A burial ground dating back to the 10th century was found on the construction site of a new office center alongside the Dnipro River in Kyiv’s Podil district. City officials backed the construction company’s right to continue building at the location, while the developer has pledged Hr 300,000 ($60,000) to help investigate the site thought to be an early Christian cemetery near the Poshtova Ploshcha metro station.

Archeologists uncovered 12 distinct burials in the last month. The cemetery “possesses significant Christian characteristics,” according to Mykhaylo Sahaydak, head of the Podil archeological expedition.

In an agreement struck between the archeologists and the construction company, the researchers have until September to complete their excavations.

The office center, to be located at Naberezhno-Khreshchatytska 1A, is being developed by Yaroslaviv Val, a real estate developer controlled by Leonid Yurushev.

Yurushev, ranked as one of Ukraine’s richest tycoons, has been active on Ukraine’s commercial real estate market developing the Leonardo business center and a new hotel in downtown Kyiv. The Ukrainian-born Greek national is also the main owner of Forum Bank.

Archeologically rich

Anthropologists said they began investigating this particular section of Podil about a year ago, but large underground bomb shelters prevented researchers from going deep enough. The remains were unearthed by construction crews at the site of the planned business center.

The excavators think that the 200 square meters they have thus far investigated may be part of a wider area where mass baptisms occurred along the Dnipro River about 1,000 years ago as part of the conversion to Christianity of Kyiv-Rus, an empire headquartered in Kyiv that encompassed much of current-day Ukraine and Russian territory lying west of the Ural Mountains.

Archeologists suspect that the site could also reveal foundations of the St. Ilya Church, widely believed to be the first Christian temple in the city. The diggers said they have already found elements of wooden construction and multiple family memorials.

Compromise with constructors

According to construction regulations, developers are required to obtain permission from scientific experts upon finding artifacts before continuing construction.

“We did not demand an end to construction, we just asked to hold it up for the period of the expedition,” claims Sahaydak. He said that construction and archeological crews work in separate shifts according to the agreed-upon schedule. He said that Yaroslaviv Val agreed to support the dig financially.

Nevertheless, Sahaydak said the agreement “is better than nothing. Although we as researchers are not fully satisfied with the conditions of the work, because construction is ongoing and the ground is being disturbed.” Sahaydak does not pin any hopes on the prospect that a museum could be built at the location.

Officials at Yaroslaviv Val declined to comment.

The first deputy head of the Kyiv city culture and heritage preservation department, Yevgen Portyanko, said that the office center is being built legally. There are no grounds to halt construction, he said.

Oleksandr Bryhynets, secretary of the Kyiv Rada committee on culture and information, said that elected city officials who feel that preserving heritage sites should be a priority in the nation’s capital form a minority on the Kyiv City Council.

Elected to the city council from Byut, Bryhynets said: “From a city with a rich culture and spiritual heritage, Kyiv is turning into a city of office buildings.”

“It is not only a matter of culture, it is a problem of revenues, and thus, the economy. Kyiv has all chances to become a tourist Mecca, and similar discoveries are a great way to attract tourists. We should support all attempts to piece together history, otherwise we will loose the chance to become a successful and profitable city.”

Like other areas in the capital, Podil has experienced rapid real estate development.

The Podil district is of particular interest to archeologists and historians because it was medieval Kyiv’s trade and commerce center. It was located along the Dnipro River, where river shipping ports were located.

According to the director of the Kyiv Institute of Archeology, Petro Tolochko, dozens of similar conflicts between developers and archeologists arise every year. He said that problems began about 10 years ago, when construction in the city’s center started booming. The situation has not improved in the last two to three years.

“In most cases the conflicts end in a relative ‘draw,’ with neither the researchers, nor builders being satisfied fully,” Tolochko said.

He said that the most appalling acts of disregard for Kyiv’s historical heritage include the Foreign Affairs building on Mykhailivska Square and the hotel complex at Sofiyivska Square, both built on the locations of 19th century buildings.

The source: Kyiv Post