Natalya Dykhovichna

Architect, preservationist

Alla Vronskaya

Name:

Natalya Dykhovichna (Диховична Наталія Олександрівна)

Life Dates:

Born 1952

Country:

Field of expertise:

Historic preservation

Education:

Awards:

Order of Princess Olga

Short Biography and Work

Dykhovichna was born in Kyiv in the family of a construction engineer. She graduated in architecture from Kyiv State Art Institute in 1977, moving to work at USNRPU (later UkrNDIproiektrestavratsia (Ukrainian State Scientific-Research and Design Institute of Restauration) under Valentyna Shevchenko and later under Irina Ivanenko, and eventually moving to the position of head project architect. 

Dykhovichna worked, among other projects, on the preservation of Mariinsky Palace, government buildings on Lipskaya street, Molchansky Monastery and Mykola Kozatsky church in Putivl. In Odesa, she worked on the reconstruction of the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, Vorontsov Palace, Lutheran Church, A. Gorky Library, Art Museum and other buildings. For the restoration of the Odesa National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, Dykhovichna was awarded the Order of Princess Olga, an award that celebrates women for their contributions to culture, science, and other spheres.

She is married to architect Oleksiy Zhila. Their two children also became architects.

Fig. 1. Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, Odesa City Theatre (today the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater), 1883-1887. Conservation works in 1965-67 and in the 1990s-2000s, the latter led by Natalya Dykhovichna.