ウクライナ歴史的木造教会の保存におけるリヴィングヘリテージアプローチ
Living Heritage Approach to the Conservation of Historical Wooden Churches in Ukraine

BOGDANOVA Anna
1.Introduction
At the heart of this study – historical wooden
churches, unique representatives of the Orthodox
ecclesiastic

architecture

builtin306

log-house

2238
3

construction technique (fig.1), preserved in big
numbers across the territory of Ukraine (fig.2).
8

It is evident that resource constraint heritage
protection system in Ukraine is able to provide

Figure 2 Numbers of preserved historical wooden

protection to only a few wooden churches of big

churches in different regions of Ukraine

historical or artistic importance. Meanwhile, as athem for the newer and bigger venues oflegal successor of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialisticworshiping.

Republic (USSR), Ukraine had endorsed theThese practices evoke a public concern with thedesignation records of more than 400 historicalfate of the National heritage, calling for awooden churches, listed as Heritage of National

strategic change to more effective conservation

Importance.

practices.

However,theconditionsofconservation practice in Sovereign Ukraine hadchanged drastically following the proclamation of

2.Research Design

the religious freedom and the separation of(1) Theoretical Perspective

religion and state. Previously nationalized andAnynon-functioning churches were officially returned

perspective. In this study the research problem isto the property of religious communities. Driven

viewed from a perspective of one the latest

by the desire to reconnect with the faith of thetheoretical developments in heritage studies - aancestors, recouping for the decades of theLiving Heritage Approach (LHA). LHA wasreligious stagnation, new owners enthusiasticallyinitially introduced by ICCROM on the basis of its

engaged in church building and reconstruction

previous theoretical framework of Integrated

activities,

theTerritorial and Urban Conservation (ITUC) andappearance of heritage churches, or abandoning

was further developed by such theorists as Poulios

eitherillegallychanging

strategicchangeneeds

achangeofand Wijesuria. In brief, LHA is applied to heritage
sites that are continuously used in their originalfunction and have strong connections to localcommunities. Its main strategy is to prioritizecore communities’ values, and concentrate on
intangible, living aspects of heritage.
Taking this approach defines the focus of thisstudy: on communities’ interaction with heritage,
and the following research questions: 1) What are
Figure 1 Wooden Church of St. Mykola in

the current practices of maintenance and use ofLviv open-air museum of architecture

heritage wooden churches in property of religious

学位論文梗概集 2015

communities? 2) Why those practices vary across(2) Survey of Historical Wooden Churches in Lviv

the population? 3) How the existing heritage

Oblast’, Ukraine

policies influence those practices? 4) How and toIn this chapter, I approach some of the proposed

what extent the LHA can be applied to theresearchconservation of historical wooden churches inperspective. The purpose of this faze of research isUkraine?

to uncover general tendencies and patterns inquestions

community-based

from

a

maintenancequantitativeanduseof(3) Methodology

heritage wooden churches, to explore the possible

Due to the nature of the research questions, thisinfluencing factors, and to test the effects of thestudy will combine architectural survey withpresent heritage protection policies. To achievesocial methods of inquiry. The funneling casethese goals, I employed a range of statistical tools

study approach will unravel from the analysis ofprovided

thesocio-cultural

theSPSSsoftware,suchasthroughthecrosstabulation analysis with chi-square test ofvisualandstatistical significance, correlation analysis withdocumentary data on the regional level, to thePiersons r and phi tests of statistical significance,

single ethnographic case studies.

principal component factor analysis and binomial

quantitative

background,bysurveyof

thelogistic regression.
3. Structure and Findings

First of all, through the visual analysis of the(1) Socio-Cultural Backgroundcurrent state of the 140 heritage wooden churches

The background analysis can be summed up toof Lviv Oblast’ and the data about the most resent

the allocation of the two distinct socio-culturalrepairs, I identified the following maintenanceprocesses in modern Ukraine that impact the fait

patterns performed by the corresponding religiousof historical wooden churches. One is thecommunities:

movement of religious believers to return to their•disrepair (no repair action with visible signs•

passive maintenance in a good state (noroots and re-connect with the faith of theirancestors after the decades of faith prohibition inof decay) – 24 properties;

Soviet Union. Another is the process of therepair action with no visible signs of decay) –identity search of the young nation that boost up

30 properties;

public attention to National heritage and createsratherromantic

expectations

towards•

modernizing repairs (structural additions,

theconservation practice.
Probably, the most essential outcome of thischapter derives from the overview of the current
Ukrainian legislation on heritage and the legalorganization of religion-state relationships. It
showed that the two legislative themes are notfully

compatible.

The

modernUkraine’s

separation of religion from the state, and liberalpolicies

towards

theorganization

andadministration of religious communities of all
kinds inevitably imperil the enforcement of theSoviet-time top-down heritage legislation.
Figure 3. Observed patterns of maintenance and use ofsampled wooden churches located on the map of Lviv
Oblast’roof, c – projecting hipped roofs, e – sails, d – dome.

