The first public event – public conference “UREHERIT: architects for heritage in Ukraine” dedicated especially to the project happened on 13th of October 2023. Despite the war, experts from three countries – Lithuania, Estonia and Romania – visited Ukraine. As many as 120 speakers ( 50 experts offline and 70 experts who participated in the event remotely, in total the event united 300 participants and listeners ) share their knowledge and experience, and will experiment with the aim to build competence on the heritage protection, regeneration of culturally meaningful plans and projects and empowering of local communities as a tool for building the new, democratic, and sustainable Ukraine with a unique yet European cultural DNA.
Photo: Arsen Fedosenko
The visitors of the UREHERIT conference were welcomed by the exhibition: “Holistic renovation of modernism housing”, which was already presented by Architects Association of Lithuania in 2022. Exhibition aims to expand the concept of modernism housing renovation and elevate it from insulation or engineering networks upgrade. Final goal is to include all individual apartments, common indoor and outdoor spaces revival, while maintaining the visual quality and architectural integrity of the whole block.
Ruta Leitanaite, initiator and coordinator of the project, member of the Council of the Association of Architects of Lithuania, summarizes: “The general objective of UREHERIT is to recover the cultural sector of architecture as a blossoming field of action engaging in combining tangible and intangible heritage with new architecture and urban design. With this project we want to contribute to recovery of an artistic sector – architecture as a cultural expression – inviting Ukrainian architects (and heritage protection specialists in particular) to collaborate with European architects on an equal footing: to share knowledge and experience and together search for a new, Ukraine-suited, methodology and ways to preserve and recover Ukrainian urban and architectural heritage in a sustainable, inclusive manner”.
During the conference Rūta introduced the project, moderated the first discussion after which together with Martynas Marozas and Svetlana Biriuk from НСАУ presented “Planning methods for holistic renovation of Soviet housing”.
The conference began with a welcome speech by Oleksandr Chyzhevskyi: “Heritage is not only in Kyiv or Lviv. Sights in small towns and villages, archaeological explorations with current legislation for local communities — ” punishment “
During the conference five high-level round table discussions were held between Ukrainian government and international architectural and heritage protection organizations representatives.
COORDINATION OF THE EFFORTS OF THE KEY STAKEHOLDERS IN THE POST-WAR HERITAGE RECOVERY:
- Anna Bondar – member of Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine;
- Vasyl Petryk – Department of the urban planning of Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine (TBC), Ministry of Educaton Ukraine (TBC);
- Mariana Oleskiv – Head of State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine;
- Maryna Solovjova – Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage Protection of the KMDA;
- Roksolana Yasynska – Chief of the Culture Heritage Assessment and Preservation supervision, Department of Architecture and Urban Development of the LODA, chief architect of the Lviv region;
- Chiara Dezzi Bardeschi – Head of UNESCO desk in Ukraine;
- Yuliia Fediv – culture and media manager, member of supervisory Board of the Ukrainian Institute;
- Mykola Bevz – COMOS Vice-President, Ukraine Oleksandr Chyzhevsky, President of NSAU;
- Ruth Schagemann – President of Architects Council of Europe, ACE;
- Oksana Proda – Adviser to the Chairman of the Association of Cities of Ukraine;
Moderator: Ruta Leitanaite – UREHERIT coordinator, Architects Association of Lithuania.
The key need for work with cultural heritage is to develop an algorithm for assessing damage and loss of monuments, which will be based on European protocols and legislation, world cases, as well as the important role of international funds and systematic training of specialists — architects and restorers, in order to cope with personnel losses.
According to Ruth Schagemann, the most important is a human-centered approach: “We have to talk about people who live in cities and want to feel safe and find their identity in them. Only Ukrainians themselves can develop it for themselves. If we wait for politicians, we will be too slow. If we work together as a community, maybe we’ll get there.”
