Dozens of historical buildings and priceless works of art are being wrecked by Russian fire in Ukraine. In Kharkiv, many landmarks, including the city's huge Freedom Square, home to the so-called Palace of State Industry, an impressive constructivist building built in 1928 and currently on UNESCO's list of inscribed World Heritage Sites, were hit by cruise missiles. The neighbouring buildings of the State Opera and Ballet Theatre and its Philharmonic were reduced to rubble.
The museum in Ivankiv, a town northwest of Kiev, has also been reduced to ashes, while the Church of the Ascension in the village of Bobryk, near Kiev, was severely damaged.
One of the flagship monuments of Ukrainian culture, the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kiev, dating back to the 11th century, is also in a dreaded position, as it is only a four-minute walk from the building of the Security Service of Ukraine, headquarters of the anti-terrorist and counter-intelligence services and one of the most likely targets of the Russian military. At the same time, dozens of monuments in Odessa, Kiev and Chernivtsi are potentially under fire and threatened with total destruction.
ALL DEVELOPMENTS FROM UKRAINE HERE
[/P]It is not only Ukraine's monuments and museums that are at risk, but also the websites and digital archives of its institutions and libraries, in the battle to save which voluntary organizations have fallen into the battle.
One such initiative is Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online (SUCHO), which employs volunteers around the clock to back up and preserve data threatened by the war.
"We should not forget that the Internet is made up of physical objects. There are servers located in the real world that need power, cooling and maintenance," argue the initiative's leaders. "Networking depends on physical wires that need to stay connected to function. Anything from a power outage to the destruction of a server in a bombed-out building can put websites offline, temporarily or permanently."
Since March 1, SUCHO has created digital archives for more than 1,500 websites, digital exhibits, open access publications and other online resources from Ukrainian cultural organizations, thanks to 1.More than 000 volunteers - librarians, archivists and other categories of cultural heritage professionals - who were mobilized through social media, and in a short time secured grants from leading organizations specializing in the humanities.
The victims of this war include major international exhibitions, great works of art, and relationships built over many years between major museums through the exchange of exhibits in the context of flagship temporary exhibitions.
The example of the National Gallery in London, which announced that the loan of Raphael's painting "The Holy Family" (ca. 1506-7), from the Hermitage State Museum in St Petersburg, for the exhibition dedicated to the great Renaissance painter, has been cancelled.
Meanwhile and in the same context, the Russian museum has already recalled several works lent to two museums in Milan, while a similar move has been made by four other Russian museums which have also requested the return of 23 works currently on display in exhibitions in Italy. France in turn announced that it would withdraw 15 works of art from an exhibition at Moscow's Kremlin museums due to open this month, while Britain, Austria and Spain followed France's lead.
At the same time, the art world has stepped up to support Ukrainian refugees, artists and more. In Britain, for example, an auction has been organised by the British literary community to raise money for Ukrainian refugees, which in one week raised €47,890. In this original auction, those interested can bid for meals with popular authors, the chance to 'paint' the characters in their next books and to obtain signed first editions. Almost 350 raffle tickets are waiting for literature lovers on the website https:/airauctioneer.com/book-aid-for-ukraine until 20 March.
The major art gallery gathering in Dubai is also making its contribution to Ukraine, as its organisers have announced that 25% of the tickets will be made available at the recently concluded art fair for the affected people, with the participation of 100 galleries. The French government, for its part, announced that it is setting up a one million euro support fund for refugee Ukrainian artists and art professionals who were forced to flee the country after the Russian invasion.
The officials of the Venice Biennale, the world's most important art event, are also on Ukraine's side, assuring that the country will be present at the 59th Venice Biennale, despite the fact that Ukrainian artist Pavlo Makov, whose work was to be shown at the exhibition - a wall installation with 78 bronze funnels from which water gushes - said that he and curators Lizaveta German, Myra Lanko and Boris Filonenko had been forced to halt preparations because of the war.
Source:in.gr/Mairi Adamopoulou
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