Protecting Kyiv's Heritage: A City Reconstructing Its Foundations in the Shadow of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her freshly fitted front door. Local helpers had given the moniker its elegant transom window the “crescent roll”, a whimsical nod to its bowed shape. “In my opinion it’s more of a peafowl,” she stated, gazing at its branch-like details. The renovation effort at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was funded through residents, who commemorated the work with several impromptu pavement parties.

It was also an expression of defiance towards a neighboring state, she explained: “Our aim is to live like everyday people despite the war. It’s about shaping our life in the most positive way. Fear does not drive us of staying in our homeland. I had the option to depart, relocating to a foreign land. Conversely, I’m here. The new entrance represents our commitment to our homeland.”

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

Safeguarding Kyiv’s built legacy may appear strange at a time when drone attacks regularly target the capital, causing death and destruction. Since the beginning of the current year, aerial raids have been dramatically stepped up. After each strike, workers seal broken windows with plywood and endeavor, where possible, to secure residential buildings.

Among the Explosions, a Fight for Identity

Despite the violence, a group of activists has been working to conserve the city’s decaying mansions, built in a playful style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the historic Shevchenkivskyi district. It was constructed in 1906 and was first the home of a affluent fur dealer. Its facade is adorned with horse chestnut leaves and intricate camomile flowers.

“These structures stand as symbols of Kyiv. These properties are increasingly scarce in the present day,” Danylenko said. The residence was designed by a designer of Central European origin. Several other buildings in the vicinity display comparable art nouveau characteristics, including asymmetry – with a gothic tower on one side and a turret on the other. One popular house in the area features two sullen white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Several Challenges to Legacy

But external attacks is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unprincipled developers who demolish listed buildings, corrupt officials and a political leadership apathetic or resistant to the city’s profound architectural history. The harsh winter climate imposes another burden.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We lack genuine 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 stated that the concept for the capital is reminiscent of a bygone era. The mayor has refuted these claims, attributing them from political rivals.

Perov said many of the civically minded activists who once protected older properties were now fighting on the frontline or had been fallen. The lengthy conflict meant that everyone was facing financial problems, he added, including judicial figures who mysteriously ruled in favour of dubious new-build schemes. “The longer this continues the more we see deterioration of our society and state bodies,” he remarked.

Loss and Neglect

One egregious demolition site is in the riverside Podil neighbourhood. The street was the site of classical 19th-century houses. A developer who obtained the plot had pledged to preserve its attractive brick facade. Shortly following the full-scale invasion, excavators razed it to the ground. Recently, a crane dug foundations for a new shopping and business centre, watched by a surly security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was faint chance for the remaining blue-green houses on the site. Sometimes developers destroyed old properties while claiming they were doing “scientific study”, he said. A former political system also inflicted immense damage on the capital, reconstructing its main thoroughfare after the second world war so it could accommodate military vehicles.

Continuing the Work

One of Kyiv’s most notable champions of historic buildings, a heritage expert, was killed in 2022 while fighting in a eastern city. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were continuing his crucial preservation work. There were originally 3,500 brick-built mansions in Kyiv, many built for the city’s successful business magnates. Only 80 of their original doors are still in existence, she said.

“It wasn’t aerial bombardments that destroyed them. It was us,” she lamented. “The war could continue for another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now not a thing will be left,” she added. Chudna recently helped to restore a full of character vine-clad house built in 1910, which serves as the headquarters of her cultural organization and operates as a film set and museum. The property has a new vermilion portal and period-correct railings; inside is a vintage sanitary facility and antique mirrors.

“The war could continue for another 20 years. If we don’t defend architecture now not a thing will be left.”

The building’s tenant, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “quite special and a little bit cold”. Why do many citizens not cherish the past? “Sadly they lack education and taste. It’s all about business. We are striving as a country to integrate with the west. But we are still some distance away from such cultural awareness,” he said. Soviet-era ways of thinking persisted, with people reluctant to take personal responsibility for their built surroundings, he added.

Resilience in Restoration

Some buildings are falling apart because of institutional abandonment. Chudna showed a once-magical villa tucked away behind a modern hospital. Its roof had fallen; pigeons nested among its shattered windows; debris lay under a fairytale tower. “Often we don’t win,” she conceded. “Restoration is a form of healing for us. We are attempting to save all this heritage and aesthetic value.”

In the face of conflict and commercial interests, these activists continue their work, one building at a time, arguing that to rebuild a city’s heart, you must first protect its walls.