VIRTUAL Barcelona

Abstract

The community-centric participatory approach to cultural heritage preservation may ignite conflict when more than one interest group claims a historic site. Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) architecture in Belarus of the 1990s – 2010s presents a number of illustrious cases of cross-community conflicts in heritage preservation. After the fall of the USSR, Belarusian churches dating from the 12th to the early 20th century were returned to the ROC, though many originally belonged to the Catholic church and the Greek Catholic Church. Catholic and Orthodox churches constructed in styles ranging from Gothic to Baroque have undergone a wave of bottom-up unauthorized renovations by the newly formed parish communities (sometimes with the help of architects with no prior knowledge of local sacred architecture traditions). These brutal renovations were presented as repairs but aimed to make buildings stylistically similar to the Orthodox churches of Russia. Though unauthorized renovations on listed buildings are illegal in Belarus, no repercussions followed, as the ROC enjoys a privileged position under the current Belarusian government. Local heritage preservation activists who drew public attention to illicit renovations were repressed, with some having to flee the country. In this climate, heritage preservation specialists and architects had to develop ingenious approaches to navigate the communities’ wishes and design considerate preservation projects according to the globally accepted guidelines. Drawing from the positive and negative cases of the Belarusian Orthodox Churches renovations of the 1990s – 2010s, the presentation aims to find viable solutions when the community and the heritage preservation considerations conflict. Are the community’s wishes the ultimate measure? Whose needs should be prioritized? What approaches can be implemented to balance out the competitive communities’ interests?