The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy did not approve either the demolition, reconstruction or construction of the 19th century Zelensky estate in Kyiv.
This is reported on the website of the Ministry of Culture.
Status of the Zelensky estate
On July 19, demolition of a historic house on the street began in Kyiv. Konissky — known as the house of Evmeniy Zelensky or the Zelensky estate.
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The house does not have the legal status of a monument or cultural heritage site, as provided by law. At the same time, the Zelensky estate is located in the historical area of the city and is recognized as a significant historical building called the Estate Residential House of the second half of the 19th century.
The Ministry of Culture believes that this status should have protected the building from demolition. Indeed, according to the law of Ukraine and state building standards, it is stipulated that within the populated boundaries of historical areas it is necessary to preserve valuable architectural and urban planning qualities of the traditional nature of the environment, and the demolition of valuable historical buildings is also prohibited.
And the reconstruction of historical buildings is permitted in exceptional cases with the approval of the cultural heritage protection body and only if the character of the historical environment is preserved.
— MCIP notes that the Ministry did not receive any design proposals for this building, therefore MCIP did not provide any approvals for design documentation for either new construction on this site, or for the reconstruction of the building, or for its dismantling, the Ministry of Culture noted.
The Ministry of Culture noted that the most effective way to protect historical buildings is to grant them monument status. To do this, it is necessary to conduct scientific research and prepare appropriate documentation for submission to the authorities for the protection of cultural heritage.
Such a submission from the NGO Spadshchina Kiev was registered in the Ministry of Culture on July 19 — precisely on the day when the Zelensky estate began to be demolished. It is worth recalling that the estate began to be dismantled in 2021, but public publicity then suspended the work.
Police reaction
The Kyiv police reported that they are already studying the circumstances of the demolition of the historical building as part of criminal proceedings under Part 2 of Art. 298 Criminal Code (Illegal search work at an archaeological heritage site, destruction, destruction or damage to cultural heritage objects).
What is known about the Zelensky estate
The Malinin or Zelensky estate is a two-story building built in 1890 from wood and lined with brick. It was built as an estate for the merchant and professor Vasily Malinin; subsequently the family of the tradesman Zelensky lived there.