Summaries of Academic Theses 2015•

reshaping of cupolas, renewal of the external

populous or urban settlements showed the higher

cladding with the use of modern materials) –rates of adherence to the conservative repairs and50 properties;

treatments. This correlation was interpreted asconservative repairs (renewal of the external

the influence of the public control over the actions

claddingof the communities and greater legal visibility ofwithappropriate

useofhistoricallymaterials,theorscientificrestorations) – 36 properties.

their actions.
Combining the factors of church function andI also observed that churches had a different

public control, I divided the sample of heritage

mode of use. Majority, 97 of them were the only

wooden churches into three conceptual groups:

churches of the parish and were used as regularGroup I – churches of high public control andvenues for religious services. However, in 43 cases,

high user value (located in urban settlements overcommunities had newer churches as their main

1000 citizens, or having high touristic value).

venues, and heritage churches were used as

Those churches are significantly less likely to besecondary venues, opening for special holidays ormodernized and more likely to be conservatively

family occasions.

repaired.

Figure3showsofGroup II – churches of low public control but

maintenance and use, located on the map of Lviv

high user value (primarily used churches in rural

Oblast’,woodenareas). It is evident that they are less likely tochurches that were lost during the years of

decay, much more likely to be modernized andIndependent Ukraine. Certain tendencies could

less likely to be conservatively repaired.

be picked up from the mapping outcome. ForGroup III – churches with low public control andinstance, the peculiarity of the South-West region

low user value (secondarily used churches in ruralof Lviv Oblast, where most of the wooden

areas). They are more likely to decay, but highly

churches are modernized and used in primary

unlikely to be modernized (graph 1).

includingthetheobserved

patterns

designatedfunction. The absence of modernizing repairs andthe prevalence of disrepair in secondarily used

This classification reflects different circumstanceswooden churches confirms the hypothesis of thethat create very different maintenance outcomes

major role of church function in maintenanceandpractices.

actions.

Next, the correlation analysis with a range of

Final stage of the quantitative analysis involved

external factors helped to identify the dependency

the comparison of the two samples of woodenof the church maintenance practices from the size

churches in Lviv Oblast’, built before 20th century

and the type of settlements where they were– non-designated churches and those, designatedlocated. Religious communities in the moreas the heritage of National importance. Only

Graph 1 Distribution of the observed maintenance

Graph 2 Distribution of the observed maintenance patterns
between designated and non-designated churches

patterns between the groups

学位論文梗概集 2015

therefore

requiredifferent

managerialinsignificant difference was observed in thefirst tier. However, the local community opposes

patterns of modernizing and conservative repairs,

to these changes, valuing the present look of thewhich proved little to no effect of the current

church, - with sheet metal roofs and bright

heritage protection policies. Moreover, designatedinterior

wooden churches displayed higher rates ofCommittee of the site, featuring community

abandonment and more severe signs of decay,

representatives, is working to find a balance of allwhich can be interpreted as the discouraging

stakeholders’ interests.

oilpaintings.

The

joint

Steering

effect of heritage policies on the community-based
custodianship (graph 2).
(3) Case Studies
Matkiv case, representative of Group I, depicts
thepeculiartransitionofarural,smallcommunity wooden church into a high public
profile World heritage site.
Figure 5 Wooden Church of Assumption of
Blessed Virgin Marry (1738), Matkiv village(August, 2015)

Vidniv case, representative of Group II, depicts a
primary used 18th century heritage wooden
church currently undergoing modernizing repairs(fig. 5).
In early 2000s, walls of the church were covered
Figure 4 Wooden Church of St. Dmytro (1838),
Matkiv village (July, 2015)

with low quality wooden panels, roofs - with

Matkiv village is located in the mountainous

an outrage in heritage activists’ circles. In 2015 –South-West region. In this area, wood is still aanother repair is in progress. Local craftsmen are

major material for construction, and traditional

replacing wooden panels that already decayedbuilding techniques are commonly used. Everyand damaged underlying log structure.

village has a functioning wooden church. This,

Interviews with local residents and craftsmen

and the remoteness of the region from theshowedadministrative centers explain the prevalence ofmaintaining their church in good state but not at

the modernizing maintenance practices, displayed

the costs that are required according to thein Figure 3.

present heritage legislation. Doing the repairs inThe 19th century Church of St. Dmytro (fig. 4) wassecret they often lack valuable consultation ofrecently inscribed on the World Heritage list. It

heritage specialists.

modern titanium nitride (TiN) cladding, ignitingthat

community

isinterested

instands out among the neighbors being the least
modified and decorated. Even before it became theKlits’ko case, classified into Group II, is a rare

World Heritage site, the priest of the parish

example of the primary used rural church thatexercised his authority to prevent many attempts

was scientifically restored by the local communityof modernizing repairs.

but is very likely to decay in the near future.

