A restaurant patio, a dessert cafe, souvenir stalls, an ice sculptures museum, a photo zone, a bicycle parking lot, a stage, and a recreation area – all this will emerge on Sofiiska Square during Eurovision Song Context 2017. The fan zone project was conceived by Folk Ukraine, the company that annually organizes New Year celebrations near St. Sophia’s Cathedral. For some reason, the city authorities prefer the projects of this very entity which won the competition about establishing a fan zone near St. Sophia’s.
The organization’s website says the central idea of the fan area is to combine the grandeur of historical facades with the green and flowery recreation area. Before readers ask where greenery is on Sofiiska Square, we will say: Folk Ukraine is planning to plant about 10,000 tulip seedlings around the Bohdan Khmelnytsky monument and to cover the whole zone with an artificial lawn. The main entry zone will be decorated with vertical greenery.
A SHRINE HIDDEN BEHIND STALLS
The St. Sophia of Kyiv Sanctuary will hardly suffer from the planting of greenery, but what about decibels during the projection of the concert on a big screen? Den/The Day has been cautioning for many years against any merry-making near the walls of St. Sophia’s Cathedral, but this was almost always falling on deaf ears. Most of the Kyiv monument experts do not support our position: they say the temple plaza used to be a place of public celebrations, so why not restore this tradition now? But what can represent a danger to the cathedral is not only loud singing and dancing, but also heavy traffic on the neighboring streets. Besides, the square is a UNESCO heritage site’s buffer zone, where there are special environmental rules in force.
Instead, the city authorities regularly allow noisy entertainment extravaganzas near St. Sophia’s Cathedral. The fan zone will be open on April 30 – May 14. The place is rather convenient – suitable transport communications and proximity to other monuments, such as St. Michael’s Cathedral, the Golden Gate, and Andriivsky Uzviz which is a stone’s throw from Podil. Yet a part of the square and the cathedral’s general panorama will be hidden again behind souvenir and fast food stalls.
SWINGS VS. HISTORICAL SITE
Regretfully, the city authorities are indifferent to this problem and are not worried at all whether St. Sophia’s will endure one more fun show. Incidentally, sanctuary director Nelia Kukovalska came to know about the future fan zone from Den, not from the city officials.
Photo by Mykola TYMCHENKO, The Day
“This is the first time I hear about this project. During the New Year celebrations, I complained to the Kyiv City Administration’s Culture Department because nobody had coordinated those projects with the sanctuary. All we managed to get changed was to remove a black eight-meter structure from the belfry entrance. They also planned to put up swings over Patriarch Volodymyr’s grave. Even Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Kyiv Patriarchate, demanded in a letter that they be removed, but things remained as they were,” Kukovalska says. “I have not yet seen the project of the Eurovision fan zone. It may look quite all right, but we are indignant that Folk Ukraine and the culture department do not consult with the sanctuary but just confront us with a fait accompli. This heritage site had certain conservation limits. And swings again! I will turn to the department again and try to find out why Folk Ukraine has not presented a good project so far.”
“I SEE NO PROBLEMS”
Den has inquired about the attitude of the Kyiv City Administration’s Culture Department. Its chairperson Diana Popova said the sanctuary’s position did not surprise her at all. “The sanctuary believes this should be a sacral place, but I think it is a public space. The sacral place in inside the sanctuary and the square has nothing to do with it. This is why we occasionally have organizational differences,” Popova says, explaining her attitude.
In her words, all the projects on Sofiiska Square are to be approved by the culture department and the Ministry of Culture which are the governing bodies of the National Sanctuary St. Sophia of Kyiv. The St. Sophia of Kyiv administration is also supposed to give its consent to the culture department. The latter has received none, but, judging by the attitude of its chairperson, this will in no way thwart the City Hall’s plans.
“We were he first to see the fan zone project, the Ministry of Culture has approved it, and now the sanctuary should do so. If the latter has any objections, it should say it to the governing body, i.e. the ministry,” Popova continues. “But I see no problems about the project that has gone through an art contest. But the sanctuary disapproves of any project the culture department carries out on Sofiiska Square – I have already got used to it.”
“THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE MUST PROTECT ST. SOPHIA’S”
It is noteworthy that, reporting to UNESCO on the state of preservation of this historic site (World Heritage Center experts made recently an informal visit to Kyiv), the Ministry of Culture tried to present the situation in the best possible light. The City Hall promised to keep the buffer zone free of any new constructions and protect St. Sophia’s from any risks. Kyivites can also hear this kind of promises, knowing very well that in most cases this is done to lull public vigilance.
“I can’t understand the Ministry of Culture’s attitude. It is a national sanctuary, and this agency is supposed to defend its positions,” Olena Terestchenko (Yeskina), public activist, member of the Kyiv Council, 7th convocation, comments. “I oppose in general the construction of any objects near St. Sophia’s, for it distorts its overall image. And we must make sure that all of our monuments, especially those of worldwide importance, including St. Sophia’s, look in the best possible way before Eurovision begins, for they are part of the international image of the capital and the state. As for the problem of the preservation of St. Sophia’s of Kyiv, noise and some other factors can, of course, do damage to the site whose condition is not so good now. Therefore, before giving any permissions and approvals, we must look into the situation. And if they decide to hawk sandwiches there to boot, that will be really too much, for it is also a question of ethics.”
Meanwhile, the Folk Ukraine website is calling on Eurovision guests and aficionados to come to the fan zone and cheer for the participants. And who will cheer for St. Sophia’s?
