Fact: Ukraine’s World Heritage Site
Saint Sophia Cathedral and Monastery Area, Kyiv
Wooden churches in the Carpathian region, including: Church of St. Michael the Archangel, Uzhok, Church of the Advent of the Holy Spirit, Potelych, Church of the Holy Trinity, Zhovkva, Church of St. Goran, Drohobych, Church of St. Dmytro, Matkiv, Church of the Advent of the Holy Spirit, Rohatyn, Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, Nyzhniy Verbizh, Church of the Ascension of Our Lord, Yasynia.
Chersonesos, Sevastopol
Struve’s meridian arc
The Bokur forests, the Carpathians
Residence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metropolitans, Chernivtsi
Old town of Lviv
The information comes from Krista Pikkat, head of the department for culture and emergencies at the UN agency Unesco in Paris. As of April, Unesco had documented 53 cases of damage to cultural heritage in northern or eastern Ukraine, while the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture said there were 135 cases across the country.
Now the damage to historic sites verified by Unesco has increased to 187, says Krista Pikkat.
— Those figures are from yesterday, we have also discussed with the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture why we have different data and I think that Unesco is a bit stricter when it comes to documentation. We review all media sources, before and after photos. We have the responsibility to really be able to prove that this damage has been done, she tells TT.
Petjerska Monastery’s employees have inventoried and packed items to be ready to evacuate. Archive image.
Krista Pikkat was in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in July and visited, among other things, the Petherska Monastery, which is one of Ukraine’s seven world heritage sites. There, everyone was busy inventorying and packing all the items to be able to stand on their toes in case they had to evacuate.
Protection factor
Shouldn’t the Putin regime then want to preserve a cultural heritage that it considers its own? Krista Pikkat does not dare to comment on that claim, but notes that today’s seven Ukrainian World Heritage sites have so far not been damaged in the fighting. So the World Heritage stamp is a protection?
— We hope so. The World Heritage is kind of a non-negotiable list and I think all governments understand the importance of keeping them out of the military.
Right now, it is Odessa, among others, that is judged to be in the danger zone. In July, the Odessa Art Museum was hit by artillery fire and parts of the glass roof and windows were destroyed. When the Ukrainian Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkatchenko visited Unesco in Paris last week, it was also with the wish that Odessa also be put on the world heritage list.
— The Ukrainian application will be submitted sometime during September, and we will send it to our advisory board very soon, says Krista Pikkat.
TT: How worried are you about the situation in Ukraine?
– Very worried. When we hear about the urgent needs that exist even now, they are enormous. The minister mentioned 50 million euros. Then it’s only about the emergency, not about restoring. We need to mobilize internationally to raise money.
EUR 50 million corresponds to around SEK 535 million.
Barely a tenth
According to Pikkat, the fund funds that are available barely cover a tenth of what is needed. Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkatchenko mentioned 30 priority places where help is needed, including to repair roofs and windows.
— A big challenge is the coming winter, and that it will be cold. These are places that have already been damaged and when the rain and snow come, the buildings will be even more damaged. But there are also buildings that house, for example, classical instruments, and how do you protect these without electricity and heat? There are very practical things that you need help with.
Unesco is now working, together with international museums, to create inventories of what is in the Ukrainian museums. This information could be decisive if the art were to end up on the international market after looting, according to Krista Pikkat, who is in Stockholm on the occasion of an international seminar on how art can be protected in war arranged by, among others, the National Museum and the Spanish Embassy.
“We are prepared”
Among the participants is Fakhir Mohammed Hasan from the Ministry of Culture in Iraq, who testifies to the enormous destruction of Iraqi cultural heritage.
French Néguine Mathieux, head of the collections at the Louvre in Paris, tells in her turn about how the museum’s works of art were evacuated to French castles during the Second World War.
TT: What is the most important lesson to be learned from their experiences?
— If we are prepared and well organized, there are things that can be saved. And it does not only apply to Ukraine. I think there is an increased awareness in Europe that we all need to be prepared. Who would have thought just a year ago that something like this could happen in the heart of Europe? I was happy to hear also from the director of the Swedish National Museum that they already have mechanisms in place, says Krista Pikkat.