‘The culture that stands for independence has been broken down again’

“This is also a war of cultures,” Alyona Karavai told a journalist from the Ukrainian art site Your Art† Karavai explains why she is in the process of securing art from Ukrainian museums and galleries. “Yes, people’s lives are the most important, so the evacuation of people has the highest priority. At the same time, we try to ensure that we do not lose visual art objects.”

Karavai is one of many who are concerned with the future of cultural heritage and art objects in Ukraine. In a war in which it is all about which identity belongs to which soil, culture is an important spearhead: after all, the easiest way to break an identity is to destroy a culture. A country that has only existed as an independent nation since 1991, is building its own narrative by focusing on culture and folklore. Typical was the moment when a man ran into a burning museum when work by the Ukrainian traditional artist Maria Primachenko (1909 1997) went up in flames at the Museum of Local History in Ivankiv.

Her colorful work with fantasy animals not only inspired Picasso, Primachenko’s work was also depicted on Ukrainian postage stamps and 2009 was the year of Maria Primachenko as far as Unesco is concerned. The futile attempt to save her work symbolizes the need to hold onto an identity that is being destroyed.

The fact that the work of the artist who had promoted the image of Ukrainian art for decades went up in flames four days after the Russian invasion was a sign for other museums that heritage would not remain unscathed. The largest museum in Ukraine – the Andrey Sheptytsky Museum of National Heritage in the city of Lviv gathered as many people as possible and then packed more than 12,000 items and hid them in cellars. Statues were removed and placed behind bulkheads, a Bible over a thousand years old ended up in a supermarket banana box along with other old, often religious manuscripts, images of CNN†

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Although the museum had closed immediately when the Russians invaded the country at the end of February, Ihor Kozhan, the museum director, had not for a moment considered that the works of art would be in danger, he told the American news agency. AP from. The museum, which mainly has a lot of ecclesiastical art and which was founded in 1905 by Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky, covered the busts with the head of Lenin, among others, removed the Annunciation of the Virgin from the iconostasis in Bohorodchany and did Baroque building elements. in steel boxes.

Badly prepared

Kozhan is certainly not the only one who only started securing works of art late, says Sanne Letscher of the Prince Claus Fund, which, among other things, First Aid to Cultural Heritage is organizing. It is striking how poorly prepared the museums were for this. Hardly anyone assumed it would come to an actual invasion. Only the Maidan Museum in Kiev – which emerged from the pro-European Maidan protests in 2014 and aims to showcase the stories surrounding independence – had evacuated the collection before.

In the meantime, the Prince Claus Fund is looking into local opportunities for other museums, but also tries to provide practical or financial support where possible. “Actually, we are already too late and it is still very difficult to know exactly where the museums are at the moment. We are not only concerned with the national museums, but also the smaller ones,” says Letscher. “We are now mainly focusing on museums in Lviv and Odessa, where we are discussing how you can evacuate works, place sandbags in front of showcases and protect works in other ways. This does not only concern works of art, but also libraries and archives.”

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Also UNESCO is in discussion with museum directors about the possibilities of protecting as much as possible, because it is also concerned about the Ukrainian cultural heritage and also about the fate of the seven world heritage monuments in Ukraine after a rocket hit an opera house and a concert hall in Kharkiv at Peace Square. The stained glass in the Annunciation Cathedral suffered the same fate. The Babyn Yar Holocaust Monument in Kiev was also hit. Chernihiv, whose historic center is a World Heritage Site, was also under attack. Destroying the World Heritage is, according to Anna Reid, the author of Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraineon the BBC a loss for all of Europe and comparable to the destruction of Dresden during the Second World War.

Identity

In addition to the museums, galleries are also emptying everything. Cornélia Schmidmayr, co-founder of the ArtEast Gallery in Kiev, had mainly been building a logistics bridge since the war broke out, she told in artsynet† In addition to Kiev, the gallery is also active in Berlin: “The increasing tensions with Russia made things more complicated, but we aim to bring Ukrainian art to safety in all corners of the world. If not possible by plane, then by truck from Kiev to Berlin and from there to other countries. It is important not to view Ukraine only through the lens of crisis and war.”

The ARTAREA cultural center in Kiev closed its doors, placed a picture of the Ukrainian flag in its windows and wrote: “See you after the victory! We fully support the Ukrainian army, and are confident of our victory. But as long as the guns clatter, the museums are silent. We look forward to seeing you again when there is peace in Ukraine. Long live Ukraine! Long live our brave army. The victory is ours!”

When the doors will open again and from which identity that will be, remains to be seen. For the time being, it is a matter of keeping as much protection as possible. Letscher: “It is precisely now that we have the task of protecting Ukrainian culture, because what has been so relevant since independence can easily be undone. That is precisely what you should try to avoid.”