Architect, parliamentarian Anna Bondar singles out four qualities that guarantee the harmonious functioning of any system: institutional capacity of authorities, qualification and level of education of specialists, procedures and their methodicality, as well as funds. Their synergy provides opportunities for a reboot of the field, and this is exactly what Ukraine currently needs in terms of culture, preservation of monuments and cultural heritage.
Oksana Prodan presented to her colleagues the position of the Association of Cities of Ukraine regarding the issue of monument protection, which is felt at the community level. The expert singles out the following priorities in the preservation of cultural heritage during war and outside the context of military operations: compliance with the regime of cultural heritage protection by local self-government bodies and conclusion of protection agreements, comprehensive approaches to working with monuments, in particular in conditions of lack of funding, transparent monitoring, participation of authorities of local self-government in improving the qualifications of persons working in the field of cultural heritage protection and prosecution for violations, educational activities and interaction with the community.
Maryana Oleskiv: ” Right now, when we see how our cultural heritage is being destroyed by Russia, we are beginning to pay more attention to how it has been destroyed by our own hands for many years.”
“In order to rebuild something, we have to assess the needs. With this project, we will contribute to the revival of Ukrainian architecture as a cultural expression. The approach is to include the cultural heritage of Ukraine in the plan for its restoration as a resource of national identity,” — Olena Oliinyk
The presentations and discussions of the second and third sections of the conference were devoted to the assessment of damages and losses caused to the cultural heritage of Ukraine as a result of the war, as well as the assessment of the needs for restoration.Vasyl Petryk : “Our heritage is our identity. We are valuable to the world with our identity.”
ON MONITORING AND EVALUATING THE VALUE OF HERITAGE AND DAMAGE IN UKRAINE.
- Vasyl Rozhko – team leader of Ukrainian Heritage Monitoring Lab;
- Kateryna Honcharova – Ukrainian Heritage Crisis Specialist, World Monuments Fund;
- Vasyl Petryk – Department of the urban planning of Ministry of Culture of Ukraine;
- Maryna Solovyova – Director of the Department of Cultural, Heritage Protection of the KMDA;
Moderator: Olena Oliynyk, Prof., D.Arch.,NUAU, Ukraine.
INCLUSIVE AND TRANSPARENT, QUALITY-ORIENTED PROCESSES OF HERITAGE RESTORATION IN UKRAINE:
- Volodymyr Gaidar – NUAU, ICOMOS;
- Anatoliy Nechyporchuk – PhD of Tech Science;
- Aet Ader – Estonian Union of Architects;
- Stefan Balici – Romanian Order of Architects;
Moderator: Olga Neshta – PhD, NUAU.
Ukraine and its post-war recovery can be released by building communication networks with the regional, European and global professional community. Visions of cooperation, potential projects and architectural competitions in Ukraine were shared with the audience
RE-USING AND RECONSTRUCTING HERITAGE AS A RESOURCE FOR SUSTAINABLE AND SOCIALLY JUST REBUILDING OF UKRAINE.
- Svitlana Biriuk – PhD, NUAU;
- Ihor Hnes – DR. of Arch., NUAU;
- Gleb Ushakov – PhD, Save Kyiv Modernism;
- Alisa Svyatyna – Director of Restoration and Technological center, Ukraine, online;
- Irvna Matsevko – KhSA, Hanna Havryliv, Heritage.ua;
Moderator: Olga Terefeyeva – NUAU, Savekyivmodernism.
Ukrainian and foreign experts discussed planning methods for the renovation of housing built in the Soviet era. Olga Terefeeva: “Today should bring peace to our community. It should bring the beginning of understanding, because the topic of heritage is full of misunderstandings due to gaps and outdated methods, although all experts pursue the same goal – preservation.”
