On December 12, on the eve of the day of remembrance of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, a bronze plaque was installed in the St. Andrew’s Church museum – the award of the winner of the prestigious European Heritage Awards/Europa Nostra Awards – 2022. The honor of the Ukrainian project is the first in the 20 years of the award’s existence.
“The restoration of St. Andrew’s Church was one of the most difficult. There were many questions: technical ones related to strengthening the slope, strengthening the church itself, as well as restoration ones in the middle and engineering – on the outside. I thank God that I could be in this process, work with my team, with such a large team of restorers, designers, geologists and many other specialists. It is indeed a large army of people who can say that they are involved in this great restoration. We all deserve to receive such an award,” said Nelia Kukovalska, General Director of the National Conservation Area “St. Sofia of Kyiv”.
The project of the “Sofia of Kyiv” National Conservation Area “Emergency and repair and restoration works on St. Andrew’s Church” received a prestigious European award – the award of the laureate of the European Heritage Awards/Europa Nostra Awards – 2022 competition in Prague at the European Cultural Heritage Summit on September 25.
“This award is the first for Ukraine, but I hope it will not be the last. Such support has a special symbolic meaning today. They should know about Ukraine, they should know about our cultural heritage, they should know about the extraordinary experience of Ukrainian specialists who preserve national heritage even in the most difficult times – times of war,” said Kateryna Chuyeva, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.
The plot on which St. Andrew’s Church was built has undergone significant soil erosion. This endangered the stability of the site’s foundation. The restoration, which took place from 2007 to 2020, began with the careful compaction of the soil base of the hill and the strengthening of the foundations and stylobate, as well as the introduction of a new drainage system.
During the restoration of the exterior, traditional building materials and techniques were used: yellow bricks from demolished old buildings were reused to restore the masonry; to complete the restoration of the cast-iron stairs leading to the porch, the beeswax-based mastic coating method was used.
In the interior of the church, the original colors of the 18th century and the painting were restored. The project was developed based on the results of a ten-year scientific and technical monitoring and implemented by the National Conservation Area “St. Sofia of Kyiv” together with leading research institutes of Ukraine with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.
