Dec. 19 was a remarkable day for Hostynny Dvir, the arched two-story building on Kontraktova Square in Kyiv that is the focus of an intense development fight.
At 2:45 a.m. a few dozen security guards dressed in black entered the Podil landmark and expelled several activists who had been camped out there.
The activists have been trying to protect the historical building from becoming a modern trade and office center. They stood against Cyprus-registered company Ukrrestavracia, which announced about its reconstruction plans earlier this year. The conflict around Hostynny Dvir was in play for more than six months and appears to be heating up again as winter sets in.
At 4:50 a.m., several construction trucks started entering the courtyard of the building. Ihor Lutsenko, head of the nongovernmental organization Save Old Kyiv, tried to block the gate with his own car. But security guards hired by Ukrrestavtacia pushed the vehicle away along the slippery pavement and let the trucks in, then blocked the gate. Lutsenko said the guards used tear gas against activists who tried to stop them. He said two activists were severely beaten. One of them was hospitalized.
“The building is in the process of gaining back its status of the architectural monument,” Lutsenko said. “When it happens Ukrrestavracia won’t have enough grounds to start construction works. That’s why it wants to start now. ”
The conflict went on in the afternoon when activists tried to get inside the building despite security guards using tear gas against them again. However they let in Vitali Klitschko, an oppositional lawmaker and head of the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms. Eventually, activists also managed to get back inside.
The Kyiv police did not interfere in the conflict but officers said they are investigation.
Dmytro Yarych, director at Ukrrestavracia, said that the actions of the activists are illegal.
“This is not public space,” Yarych said. “I have a lease contract for the whole premise and a lease contract for a land plot under it. I pay for it therefore I have a right to decide who can enter the building and who can’t.”
According to Yarych, construction vehicles arrived to Hostynny Dvir to install testing piles designed to protect the building from vibrations of trains running underground. Yarych also said that his company has already developed a reconstruction project to convert the place into a trade and office center. He said Ukrrestavracia obtained all necessary documents and hoped to start construction works as soon as the end of January. Construction is expected to take up to 20 months.
Anna Khvyl, a researcher of urban space, said preservationists such as her are trying to protect not only this monument but also their right to participate in the development of their city.
“The problem is that the Kyiv community was not even asked what it wants,” Khvyl said. “In the 70s and 80, this building had been rebuilding by taxpayers’ money. Therefore citizens have the right to define how this building will be used.”
Khvyl called it a precedent for Kyiv that citizens came together and showed their solidarity. After entering the territory of the building on May 26 during celebration of the Day of Kyiv, activists claimed multiple times that they want an architectural library and a state research institute to remain in the building and that its courtyard will be used for public screenings, exhibitions, concerts, lectures and presentations.
“It was a step towards public opinion was articulated,” Khvyl said. “The next step should be to develop certain instruments to implement this opinion.”
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Faryna can be reached at [email protected].
