The conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues, with Ukraine facing relentless artillery attacks. Many buildings in Ukraine have been ruthlessly destroyed. However, what is most heartbreaking is the damage to museums that are full of historical and cultural heritage. In addition to the previous destruction of the Ivankiv Museum by missiles, the historical museum in Aktyka City was also bombed, resulting in heavy losses of artifacts.
In order to protect art and cultural relics, many institutions have been working tirelessly to remove collections, hoping to minimize losses. Ukraine’s largest art museum, the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv, is also racing against time to quickly relocate over ten thousand precious artifacts to areas not yet affected by the war. From the photos, it can be seen that staff are packing up collections, including works from the Baroque period, and 18th-century Bohorodchany icons.
Facing the empty exhibition space and display cases, museum director Ihor Kozhan said he would sometimes shed tears for this. Running a museum requires a lot of time and effort, but now looking at the empty walls, he feels particularly bitter and sad, until the last moment, he truly feels that war has come. The museum’s collection survived the two world wars, but the director said he could not be sure whether they could escape this disaster again.
Although the museum still receives many calls from other European cultural institutions every day, expressing their willingness to help, it is difficult to help from afar. They are also racing against time every moment. If the city is attacked again during the relocation process, the collections will once again be in danger.
Damaged buildings can be rebuilt, but the artworks and cultural relics that carry hundreds of years of a country’s civilization cannot be replicated. In the case of the bombed museum, what this war truly destroyed is the shared cultural heritage of humanity.
Image source: Associated Press
