Efforts have been made to save Ukraine’s cultural treasures since the war began. “When cultural heritage is at stake,” said Roman Luxheiter, Secretary-General of the German Commission for UNESCO, “it concerns the cultural identity of a country, but also the heritage of all mankind.”
UNESCO is particularly concerned about the seven World Heritage Sites in Ukraine, Luxheiter told DW. For example, the Hagia Sophia in Kyiv, the historic center of the city of Lviv or the ancient city of Hersonissos and its Chora, located southwest of the Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea.
Luxheimer believes that the diversity of Ukraine’s cultural heritage is in jeopardy. “Among other things, Kyiv has a collection of Jewish folk songs from the early 20th century that is world-renowned,” says another UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Cultural treasures are protected by international law
But there are other important cultural assets in Ukraine, Ukrainian historian and art curator Konstantin Akinska said in an interview with DW. Among other things, the already ruined city of Hernihiv, with its monuments from the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries. Kharkiv is also the capital of Ukrainian and Soviet constructivism. Experts fear that Kharkiv today suffered more damage than it did in World War II. In addition, the famous golden treasure of the Scythians, one of the greatest cultural treasures of antiquity, is located in the Museum of Antiquities in Kyiv.
“Cultural property is protected by international law,” Luxheiter said. Russia is also a party to the Hague Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, but UNESCO is not in a position to prevent their destruction.
Museums in the West are now trying to help their Ukrainian counterparts. Cultural goods are transported to Lviv from Kharkov, Kyiv or Odessa and then further west, for example to Poland, but also to Germany in Dresden. Museums are de facto at war, says Ukrainian historian and art curator Konstantin Akinsa. “Unfortunately, the Ukrainian government was slow to consider evacuating them.”
The Russians are silent
“Cultural goods in Ukraine belong to the cultural heritage of all mankind,” he said. The situation is currently unpredictable and experts in the area cannot be sent to assess or monitor the damage.
What shocks him, however, is the “absolute silence of his Russian colleagues,” he says. The art critic states that he can not understand how it is possible for Russian museums to remain on the International Council of Museums. “Last night, for some reason, I looked again at photos of devastated Ukraine during World War II. We relive a story that we thought had already been buried forever in the archives. “This is a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions.”
DW / Anastasia Butchko / Christine Lenen / Editor: Maria Rigoutsou
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