Bombing in Kyiv and covering statues in Lviv.. Ukraine is trying to protect its cultural heritage from Russian targeting

Ukraine is home to 7 World Heritage sites including Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, which has unique mosaics and frescoes from the early 16th century, and the Pechersk Lavra Orthodox monastery dating back to 1051. The whole old quarter of Lviv, which dates back to the 13th century, is One of the World Heritage Sites.

Concerns are growing for Ukraine's material and cultural heritage as the fighting enters its third week, and shells are falling near invaluable historical and religious sites and cultural heritage.

The author of “The Beautiful Stolen: The Soviet Looting of Europe’s Artistic Treasure” believes that the most terrifying scenarios include damage to major museum centers such as Kyiv and Odessa;

The Ukrainian capital (Kyiv) houses collections of international importance, the Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine houses about 56,000 objects, including the famous gold collection from the fourth century BC, and the National Museum of Art in Kyiv contains an impressive art collection.

Kyiv

Feder Andrushuk, director of the National History Museum of Ukraine in Kyiv, said he and two colleagues were trying to protect the museum from attack or looting, writing in an email to a Swedish academic. The museum is in the middle of a rich cultural heritage area near 3 magnificent churches, but also close to some potential targets; the "Ukrainian Security Service and Border Forces".

The monuments in danger represent "centuries of history from the Byzantine era to the Baroque era", and are among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, according to a report by the British Guardian newspaper.

A statement from the Getty Museum's World Art Organization said Russian forces had begun destroying Ukraine's cultural heritage, including the Ivankiv Museum, about 50 miles north of Kyiv, which housed "precious Ukrainian folk art".

"The tangible cultural heritage of the world is our common heritage, identifies and inspires all of humanity," Getty added. "Cultural heritage has the power to unite us and is crucial to achieving peace. It is also often the target of war, and is another way of destroying and appropriating society by erasing its memory."

She emphasized that "many finds found in Ukraine in the 19th and early 20th centuries are already in the two best Russian museums. There is also evidence that pieces of archaeological excavations in Crimea were sent to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg."

And there were "firm instructions dating back to the Soviet era about what museums should do in the event of armed conflict, to remove and hide objects in a certain order of priority and documentation. The problem is how to do all this with limited time and resources."

And the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry tweeted earlier about the loss of 25 works by folk artist Maria Primachenko in the museum, "She made world-famous masterpieces, and her special talent captivated Pablo Picasso." 2009 is the year of Primachenko.

In his e-mail, Androchuk said that 4 museums in Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Sumy and Chernihiv "managed to protect their main exhibitions in Vinnytsia, and the museum building is now partially used for the displaced," adding, "So far I have not heard that any of the mentioned museums were looted or attacked." .

And he added, "There is no guarantee that the Ukrainian cultural heritage will not be looted and transferred to Russian museums, especially since Kyiv has a special place in Putin's interpretation of Russian history and its roots."

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To the west of the Russian capital, in the center of the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, the statues inspired by Greek and Roman myths were wrapped in tarpaulins and fire protection, in a determined attempt to protect them from possible attack and preserve the rich cultural heritage from the devastating war.

In the center of the central square in the city of Lviv - with a population of 700,000 people - is the statue of the god Neptune with 3 other sculptures inspired by Greek and Roman myths, but only the trident is visible from the statue of Neptune, because the statue is wrapped, similar to the statues of the goddess Amphitrite, the goddess Diana and the god Adonis .

And spread in the city a group of individuals keen to protect the rich cultural heritage, which led UNESCO to inscribe the city on its World Heritage List.

Behind this step is Andrey Salyuk, director of the Association for the Protection of Antiquities, who works in peace periods to educate residents and authorities about the need to protect heritage, but Salyuk told AFP, "When the hot phase of the war began, a historian specializing in the history of Art When there is a bombing, we may lose the stained glass."

"We did not wait for the government to take any step or for anyone to ask for funding. I secured the money, gathered a team and bought materials," said Salyuk, who is fond of heritage.

Workers transport a piece of art in the Andrei Shpetsky Museum in Lviv as part of measures to preserve the collections (Associated Press)

Besides Andriy Saliuk, art restorers and building contractors also advised what materials to use to protect the stained glass windows in many of the city's churches.

Sensitive belongings or aids

One of these restorers, Andrei Bochikva, is in his forties, supervising the installation of the insulating panels to protect the stained glass in the Cathedral of the Assumption, which dates back to the end of the 14th century.

"We are well aware that we are not able to protect (the glass) from direct targeting, but we are trying to protect it as much as possible from any slight damage, be it a fire, a shock wave or small fragments," he says, as he watches the crane carrying the panels.

On one side of the cathedral, a colossal sculpture representing the Holy Sepulcher is covered in protective coverings, under the watchful eye of Lilia Onishchenko, the cultural heritage protection official in the Lviv municipality.

"I have devoted all my life to the protection of cultural heritage and (...) I do not want the results of our work in the war to be destroyed," said Onishchenko, 66.

In an Armenian church, a newly restored 14th-century wooden altar was dismantled and moved for protection "just like in World War I".

According to Lilia Onishchenko, the city's museums have put their holdings in safe custody.

After starting to protect "the most sensitive collectibles", Andrey Salyuk now hopes to move on to the next stage.

"People ask us what we will do with the artifacts inside the churches. We will be happy to help and coordinate with them, but we cannot do everything alone," he says.