September 16, 2023 at 10:56 a.m. EDT
St. Sophia Cathedral at sunrise in Kiev on February 15, 2022. (Ethan Swope/Bloomberg News)Comment on this storyComment
The United Nations has declared historic sites in the Ukrainian cities of Kiev and Lviv classified as “at risk” due to Russia’s war in Ukraine as world heritage sites – hoping to raise help to protect the monuments.
The Ukrainian capital Kiev suffered several Russian missile attacks during the war, prompting the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to highlight the impending destruction of the famous St. Sophia Cathedral and the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Monastery of the Caves. In addition to the Kiev sites, the UN cultural agency has also put the medieval center of the western city of Lviv on its danger list.
“Given the threat of direct attack, these sites are also vulnerable to the shock waves caused by the bombing of the two cities,” the UNESCO World Heritage Committee said in its announcement on Friday.
St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev dates back to the 11th century and was designed to rival Hagia Sophia, now one of Istanbul’s most valuable ancient buildings.
Ukraine says the cathedral is one of the few surviving buildings from that period. Monastic buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries surround the cathedral, with its golden dome containing mosaics and frescoes dating back almost 1,000 years.
According to UNESCO, the cathedral is “one of the most significant monuments of architectural and monumental art of the early 11th century” and has the largest surviving collection of mosaics and frescoes from the period.
It said adding these sites to the World Heritage in Danger list should remind UN member states of their responsibility to help protect them and open the door to more financial assistance and emergency protection measures.
The agency’s threat list of more than 56 sites is intended to mobilize international support for conservation efforts, but has no enforcement mechanism.
Also in the Ukrainian capital is the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, a sprawling complex built from the 11th to the 19th centuries that includes underground churches, some of which are connected by a nearly 2,000-foot-long network of caves.
The site, a center of Orthodox Christianity, is of particular importance to Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox Christians.
The monastery has been the victim of raids as the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine led to strict measures against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has historical ties to Moscow.
With the relics of saints buried in its catacombs, the monastery has been “one of the most important Christian pilgrimage centers in the world” for centuries, according to UNESCO.
The site has been on the World Heritage List since 1990, but is now classified as “endangered” as the United Nations seeks to track the destruction of Ukraine’s historic sites. UNESCO said in a report on Friday that it had demonstrated damage to nearly 290 sites during the war, including museums and libraries.
In the center of Ukrainian Lviv, The third site added to the UNESCO list last week is a 5th-century castle overlooking streets and squares built between the 13th and 17th centuries.
The city was a religious, commercial and cultural center at that time. The site contains a mosque and a synagogue, as well as buildings associated with the Orthodox, Armenian and Catholic churches.
“Its medieval urban topography has been preserved intact,” says UNESCO.
During the war in Ukraine, Lviv, located near the Polish border and further from the front lines, was spared some of the heavier fighting in Ukraine’s east and south.
The city served as a transportation hub and refuge for Ukrainians fleeing the bombing to the relative safety of Lviv or neighboring countries.
The latest UNESCO appointments follow a decision this year to declare the historic center of the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa a “dangerous” world heritage site following a fast-track process by the UN agency.
UNESCO includes Ukraine’s “Pearl of the Black Sea” on its World Heritage List
Dubbed the “Pearl of the Black Sea” of Ukraine, Odessa’s history dates back to the time when it was the crown jewel of Imperial Russia. The city has faced Russian attacks during that conflict and its more than century-old Fine Arts Museum was damaged last summer, The Washington Post reported.
Early in the war, preparing for a possible Russian attack, Ukrainian troops and volunteers rushed to protect Odessa’s buildings, including the famous Opera and Ballet Theater, with sandbags and barricades.
Last year, Ukrainian authorities tore down a statue of Russian Empress Catherine the Great in the city as part of an attempt to remove landmarks of historic Russian influence in Ukraine, The Post reported.
Rick Noack contributed to this report.