Donetsk Region. Cultural Heritage in Ruins. An SOS

In the Donetsk region, as throughout Ukraine, historic buildings that are famous landmarks of towns and villages are collapsing, falling into decay, and burning down. The destruction of the historical and cultural layer of this industrial region has been going on for decades, and since the early 1990s the number of neglected sites among the pre-revolutionary buildings has increased considerably. Some of the houses have owners, but they are not concerned about the state of their priceless property. Not all the historic buildings that make up the architectural face of this industrial land, or are simply important for preserving memory, are under municipal protection. But even those that have been granted the status of monuments enjoy no special privileges, and protected status has added nothing for these former masterpieces. Genuine pearls, whose history spans more than a hundred years, have potential and could be the adornment of towns and objects on tourist routes. If these works of architecture, these industrial monuments, were saved and, with the help of investors, turned into museums, offices, shops, and art galleries, they would bring both aesthetic pleasure and practical benefit.

Prelesne, Donetsk region. The abandoned Bantysh estate

Mosaic. A Vanishing Layer of Art. Hurry to See It!

The resonant destruction of a mosaic beloved by Lvivians on the demolished 'Okean' store makes one think about preserving examples of monumental art. Many mosaic pictures bear no communist symbols. Unique, spectacular frescoes are being ruined by spiritlessness and mismanagement.

Pavlohrad. Dnipropetrovsk region. Mosaic panel. Shevchenko Street, 120

Kostiantynivka. Places of Worship

In Kostiantynivka, where the planned economy developed under the guidance of Marxist-Leninists, the atheist authorities did not build places of worship for spiritual cleansing. The townspeople were parishioners in the neighbouring village of Oleksandro-Shultyne, at the Church of St George, built by the landowner General Kotliarevsky in 1829.

The Church of St George. 1829. The village of Oleksandro-Shultyne, Kostiantynivka district, Donetsk region

Kostiantynivka. The architectural symbols of a weary city

There are cities that grow weary of people and their activity. The era of development ends, and a stage of decay sets in — of enterprises, roads, buildings, historical and cultural treasures. In Kostiantynivka, in the Donetsk region, the depressed state of its industrial and social-amenity facilities was evident long before 2014.

Kostiantynivka. Oleksa Tykhy St. The city council