CURRENT STATE OF PRESERVATION AND PROBLEMATICS OF RESTORING POLYCHROME PAINTINGS BY MODEST SOSENKO IN THE STRUCTURE OF SACRED ARCHITECTURE

. The current tendency of preserving monuments of immovable cultural heritage has gained negative connotations since the conservation treatment activities executed by state and religious communities that become ‘owners’ of significant sacred objects still lacks the sufficient legislative regulation. The synchronization of multidisciplinary studies of specialists in different areas is extremely important for the comprehensive preservation of an architectural object. A bright example is constituted by the preservation state of murals by Modest Sosenko (1875–1920), a famous modernist of the first quarter of the XXth century, which are painted in the interior space of Ukrainian churches. Deterioration processes, ideological prerogatives, and changes of aesthetic principles have resulted in the total destruction of these unique pieces of decorative and monumental art. The preservation state and the problematics of restoring sacred polychrome paintings by Modest Sosenko on the terrains of Lviv region have been analyzed as those based on the empirical, scientific, and restoration studies. general powdering of the polychrome painting structure (loss of binding media) and weakening of its connection with the plaster base; cracking, detachment of layers and peeling of plaster; significant surface contamination of the structure of paint layers; salt efflorescence in the structure of plaster and painting; repainting of certain fragments of art work; partial peeling and mechanical damage of paint layers.