Historic and cultural reserves () are defined under Ukrainian law as ensembles and complexes of monuments (landmarks) that collectively possess cultural, historic, or scientific value, and are thus placed under the protection of the state. Such a reserve may be limited to a single populated place or region. Historic reserves can be designated as historic and architectural, architectural and historic, historic and memorial, historic and archaeological, or historic and ethnographic depending on the dominant type of monuments that make up the reserve. Some historic reserves are officially listed by the Ministry of Culture and usually known as national. However, there are other historic reserves that are established by regional state administrations and other bodies. The designation of a territory as a historic reserve entails bans or restrictions on industrial and agricultural activities within its boundaries. Its administration is responsible for the preservation, conservation, and restoration of the area, ensuring its proper use, and carrying out educational, tourism, archival, and research activities. Historic and cultural reserves are not to be confused with nature reserves, which protect natural rather than historic areas.
This list includes museum-reserves (museums that were also designated as historic and cultural reserves) that are directly subordinated to the Ministry of Culture or to the regional state administrations. However, it excludes other entities also referred to as museum-reserves, notably those managed by Borys Voznytsky Lviv National Art Gallery. Similar institutions that are not officially designated as reserves are likewise excluded, such as the Historic and Archaeological Museum Complex "Ancient Liubech", the Cultural and Archaeological Center "Peresopnytsia", and the Historic and Cultural Complex "Radomysl Castle-Museum".
As of 2025, there are 67 historic and cultural reserves in Ukraine, one of which (located in Lviv's Old Town) is de facto not functioning. Shevchenko National Reserve in Kaniv, established in 1925, is the oldest, while Ancient Zvenyhorod, created in 2020, is the most recently established reserve. Cherkasy and Lviv oblasts (regions) each have the highest number of active reserves, at eight. There are no reserves in Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Odesa, Zakarpattia, and Zhytomyr oblasts.
The idea of protected historic areas in Ukraine dates back to the period following the Russian Revolution, when the Ukrainian People's Republic designated the grave of Taras Shevchenko â the country's national poet â as a national sanctuary in 1918. The same site was declared a state reserve in 1925 under the Soviet Union and additional historic and cultural reserves were established in the following years. The Soviet government also distinguished between reserves of republican and local significance, which were managed by the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and local governments, respectively. In the 1930s, most existing reserves were liquidated and proposals for new ones were rejected, with Stalinist repressions also affecting the reserves' workers. The creation of new reserves resumed after World War II but gained momentum only in the 1970sâÂÂ1980s, when the approach shifted toward preserving entire historic ensembles rather than individual monuments. Another wave of reserve establishment occurred in the years following Ukraine's declaration of independence in 1991, and slowed after 2010. Nevertheless, they currently face multiple organizational and managerial challenges. This is reflected in the unsuccessful attempts to establish reserves in Odesa (in 1994), Chuhuiv (1996), and (2019); land ownership conflicts between the historic reserve and the in Trakhtemyriv; as well as the de facto abolition of the reserve in Lviv due to government-level disagreements. Inadequate government funding hinders proper maintenance, and many reserves still lack scientific and design documentation despite this being a legal requirement. Moreover, several such areas have suffered damage during the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, including the reserves in Sviatohirsk, Vasylivka, and Verkhnii Saltiv.