HERITAGE AS A TOPIC IN PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION AND DEMAND OF SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE OF UKRAINIAN PROFESSIONALS) EXPERTS:
- Mykola Beyz – Dr.Arch., Prof., Lviv Polytechnic,
- Valeriy Tobych – Dr. of Arch., Prof., (KNUBA),
- Yuriy Kryvoruchko – Dr. Arch., Prof., NUZP;
- Valentyn Demianov – Head of regional Chamber of NUAU;
- Yuriy Dyba – Dr.Arch, Prof., Dean of postgraduate department LVIV Polytechnic;
- Oleh Drozdov – architect, Co-founder, President of the Kharkiv School of Architecture;
Moderators: Anna Pomazanna – KhSA, Olena Oliynyk, D.Arch., Prof., NUAU.
In the last section of the “Education, advanced training” conference, experts expressed their opinions on the problematic aspects of training architect-restorers in Ukraine, the specifics of knowledge and levels of expertise for working with cultural heritage objects, and the current demand for specialists.
After the UREHERIT conference guests have been invited to join a workshop “Historical Heritage. Conceptual Proposal for the Reconstruction of the Oldest Castle Entrance Gate and Wooden Drawbridge” on the second day organized by NUAU.
Svirzh Castle (Ukrainian: Свірзький замок) is a fortified aristocratic residence with a small church in Svirzh, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It was originally built in the 15th century. Surrounded on all sides by moats, lakes, and marshes, the castle is an example of defense and palace architecture of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Preserved defense structure has become the subject of special attention. Devastated by fire the revival of Svirzh Castle began in the 1970s and is still ongoing. The NUAU is making every effort to ensure that the castle is completely rebuilt and a modern “Svirzh” center is created – a multifunctional complex: a scientific, cultural, educational, tourist and communication center for the community of Ukraine. The head of DART Maryana Oleskiv states: the objects that are currently the best preserved are mostly used for new purposes, far from museum ones. This is better than being abandoned, however, they are not always accessible to tourists and cannot act as tourist magnets for their region. “Having buildings with such functionality, we cannot use them as full-fledged tourist facilities that would attract visitors,”
After a tour of the castle, the architect, an expert in the restoration of architectural monuments, a member of the NSAU Yuriy Verbovetskyi presented two presentations to the audience – “Svirz Castle: Modernity and Future” and “Historical Heritage. Conceptual proposal for the reconstruction of the oldest entrance gate of the castle and the wooden drawbridge”.Guests together joined the creative process and offered the ideas for the restoration of Svirzh Castle moderated by an architect, a member of the Lviv Union of Architects of NSAU Bohdan Goy. all ideas were discussed and kept in Svirzh for further development.
Yurii Verbovetskyi: “When we are in such an upheaval as war, we are motivated to win only by high, very high, even unattainable goals”.
The project is a cooperation between the consortium of 11 organizations: Architects Association of Lithuania (LT), Architects Sweden (SE), Federal Chamber of Architects and Chartered Engineers BKZT (AT), Royal Danish Academy, The Institute of Technology and Architecture IBT (DK), Romanian Order of Architects OAR (RO), The National Council of Architects, Planners, Landscapers and Conservationists CNAPPC (IT), Federal Chamber of German Architects BAK (DE), Estonian Association of Architects (EE), The National Union of Architects of Ukraine (UA), Ro3kvit: Urban Coalition for Ukraine (UA), Kharkiv School of Architecture (UA) with the Architects’ Council of Europe (EU) as associated partner.
During the three-year project, European and Ukrainian heritage specialists, architects, planners, engineers, other professionals, officers of local authorities and communities of Ukrainian cities through research, workshops, public discussions, events, continuous professional development, and educational programs for architectural schools, will analyze topics of protection and restoration of Ukrainian cultural heritage. The project is initiated by the Architects Association of Lithuania, co-financed by the European Union program “Creative Europe”.
The recording of the conference can be viewed here (day 1) and here (day 2).
More info on the project UREHERIT: www.ureherit.eu FACEBOOK, Instagram, LinkedIn
Contacts: info@ureherit.eu; media@ureherit.eu
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author (s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EACEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
