After the fire in 2021, the Church of St. Nicholas still hasnʼt been repaired, and the National House of Music is still without a new building

The Church of St. Nicholas in Kyiv, where a large-scale fire broke out in 2021, is still unsuitable for normal operation and needs restoration.

This was reported by the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications in response to Babelʼs request.

Currently, the church is owned by the state, is under the management of the Ministry of Culture and is registered on the balance sheet of the National House of Organ and Chamber Music of Ukraine.

At the same time, the National House of Music granted the right to the Roman Catholic parish of St. Nicholas to use the premises of the church for services. Since 2022, this religious organization is the only user of the building of the Mykolaiv Church, and the National House of Music is forced to hold its concerts at other venues in Kyiv.

Back in 2020, the president instructed to build a new building for the National House of Music, but this has not yet been done. The Ministry of Culture explains this by "the impracticality of building a new non-residential building during martial law with budget funds, given the high cost".

They want to move the National House of Music to the premises of the wing of the International Center of Culture and Arts of the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine. However, they cannot do this yet due to the arrests imposed on the building. Work is now underway to remove the arrests and transfer the buildings into state ownership.

As for the cost of the restoration, the Ministry of Culture calls it UAH 148 million, but it is calculated in 2019 prices. For the period 2021-2023, funds for capital repairs were not allocated from the state budget.

In January 2024, by order of the National House of Music, preliminary works on the restoration of the church were completed, which determined, in particular, the technical condition of the monument.

"The general condition of the building of the St. Nicholas Church is defined as unfit for normal operation (category 3) and as requiring restoration," says the response.

In 2024, UAH 1.4 million is planned for the development of scientific project documentation for the conservation of the building.

• On September 3, 2021, a fire broke out in the Church of St. Nicholas. The fire broke out between the first and second floors, the fire quickly spread to the roof of the building, but it was quickly extinguished.
• The fire did not touch the wooden altar and the pulpit, nor did the figures on both sides of the organ suffer. Only the cross in the altar part was burnt. The whole temple was smoky and flooded with water, the most valuable thing — the organ — burned.
• The main version of the fire in the Church of St. Nicholas in Kyiv is the ignition of electrical wiring inside the wooden body of the organ. However, the police are also studying other versions.
• The business collected UAH 30 million for the repair of the church. Burnt chandeliers were dismantled in the building, windows were glazed, walls were cleaned of soot, garbage was removed, protective nets were installed, a new stage, lighting and heating were restored. There was enough money only for emergency works, the rest was to be given by the state, and full restoration was planned for the spring of 2022.
• At the beginning of November 2023, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine decided to transfer the Church of St. Nicholas to the use of the parish after renovation, but no later than June 1, 2022.

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