The russian army attacked the unique building in Bakhmut
This building was built in the century before last, in 1898.
It remained one of the oldest architectural sights of the city, its decoration and kept the memory of the times when Bakhmut was the administrative center of the region.
On the night of October 14, the russian army attacked the unique Bakhmut building, which is over 120 years old. Here in different eras there was a county administration, the administration of the North-Donetsk railway and the coal industry, and then a college of railway workers. Here, for the first time in the Donbass, the Ukrainian banner was raised. The building was a gem of local history and architecture. The russians destroyed this legacy.
The speaker of The State Emergency Service of Bakhmut Stanislav Baldin tells about this to Free Radio.
“This is not a monolithic building, as they are building now, but a wooden one lined with bricks. They also extinguished the roof of the building. The flame was localized at 05:30 so that it would not spread, but it would burn out, probably, there was still some smoldering left, ”says a representative of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
The fire broke out at night as a result of the shelling of Bakhmut by russian invaders. The entire 3-story building caught fire: the flames engulfed about a thousand square meters of the surface. According to The State Emergency Service of Ukraine, no one was killed or injured.
Therefore, 17 rescuers with equipment extinguished the fire, water was taken from a tank truck. It was dangerous to continue putting out the fire as shelling continued nearby. Therefore, people with equipment returned to the base.
What does this building mean for Bakhmut people?
This building was built in the century before last, in 1898. It remained one of the oldest architectural sights of the city, its decoration and kept the memory of the times when Bakhmut was the administrative center of the region.
This is the building of the Bakhmut district zemstvo council. Until 1917 Bakhmut county occupied a significant part of the territory of the present Donetsk region. The zemstvo was then engaged in landscaping, education, and healthcare,” Ihor Kornatskyi, a Bakhmut historian and head of the local history museum department of the Bakhmut Museum, tells Free Radio.
And in 1917, after the proclamation of the Ukranian People’s Republic (UPR), a blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag was raised over this building for the first time in the Donetsk region. Local artist Serhii Sadchykov reproduced this event in one of his paintings, created for the 450th anniversary of Bakhmut.
“After the Bolsheviks occupied the Donbass, since 1920, the Donetsk provincial executive committee of councils of deputies was located in this building. Well-known Bolshevik figures worked in it (Artem, Vlas Chubar). And since 1922, the Central Administration of the Coal Industry was located there ”says the historian.
In 1934, the Administration of the North-Donetsk Railway was transferred to the building, which worked there until the mid-1950s.
“After World War II, in the 1950s, a 3rd floor was built over the historic building. In 1955, the building housed a technical school for railway transport, which in our time was renamed the College of Transport Infrastructure,” says Ihor Kornatskyi.
This building had the status of a historical monument of local importance. The Department of Culture of the Donetsk Regional State Administration and the city authorities of Bakhmut were supposed to restore this status.
“Documents were being prepared for the renewal of registration as a reminder of history and culture. Because the former foundation disappeared during decommunization (commemorative plaques dedicated to Artem and Kvirinh were removed from it). The role of this building as the seat of the county administration since the end of the 19th century, the historical events of the Ukrainian Revolution and, of course, the architectural value, should be a new basis for entering into the register of monuments,” sums up Ihor Kornatskyi.
Sourse: https://freeradio.com.ua/
Photo: press service of the State Emergency Service of the Donetsk region