Safeguarding the Capital's Heritage: An Urban Center Reconstructing Its Foundations Amidst the Onslaught of War.

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her recently completed front door. Local helpers had affectionately dubbed its graceful transom window the “crescent roll”, a whimsical nod to its arched shape. “I think it’s more of a showy bird,” she stated, admiring its branch-like ornamentation. The restoration project at one of Kyiv’s early 20th-century art nouveau houses was funded through residents, who commemorated the work with a couple of lively pavement parties.

It was also an demonstration of resistance towards a foreign power, she clarified: “Our aim is to live like normal people regardless of the war. It’s about arranging our life in the optimal way. We have no fear of living in our country. I could have left, moving away to another European nation. Conversely, I’m here. The new entrance shows our allegiance to our homeland.”

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

Protecting Kyiv’s built legacy may appear unusual at a moment when aerial assaults frequently hit the capital, causing death and destruction. Since the onset of the current year, bombing campaigns have been significantly intensified. After each strike, workers seal shattered windows with plywood and try, where possible, to save residential buildings.

Within the Bombs, a Campaign for Beauty

In the midst of war, a collective of activists has been attempting to preserve the city’s deteriorating mansions, built in a playful style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the central Shevchenkivskyi district. It was built in 1906 and was first the home of a prosperous fur dealer. Its outer walls is embellished with horse chestnut leaves and intricate camomile flowers.

“These structures stand as symbols of Kyiv. These properties are quite rare today,” Danylenko noted. The building was designed by a designer of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings in the vicinity display similar art nouveau characteristics, including an irregular shape – with a medieval spire on one side and a turret on the other. One popular house in the area features two forlorn white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a demonic figure.

Multiple Dangers to Heritage

But armed conflict is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unscrupulous developers who demolish listed buildings, corrupt officials and a governing class apathetic or resistant to the city’s vast architectural history. The severe winter climate adds another challenge.

“Kyiv is a city where capital prevails. We don’t have genuine political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He asserted the city’s mayor was closely associated with many of the developers who bulldoze important houses. Perov stated that the vision for the capital comes straight out of a different time. The mayor rejects these claims, stating they come from political rivals.

Perov said many of the civically minded activists who once championed older properties were now fighting on the frontline or had been lost. The protracted conflict meant that all citizens was facing financial problems, he added, including those in the legal system who inexplicably ruled in favour of suspect new-build schemes. “The longer this continues the more we see decline of our society and public institutions,” he argued.

Demolition and Abandonment

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

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was little optimism for the remaining coloured houses on the site. Sometimes developers destroyed old properties while asserting they were doing “historical excavation”, he said. A previous regime also caused immense damage on the capital, redesigning its central boulevard after the second world war so it could facilitate military vehicles.

Upholding the Legacy

One of Kyiv’s most notable champions of historic buildings, a tour guide and blogger, was lost his life in 2022 while serving in a contested area. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were persevering in his vital preservation work. There were initially 3,500 stone mansions in Kyiv, many built for the city’s prosperous entrepreneurs. Only 80 of their period doors survived, she said.

“It wasn’t external attacks that got rid of them. It was us,” she admitted sadly. “The war could go on for another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now not a thing will be left,” she continued. Chudna recently helped to restore a full of character creeper-covered house built in 1910, which acts as the headquarters of her cultural organization and doubles as a film set and museum. The property has a new red door and period-correct railings; inside is a period bathroom and antique mirrors.

“The war could continue for another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now not a thing will be left.”

The building’s occupant, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “quite special and a little bit cold”. Why do many residents not cherish the past? “Unfortunately they do not have education and taste. It’s all about business. We are striving as a country to move towards the west. But we are still a way off from such cultural awareness,” he said. Outdated ways of thinking lingered, with people reluctant to take personal responsibility for their architectural setting, he added.

Resilience in Action

Some buildings are collapsing because of institutional abandonment. Chudna indicated a once-magical villa tucked away behind a modern hospital. Its roof had caved in; pigeons made their home among its broken windows; refuse lay under a storybook tower. “Frequently we don’t win,” she conceded. “Restoration is a form of healing for us. We are attempting to save all this past and aesthetic value.”

In the face of war and commercial interests, these citizens continue their work, one door at a time, stating that to save a city’s identity, you must first protect its walls.