The memorial dedicated to Ukrainian scouts, established under the Main Intelligence Directorate, has received a prestigious nomination for the Mies van der Rohe Award, one of the most significant honors in contemporary European architecture. The sculpture was unveiled in June 2025, as announced by co-author Nazar Bilyk and Guess Line Architects.
Architects Kateryna Ivashchuk, Mykhailo Kogut, Yegor Perepelyuk, Yaroslav Ivaskiv, and Andriy Lesyuk also contributed to the project.
The first part of the memorial was ceremoniously opened in Kyiv on the eve of the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2025, with the final unveiling occurring on June 17.
“This award is indeed one of the most prestigious in Europe. If the Nobel Prize in architecture is the Pritzker Prize, the Mies van der Rohe Award is considered second, as architects themselves say,” noted Bilyk.
According to the sculptor, this nomination is particularly significant as memorials have not been previously recognized. “I have reviewed the awards over the decades, and they primarily focused on innovations in residential and public architecture. Now we have a memorial that requires a deeper philosophical engagement with the meanings it conveys,” Bilyk added.
The Mies van der Rohe Award was established in 1987 in Barcelona by the Mies van der Rohe Foundation and is awarded every two years, recognizing outstanding architectural projects in Europe.