Mario Botta on Ukraine War and His Nearly Completed Lviv Church
Mario Botta, a Swiss architect born in 1943 in Mendrisio, has voiced his concerns regarding the war in Ukraine, criticizing the insufficient symbolic gestures such as relocating the Champions League final to Paris. He feels a connection to Ukraine through his work on the Centro della Divina Provvidenza in Lviv, a nearly finished church for marginalized individuals, commissioned by Don Egidio Montanari. This church boasts a thirty-meter-high Eastern-rite dome adorned with gold from local donations. Despite the ongoing conflict, Don Egidio's community remains in Lviv, which Botta refers to as the 'Paris of the East.' On April 7, MAXXI in Rome will host a solo exhibition of Botta’s twenty sacred architecture projects. He estimates the war has caused 250,000 casualties and displaced millions.
Key facts
- Mario Botta (born 1943) is a major international architect from Mendrisio.
- He designed the Centro della Divina Provvidenza in Lviv, Ukraine, a monastery and church for the disabled, poor, and marginalized.
- The church has a thirty-meter-high Eastern-rite dome and is nearly complete after four years of work.
- The golden cladding for the dome's upper part was to be installed soon, made from melted precious metal fragments donated by the community.
- Don Egidio Montanari of the Don Orione congregation commissioned the project.
- On January 25, 2022, Don Egidio and Lviv mayor Andrij Sadovyi presented the project, highlighting Lviv as an intercultural city.
- A major solo exhibition of Botta's work opens April 7 at MAXXI in Rome, featuring 20 sacred architecture projects worldwide.
- Botta has focused on sacred architecture since the mid-1960s.
- Lviv's historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
- Botta estimates the war could cause 250,000 victims and millions of refugees.
Entities
Artists
- Mario Botta
Institutions
- MAXXI
- UNESCO
- Don Orione congregation
Locations
- Mendrisio
- Switzerland
- Lviv
- Leopoli
- L'viv
- Ukraine
- Rome
- Italy
- Saint Petersburg
- Russia
- Paris
- France
- China
- Israel
- Korea