Hands off Pyrohove!

“Mayor Chernovetsky, history will not forgive you the defacement of the Museum of Folk Architecture and Life in Pyrohove!,” “No to gambling in the historical land!,” “Yes to the museum! No to casinos!” — these slogans were brought to the Kyiv city council’s building last week by the employees of the museum, scholars from the National Academy of Sciences and Rylsky Institute of Art Criticism, Folklore, and Ethnology, and other people who are worried about how Ukrainian cultural heritage is going to be preserved. The picketers demanded that Kyiv’s top officials cancel the resolution of the Kyiv City Council allowing the construction of a hotel and entertainment complex and a horse-racing and sports club on nearly 10 hectars of the museum’s territory.

“In October 2006 the Kyiv City Council passed a resolution to rent to Ukrinvestbud, a research and production limited company, nearly 10 hectars of land for 25 years for this purpose,” says Oleksii Dolia, Deputy Director of the museum. “When our employees and scholars picketed the council, the resolution was scrapped. The council’s deputies lent an ear to our demands and repealed their resolution. However, our joy was short-lived: in May 2007 the Kyiv City Council returned to this issue and cancelled its last resolution, thus permitting construction on the museum’s territory. Witnesses told me that the council’s secretary Oleksii Dovhyi put this question to vote twice during a single session. At 12:30pm the councilmen voted against but two minutes later the developer got the go-ahead to use our land.”

Dolia explained that the object of the dispute is the land in front of the entrance to the museum. In their quest for justice, the employees of the museum turned to President Viktor Yushchenko and the Kyiv prosecutor’s office. The president reacted by Edict No. 553/2007 on taking measures to stop unlawful use of the museum’s land and even ordered that a way to expand its area be found. The prosecutor’s office, in its turn, issued a protest against the resolution of the Kyiv City Council.

Borys Paton, President of the National Academy of Sciences, also filed a protest to the council and pointed out that any construction in the protected area of the museum, as approved by the Ministry of Culture, is unacceptable. However, this time the councilmen were deaf to the voice of scholars and community.

“We are not going to give up and, in addition to all kinds of appeals to top officials, we have filed a lawsuit. The court will consider it shortly,” said Dolia.

“I believe we will succeed in asserting our rights because this is our land. We will not let anyone abuse the values cherished by the Ukrainian people. Furthermore, we have secured the president’s support,” said Natalia Orobchenko of the Rylsky Institute of Art Criticism, Folklore, and Ethnology.

Leonid Shurko, an associate professor at the Department of Culture Studies in the Institute of Philosophy, Shevchenko Kyiv National University, also came to the council’s building to support the picketers.

“The professors and students of our university are against construction in historical lands. If the city council continues to pursue its current policy, Kyiv may soon turn into one grand casino. What kind of heritage will we leave for the next generations?”

To make themselves heard, the protesters sang Ukrainian songs and recited poems under the windows of the officials’ offices. “Let us say again to the city council- hands off Pyrohove!,” they chanted. We don’t know whether Kyiv’s councilmen heard them, but no one from the council came out to the picketers.

COMMENTARY

By Volodyyr BONDARENKO, a councilmen of the Kyiv City council:

“In the case of construction on the territory of the Pyrohove museum, scholars gave me a petition addressed to the Kyiv City Council and signed by three thousand people. Ethnic centers like Pyrohove are found in all countries of the world. For example, in Germany tens of thousands of people live in settlements built after the medieval pattern. However, this petition did not change the opinion of those councilmen who had voted for construction. The resolution was passed due the efforts of the so-called majority comprised of the councilmen from the Leonid Chernovetsky’s bloc and some councilmen representing Our Ukraine. It is a known fact that councilmen’s votes are being bought. The prosecutor issued a protest against this resolution but the council’s secretary Oles Dovhyi did not put it on the agenda. The prosecutor’s protests which are at variance with the interests of the pro-Chernovetsky majority are, as a rule, either passed over, or rejected. In addition to Pyrohove, the Kyiv City Council is soon going to engage in the deryban (misappropriation) of the protected lands in Feofania. In my opinion, the situation with the distribution of land can be changed only if we change the Kyiv City Council.”