The Kyiv City State Administration does not agree with the decision to dismantle the former Peoples’ Friendship Acre in Kyiv, believing that it is hasty and could be dangerous.
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Marina Solovyova, director of the department for the protection of cultural heritage of the Kyiv City State Administration, stated this in a commentary to the publication “Public”.
The official recalled that in 2022, the Kiev city administration renamed the Arch of Friendship of Peoples into the Arch of Freedom of the Ukrainian People. Accordingly, the department prepared accounting documentation and submitted it to the Ministry of Culture.
However, the ministry unilaterally decided to remove the security monument from the landmark and now the department wants the Kyiv City State Administration to carry out the dismantling. According to Solovyova, the Kyiv City State Administration and her department do not agree with this decision.
You know, the arch symbolizes the tolerance of the Ukrainian people. In general, the Ukrainian people were very tolerant of all nations, all religions, and all communities. Today, this is exactly the vision that society has,” Solovyova noted. — People came to my department who said that the arch is located next to the European Square, so there should be European values and tolerance.
In addition, according to Solovyova, this can be dangerous, since parts of this monument form a retaining wall so that there is no displacement, so dismantling such an object is very difficult, expensive and dangerous.
In her opinion, public discussions should be held, since the rethinking of the idea and the fate of the monument should be determined by the people of Kiev.
Solovyova also shared that, according to rumors, they want to build a memorial to fallen heroes on the site of the arch, but so far there is no corresponding documentation on plans for this territory.
The Arch of Friendship of Peoples was installed in 1982 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the formation of the USSR and the 65th anniversary of the October Revolution of 1917. The arch connected two sculptural compositions: workers – a Russian and a Ukrainian, holding a ribbon with the Order of Friendship of Peoples, and a stele with a multi-figure group symbolizing the Pereyaslav Council of 1654.
The figures of a Russian and a Ukrainian with the Order of Friendship of Peoples were dismantled in April 2022, and the composition was renamed the Arch of Freedom of the Ukrainian People.
However, the Institute of National Remembrance emphasizes that this architectural complex remains the embodiment of the myth of the reunification of Ukraine with Russia in 1654. UINP calls the complex a symbol of Russian imperial policy, which must be completely dismantled.
Source: “Public”
Source: Racurs
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