Safeguarding Kyiv's Heritage: A City Reconstructing Itself Under the Threat of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko beamed with pride as she displayed her newly installed front door. The restoration team had given the moniker its ornate transom window the “crescent roll”, a whimsical nod to its bowed shape. “In my opinion it’s more of a peafowl,” she commented, gazing at its tree limb-inspired details. The renovation effort at one of Kyiv’s early 20th-century art nouveau houses was funded through residents, who marked the occasion with a couple of lively pavement parties.

It was also an demonstration of defiance towards a foreign power, she elaborated: “We strive to live like ordinary people despite the war. It’s about organizing our life in the most positive way. We have no fear of remaining in Ukraine. The possibility to emigrate existed, moving away to Italy. Instead, I’m here. The new entrance symbolizes our dedication to our homeland.”

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

Preserving Kyiv’s historic buildings may appear unusual at a moment when missile strikes routinely fall the capital, causing death and destruction. Since the onset of the current year, bombing campaigns have been significantly intensified. After each assault, workers board up blown-out windows with plywood and endeavor, where possible, to salvage residential buildings.

Among the Explosions, a Battle for Beauty

Despite the violence, a collective 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 historic Shevchenkivskyi district. It was erected in 1906 and was originally the home of a prosperous fur dealer. Its exterior is embellished with horse chestnut leaves and intricate camomile flowers.

“They are symbols of Kyiv. These properties are increasingly scarce today,” Danylenko stated. The building was designed by an architect of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings nearby showcase similar art nouveau elements, including asymmetry – with a medieval spire on one side and a projection on the other. One beloved house in the area boasts two unhappy white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a imp.

Several Dangers to Legacy

But military aggression is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face profit-driven developers who demolish listed buildings, unethical officials and a political leadership unconcerned or resistant to the city’s vast architectural history. The harsh winter climate adds another burden.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We are missing genuine political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He asserted the city’s leadership was closely associated 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 denies these claims, attributing them from political rivals.

Perov said many of the civically minded activists who once defended older properties were now serving in the military or had been lost. The ongoing conflict meant that the entire society was facing financial problems, he added, including judicial figures who mysteriously ruled in favour of questionable new-build schemes. “The longer this continues the more we see deterioration of our society and governing institutions,” he argued.

Loss and Abandonment

One glaring location of loss is in the historic Podil neighbourhood. The street was home to classical 19th-century houses. A developer who obtained the plot had committed to preserve its attractive brick facade. In the immediate aftermath of 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 little optimism for the remaining coloured houses on the site. Sometimes developers levelled old properties while asserting they were doing “scientific study”, he said. A former political system also inflicted immense damage on the capital, reconstructing its central boulevard after the second world war so it could allow for official processions.

Upholding the Legacy

One of Kyiv’s most renowned defenders of historic buildings, a heritage expert, was lost his life in 2022 while serving in a eastern city. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were persevering in his crucial preservation work. There were originally 3,500 stone mansions in Kyiv, many erected for the city’s prosperous industrialists. Only 80 of their authentic doors are still in existence, she said.

“It wasn’t foreign rockets that destroyed them. It was us,” she said with regret. “The war could last another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now nothing will be left,” she added. Chudna recently helped to restore a unique ivy-draped 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 vermilion portal and period-correct railings; inside is a vintage sanitary facility and antique mirrors.

“The war could go on for another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now nothing will be left.”

The building’s occupant, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “very cool and a little bit cold”. Why do many locals not value the past? “Sadly they lack education and taste. It’s all about business. We are trying as a country to go to the west. But we are still some distance away from such cultural awareness,” he said. Outdated ways of thinking persisted, with people unwilling to take personal responsibility for their urban environment, he added.

Hope in Action

Some buildings are collapsing because of institutional abandonment. Chudna showed a once-magical villa concealed behind a modern hospital. Its roof had fallen; pigeons roosted among its broken windows; rubbish lay under a storybook tower. “Frequently we don’t win,” she conceded. “Preservation work is a coping mechanism for us. We are trying to save all this heritage and aesthetic value.”

In the face of conflict and commercial interests, these volunteers continue their work, one door at a time, believing that to save a city’s heart, you must first protect its stones.