number of factors, including uncontrolled excessive tourist traffic over the past few
decades, this National Historical and Cultural Reserve (now it controls the Upper part
of the Lavra, while the Lower part is a Ukrainian Orthodox Church monastery territory)
has experienced several cases of self-destruction of individual objects: in 2005 - a fall
of soil in caves, in 2007 - the gate collapsing at the entrance to the Lower Lavra, in
2009 - collapsing the retaining wall on Blyzhnyopecherskaya Street. In 2010,
monuments to Kyiv founders on the Embankment (built in honor of the 1500th
anniversary of Kyiv and opened in 1982) and the Samson fountain on Kontraktova
Square (construction year 1749) were added to the monuments of Kyiv, which did not
withstand the growing flow of visitors. There are also problems in the St. Sophia
Cathedral, which is also the object of UNESCO: the belltower of the cathedral, already
12.5 cm, deviated from its axis, in result decorative moldings disappear; a part of the
wall-fence from the side of Striletskaya Street was destroyed, underground walkways
collapsed etc. In 2016, from a house on Kontraktova Square, a piece of concrete about
400 kg in weight fell on souvenir dealers, resulting in a victim being a man and a
woman. Also, problems arose with the preservation of the building of the Pedagogical
Museum, the house of Sikorsky, the monument of Magdeburg Law (as discussed later
in the article) and others like that. As for Lviv, there are fewer such cases (apparently
due to the quality of historical Austrian construction), but they are nevertheless.
Nowadays the sculptural group "Savings, Agriculture and Industry" is being restored
(local people call it "Statue of Liberty"), which adorns the facade of the Museum of
Ethnography and Artistic Craft - the former premise of the Galician Savings Bank,
erected in 1891. "Black stone building" (construction years 1588-1589) is being
restored at the Market Square under the grant from the US Embassy Fund, restoration
of the Boim's Chapel (XVII century) is under way now. Finally, the unique wall
painting of the church in Shevchenkivsky Gay (park) is restored but a bronze
monument weighing 200 kg and costing $ 5000 was stolen from the Yaniv cemetery
(and this is not the first theft in the last few months there).
B. Sociocultural effects of increasing the number of tourists. Tourism can provide
and has a positive effect on the development of destinations, but often mass tourism
can cause also negative changes for the destination’s community, among which the
special literature notes [2]:
1.
Phenomenon of culture commodification, that means culture transformation
into a product in response to tourism demand. Despite the fact that it brings tangible
cash income, the commodification of culture often is seen as a negative consequence
of the mass tourism development. This problem arises from the moment when, for
example, the content and significance of local rites become less important than
commercial goals: local culture is modified in accordance to tourist demand and culture
primary significance, identity is leveled or completely lost.
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