Inventory of Mosaic Works Limited to Kyiv and Five Regions

In a recent statement to the Interfax-Ukraine agency, representatives from regional administrations highlighted that the inventory of mosaic artworks is exclusively carried out in the Lviv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Ternopil, and Donetsk regions, as well as in the capital city of Kyiv. This effort is deemed vital for the preservation of Ukraine's cultural heritage.

In December 2025, Anastasia Bondar, the Deputy Minister of Culture for Digital Development, Digital Transformation, and Digitization, emphasized that the initiative to preserve mosaics should originate from the communities themselves. "We are certainly ready to work in this direction. The issue of preservation is one that the state is responsible for. The state is accountable for maintaining what it has on its balance sheet, which is included in the relevant registers and lists. For it to appear there, there is a quite clear process – the community must initiate this at the regional level, after which the region adds it to its lists and prepares the necessary documentation and all that is required to prove its historical, local, or any other value. Then it is initiated to the ministry, which accepts it," Bondar stated.

Bondar also stressed the importance of local efforts, particularly in fostering an understanding among communities that preserved objects can be utilized as part of economic development and tourism potential.

The Interfax-Ukraine agency reached out to regional administrations to inquire about the existence of separate inventories of mosaic artworks, the conduct of inventories, and the activities of departments responsible for the protection, preservation, and proper maintenance of mosaics.

The Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) reported that as of early March 2026, approximately 30 monumental art works are registered, of which 2 are included in the state register as local heritage sites, while the rest are part of the city’s list of cultural heritage objects. The department also noted that in May 2024, the Kyiv City Council adopted a resolution on measures for the preservation of such works. The Kyiv Scientific and Methodological Center for the Protection, Restoration, and Use of Historical and Cultural Monuments and Reserved Territories, which is subordinate to the department, is engaged in the research of mosaics.

The Lviv Regional State Administration (RSA) reported that the Department of Architecture and Urban Development is actively working on the inventory and registration of mosaic and ceramic monumental artworks in the region. As of mid-March, 226 such objects have been documented, but this figure is not final as the discovery process is ongoing. In Lviv, a special working group is also monitoring the condition of these mosaics and providing recommendations for their maintenance and protection, especially during construction or renovation work.

The Department of Urban Planning and Architecture of the Vinnytsia RSA stated that they are keeping a record of cultural heritage objects. In August 2025, over 30 mosaics in Vinnytsia were included in the list of newly discovered objects.

The Zhytomyr RSA also shared that they have begun gathering and summarizing information about mosaic objects. For this purpose, the Department of Culture, together with the regional Center for Folk Art and Tourism, has initiated their inventory. They have sent letters to communities in the region requesting lists of mosaics, available information about them, photographs, and data regarding their condition and potential protective status. After all materials are collected, the possibility of further systematic registration and inventory of such objects will be considered. A special commission is also planned to be established to coordinate this work, collaborate with communities, and address the identification and preservation of mosaic panels.

The Ternopil RSA noted that the Ternopil Regional Center for the Protection and Scientific Research of Cultural Heritage Monuments is conducting monitoring and inventory of cultural heritage objects in the region, including preliminary registration of monumental mosaic works. To date, 32 mosaics have been included in this list.

Regarding the Donetsk region, the Department of Culture and Tourism of the RSA reported that as of January 1, 2022, cultural heritage protection authorities in the controlled territory of the region recorded 73 mosaic works, of which 4 have been classified as newly discovered cultural heritage objects. However, as of March 2026, 54 of these are located in temporarily occupied territories or in areas of active hostilities, while 19 are in areas close to active combat zones, which are subject to constant or periodic shelling.

The administration stated that after stabilizing the security situation and restoring access to the relevant territories, an inspection of the mosaics will be conducted, their quantity and technical condition will be clarified, and the possibility of placing such objects under state protection in accordance with established legislation will be addressed.

Meanwhile, most regional administrations reported to the agency that a separate inventory of monumental mosaic works is not being conducted in their regions, and there is no consolidated information regarding the number of mosaics in the area, nor has there been an inventory of mosaic works as separate cultural heritage objects.

Regions such as Khmelnytskyi, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Kirovohrad, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zakarpattia, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhia, Cherkasy, Odesa, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Chernivtsi, Volyn, Luhansk, and Kyiv fall into this category.

At the same time, the Khmelnytskyi RSA announced plans to create a list of mosaic works in the region, noting that in November 2024, the mosaic panel "Building of the Cooperative Technical School" in Kamianets-Podilskyi was registered as a newly discovered object.

Additionally, the Sumy RSA reported that in September 2025, they also began work on the inventory of mosaic works, underscoring the overall trend towards the preservation of cultural heritage in Ukraine.