Following our Annual Celebration of World Heritage on 9 April, US/ICOMOS presented a program on Ukraine’s Heritage at Risk with speakers from both Ukraine and the U.S. explaining the history of the conflict and efforts to preserve Ukraine’s heritage. The session included a presentation and a Q&A session with Dr. Kateryna Chuyeva, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister for Culture and Information Policy.
We have created a Youtube playlist of all the presentations in the program, including an additional presentation by Mikola Bevz entitled “Why is this happening and what can we do?“. Access the entire program on Ukraine’s Heritage at Risk here.
A separate presentation on Cultural Heritage and Armed Conflict has been prepared by US/ICOMOS member Meisha Hunter. This presentation seeks to illustrate the war not only as a humanitarian crisis, but also as an existential threat to the survival of Ukraine’s cultural heritage and identity. The structure of the presentation includes both listed and tentative UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ukraine; an overview of historic pacts, conventions and treaties pertaining to cultural heritage in armed conflict; and other modern conflicts that have compromised or destroyed cultural heritage. Suggestions for further reading are also provided. This presentation is available to download here until 22 April and will be posted on the US/ICOMOS website thereafter.
The Heritage Emergency Response Initiative dedicated to protecting Ukraine’s cultural heritage has produced a valuable report about the state of the country’s heritage available here.
Image: Pecherskyi District, Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo by Eugene at Unsplash.com.