Deputy Bryhynets Concerned Over Exclusion of St. Sophia Cathedral and Kyiv Cave Monastery from State Register

Ukrainian deputy (Batkivshchyna faction) and head of the Subcommittee for Protection and Popularization of Cultural Heritage Oleksandr Bryhynets stated that St. Sophia Cathedral and the Kyiv Cave Monastery are not monuments from the legal point of view.

“As it has turned out, the monastery and St. Sophia have been excluded from the State Register of Immovable Monuments as monuments of national significance. At the same time, they have not been included in other categories. This means that our national shrines are not officially monuments at all,” said Bryhynets.

The deputy reported that by Resolution 1761 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of December 27, 2001, a number of reserves, including St. Sophia Cathedral and Kyiv Cave Monastery were included in the Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine under the category “monuments of national importance.” However, by Resolution 928 of September 3, 2009, it was excluded from the list.

”The arguments of the Cabinet of Ministers as to why the reserves were excluded from the register are absolutely clear, for, as it turned out, they were included in it as institutions whereas the law defines a reserve as 'a complex (ensemble) of monuments' or as 'natural territories and objects,' which is quite natural. As for the word 'national,' which is now included in the names of reserves, it now concerns only the status of the institutions established to govern these reserves and not the essence of the monuments. For example, the word 'national' in the status of the National Operetta House concerns the name of the theatre, its staff, institution but not the building where the theatre is located,” explained Bryhynets.

Bryhynets noted that the mentioned resolution of 2009 was to be followed by another one which would include the unique objects in the register as a complex of buildings, but the document was not issued due to the change of the government.

The deputy approached Prime Minister Azarov with the request to include the St. Sophia Cathedral National Reserve and the Kyiv Cave Monastery National Historic and Cultural Reserve in the Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine.

”If the State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine does not include such outstanding monuments as Sophia and the Monastery, you can imagine what the situation of other monuments in the register is. I am far from thinking that someone seeks to destroy Sophia of Kyiv and Kyiv Cave Monastery but I still demand that this question should be regulated legally,” stated Bryhynets.

In addition, the deputy demands that the Cabinet of Ministers should instruct respective services to check the compliance of the register with the decisions of the Cabinet, Ministry of Culture, Supreme Council and President regarding the protection of monuments and to include in it without delay the objects which have not been included in it so far for some reasons. This information has been posted on the website of Bryhynets.