Conflict at the foundations of Royal Palace

The conflict began back in November. Then the community learned about the intentions of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate to build an office-residential complex for the needs of the Church in 3-5 Desiatynny Provulok. People opposed such construction in the historic center of the capital and demanded to preserve old buildings. Besides, at this address there were found the remains of the foundation of the palace of the Prince Volodymyr… However, on the night of November 30 developers leveled two buildings that dated from the mid-19th century. On December 6 community activists held a protest at the Prosecutor Office of Kyiv, demanding opening a criminal case over the destruction of historic buildings. On December 10 protesters brought a few bricks from the buildings that were destroyed to the office of the Kyiv Patriarchate in protest against the construction of the office and residential center of UOC KP. Organizers of the protest are the civic campaign “Forum for Saving Kyiv” and the all-Ukrainian NGO “Kyiv Viche.”  “Our first protest took place near the Prosecutor’s Office and there, unfortunately, we did not reach the understanding with Viacheslav Marmysh, head of the Prosecutor’s Office department in Kyiv. We told him that no constructions could be performed here because it is not some ordinary plot of land, it is a part of the reserve ‘Old Kyiv’ and land can be allocated for development there only with the consent of the parliament. But this was not done, which means that it was a gross violation of the law and therefore, it is a crime – destruction of monument of architecture and culture of the mid-19th century,” Vitalii CHERNIAKHOVSKY, chief coordinator of the civil campaign “Forum for Saving Kyiv” told The Day.
According to Cherniakhovsky, about two dozens of activists came to the Kyiv Patriarchate office. At that time more than 40 seminarians of UOC KP gathered there together with the people working for the Patriarchate. “I explained to them that we have nothing against Filaret but we oppose the construction in the historic center and that we ask the Patriarch to make a volitional decision and withdraw the request for construction works. This construction will have a very negative impact on the image of the UOC KP. It is not even a construction of a temple; they plan to build an office and a residential center, which is a commercial structure, there. Besides, the designed ‘beast’ made of glass and concrete completely falls out of the context of the architecture ensemble of old Kyiv. Kyiv residents do not understand why Church wants to build an office center on the foundation of the palace of the Prince Volodymyr, who baptized Rus’? Why did they destroy the architectural monument of the mid-19th century?” asked Cherniakhovsky. He also told us that Filaret did not come out to them personally, as well as the members of the Holy Synod. And those who did come out could not have a constructive dialogue with protesting people. “If any construction on the territory of the reserve is strictly prohibited by law, what are the grounds for a commercial or religious, or some public organization to have a right to build something here? Remarkably, the developer is the LLC ‘Integral-Bud,’ which belongs to the deputy from the Party of Regions Volodymyr Zubyk,” summed up Cherniakhovsky.
Meanwhile, the spokesman of the Kyiv Patriarchate Archbishop Yevstratii Zoria in his comment to The Day stressed that the construction works are performed according to the law, they have all necessary permits, including a positive expert opinion from the state enterprise “Ukrderzhbudekspertyza” regarding the project documents and permission for construction work from the Inspection of State Architectural Control in Kyiv. The buildings in the 3-5 Desiatynny Provulok in 2002 were transferred to the Kyiv Patriarchate for exploitation and maintenance of the administrative and commercial premises. These buildings were not listed in the State Register of immovable monuments, they were in emergency condition and permission for their demolition was issued a long time ago. Archbishop Yevstratii Zoria explained that the project provides for the complete safety of the foundation of the Prince’s Palace, which will be covered with a transparent cover and on the first floor of the building there will be a museum exhibition dedicated to this monument. He also stressed that the building will contain only office accommodation and there will be no apartments.
“I would like to emphasize that this was a protest of 10 citizens, which in itself is the evidence of the scale of the problem. Besides, we see that it is mostly pagans, who take the most active part in these protests, and by doing so they, in fact, mask their aggressive attitude to Orthodox belief in general and to the Kyiv Patriarchate in particular by the issue of construction works.” Archbishop also added that UOC KP is always open for “constructive dialogue.” “We have all the permits, we work closely with scientists, including the National Institute of Archaeology that has been conducting the relevant research since 2008. We did not come to this place to do just anything we might want, we comply with all legal requirements,” said the spokesman of the UOC KP. He also added: “We know that the protests were motivated by the interests of certain individuals, who try to blackmail the Kyiv Patriarchate, to gain some tangible benefits in exchange for non-interference in these matters. This is not a manifestation of civil society, it is a pure provocation and blackmail.”