Moving the Makarov monument may cost Mykolaiv residents millions

Due to its status as a monument of monumental art, demolition or relocation of the Makarov monument is currently legally impossible. In addition, any attempts to move the object will be a significant financial burden for the budget of Mykolaiv, as the cost of such work is estimated at millions of hryvnias.

This was written by Svitlana Gladun , the former head of the Mykolaiv Oblast Department of Culture, on her Facebook page.

The object has the status of a monument of history and monumental art protected by the state. The current legislation prohibits its demolition, alteration or relocation, unless it is impossible to preserve the monument in place. At the same time, numerous appeals to remove the protected status from the object, which were submitted to the relevant ministry, have not yet yielded results.

The situation is complicated by the ambiguous position of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory (UINM). During the full-scale invasion, the institution has already provided five recommendations on the figure of Stepan Makarov, some of which contradict each other. Currently, the OINP believes that the monument does not fall under the law on decolonization, but still recommends removing it from the city's public space.

Another critical issue is logistics and funding. Options for moving the monument to the NUK or a local history museum were considered, but the legislative procedure for such a move would cost the budget millions of hryvnias. In addition, the museum is not yet ready to host large-scale structures: the territory is not landscaped, and the institution itself is allocating funds to restore it after enemy shelling.

Svitlana Hladun emphasized that the creation of an open-air museum of totalitarianism is only a prospect that is "not relevant now. The final decision on the fate of the object is up to the residents of Mykolaiv and members of the city council.

Катерина Глушко