AIC 53rd Annual Meeting

The use of wood is an integral part of Ukrainian culture, and the tradition of wooden building technology goes through the whole history of Ukraine, back to the very beginning of architecture. Its diversity and richness may impress even those who are well familiar with the best examples of the world's wooden heritage. Wooden churches are the quintessence of Ukrainian wooden building tradition. There are thousands of historic wooden churches in Ukraine. Many of them are understudied or introduced into scientific discourse in very general terms, the vast majority are completely unknown in the world, and all of them are endangered today, as the most vulnerable and fragile structures under the threat of Russian attacks.




After Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine in 2022, we face many challenges in addition to those concerning conservation under normal circumstances. Scale of the damage, legislative issues on war damaged landmarks, conservation as a long lasting process while heritage buildings, if damaged and in use, require immediate response, cooperation with emergency services, database of damages and prioritizing sites in terms of conservation potential and even possibility - these are just a few to mention.




We do make attempts to preserve our heritage though, in particular wooden architecture.  Among other initiatives, a project has been launched to digitally document endangered valuable wooden churches. We have defined the heritage value, architectural typology, the threat level and the accessibility (proximity to the frontline and to the border with the enemy, artillery strike risk, liberation of occupied territories etc) as the main criteria of choice of the sites. The first selected 11 oldest wooden churches in Central, Northern and Eastern Ukraine have been scanned with a 3D scanner and photo-documented on three expeditions in November 2023 - February 2024. These were 17th - 18tth century churches in Pechera, Puhachivka, Novomoskovsk, Novy Bilous, Sedniv, Syniavka, Stepanivka, Novhorod Siversky, Pyrohivka, Fastiv and Zhubrovychi. Six of these sites have overlived occupation and still remain under direct threat - a number of neighboring villages have been shelled just while we were scanning churches in Syniavka and Stepanivka. The project is ongoing as we are writing this abstract, and another 25 churches are waiting for their turn.




3D scanning together with photogrammetric surveying is one way to give these churches a chance. It allows us to record very accurately, get the maximum data in the shortest time, explore later and safe structures in detail with the understanding of colors and textures. This is valuable in case of damage or loss of a heritage building. This project is also the first stone laid for further thorough study of Ukrainian wooden churches. Unlike the western region of the country, most of the churches in question happened to be in use of the Russian Orthodox Church, due to the complexity of the Ukrainian situation, which made them inaccessible for Ukrainian scientists and architects. The last time these churches were explored as the phenomenon of Ukrainian wooden architecture was in the 1920s by the famous Ukrainian art historian and professor Stefan Taranushenko.