There are hundreds of museums in Ukraine. Some collections are of world importance, known far beyond the borders of the country. Seven names, seven unique cultural monuments are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The oldest Orthodox churches, monasteries, unique architectural monuments of constructivism, collections of European, Ukrainian, Russian paintings – all this and much more is now under threat. Some of them were taken to Lvov. What’s next?
UNESCO position
“When cultural heritage is under threat,” says Dr. Roman Luckscheiter, Secretary General of the German Commission for UNESCO, “it is also a threat to a country’s cultural identity, as well as a threat to the cultural heritage of all mankind.” UNESCO is particularly concerned about the fate of the seven World Heritage Sites located in Ukraine, Lookshaiter said in an interview with DW. For example, St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, the historical center of Lviv or the ancient city of Chersonesos and its choir. “In addition, Kyiv has a world-wide collection of Jewish musical folklore from the early 20th century,” Lukshaiter adds.
In addition to the well-known and included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, there are other important cultural values in Ukraine that are under the protection of international law, the Secretary General emphasizes. “International law obliges us to protect cultural property during armed conflicts,” he explains. Russia is a party to the Hague Convention and is obliged to protect cultural property even in time of war. For illegal actions, the Russian side may be held liable in the Hague Court of Human Rights. For example, in the case of the destruction of Timbuktu in Mali, the perpetrator was convicted and sentenced, Lukshaiter mentions.
However, UNESCO is unlikely to prevent the destruction of cultural property in Ukraine: “I’m afraid we are relatively powerless in a situation where international law is violated from the very beginning,” says the Secretary General of the German Commission for UNESCO.
What will happen to the cultural heritage of Kyiv, Kharkov, Chernigov?
“The family of my friend and classmate at Moscow State University miraculously survived a Russian bomb attack on the Slovo writers’ house in Kharkov,” notes art historian Grigory Kozlov. “This outstanding monument of constructivism of the 1920s is symbolically built in the shape of the letter C. Word. The address of the house where the elite of Ukrainian literature lived, destroyed by Stalin, is Kultury Street, building 9. In the 1930s, Stalin shot the inhabitants of the house, now Putin is shooting them along with the house. He is shooting culture. Ukrainian and Russian, Slavic and global ” .
“Putin’s aviation is bombing Chernihiv. But there is the Transfiguration Cathedral – the oldest monument of ancient Russian architecture of the 11th century,” says Grigory Kozlov.
“Every Orthodox person should understand that the cradle of Orthodoxy in Russia, the Cathedral of St. Sophia of Kyiv, is under threat,” notes the art critic. that the masterpieces of human genius are immortal. Unfortunately, they are mortal, like people.”
As Olesya Ostrovskaya-Lyuta, General Director of the Mystetskyi Arsenal National Cultural, Artistic and Museum Complex in Kyiv, notes, the most valuable of Ukrainian museums and archives was taken to Moscow and St. by the Nazis, and many were destroyed in numerous bombing raids. In Ukraine, according to her, only just managed to collect bit by bit the values that are so necessary for the cultural self-identity of each nation. However, now Ukrainians are again being deprived of “those things that give ground under their feet,” Olesya Ostrovskaya-Lyuta believes: “We are again one on one with emptiness.”
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