Expert Comments On Recent Dismissals of Heads of Sophia and Kyiv Cave Reserves

No Ukrainian Church will now be able to duly maintain historic and cultural monuments. This especially applies to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate. This opinion was expressed at the RISU web conference by the Head of the public association “Ukrainian Center of Development of Museums,” Vladyslav Pioro as he commented on the recnt dismissals of the heads of the Sophia and Kyiv Cave Reserves and possible transfer of these sacral buildings to the use of UOC-MP.

“I completely agree that today, none of the Ukrainian religious denominations unfortunately is able to bear the full burden of responsibility for the maintenance of historic and cultural and architectural monuments. It is applicable especially to UOC-MP. Despite all their statements, examples of their activity show the opposite which is quite illustrative,” said the expert.

Mr. Pioro noted that ministers of UOC-MP are governed in the maintenance of the architectural monuments by criteria which are very different from those used by people protecting the monuments. According to him, as “good economic managers” they are interested not in the preservation of the original, authentic monuments but in “putting things in order (according to their understanding), construction of new buildings, etc.”

“In fact, they can quite sincerely promise to maintain the monuments. But they will do it according to their own understanding: if necessary, they will rebuild things (as they did in 2007 to the Western entrance gate to the Kyivan Cave Monastery, which was an architectural monument), change historic wall paintings for new, “nicer” ones, etc.,” he stated.

“After so many historic events of the last century, the transfer of the monuments of the Kyivan Cave Reserve to UOC-MP, in my opinion, can hardly be viewed as “restoration of the historic justice,” said Vladyslav Pioro.