The Nomination file sets plans to restore theKlitsko village has 2 religious communities, -original appearance of the church – clad roofs

Greek Catholic and Orthodox - that are currently

with wooden shingles and uncover the logs of thesharing one 17th century wooden church. The

Summaries of Academic Theses 2015

communications. It is a place where only oldpeople leave and in winter even they prefer to staywith their children in cities. Greek CatholicCommunity of the village uses a new stone churchbuilt in 1994. The old wooden church has fallen
into decay, but villagers still come to pray there
privately using a church’s porch for the altar.
Evidently, the church has big importance for theFigure 6 Wooden Church of Assumbtion of
Blessed Virgin Marry (1604) and the newchurch construction Klits’ko village (August,2015)

bigger and more prosperous Orthodox community
is currently building a new stone church at thesame location (fig. 6).
The scientific restoration took place in 2007, led
by a famous civil activist, village expat. Sadly, in2008 the church was damaged by fire, and had notbeen repaired since.
It is quite possible that the one-time conservativeintervention has actually left the church in more
vulnerable condition, as the small and aging
Greek Catholic community of the village has no
means

of

sustaining

thehigh-maintenancewooden cladding of the church. Also, this casedemonstrates how the construction of the new
church weakens maintenance of the heritage
church in a small community.

local

community

wonderwork,
personal

asaplace

memorable

nostalgia

ofreligious

historicalevents,even

symbolic

andself-identification. Therefore, in 2010, the expatsof the village in Lviv city and abroad initiated afundraising campaign to rescue the church fromdestruction

andtorestore

its

historicalappearance. When community used private funds,
there was a problem with contractors who did not
follow the restoration project and worsened thestateof

thegovernmentchurch.

Afterallocatedbudgetthat,regional

moneyandorganized proper surveillance.
This case sheds light on the motives anddifficulties

ofcommunity-based

restoration

campaigns. Most importantly, it shows thatheritage can serve as a social platform that brings
residents and expats together, creating othervarious social benefits.
4. Conclusions(1) Research OutcomesThis research showed the variety of socio-cultural
circumstances, in which the community-based
maintenance of the historical wooden churches
takes place. It provides the evidence that different
maintenance practices are affected by the factorsof public control and user value, and require

Figure 7 Wooden Church of the Blessed
Virgin Marry (1724), Loni village (July,2015)

Loni case, representative of Group III, describes
the community-based efforts to restore the 18th
century wooden church that have fallen into
disuse and decayed and the repairs are currently
in progress (fig. 7).
Loni village is located off road and has no gas

学位論文梗概集 2015

accordingly diversified managerial actions.
While current heritage policies work well in theareas of high public control, - in urban settlements
and famous tourist destinations, - biggest share ofwooden churches is scattered in remote rural
areas, where monitoring and law enforcement
hardly reach. Wooden churches used as main
venues of worshiping attract a lot of private
funding and volunteer work as a part of religious

service of the associated communities. However,(3) Significanceunable to meet the high conservation standards

The findings are significant for the theory andand bureaucratic requirements prescribed bypractice of historical wooden church preservation

legislation, communities conduct the repairs

in Ukraine, since for the first time the problem

secretly

was approached from the core communities’ pointanddamaging

illegally,

theoftenproperties

unknowingly

withimproperof view. My hope is that this research will serve astreatments.

a base for future studies in both, Living Heritage

Historical wooden churches that had lost theirtheory

primary function in rural communities are in highMethodology developed in this study can beand

Ukrainianwoodenchurches.

danger of disrepair and decay. At the same time,

applied to other living religious sites around thetheirglobe.

secondaryfunctionincludesacommemorative element that makes a scientificrestoration desirable, but not affordable to local

Selected Bibliography

communities.

1) Bogdanova, A., Uekita Y., Community-Based Maintenance ofHistorical Wooden Churches in Lviv Region, Ukraine, Journal(2) Proposalsof Asian Architecture and Building Engineering 14, no. 3,

My proposal to the conservation of historical

pp.499-504, September 2005

wooden churches in Ukraine is to apply Living

2) Bolotskih, N. et al., Actual Restoration and Preservation

Heritage Approach to the churches classified into

Problems of the Ukrainian Wooden Churches, Rescuing theGroup II in this thesis, - those located in the areas

Hidden European Churches Heritage, ed. by G. Tampone,

with low level of public control and used as main

Semplici, M., pp.183-192, 2006

venues for worshiping. The strategies should3) Buxton, D., The Wooden Churches of Eastern Europe, 1981

include the lifting of restrictions on material

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Development of the World Heritage Properties, Heritage

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Conservation Regional Network Journal, no. 1, 2012and educational activities among the community

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ニエプル川流域の木造ギリシア正教教会堂の特徴 (建築歴史・意

not only such approach will support the living匠)", 学術講演梗概集, p55-56, 2001

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wooden churches I advocate the application of the8) UNESCO. “Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region inclassical Value-Based Approach to conservation

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definedmutualresponsibilities of the government and property

9) Wijesuriya, G., The Past Is in the Present. Perspectives inowners. Lastly, for the Group III – special

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programs on capacity building among the localStovel et al., pp30-43, 2005communities are advised, with the strategy tostimulate community-based initiatives, develop
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Group I management group on voluntarily basis.

Summaries of Academic Theses 2015