War in Ukraine: the country’s cultural heritage in great danger

On St. Michael’s Square in kyiv, the statues of the Apostle Andrew, Princess Olga and Saints Cyril and Methodius, covered with sandbags, escaped the Russian bombardments for the time being. A chance that at least 53 other cultural sites in the country did not have, according to a report published Friday, April 1 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

Thanks to the study of satellite images, the census of the Ukrainian authorities and the work of partner agencies, Unesco reports the destruction or damage to 29 religious sites, 16 historic buildings and four museums and monuments. . A non-exhaustive list since the experts have not yet been able to consider the situation in Mariupol, one of the worst-hit cities in Ukraine, whose theater is known to have been reduced to ashes.

The jewels of Chernihiv under the bombs

“Do everything to save the country’s heritage”, this is the mission that UNESCO has given itself, through the voice of its heritage director, Lazare Eloundou Assomo. The situation in Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine, is of particular concern to the organization. Home to magnificent monuments and churches built between the 9th and 13th centuries, it had to apply to join the UN World Heritage Site. But bombarded day and night by the Russian army, it could lose many of its jewels.

“We know that five sites in the city are damaged or destroyed, and several more should be added”, specifies a spokesperson for Unesco. Among the buildings affected are the churches of Sainte-Catherine and Sainte-Theodosius and the Museum of Military History. Another source of concern is the fate of the seven Ukrainian sites listed to date as World Heritage, including the Saint Sophia Cathedral in kyiv.

Cities of culture and heritage in danger, kyiv and Kharkiv have respectively five and 18 sites damaged by the Russian bombardments. The other major damage was reported in Sumy, in the north, in Donetsk and Lugansk, in the east, and in Zaporozhye, in the south of the country.

The importance of marking endangered sites

In order to reference the sites in danger, Unesco and the Ukrainian authorities have set up a system for reporting sites by marking. “When justice is served, this marking will prove that Russia has not respected the Convention on the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflictsof which she is nevertheless a signatory”, explains the spokesperson for the UN agency that we were able to reach. “In Lviv, for example, many buildings are now marked”, he adds.

In a letter sent on March 17 to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, the Director General of Unesco, Audrey Azoulay, moreover recalled that “any violation of the standards in force will engage the international responsibility of its authors.”