To mark Ukrainian Architecture Day, a cultural and educational event entitled ‘Preserved in Memory: The Sviatohirsk Heritage’ took place in Ternopil, organised by the municipal institution ‘Administration of the State Historical and Architectural Reserve in Sviatohirsk’. Today, the issue of architectural conservation is not merely about attracting visitors to museum collections; it is about our national survival. It was precisely this idea that formed the basis of the event, designed to draw public attention to the importance of preserving Ukraine’s historical and architectural heritage and protecting it in the current climate.
As part of the campaign, a presentation was held of the exhibition project ‘Heritage Not Doomed to Destruction’, which, through photographs and historical information, provides a detailed account of the centuries-old history of Sviatohirsk’s architectural monuments, as well as their current condition. The exhibition allows visitors to clearly compare what these architectural sites looked like before the full-scale invasion and the destruction they have suffered at the hands of the occupiers.
The crimes against Ukraine’s cultural heritage are documented in photographs that show, in detail, the reserve’s immovable cultural heritage sites, ravaged by enemy attacks. The organisers have placed particular emphasis on this transformation of Donetsk Oblast’s architectural gems. The project’s photographic exhibition traces the entire journey of these remarkable sites: from the moment of their creation and their period of greatest splendour to the present day. The exhibition shows how former architectural masterpieces have been transformed into ‘silent witnesses’, bearing the deep scars of recent history.
Amidst the current brutal challenges, these fire-damaged architectural monuments of the Sviatohirsk Nature Reserve have been revealed to the public as symbols of the painful fragility of material culture in the face of war, and of the incredible, unbreakable strength of the Ukrainian spirit.
The exhibition shows that even damaged monuments continue to live on as long as we remember them. They remain part of our shared Ukrainian identity, and their protection and future restoration are a common cause for each and every one of us.