Assessment of cultural heritage objects in Ukraine. The problem of investment.

On the state account is 51364 monuments of history, including the 142 - national importance; 16293 monuments of architecture, town-planning, and Sadovo-Park art, including 3541 5926 national importance of monuments of monumental art, including 44 national significance.

The total number of monuments on the state account of Ukraine exceeds 130 thousand. Important centers of preservation of cultural heritage is a historical and cultural reserve.

In Ukraine, there is 61 historical and cultural reserve, including 14 national. Among the monuments of national importance, there are several complexes related to List of world cultural heritage of UNESCO. It is the ensembles of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, St. Sophia Cathedral and the historic center of the city.

On a separate note are the fortifications of Ukraine. Due to the geopolitical location at the crossroads of trade routes on the territory of Ukraine a long time until the twentieth century. there were hundreds of castles and fortresses. The exact number of researchers is difficult to call, although the figure could be closer to 3000. They played a big role in European history: castles and fortresses of Podolia defended Europe from Turkish invasions, in the "Golden Horseshoe of Lviv" met European kings. And each is unique, has an ancient history, legends. The fortress began to build from the time of Kievan Rus. Then they had the form of wooden and northern fortifications, however, over time, actively built a stone fortification (XIII century) and Bastion (eighteenth century). In XVI - XVII centuries inside, they began to build palatial buildings.

Geography of the Ukrainian castles and fortresses quite extensive, but much of it, besides stone, is located in Western Ukraine in contrast to the Dnieper and the Left Bank where fortifications served as a wood and earth structures. Castles of Podillya have a special place in European history. In XV-XVII centuries, When the Ottoman Empire was at the peak of power and the raids of the Turks suffered many countries, Podolsk fortress was defended by Europeans.

Still, we have preserved castles, which conducted the official meetings of the European kings, in particular, the famous Pidhirtsi castle, built by order of the crown Hetman Stanislaw Koniecpolski.

Castles also kept works of art and historical relics: paintings, weapons, ammunition, sculpture, furniture, etc. for Example, previously adorned the area Podgoretsky castle sculptures now adorn the Winter garden in St. Petersburg (one of the legacies of the Soviet era).

In addition to the above monuments, there is a significant amount (more than 6800) again revealed monuments of architecture and urban planning, which, after appropriate research needs to be taken into public account for the appropriate category of value.

The greatest loss of architectural heritage of Ukraine suffered from the policy of the Communist regime in the period from 1920 to 1988. Most of the affected monuments of the Church architecture lost more than 50 percent of the total. The destruction was part of a deliberate state policy. Destroyed those objects that were milestones of national history.

From the time of collectivization were burned or dismantled for firewood 15 thousand wooden parish churches of XVII-XVIII centuries, as well as the many stone temples which represent the great historical and cultural value Michael's Golden-domed monastery in Kiev, cathedrals in Poltava, Odessa, Kamenetz - Podolsk.

The list of destroyed churches is striking. In an average year, the Soviet government destroyed the Church 21. The last phase of the organized destruction of monuments of architecture falls in the years of Gorbachev's perestroika. The country's leadership adopted a decision to demolish several dozen closed churches of the XII - XVIII centuries.

The total loss -396 objects of architectural heritage. Over the last five years in Ukraine burned down 20 churches. While in Ukraine there are 1900 wooden churches. Two-thirds of them are in Western Ukraine, including 600 - in the Lviv region. If this year the number of churches destroyed by fire again increase, we get closer to the pace with which the Church was destroyed by the power of the Soviets. The vast majority of wooden temples given over to the religious communities, and to exploit such churches is very difficult. There are a lot of warnings about heating, wiring. And restore them more than brick structures.

The religious community should conclude a security agreement and adhere to certain rules: don't repaint the ancient paintings, not to alter the iconostasis, and so on. But alas, the priests themselves often do not understand the artistic and historical value of the Church or anything in it.

In 2005, the Ministry of the culture of Ukraine launched a state program of preservation of monuments of wooden sacral architecture of Ukraine, which will operate until 2010. The program provides for the compilation of a list of wooden churches that have survived to our time, learning their condition, as well as the necessary work of restoration. 3 given the number of churches destroyed in 2006 and 2007, after the beginning of the program, its effectiveness is not very high.

A big problem with keeping a so-called shield of Europe - Ukrainian castles and fortresses. The state is forced to recognize that at least 200 castles and citadels are still unexplored, and the vast majority (about 500) is in ruins. On the state account is only 99 locks that have security rooms. In the next few decades, we can finally lose hundreds of one of a kind of fortification in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The reason is quite simple: starting with the twentieth century. the castles and fortresses on the territory of modern Ukraine were mainly used as warehouses, places of quartering of military garrisons, hospitals, etc. and they practically have not been claimed as a historical heritage. Only some reconstructed and mummified.

Another dangerous phenomenon - the destruction of archaeological sites. They become victims of so-called black archaeology. Raskupayutsya and destroyed barrows, the ramparts of the Fort. All excavated mainly in private hands with no descriptions and reports of the civilized scientific research. According to experts the main reasons for the loss of those or other objects of architectural and archaeological heritage are: the reasons are utilitarian in nature -19%; war and revolution - 8%; a natural disaster (main fire) - 4%; state policy of destruction - 60%; low cultural level of the local authorities and population, leading to "unconscious vandalism" - 9%.

Insufficient funding for the protection of cultural heritage during the last decades has led to further deterioration of the monuments. In some regions of Ukraine, up to 50% of cultural heritage is in poor condition, and every tenth - in an emergency. Emergency response and urgent conservation works are required to spend more than 300 monuments of architecture of national value.

In General, it can be noted that, unfortunately, monuments of Ukraine today are not getting proper protection on the part of the authorized state bodies and officials, whose competence is to create the appropriate mode of preservation of cultural heritage. A significant part of the buildings requires major restoration work or even minor repairs, which will halt the destructive processes. Funds allocated for the repair and restoration of architectural monuments from the state budget, the budgets of different levels is very poor.

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