Preserving the Capital's Heritage: A City Rebuilding Its Foundations in the Shadow of War.

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her newly installed front door. The restoration team had playfully nicknamed its ornate transom window the “croissant”, a playful reference to its curved shape. “In my opinion it’s more of a peafowl,” she remarked, admiring its tree limb-inspired features. The restoration project at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was supported by residents, who commemorated the work with two impromptu pavement parties.

It was also an demonstration of resistance in the face of a foreign power, she explained: “We strive to live like normal people regardless of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the most positive way. We’re not afraid of remaining in our homeland. I could have left, starting anew to a foreign land. On the contrary, I’m here. The new entrance symbolizes our allegiance to our homeland.”

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

Safeguarding Kyiv’s historic buildings seems paradoxical at a moment when missile strikes regularly target the capital, resulting in death and destruction. Since the beginning of the current year, bombing campaigns have been dramatically stepped up. After each attack, workers board up blown-out windows with plywood and endeavor, where possible, to salvage residential buildings.

Amid the Bombs, a Fight for History

Despite the violence, a band of activists has been working to preserve the city’s deteriorating mansions, built in a distinctive style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the downtown Shevchenkivskyi district. It was constructed in 1906 and was originally the home of a prosperous fur dealer. Its facade is decorated with horse chestnut leaves and intricate camomile flowers.

“These buildings represent symbols of Kyiv. These properties are quite rare nowadays,” Danylenko stated. The mansion was designed by an architect of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings nearby display similar art nouveau characteristics, including asymmetry – with a medieval spire on one side and a projection on the other. One much-loved house in the area features two forlorn white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Several Threats to Legacy

But armed conflict is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face profit-driven developers who knock down protected buildings, corrupt officials and a administrative body apathetic or opposed to the city’s vast architectural history. The bitter winter climate imposes another burden.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We lack substantive political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He asserted the city’s mayor was friends with many of the developers who flatten important houses. Perov added that the concept for the capital comes straight out of a bygone era. The mayor has refuted these claims, saying they originate from political rivals.

Perov said many of the public-spirited activists who once championed older properties were now engaged in combat or had been lost. The protracted conflict meant that all citizens was facing monetary strain, 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 contended.

Destruction and Neglect

One egregious location of loss is in the riverside Podil neighbourhood. The street was home to classical 19th-century houses. A developer who acquired the plot had committed to preserve its picturesque 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 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 demolished old properties while asserting they were doing “scientific study”, he said. A 20th-century empire also wrought immense damage on the capital, rebuilding its main thoroughfare after the second world war so it could facilitate military vehicles.

Continuing the Work

One of Kyiv’s most notable champions of historic buildings, a tour guide and blogger, was fell in 2022 while fighting in the frontline. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were carrying on his vital preservation work. There were initially 3,500 brick-built mansions in Kyiv, many erected for the city’s wealthy entrepreneurs. Only 80 of their authentic doors survived, she said.

“It was not foreign rockets that got rid of them. It was us,” she said with regret. “The war could go on for another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now nothing will be left,” she continued. Chudna recently helped to restore a characterful vine-clad house built in 1910, which functions as the headquarters of her cultural organization and doubles as a film set and museum. The property has a new red door and original-style railings; inside is a period bathroom and antique mirrors.

“The war could continue for another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now little will be left.”

The building’s resident, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “incredibly atmospheric and a little bit cold”. Why do many residents not value the past? “Sadly they are without education and taste. It’s all about business. We are trying as a country to move towards the west. But we are still some distance away from such cultural awareness,” he said. Outdated ways of thinking persisted, with people hesitant to take personal responsibility for their built surroundings, he added.

Resilience in Action

Some buildings are collapsing because of institutional abandonment. Chudna showed a once-magical villa hidden behind a modern hospital. Its roof had collapsed; pigeons made their home among its smashed windows; debris lay under a whimsical tower. “Frequently we don’t win,” she admitted. “Preservation work is a form of healing for us. We are trying to save all this heritage and beauty.”

In the face of war and development pressures, these volunteers continue their work, one building at a time, stating that to save a city’s heart, you must first save its stones.