Unique archaeological finds of the Kyivan Rus period are threatened with destruction. Due to construction or negligence of the authorities? The views and opinions of the concerned parties and independent observers diverge. There is reason to believe that archaeologists have found the place where Volodymyr the Great baptized Kyivan Rus, and public organizations insist on suspending all construction work. The developer, who has also invested in the excavations, says that the construction project must be continued and the law must be complied with.
“We’re probably the largest investor in the archaeological excavations on this site - more than 5 million have been allocated to archaeological research. And, we aren’t against providing more funds, but please work, explore, search, etc.”Oliynyk claims that the construction project has all the required permits and certificates, so he feels that the best solution is compliance with the terms and conditions of the initial project.
“Let's finish the excavation, set up a museum fund, and then the Ministry of Culture will define the final concept.”
“In two years, not one wooden log has been removed. All wooden objects found on the site must be immediately preserved. Everyone knows that bacteria are everywhere, so what are we going to do about it? What about those wooden fences sticking out of the ground? They’re being damaged by bacteria; they’ll simply be devoured!”In conclusion, Oliynyk announced that the company would install cameras on archaeological site with online broadcasting on the Internet.
“The Research Institute of Structural Engineering is supervising the work, and it was there that they decided to place a protective plaque.” says Oliynyk.Mykhailo Sahaydak, Director of the Centre for Archeology in Kyiv, said that he proposed different options to make the plaque smaller, but no compromise was found.
“Some of the objects that we want to exhibit today must be “cut” by this plaque, and this will disrupt the integrity of all the archeological layers.” notes Sahaydak.
“The owner of this museum hasn’t been defined, and no one knows who will create it, who will conduct demonstrations and be responsible for its exploitation.” explains Sahaydak.In addition, Ukraine has no specialists trained in object conservation, which makes it impossible to exhibit certain artifacts. Sahaydak explains that the developer plans to allocate only 100 square metres for the museum, which is way too small for such an important historical attraction.
“Today we uncovered more than 1,000 square metres. We discovered a line of fences that probably surrounded a large estate of about 700 square metres and two more homesteads adjoining it, which are separated by lanes, and one of them runs towards Andriyivsky Descent.” he notes.Archaeologists were forbidden to dig deeper, but there are several layers with artifacts and historical monuments that the specialists saw when they scanned the soil.
“We were forbidden to go deeper, but the eleventh and tenth centuries are there... They say that if we continue the excavations, we’ll destroy the stability of the entire structure. This was in a letter from the public utility company “Road Construction and Engineering Solutions in Kyiv”, which has commissioned the construction work.” says Sahaydak.Public Organizations Public activists want to completely ban construction in this area. They underline that this work is illegal and maintain that a museum and a traffic junction should be planned here.
“After our Revolution of Dignity, Russia intensified its archeological excavations in two places - Novgorod and Crimea. As they’d lost Kyiv, they started searching for evidence of Kyivan Rus elsewhere. In Novgorod, they’re searching for any references to Kyivan Rus and the Varangians; in Crimea, they’re looking for any evidence that can be linked to the Christianization of Kyivan Rus. Therefore, if and when we find the actual place where this happened in Kyiv, it seems that the authorities in charge of our cultural heritage and the Ministry of Culture don’t quite understand what we’ve stumbled on!” underlines journalist and documentary director Akim Halimov.He is convinced that Kyiv authorities are totally on the side of the investor.
“If the investor claims that they’ve funded 70% of the archeological site, but only 50% has been excavated, I’d like to ask the investor’s representative to show me what the law says if we find the place where Kyivan Rus was Christianized. If the law states that we must dig three truckfulls per day, but we find an entire street where you have to use pincers and brushes… well, someone has to pay for this work, but there’s nothing in the law about this!”The developer’s representative maintains that the company has not put any pressure on the Kyiv City State Administration, but when he was asked whether the company would be ready to abandon the construction project and under what terms and conditions, Valeriy Oliynyk replied that there had been no such proposals, and the company had not yet formed an opinion on this option. However, he points out that if construction is suspended, the archeological excavations will also be suspended as the developer currently finances more than the state.
“It would be optimal if someone said that “we’ve made a mistake; we didn’t allow construction in that place, so the city will compensate the developer for his expenses - it will give the developer some land elsewhere, as we have worked out a certain concept for the museum. We’d like to create a museum dedicated to ancient Kyivan Rus; everything will be restored and placed in the museum”… and everyone will be happy. But unfortunately, it’s not going that way! The developer wants to finish what he started, and there’s no clear vision of what should be preserved. Our task is to find a way out and preserve this monument. Stopping construction and leaving the excavations open won’t get us anywhere.” explained Chairman Mykola Knyazhytsky at a meeting of the parliamentary committee.The committee also insists that urgent measures should be taken to create a museum and finance the restoration of artifacts and other cultural objects.
“We can approve decisions to register a monument and we can monitor the preservation of a monument that has been registered. Many people and organizations have asked us to grant this discovery the status of a national monument, but the local cultural heritage protection agency hasn’t yet submitted anything to the ministry.”Acting Deputy Director of the Department of Culture of the Kyiv City State Administration Oleksandr Nikoryak declared that the developer had been ordered to stop construction work on unexplored sites, but work on the installation of the plaque can be continued in areas that have already been explored by the archeologists.
