Where did the old wall go? (PHOTOS)

These photos are all that is left of the old wall near the Cathedral. Similar to Italian brick fences in the South, it formed the perspective on Kapitulna street and was an integral part of the architectural ensemble in the protection zone on the Castle Hill. However, during the reconstruction of the future Bachinskiy Square, the old wall, as it often happens in Uzhgorod, one day just disappeared… One could ignore this issue or say that there are other more glaring architectural violations in Uzhgorod… But the problem is that this destruction occurs in the special, historic area of ​​the city, and it raises a number of problems that distort space.    

 Sculptor Vasyl Roman is convinced that all Uzhgorod residents have lost not just an architectural and historical monument in the protected area of the city, but something much more.

Vasyl Roman: "About 20 years ago, when we, still young, would walk this street, and I would go to the art school, I would always wonder: what is there behind the wall…? Some kind of secret, unattainable for us…"

The old wall, which now exists only in these photos, was built by the diocesan architect Omelyan Ehreshi in 1930’s. The wall indeed had a secret – it guarded a Basilian convent and an orphanage for girls from prying eyes. In the park behind the wall, there was a statue of the Virgin Mary, which was destroyed in Soviet times.

Ludwig Filip, local historian: "Only girls were raised in the orphanage behind the old wall. My second aunt and my mother were raised there because my grandfather had died and they had become orphans. There was a school there. It was a closed institution. And they could be visited once or twice a year. We must restore the wall, the gate through which they had the right to come out."

Petro Szarvas is the author of the project for the reconstruction of Bachinskiy Square in front of the Greek Catholic Cathedral. But the architect only sadly comments on the progress of strange works in front of the temple. What is happening there has very little to do with the approved project.

Petro Szarvas, architect, the author of the project for the reconstruction of Bachinskiy Square: "Initially, the process started seemengly in line with the law, the project was developed, received all necessary approvals (at the municipal, the regional levels), whereby this gate had to stay in the same state as it survived to these days. But when the work was started, it was gone. How it happened, it’s another question, there are different versions, but it seems that it was deliberately destroyed."

 According to the architect’s project, the wall had to fence off the garden with entrance to it through the gate. But the commissioner of the reconstruction, which is the Greek Catholic Diocese, has a different vision of the project, which has changed after the work already started. The church denies it had anything to do with the destruction of the old wall.

Bishop Milan Shashik, Archbishop of Mukachevo: "It was just a wall that was not there in 1930, and was not completed professionally, it was there as a temporary structure, so it collapsed."

It did not collapse, it was torn down, officials of the Department of Culture of the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration say and add: the wall does have a historical and architectural value, as it is located in the protection zone of the monument of national importance.

Yuriy Hleba, the Head of the the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration Department of Culture: "According to professionals, the wall was destroyed, there is no need to prevaricate, destroyed by builders. As to who ordered that, I do not know now."

A resident of Kapitulna street, who prefers not to reveal her name, saw the destruction of the wall firsthand: "About 5 in the morning, I was awakened by the noise. I went outside and saw a bulldozer tearing down the wall" – the woman says and asks about the future of the wall that remained.  

For now, no one knows what is next for it.  The Department of Culture has sent to the Greek Catholic diocese the order whereby the wall has to be restored.  But a few weeks ago, at a press conference, Milan Shashik said that the church had no money for the restoration of the wall.  Now, representatives of the Diocese say that a new copy of the wall will ​​have no value.

Bishop Milan Shashik "I do not see the need to build anything there. It would be a completely new wall. There is no sense to restore the eighty-year-old wall for it just to be there and shut out the view of the cathedral."

 Activists strongly disagree with this stance, because by this logic, one can destroy half the city and never restore it. 

Vasyl Roman: "This space was sacred for a long time. The comfort of that park in the city center could be invaluable."

Oleksandr Sheba, architect: "The wall is only part of the problem. The main problem is ineffective management of cultural heritage of Transcarpathia. It is a problem of not only our region, but of the whole country. Currently, the department does not have enough staff, nor the authority to control the situation. As for the wall, if it was in the way, then it had to be either demolished or moved in a legal way according to the project. In general, any interference with historic buildings should be done very carefully."

The Department of Culture is preparing the second order to the Greek Catholic Diocese. If it is ignored too, then the documents will be sent to the prosecution office.   Meanwhile, shadow will be falling on the church on the Castle Hill, but from the non-existent wall….