Disappearance of some icons and unauthorised construction in Pochayiv Lavra: what ICIP inspection found

This is stated in the report of the commission on the results of the inspection, provided to Ukrinform.

"The Commission found that the user did not comply with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine "On Protection of Cultural Heritage", in particular, paragraph 1 of Article 26 regarding the mandatory obtaining of permits for conservation, restoration, museumification, repair, and adaptation of monuments of national importance. Also, the requirements of Article 24 of the Law of Ukraine "On Protection of Cultural Heritage" regarding the impossibility of altering monuments were not met. The user unauthorisedly carried out repairs, extensions, changes to structural elements, external and internal finishing and restoration of monuments without the apprriate permits and scientific and design documentation, which led to imprer maintenance of monuments and the loss of authentic elements of the monuments' finishing, and increased stress on their structures," the report says.

In particular, the commission found an extension of the vestibule to the main entrance to the Assumption Cathedral, an attic-type extension on the third floor of the Monastery Cells monument, as well as an extension to the Gatehouse complex, which is used as a dining room for pilgrims.

In addition, the commission members recorded the renovation and/or cleaning of murals and icons, the replacement of the panic rail in the Assumption Cathedral, changes to murals and repairs in the galleries and the Cave Church of St Job and the Church of St Anthony and St Theodosius, and other viations.

"The commission's inspection of the state of preservation of iconography revealed the absence of a significant number of icons recorded in the passports of cultural heritage monuments and the inventory list compiled on the basis of passports for works of art during the inventory of icons and works of art in 1967," the report says.

In addition to the six objects owned by the state, other real estate was found on the territory of the Pochayiv Hy Dormition Lavra that is not included in the agreement on free use.

In addition, during the inspection of the Lavra's territory, specialists of the regional department of the State Emergency Service found viations of fire safety requirements and also noted the failure to implement a number of measures to eliminate viations identified during a routine inspection in 2019 and recorded in the relevant order. According to the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service in Ternil Oblast, the user has been "systematically and deliberately" failing to comply with fire safety requirements since 2004.

The ICIP Commission recommended that the Kremenets-Pochayiv Reserve take an inventory of the six prerties that were transferred to the Hy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra for free use by 1 December and raise the issue of terminating the agreement in court if the basic requirements for the preservation of monuments of national importance – state-owned objects and their territories – are not met.

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The Pochayiv Assumption Monastery is an Orthodox monastery in Pochayiv with the status of a monastery. It is the largest Orthodox shrine in western Ukraine, the second most important after the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.

As reported by Ukrinform, the ICIP commission inspected the dest part of the Pochayiv Lavra and found changes.

Acting Minister of Culture and Information Picy Rostyslav Karandeyev instructed the commission to check the state of preservation of the real estate of the Kremenets-Pochayiv State Historical and Architectural Reserve, which was transferred to the UOC-MP in December 2003 for free use, from 3 to 29 June. It is a complex of buildings of the Pochayiv Lavra.