The hunt for Ukraine's stolen artworks
For over three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainians have faced a war that extends beyond the battlefield-it’s a battle to protect their cultural identity. Museums, heritage sites, and priceless artifacts have been directly targeted, damaged, or looted, with experts claiming this is a deliberate attempt to erase Ukrainian identity.UNESCO reports over 476 damaged cultural properties, while the Ukrainian Heritage Monitoring Lab has documented more than 1,200 damaged sites. Historian Leonid Marushchak has worked tirelessly to evacuate nearly 2 million artifacts from museums under threat, including a 1,000-year-old lion sculpture from Bakhmut.Workers remove the statue of Ukrainian philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda after Russian bombing of the Hryhorii Skovoroda Literary Memorial Museum in May 2022. Ricardo Moraes/ReutersIn Kyiv, the Khanenko Museum has adopted a new strategy-instead of hiding its art collection entirely, it occasionally displays small exhibits while also transferring select works to museums in Europe, such as the Louvre in Paris and the Royal Castle in Warsaw.Meanwhile, in Kherson, the local art museum suffered severe losses after Russian forces looted nearly 10,000 artifacts. Museum director Alina Dotsenko, devastated by the empty storage rooms, continues her efforts to track down the stolen pieces, some of which were found in a Crimean museum.Despite these challenges, cultural preservation remains critical to Ukraine’s national identity. Whether through evacuation, documentation, or showcasing selected works, Ukrainians remain committed to safeguarding their heritage. However, as museum director Yulia Vaganova stated, “There is no right solution to this case at all... and this is, of course, the nightmare of every museum director.”
