Preserving the Capital's Heritage: An Urban Center Reconstructing Its Foundations Under the Threat of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko beamed with pride as she displayed her freshly fitted front door. Local helpers had given the moniker its graceful transom window the “pastry”, a lighthearted tribute to its arched shape. “Personally, I believe it’s more of a peafowl,” she remarked, admiring its twig-detailed features. The refurbishment initiative at one of Kyiv’s pre-World War I art nouveau houses was made possible by residents, who celebrated with several neighbourhood pavement parties.

It was also an expression of opposition in the face of a neighboring state, she explained: “We strive to live like ordinary people regardless of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the optimal way. We’re not afraid of staying in our country. I could have left, relocating to a foreign land. Conversely, I’m here. The new entrance shows our allegiance to our homeland.”

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

Protecting Kyiv’s historic buildings seems strange at a moment when aerial assaults regularly target the capital, causing death and destruction. Since the start of the current year, aerial raids have been dramatically stepped up. After each strike, workers board up broken windows with plywood and endeavor, where possible, to secure residential buildings.

Within the Explosions, a Campaign for Beauty

Amid the bombs, a band of activists has been striving to preserve the city’s crumbling 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 originally the home of a wealthy fur dealer. Its outer walls is embellished with horse chestnut leaves and delicate camomile flowers.

“These structures stand as symbols of Kyiv. These properties are quite rare today,” Danylenko stated. The building was designed by a designer of Central European origin. Several other buildings in the vicinity display analogous art nouveau elements, including a lack of symmetry – with a pointed turret on one side and a projection on the other. One much-loved house in the area boasts two forlorn white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a demonic figure.

Multiple Dangers to Legacy

But armed conflict is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unscrupulous developers who knock down protected buildings, corrupt officials and a governing class indifferent or hostile to the city’s rich architectural history. The harsh winter climate presents another burden.

“Kyiv is a city where capital prevails. We lack real political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He alleged the city’s leadership was allied with many of the developers who destroy important houses. Perov stated that the concept for the capital comes straight out of a different time. The mayor has refuted these claims, attributing them 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 everyone was facing economic hardship, he added, including those in the legal system who inexplicably ruled in favour of dubious new-build schemes. “The longer this persists the more we see decline of our society and governing institutions,” he contended.

Demolition and Neglect

One glaring location of loss is in the waterside Podil neighbourhood. The street was home to classical 19th-century houses. A developer who purchased the plot had committed to preserve its attractive brick facade. A day after the 2022 invasion, diggers razed it to the ground. Recently, a crane dug foundations for a new shopping and business centre, observed by a stern security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was little optimism for the remaining blue-green houses on the site. Sometimes developers demolished old properties while asserting they were doing “archaeological research”, he said. A 20th-century empire also caused immense damage on the capital, reconstructing its main thoroughfare after the second world war so it could facilitate large-scale parades.

Upholding the Legacy

One of Kyiv’s most renowned defenders of historic buildings, a heritage expert, was lost his life in 2022 while engaged in a eastern city. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were persevering in his vital preservation work. There were originally 3,500 brick-built mansions in Kyiv, many constructed for the city’s successful entrepreneurs. Only 80 of their original doors are still in existence, she said.

“It was not foreign rockets that destroyed them. It was us,” she admitted sadly. “The war could last another 20 years. If we don’t defend architecture now nothing will be left,” she continued. Chudna recently helped to restore a full of character vine-clad house built in 1910, which functions as the headquarters of her cultural organization and also serves as a film set and museum. The property has a new vermilion portal and period-correct railings; inside is a historic washroom and antique mirrors.

“The war could go on for another 20 years. If we fail to protect 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 residents not cherish the past? “Unfortunately they do not have education and taste. It’s all about business. We are trying as a country to integrate with the west. But we are still not yet close from such cultural awareness,” he said. Outdated ways of thinking persisted, with people reluctant to take personal responsibility for their architectural setting, he added.

Resilience in Preservation

Some buildings are crumbling because of institutional abandonment. Chudna pointed to a once-magical villa hidden behind a modern hospital. Its roof had collapsed; pigeons nested among its shattered windows; refuse lay under a storybook tower. “Many times we don’t win,” she conceded. “Restoration is a form of healing for us. We are attempting to save all this heritage and beauty.”

In the face of conflict and development pressures, these volunteers continue their work, one building at a time, arguing that to rebuild a city’s heart, you must first cherish its walls.