How cultural heritage was destroyed

State-owned enterprise ‘Ukrainian Television Film Studio ’Ukrtelevizor", 1990.

The documentary film ‘Blagozvin’ is an attempt to analyse and give a historical assessment of the actions of the Soviet authorities regarding the destruction of the cultural heritage and spiritual values of the Ukrainian people.

On the video:
Newsreel from the 1980s: a destroyed church in the city of Vyzhgorod, a bell ringer ringing bells, Sofiyska Square, a protest against the actions of the Soviet authorities and in support of Ukraine's independence, the arrival of a film crew in Mizhhiria, Rusanivska Embankment, architectural sketches of post-war government and prestigious centre of Kyiv development projects by architects Pavlo Alyoshin, Volodymyr Zabolotny, Petro Yurchenko and Mykhailo Hrechin; Khreshchatyk, police, views of Mizhhiria, Mamai's Mound, construction work and installation of the Motherland Monument, celebrations on the occasion of the monument's opening, Brezhnev's speech, the home museum of sculptor Ivan Gonchar, how many churches were used during the Soviet era, church, wedding ceremony, Easter, church ministers blessing baskets with eggs and Easter cakes, theology lesson at school, construction of a church in a village, consecration of a newly built church.

Newsreel from the 1920s: ‘Working Youth Club’, people carry icons and crosses, raise a red flag, a local resident talks about the former dachas of Kosior and Petrovsky, Kiev railway station, the arrival of distinguished guests from Moscow, a cemetery, workers, soldiers and pioneers walking through the streets of the city.

The film featured: Doctor of Arts Hryhorii Logvin; People's Artist of Ukraine Petro Mikhnevych; owner of the home sculpture museum Ivan Honchar; former employee of the Central Scientific Library of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR Mykola Vizir; former First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Petro Shelest; head of the church community of Bila Tserkva; residents of the villages of Novi Petrivtsi and Krasnoilsk in the Chernivtsi region.

Author: Arkadiy Muzychuk. Director: Petro Olar.