20 years. If we don’t defend 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 vintage sanitary facility 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 residents not value the past? “Regrettably they are without education and taste. It’s all about business. We are attempting as a country to integrate with the west. But we are still not yet close from civilization,” he said. Soviet-era ways of thinking persisted, with people hesitant to take personal responsibility for their built surroundings, he added.

Therapy in Action

Some buildings are falling apart because of official neglect. Chudna showed a once-magical villa hidden behind a modern hospital. Its roof had caved in; pigeons roosted among its smashed windows; rubbish lay under a storybook tower. “Often we are unsuccessful,” she conceded. “Restoration is therapy for us. We are striving to save all this heritage and beauty.”

In the face of conflict and neglect, these activists continue their work, one building at a time, believing that to preserve a city’s soul, you must first protect its walls.