Appeal of the Museum Directors of Ukraine
to Italian and European Museum Institutions
for the Protection of Artistic, Cultural, Historical and Archaeological Heritage
in cooperation with
MEAN – European Nonviolent Action Movement
Act4UA – Charity Fund
“Damage caused to cultural property, to whatever people it belongs, constitutes damage to the cultural heritage of all humanity, since every people contributes to world culture…”
Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict – The Hague 1954
Over the past few months, the war in Ukraine has caused a situation of grave difficulty due to enormous losses in museums and throughout the cultural heritage of our nation. The consequences of the conflict concern the destruction of historic centers and buildings, archaeological sites, the theft of works of art from national museums. The whole is still partially estimated.
The situation in museums is dramatic: there is a shortage of personnel to protect the heritage; there is a lack of protection systems and with enormous difficulties we are working to secure works that represent not only Ukrainian history, but that of humanity, as stated in the 1954 Hague Convention.
While European and Ukrainian civil society work together to demand an immediate truce and a nonviolent resolution of the conflict, we cannot stand by and watch this havoc continue before our eyes, without trying to intervene in defense of the attacked cultural heritage.
The directors of the UKRAINIAN MUSEUMS
- Fedir Androshchuk (National Museum of the History of Ukraine)
- Natalia Panchenko (Treasury of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine)
- Liudmyla Strokova (National Folk Decorative Art Museum)
- Liudmyla Didenko (Bila Tserkva Regional Local Museum)
- Nelia Kukovalska (National Sanctuary Complex “Sophia of Kyiv”)
- Iryna Martyniuk (National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Reserve)
- Vitalina Martynovska (Ukrainian National Chernobyl Museum)
- Lesia Gasidgak (National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide)
- Iryna Dobrobot (Museum of Theatre, Music and Cinema Arts of Ukraine)
- Liudmyla Mischenko (Ohtyrka Local Museum)
- Sergiy Laievskiy (Chernihiv Historical Museum named after Vasiliy Tarnovskyi)
- Olga Yarmush (Memorial Museum of Oleksandr Dovzhenko in Sosnytsia)
- Tetiana Zaporozhets (Sosnytsia local museum)
- Yurii Tkach (Chernihiv Regional Art Museum named after Hrygorii Galagan)
- Olena Matiuk (Novhorod-Siverskyi Historic-Cultural Reserve “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”)
- Tetiana Zoiets (Pryluky Local Museum named after Vasyl Maslov)
- Valentyna Mazgina (Kharkiv Art Museum)
- Natalia Mytsay (Hryhorii Skovoroda Literary Memorial Museum)
- Diana Tkachenko (Museum of Fine Arts named after Olexandr Bilyi)
- Yuriy Spitsyn (Zaporizhzhia Local Museum)
- Svitlana Kovalenko (Orikhiv Local Museum)
- Svitlana Mirzoyeva (Huliaipole Local Museum)
APPEAL TO ALL DIRECTORS
of museums, archaeological sites, art galleries, to all operators of cultural heritage in Italy and in Europe to help us save our heritage, a witness of the past and messenger of the future.
We therefore ask to help to:
- Create an aid network for the preservation of Ukrainian cultural heritage
- Raise awareness among national and international institutions and governments to help the museums of Ukraine protect the country’s cultural heritage
- Donate packaging to museums to protect, transport and preserve works
- Donating equipment for restoration, diagnostics, software to set up restoration and conservation laboratories
- Helping to establish digital archives capable of estimating heritage and losses
- Raising funds to ensure the preservation of museums and heritage during the war and later for reconstruction
