In Lviv, the architectural competition for the project of the memorial complex of military burials of Heroes of Ukraine on Ilya Mechnikova Street has ended. The winner was a team of architects from Khmelnytskyi — Viktor Holubev and Dmytro Raifschneider. The competition lasted three months.
This was reported in the Lviv City Council.
In addition to the burial area, a memorial square, a museum, a soldierʼs monument, a chapel and a columbarium are planned to be built on the territory of the complex — a place for burying urns with ashes, where it will be possible to go down both by stairs and a ramp.
According to the project, burial structures at the cemetery are proposed to be made of white architectural concrete with interspersed natural stone (terrazzo). On the tombstone there will be a place for a photo and a name with the years of the deceasedʼs life. Along with this, there will be a place to place flowers and lamps. Also, on the side of the graves, seating areas of a unified design will be arranged.
"At the front of the complex near Mechnikova Street, we propose to arrange a square with a monument to the unknown warrior. The concept of the new square consists in changing the axis of the city to the historical axis. This axis is directed to the northeast and east to an averaged point that combines the coordinates of the battles for Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Avdiivka, Debaltseve, Ilovaisk, Kherson and the main direction of the defense of Ukraine. Such a shift of the axis should draw attention to the geographical unity of Ukraine and contrast with the structure of the city, cutting into it," noted the author of the project Dmytro Raifschneider.
The intersection of the faces of the monument will remind an unknown warrior of a shield. The monument can have many symbolic readings, but the main one is the green paths that lead to the sky in the future. And the green on the shield will symbolize the flower of the nation, which went to defend the state.
Also, a plaque will be placed on the square, on which the graphic symbols of the brigades and units whose heroes fought for Ukraine will be depicted. There will also be a place for laying flowers.
At the end of the "Field of Mars" they will leave a cross in honor of the Ukrainian Galician Army, which will complete the central axis of the entire complex. A prayer building will be placed near the cross.
The winners were chosen by a professional jury among 27 competitive works. There were a total of nine members of the jury from different areas: memorialization, local self-government bodies, regional administration, architectsʼ unions, practicing architects and professors.
"We chose a project where the Heroesʼ burial is in the center. It is the main element that cannot be overshadowed by anything. From the point of view of the burials themselves, tombstones — everything is observed quite correctly here. There is a Cossack cross, there is an alternative version of this burial for non-Christians, it is possible to reach any burial place in a wheelchair. "Apparently, from the point of view of solving the burial zone itself, this is the most correct of all the submissions," the jury noted.
Holubev and Reifschneiderʼs project is a concept, it will be further developed with the members of the advisory council, which includes military personnel, families of the victims and representatives of the clergy, with whom the architects met the day before.
According to the chief architect of Lviv Anton Kolomeitsev, they did not choose the project that will be implemented "one on one", but rather the architects with whom they will work on the memorial.
"We will consider many ideas voiced at meetings with the advisory council, with families and organizations. We have to achieve the best result that will suit everyone," said Kolomeitsev.
At the same time, the second place in the competition was won by a team from Lviv consisting of Andriy Lesyuk, Mykhailo Kohut, Kateryna Ivashchuk, Yaroslav Ivaskov, Yehor Perepelyuk and Ihor Kohut.
And in third place was the team project consisting of Denys Kozak, Anna Pomazanna, Khrystyna Mukha, Artem Tyutyunnyk, Simone de Jacobis and Malgozhata Kutsevich.