Safeguarding the Capital's Heritage: An Urban Center Reconstructing Its Foundations in the Shadow of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her newly installed front door. Volunteers had playfully nicknamed its graceful transom window the “crescent roll”, a playful reference to its curved shape. “In my opinion it’s more of a showy bird,” she stated, admiring its tree limb-inspired details. The restoration project at one of Kyiv’s pre-World War I art nouveau houses was supported by residents, who marked the occasion with several lively pavement parties.

It was also an act of opposition in the face of a foreign power, she elaborated: “We are trying to live like ordinary people despite the war. It’s about arranging our life in the best possible way. We have no fear of remaining in our homeland. I could have left, starting anew to another European nation. Conversely, I’m here. The new entrance symbolizes our commitment to our homeland.”

“Our aim is to live like ordinary people regardless of the war. It’s about arranging our life in the most positive way.”

Protecting Kyiv’s built legacy may appear strange at a moment when aerial assaults routinely fall the capital, causing death and destruction. Since the start of the current year, bombing campaigns have been notably increased. After each assault, workers cover shattered windows with plywood and try, where possible, to save residential buildings.

Within the Bombs, a Campaign for Beauty

Amid the bombs, a band of activists has been striving to conserve the city’s crumbling mansions, built in a distinctive style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the historic Shevchenkivskyi district. It was erected in 1906 and was initially the home of a affluent fur dealer. Its facade is adorned with horse chestnut leaves and fine camomile flowers.

“These structures stand as symbols of Kyiv. These properties are quite rare in the present day,” Danylenko noted. The building was designed by a designer of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings close by exhibit similar art nouveau features, including asymmetry – with a pointed turret on one side and a turret on the other. One popular house in the area features two sullen white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Several Challenges to Heritage

But military aggression is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unprincipled developers who knock down listed buildings, unethical officials and a administrative body apathetic or hostile to the city’s rich architectural history. The bitter winter climate presents another difficulty.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We lack genuine political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He asserted the city’s leadership was allied with many of the developers who flatten important houses. Perov added that the plan for the capital harks back to a previous decade. The mayor denies these claims, saying they originate from political rivals.

Perov said many of the civically minded activists who once defended older properties were now engaged in combat or had been fallen. The lengthy conflict meant that the entire society was facing monetary strain, he added, including those in the legal system who inexplicably ruled in favour of dubious new-build schemes. “The longer this continues the more we see degradation of our society and public institutions,” he argued.

Destruction and Abandonment

One notorious location of loss is in the waterside Podil neighbourhood. The street was lined with classical 19th-century houses. A developer who acquired the plot had agreed to preserve its charming brick facade. Shortly following the 2022 invasion, excavators demolished it. Recently, a crane prepared foundations for a new commercial complex, observed by a surly security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was little optimism for the remaining blue-green houses on the site. Sometimes developers levelled old properties while claiming they were doing “historical excavation”, he said. A 20th-century empire also wrought immense damage on the capital, reconstructing its primary street after the second world war so it could allow for official processions.

Carrying the Torch

One of Kyiv’s most prominent defenders of historic buildings, a tour guide and blogger, was killed in 2022 while fighting in a eastern city. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were persevering in his crucial preservation work. There were initially 3,500 stone mansions in Kyiv, many built for the city’s prosperous entrepreneurs. Only 80 of their period doors remain, she said.

“It was not aerial bombardments that got rid of them. It was us,” she lamented. “The war could last another 20 years. If we don’t defend architecture now not a thing will be left,” she emphasized. Chudna recently helped to restore a characterful ivy-draped house built in 1910, which acts as the headquarters of her cultural organization and operates 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 continue for another 20 years. If we don’t defend architecture now not a thing will be left.”

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

Resilience in Action

Some buildings are collapsing because of institutional abandonment. Chudna pointed to a once-magical villa tucked away behind a modern hospital. Its roof had collapsed; pigeons roosted among its smashed windows; refuse lay under a fairytale tower. “Many times we are unsuccessful,” she admitted. “Preservation work is a coping mechanism for us. We are striving to save all this heritage and beauty.”

In the face of destruction and neglect, these volunteers continue their work, one building at a time, believing that to save a city’s heart, you must first cherish its walls.