A winding street without pavement, full of ruts and construction machinery slices through the heart of Kyiv. In the dust-saturated air, a rare tourist dares to venture more than a few meters down its steep incline.
This is how one of Kyiv’s most visited landmarks Andriyivsky Spusk, or St. Andrew’s Descent, looks today.
Reconstruction touted for years finally began at the end of September. Surrounded by scandal and rumor, a restoration plan includes renovating facades, upgrading utility connections and laying new cobblestones.
City authorities in charge of the reconstruction assured homeowners that they would not be affected and that no high-rise buildings would muck up this historical sliver of Kyiv. But given the recent history of St. Sophia’s Cathedral, which saw more than one hotel and office center invade environs that are supposed to be protected heritage sites, St. Andrew’s residents and art dealers remain skeptical and fear defacement.
The street’s history goes back to Kyivan Rus times, when the descent connected the central part of Kyiv with Podil, its trading district. It got its name from disciple Andrew who is believed to have erected a cross on top of the hill and ordered a church (now St. Andrew’s Church, which is under seemingly perpetual restoration) to be built in its place. Famous writers, actors and artists used to live on this steep street, lending it a bohemian feel that is still present today.
Drenched in legends as much as in potholes and crumbling facades, St. Andrew’s needs a surgical facelift.
Kyiv-based Ukrainian Restoration Institute is doctoring the current plan, which takes care of 29 properties that belong to the city. The remaining 17 houses in private ownership have to be restored by their proprietors at their own expense. All this trouble will cost Hr 270 million of budget money, according to one of the plan’s authors Olga Rutkivska.
The works have already begun around the middle part of the street, slowly spreading down to Podil. The upper stretch will be renovated last so one can still buy a souvenir or two to remember Kyiv. The upgrade has to be finished by May next year, just in time for the Euro 2012 football championship.
“We could use some more time,” said Yuriy Novik, deputy head of the Capital Construction Department in charge of a couple of bulldozers and a dozen of workers on the site. “Our main difficulty now is rainy weather.”
For souvenir vendors and other people of art who work at St. Andrew’s, however, restoration threatened jobs. Iryna Klischenko, the artistic director of theater Koleso, claims that city authorities plan to close them down until utility connections get replaced. No alternative premise has been offered so far.
“Nobody wants to be responsible for this decision,” she complained as the theater walls vibrated from the works outside.
In Bulgakov, museum life is not easy either. Museum workers started to panic after learning of the builders’ intention to dig a trench right next to their property.
“We already have fractures on the walls because of all the machinery work, and now we think that the building can actually crash!” museum worker Anatoly Konchakovsky said.
In addition to saving the old, four new buildings are planned in the area, one of them being a business center of Esta Holding, a real estate company controlled by Rinat Akhmetov’s Systems Capital Management group. The center “will match the surroundings,” it says on Esta’s website, but it’s not clear how tall it will be.
Rutkivska from the restoration institute assured there will be no high rises at St. Andrew’s because of its unique geographical location prone to landslides, old utilities and the lack of parking spaces.
“Reconstruction is meant to save the historical look of St. Andrew’s,” she added.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olga Rudenko can be reached at [email protected]
