Under pressure from activists, Kyiv moves to protect iconic Soviet-era market
After more than a year of public advocacy, Kyiv authorities have added the iconic Zhytnii Market to the city's list of cultural heritage sites — a crucial step toward granting it official monument status.
The change puts the market under legal protection, banning alterations to the building's Soviet-era modernist design. Activists have fought to keep the market out of developers' hands, fearing it would be demolished — a fate that has already befallen several other historic Kyiv landmarks.
"This is very good news, but we'll need to keep monitoring the situation because there's no trust in local authorities," Elmira Ettinger, a researcher of modernist architecture, told the Kyiv Independent.
Zhytnii, which translates as "rye," is one of Europe's largest covered markets, sprawling across 11,000 square meters (2.7 acres).
Its engineering design was groundbreaking for its time, as the curved glass roof doesn't rest on walls but is suspended by cables from support columns.
"This was done specifically to avoid blocking the view of Kyiv's hills and most importantly — of St. Andrew's Church," historian Leonid Marushchak told the Kyiv Independent.
Built in 1980, the striking Soviet-era modernist structure sits in Kyiv's historic Podil neighborhood on a site that has been used for trade since medieval times. During construction, archaeological treasures from the time of Kyiv's founding were discovered.
Zhytnii, which belongs to the municipal authority, hasn't been properly renovated since its construction, giving the uniquely designed building with its curved glass ceiling a gloomy look.
Letting buildings fall into disrepair on purpose is a common tactic in Ukraine to hand over prime real estate to developers. Promising to restore these sites, they do not always keep their word.
Recent examples include the bulldozing of the 19th-century Zelensky Manor and the partial demolition of the modernist "Kvity Ukrainy" ("Flowers of Ukraine") pavilion, which only received protected monument status after public outcry following the destruction.
Now, with the new status, the market can be renovated, but without changing its original appearance, said Marushchak, who fought alongside activists to preserve the building.
The next step is for the Culture Ministry to add Zhytnii to the State Register of Monuments. This is a standard bureaucratic procedure, but activists say they will monitor it to prevent any abuse in the documentation.
"When they changed the status of Ukraine's Expocenter (VDNH) in Kyiv in 2021, they deliberately excluded one of the pavilions from the protected zone, which was immediately demolished," said Marushchak.
Activists began actively advocating for the market after the city announced a suspiciously short five-day bidding window for Zhytnii in a March 2024 auction. The auction was later canceled due to public outcry.
In the wake of those events, a petition calling to preserve Zhytnii Market and to grant it special status gathered over 6,000 signatures from Kyiv residents.
"The Zhytnii case shows how people can make a real difference in preserving Kyiv," says architectural activist Elmira Ettinger.
"But residents need to keep watching what happens to the market."
