In autumn 1943 the Red Army entered unoccupied Kyiv. Approximately 180 thousand residents of the city (almost one million residents had lived in the capital before the war) met the army. During the war Kyiv lost not only its residents but also more than 40 percent of its housing,
80 percent of its public buildings and all of its transport infrastructure.
Partisan groups had destroyed Kreshchatyk the main street of the capital back in 1941. Most of its building structures had been subjected to explosions and lay in ruin. The street was lined with hollowed out buildings and wild grass, narrow paths and the remains of tram railings leading to nowhere bestrode the city's center. All residents of the city went out into the central street to clear the city from ruins. Builders and residents put a lot of work into the reconstruction. Some foreign experts estimated that it would take half a century to restore the city. In a word, the city needed not only manpower but also general reconstruction.
The pre-war "bulldozer project" (destruction of all ancient buildings) of the historical part of the city was no longer an objective in those days, its original purpose having been made irrelevant by the course of the war. Thus, architectural, designing and building organizations resumed their work. The Center needed rebuilding. Thus began the first General Plan of reconstruction. It focused on reconstruction of the center of the city and full renovation of the city's water-supply system, sewerage system and the creation of a new gas system. The General Plan foresaw the building of large housing blocks on the outskirts of the city, "Hydropark" on the left bank of the Dnieper and many other projects.
During the war Stalin understood that the so-called national idea (defense of the Motherland) had proven to be stronger than any Marxism dogmas both on the front lines and in the rear. Thereforethe leadership began to pay great attention to the national idea of the Russian people. In addition, Stalin also stopped the State's previous efforts to censor the Ukrainian culture and did not neglect the feelings of the Ukrainian people. Post war the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was even accepted into the United Nations Organization. The Ministry of foreign affairs and defense were formally established in the country. Ideologists of the socialistic culture and its architecture advanced the slogan; "Soviet culture has national form and socialistic content". This was the time when socialistic realism was born.
On June 22, 1944 the authorities announced competition for the project of the city's reconstruction. All representatives of the architectural elite of the Soviet Union participated in the competition. In half of a year, drafts of the projects were submitted to the competition commission. These projects reflected socialistic ideas combining historical methods and with national coloring.
The competition included three tours. The last tour was rather symbolic. Volodymyr Zabolotny, a Kyiv architect who used the forms of Ukrainian baroque in his project was accused of bourgeois nationalism and dismissed from the competition. He had to remove his project from the first stage of the competition. As a result, Oleksander Vlasov was appointed chief architect of Kyiv. He guided a group of designers who set to work.
At first, the architects tried to unite several projects into one but all attempts at doing this proved fruitless. Nevertheless, the best features of the works submitted for the competition by different architects were used. These were: Moscow styled high-rise buildings, buildings decorated with baroque, pedestrian boulevards, wide traffic ways, landscaping, fountains, figures-symbols with sickle and hammer, sheaf and coal hammer, flowers and footballs, etc. The architects tried to take into consideration the hilly landscape surrounding Kreshchatyk.
Under Stalin's orders and leadership the street became the largest monument to socialistic architecture in Ukraine. Today one can talk about numerous advantages and disadvantages of the architecture of Stalin's epoch. However, it is worth remembering that the historical center of our capital was saved from destruction back then and we can enjoy it now.
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