Protecting the Capital's Heritage: A City Rebuilding Its Foundations Under the Threat of War.

Lesia Danylenko beamed with pride as she displayed her newly installed front door. Volunteers had given the moniker its graceful transom window the “crescent roll”, a whimsical nod to its bowed shape. “I think it’s more of a showy bird,” she commented, admiring its twig-detailed ornamentation. The refurbishment initiative at one of Kyiv’s early 20th-century art nouveau houses was made possible by residents, who celebrated with two neighbourhood pavement parties.

It was also an expression of defiance towards a foreign power, she elaborated: “Our aim is to live like ordinary people despite the war. It’s about arranging our life in the optimal way. Fear does not drive us of remaining in Ukraine. I had the option to depart, relocating to Italy. Instead, I’m here. The new entrance symbolizes our allegiance to our homeland.”

“We strive to live like normal people despite the war. It’s about organizing our life in the most positive way.”

Protecting Kyiv’s architectural heritage seems strange at a moment when drone attacks regularly target the capital, resulting in death and destruction. Since the beginning of the current year, offensive operations have been significantly intensified. After each assault, workers cover blown-out windows with plywood and try, where possible, to salvage residential buildings.

Among the Bombs, a Campaign for Identity

Amid the bombs, a band of activists has been working to save 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 built in 1906 and was initially the home of a prosperous fur dealer. Its facade is embellished 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 stated. The building was designed by a designer of Central European origin. Several other buildings in the vicinity exhibit 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 displays two unhappy white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Multiple Challenges to History

But military aggression is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face profit-driven developers who demolish historically significant buildings, dishonest officials and a administrative body unconcerned or hostile to the city’s rich architectural history. The harsh winter climate presents another difficulty.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We lack substantive 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 flatten important houses. Perov added that the vision for the capital harks back to a different time. The mayor rejects these claims, stating they come from political rivals.

Perov said many of the community-oriented activists who once championed older properties were now serving in the military or had been killed. The protracted conflict meant that everyone was facing monetary strain, he added, including those in the legal system who curiously ruled in favour of questionable new-build schemes. “The longer this goes on the more we see decline of our society and state bodies,” he remarked.

Demolition and Neglect

One glaring location of loss is in the riverside Podil neighbourhood. The street was lined with classical 19th-century houses. A developer who obtained the plot had pledged to preserve its picturesque brick facade. Shortly following the 2022 invasion, excavators demolished it. Recently, a crane prepared foundations for a new retail and office development, monitored by a surly security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was not much hope for the remaining blue-green houses on the site. Sometimes developers destroyed old properties while claiming they were doing “archaeological research”, he said. A 20th-century empire also inflicted immense damage on the capital, reconstructing its primary street after the second world war so it could facilitate large-scale parades.

Upholding the Legacy

One of Kyiv’s most prominent defenders of historic buildings, a cultural activist, was killed in 2022 while serving in a eastern city. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were carrying on his vital preservation work. There were at one time 3,500 stone mansions in Kyiv, many built for the city’s successful business magnates. Only 80 of their period doors survived, she said.

“It was not aerial bombardments that eliminated them. It was us,” she admitted sadly. “The war could last another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now nothing will be left,” she continued. Chudna recently helped to restore a characterful 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 crimson entrance and authentic railings; inside is a historic washroom and antique mirrors.

“The war could last another 20 years. If we don’t defend architecture now nothing will be left.”

The building’s resident, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “very cool and a little bit cold”. Why do many residents not value the past? “Regrettably they lack education and taste. It’s all about business. We are attempting as a country to go to the west. But we are still some distance away from that standard,” he said. Outdated ways of thinking remained, with people hesitant to take personal responsibility for their architectural setting, he added.

Hope in Preservation

Some buildings are crumbling because of institutional abandonment. Chudna pointed to a once-magical villa tucked away behind a modern hospital. Its roof had caved in; pigeons nested among its shattered windows; rubbish lay under a storybook tower. “Frequently we don’t win,” she acknowledged. “Preservation work is a form of healing for us. We are attempting to save all this past and beauty.”

In the face of war and development pressures, these volunteers continue their work, one door at a time, arguing that to rebuild a city’s identity, you must first protect its walls.