Ukraine's consulate wins Kyiv spelling change at Barcelona Sagrada Família

A stained-glass window in Sagrada Família. Photo: Facebook page of the Ukrainian Community of Barcelona

The Consulate of Ukraine in Barcelona secured a change in the spelling of Kyiv on a stained-glass window in Sagrada Família, insisting that the historical form “Kiev” be replaced with the transliteration “Kyiv.”

The Consulate of Ukraine in Barcelona secured a change in the spelling of Kyiv on a stained-glass window in Sagrada Família, insisting that the historical form “Kiev” be replaced with the transliteration “Kíiv.”

The initiative to replace the “Russian-language” spelling of Ukraine’s capital on a stained-glass window in one of the world’s most visited landmarks came from the Ukrainian community, with the full support of the Consulate General. Josep Rull, president of the Parliament of Catalonia, also joined the process, saying that city names should not reflect “nomenclature imposed by a neighboring state.”

The basilica’s chief architect, Jordi Faulí, confirmed that the Sagrada Família team approved the replacement “without hesitation,” citing the standards of the Catalan academy. The architect did not specify why those standards had not been applied to the window in the first place.

To make the change, the old stained-glass window – which was part of the iconographic program of Fr. Lluís Bonet i Armengol and had been created over more than two decades – was completely dismantled. Producing the new element took about six weeks.

The replacement at Sagrada Família became part of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s international “KyivNotKiev” campaign, aimed at displacing traditional forms of Ukrainian city names from foreign media and public spaces.

As the UOJ reported, the Sagrada Família church in Barcelona has become the tallest church in the world.

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