Wartime monuments protection system
RE:UKRAINE MONUMENTS
A typical technology that can be applied to sculptural monuments of various sizes. Volunteers along with the Alliance of Restorers of Historic Buildings of Ukraine and the Department of Cultural Heritage Protection of the Kyiv City State Administration approached us with a proposal to develop such a system.
Hundreds of cultural objects have been damaged or destroyed since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Our task was to develop a standardized solution that would allow you to quickly design a shelter for any monument, regardless of its size.
Menora in Drobytskyi Yar memorial, Kharkiv region. Photo credits: Sergey Bobok, AFP via Getty Images
RE:Ukraine Monuments technology is based on the principle of modularity. The standard size module (2000 x 1500 mm) can be duplicated vertically and horizontally. To apply the system, you need to measure the monument, determine the number of modules required and multiply it by quantitative indicators of materials.
We propose the framework of the module to be constructed using crossbar scaffolding. Crossbars and uprights, available in several fixed sizes, are easy to find, deliver and assemble on site, constructor-style. A crossbar frame is installed around the monument, at a safe distance. The facade of the structure is covered with fire retardant bakelite plywood, resistant to moisture and temperature changes. If the monument is largescale, the inner facade is fenced with netting, and the space between the plywood and the netting is filled with sandbags. This way, a protective box is formed around the monument, which does not come into contact with or burden the monument itself. From above, the construction is secured using profiled sheet cladding.
To integrate these structures into the urban landscape, we suggest painting the facades using neutral colors such as grey or olive. In order to identify the monument concealed under the protective structure, an image with the outlines of the monument and information about it is applied onto the facade of the box: the name, year of installation, authorship, and a brief historical reference.
The monument to the Ukrainian historian and statesman Mykhailo Hrushevsky has been the first to be protected under the RE:Ukraine Monuments system. The project, dedicated to the Day of Kyiv, was implemented at the end of May. The Wonder Workshop handled the production. Silpo retail chain provided the materials. To double the protection, the original shelter was preserved, and a new frame made of reused stage constructions from a winter festival was installed around the monument.
The shelter by RE:Ukraine Monuments underwent its first test on October 10, 2022. During a massive rocket attack on the central part of Kyiv, one of the rockets hit a few dozen meters from the monument. Part of the shelter was destroyed, but the monument remained intact. Utility workers have gathered and saved the outer shelter's fragments, which allowed to reassemble it in a few days' time. Now the Hrushevsky monument looks like this – the shrapnel marks are still visible on the facade of the shelter.
