Safeguarding the Capital's Heritage: A City Rebuilding Itself Under the Threat of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her recently completed front door. Local helpers had playfully nicknamed its elegant transom window the “croissant”, a whimsical nod to its bowed shape. “I think it’s more of a peafowl,” she remarked, admiring its twig-detailed features. The renovation effort at one of Kyiv’s early 20th-century art nouveau houses was funded through residents, who celebrated with several lively pavement parties.

It was also an demonstration of defiance in the face of a neighboring state, she explained: “We strive to live like normal people regardless of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the best possible way. Fear does not drive us of remaining in Ukraine. I could have left, moving away to another European nation. Conversely, 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 arranging our life in the most positive way.”

Safeguarding Kyiv’s historic buildings may appear strange at a time when drone attacks frequently hit the capital, bringing death and destruction. Since the beginning of the current year, aerial raids have been significantly intensified. After each strike, workers seal blown-out windows with plywood and endeavor, where possible, to secure residential buildings.

Among the Bombs, a Campaign for Identity

In the midst of war, a collective of activists has been attempting to conserve 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 constructed in 1906 and was initially the home of a wealthy fur dealer. Its outer walls is embellished with horse chestnut leaves and fine camomile flowers.

“These buildings represent symbols of Kyiv. These properties are increasingly scarce today,” Danylenko said. The residence was designed by a designer of Central European origin. Several other buildings nearby exhibit comparable art nouveau elements, including asymmetry – with a gothic tower on one side and a turret on the other. One beloved house in the area boasts two forlorn white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Multiple Threats to Legacy

But external attacks is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unprincipled developers who knock down protected buildings, unethical officials and a political leadership unconcerned or resistant to the city’s rich architectural history. The bitter winter climate imposes another challenge.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We lack real political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He alleged the city’s mayor was closely associated with many of the developers who flatten important houses. Perov added that the concept for the capital comes straight out of a previous decade. 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 engaged in combat or had been killed. The protracted conflict meant that the entire society was facing economic hardship, he added, including judicial figures who inexplicably ruled in favour of questionable new-build schemes. “The longer this continues the more we see decline of our society and state bodies,” he contended.

Demolition and Neglect

One egregious demolition site is in the waterside Podil neighbourhood. The street was lined with classical 19th-century houses. A developer who acquired the plot had pledged to preserve its attractive brick facade. A day after the 2022 invasion, excavators demolished it. Recently, a crane prepared foundations for a new shopping and business centre, monitored by a unfriendly 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 asserting they were doing “scientific study”, he said. A previous regime also wrought immense damage on the capital, redesigning its primary street after the second world war so it could accommodate military vehicles.

Upholding the Legacy

One of Kyiv’s most prominent defenders of historic buildings, a heritage expert, was lost his life in 2022 while engaged in a contested area. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were carrying on his vital preservation work. There were at one time 3,500 masonry mansions in Kyiv, many constructed for the city’s prosperous industrialists. Only 80 of their period doors are still in existence, she said.

“It wasn’t aerial bombardments that got rid of them. It was us,” she said with regret. “The war could continue for another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now nothing will be left,” she continued. Chudna recently helped to restore a unique creeper-covered house built in 1910, which functions as the headquarters of her cultural organization and operates 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 go on for another 20 years. If we don’t defend architecture now little 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 appreciate the past? “Regrettably they are without education and taste. It’s all about business. We are striving as a country to go to the west. But we are still a way off from civilization,” he said. Soviet-era ways of thinking remained, with people unwilling to take personal responsibility for their urban environment, he added.

Resilience in Restoration

Some buildings are crumbling because of institutional abandonment. Chudna indicated a once-magical villa tucked away behind a modern hospital. Its roof had collapsed; pigeons nested among its broken windows; refuse lay under a whimsical tower. “Frequently we are unsuccessful,” she admitted. “Restoration is a coping mechanism for us. We are trying to save all this past and beauty.”

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