Due to the large-scale bombing of Kiev and the region, during which the Oreshnik complex was used by the Russian army for the third time during the total war, not only more than 80 civilians were injured (two of them died), but also many cultural and educational institutions: received damage Buildings of theaters, concert halls, museums, libraries, universities, churches and monasteries. Some of them are architectural monuments. Meduza talks about some valuable things of the history of Kiev and the entire Ukraine that were attacked on the night of May 24.
Chernobyl National Museum
A large memorial and historical museum dedicated to the Chernobyl accident was opened in Podol, central Kiev, in a former fire station in 1992. The choice of the building is symbolic: it is a tribute to the firefighters who extinguished the reactor after the nuclear power plant exploded in 1986.
Before the Russian bombing, the museum stored about 7 thousand exhibits: photos, videos, documents, maps of radiation spread, personal belongings of liquidators and residents of Pripyat, artifacts from the exclusion zone telling about the fate of people affected by the accident. One of the most famous exhibits in the museum is the corridor containing road signs for the evacuated villages near Chernobyl. Additionally, the set includes a diorama showing what the nuclear power plant looked like before, during, and after the accident.
Only in April, an exhibition dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the accident was opened at the Chernobyl Museum.
Museum director Vitalina Martynovskaya I mentionedAs a result of the raid on the night of May 24, every room in the museum was damaged. The building was flooded with water after the fire was extinguished. The roof and fragments of the exterior facades began to collapse. Some exhibits are lost. Museum staff are trying to save the rest of the collection.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko His name A blow to the museum with a deliberate attack: “Russia once hid the truth about Chernobyl, but today it attacks the places it keeps.”
National Museum of Art
One of the oldest and most important museums in Ukraine, it was designed in the nineteenth century by architect Vladislav Gorodetsky, the creator of the famous museum. “Home with Illusion”. Thanks to Ukrainian intellectuals and patrons of the arts, the National Museum of Art became the first public museum in Kiev. It is located in the city center, near Independence Square.
The museum’s collection includes about 40 thousand works: from ancient Russian icons of the 12th century to modern Ukrainian art, including modern and avant-garde. The collection of Ukrainian icon paintings stored there is one of the largest in the country.
On the night of May 24, the museum building suffer From the blast wave. On the museum page Facebook Staff said it would be closed “indefinitely.” It is known that the museum workers themselves and the collection were not harmed. They promise to announce the opening later.
“The National Art Museum of Ukraine is the place where the history of Ukrainian art is preserved. Russia systematically attacks civilian infrastructure and cultural institutions. Every such strike is an attempt to intimidate and destroy our identity.” Comment Attack by Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy of Ukraine, Tatyana Berezhnaya.
National Philharmonic, National Academy of Music and Kyiv Opera in Podol
The main building of the orchestra is the former Merchant Assembly building, built in 1882 according to the design of architect Vladimir Nikolaev. Initially, it was a club for the Kiev elite, where balls, charity events and merchant meetings were held.
In addition, this is one of the few buildings in the Khreschatyk region that survived World War II. It was even used by the German occupation forces.
The Philharmonic is famous for its hypostyle hall named after Ukrainian composer Nikolai Lysenko. This room is considered one of the best acoustics in Eastern Europe. Over the years, Franz Liszt, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Fyodor Chaliapin have performed there.
Not far from the Philharmonic is the National Academy of Music. Initially, at the end of the nineteenth century, the building was designed for the Continental Hotel by architects Eduard Bradtmann and Georgi Schleifer. During World War II the building was destroyed. It was restored as a conservatory in the 1950s.
The Music Academy includes a concert hall and an opera studio, as well as a children’s school. Many famous Ukrainian and international composers, conductors and performers have passed through the university. For example, the representative of the late and post-Soviet avant-garde Valentin Silvestrov, the Soviet and Ukrainian opera singer Evgenia Miroshnichenko and the main figure of Ukrainian academic music of the second half of the 20th century Yevgeny Stankovych.
Just a short walk from the Academy of Music and Orchestra is the Kyiv Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet for Children and Youth, which Kiev residents simply call “Kiev Opera on Podol”. This is a musical theater, where opera, ballet and musicals are staged, including family and children’s.
The building in the Soviet Constructivist style appeared in the center of Kiev in the 1930s. Initially it was the workers’ club “Bishevik”, which was later rebuilt to meet the needs of the musical theatre.
The type of damage to the Philharmonic Society and the Academy of Music and Opera during the large-scale Russian attack on May 24 has not been reported.
Ukrainian house
Another part of the cultural ensemble in central Kiev, which includes the Maidan, the Philharmonic and the Academy of Music, is the Ukrainian House. It is a large modern Soviet complex built in 1978-1982 as a branch of the Central Lenin Museum in Kiev.
In 1993, the large-scale exhibition on the leader and Soviet history was removed, and the building itself was turned into a cultural center. Since then, the Ukrainian House has hosted contemporary art exhibitions, book fairs, forums, international conferences, concerts and presentations. He works there now exhibitiondedicated to the 40th anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
During the Orange Revolution, organizers of the protest movement were housed in the Ukrainian House, and in 2014, during the Maidan, the building housed a support center for demonstrators, where they could get food and medical care.
As a result of the Russian attack on May 24, several windows in the Ukrainian House building were shattered by the blast wave. how He writes The Ukrainian newspaper Pravda remains closed until Tuesday.
Postal station and contract house
During the Russian attack, two other prominent buildings in central Kiev were damaged – the postal station and the House of Contracts.
Kiev Post Station was built at the beginning of the 19th century as part of the old Yamsk post system of the Russian Empire. The building now houses the museum “On the History of Kiev Autonomy” – about the history of the city and.
The knot house in Podol is an 18th-century building where grain, fabrics and other goods from all over the empire and abroad were once traded. The Contract House Hotel was – and still is – the commercial center of Kiev: it now houses offices and hosts numerous exhibitions and cultural events.
National Library named after Yaroslav the Wise
This is not only the main public library of Ukraine, but also a large information and research institute where books are stored, including rare publications, printed materials, early manuscripts, journalism, maps and documents. The library also contains a large digital archive and spaces for events, exhibitions and scholarly lectures.
Although the Kyiv Public Library itself was founded in 1886, the modern building on Grushevsky Street appeared in 1911. The library was named after Yaroslav the Wise – the ruler under whom Kievan Rus’ became a cultural center – in 2016.
The exact extent of damage to the library building during the bombing that occurred on May 24 is not known.
Building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
The massive building in the Stalinist Empire style on Mikhailovskaya Square was built in 1936-39 according to the design of architect Joseph Langbard, one of the main creators of Soviet memorials in Kiev and Minsk.
To build this building, the golden-domed Monastery of St. Michael, one of the oldest monasteries in the city, was demolished, as were other historic buildings in St. Michael’s Square. Therefore, many experts describe the construction of the current Ministry of Foreign Affairs building as one of the most controversial moments in Kyiv’s urban history.
As a result of the Russian bombing on May 24, the building suffered minor damage. I mentioned In the department. Foreign Minister Andrej Sipiga ConfirmThe building was damaged by combat for the first time since World War II.