The walls of St. Sophia Cathedral to be drained using Swiss technology

On September 16, a press briefing was held on the territory of St. Sophia Cathedral on the use of the Swiss BioDry system for dehumidifying walls from excessive moisture, NV (‘New Time’) reports.

This technology is used to preserve one of the oldest historical monuments in Kyiv.

“Now St Sofia is of quite an elderly age and is feeling sick. The urbanized environment of our city is having a bad effect on it. This is a landmark place for our country, and we will do everything to make it happy for as long as possible. For a thousand years, the waterproofing of walls in St Sofia has collapsed, and today there is a capillary suction of moisture, the material is destroyed. There are many technologies that will help drain the walls, but this requires their partial destruction, which we cannot allow,” said Nelya Kukovalska, Director General of St Sofia of Kyiv Nature Reserve.

The system, which was installed in St Sofia of Kyiv, was previously used for such cultural heritage sites as Mazina castle in Italy, Malbork castle in Poland, and the Enzo Ferrari Museum.

“The moisture in the walls of the reserve exceeds the norm by about three to four times, in some places – by five times. We expect that in the first year this indicator will fall approximately by three times, and in three years it will fully get to normal. This technology allows you to drain the walls naturally, without resorting to construction work, while maintaining the integrity and primary structure,” said Yehor Zhuchenko, Director of BioDry Ukraine.

The technology works on the principle of a passive antenna, which, like a mirror, reflects the waves that charge the wall in the opposite direction, creating a resonance effect. The interaction of identical waves of different directions leads to the cancellation of their strength. This eliminates the root cause of wet walls and subsequent destruction. Under the influence of gravity, water gets back into the soil.

“We have found the most innovative solution that is used to preserve cultural monuments in the world. This technology is biologically compatible with the environment. It is already working and will naturally eliminate the root cause of the humidity of the foundation and walls, which hide many more secrets and which have yet to be revealed,” said Dmytro Shymkiv, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Darnitsa Group.

The pharmaceutical companies Darnitsa and Interchem, as well as the Zagoriy Charitable Foundation, helped to implement the project of draining the walls of St. Sophia Cathedral and adjacent monastic buildings from excess moisture.

“The reconstruction of St Sofia in the time of Ivan Mazepa was a symbol of the restoration of Ukraine after the Ruins. I am sure that this joint project of the Zagoriy Foundation, pharmaceutical companies Darnits and Interchem will be another important step towards restoring the culture of charity in our country,” said Kateryna Zagoriy, co-founder of Zagoriy Foundation.

St. Sophia Cathedral was built in Kyiv in the first half of the XI century. According to the Story of Past Years, it was built by Prince Yaroslav the Wise. In the XVII-XVIII centuries, under Hetman Ivan Mazepa, the Cathedral was completely restored and rebuilt from the outside in the Ukrainian Baroque style. In 1934 it received the museum status, and in 1990 it was put on the UNESCO world heritage list.